The Showdown in Bell Town

Last night I was officiating at a pro boxing show in Brantford, Ontario...the Showdown in Bell Town. It was a decent six fight card featuring some of Ontario's young talent. There was a good crowd on hand at the Brantford Civic Centre to cheer on some of their local fighters.

The first fight saw the pro debut of Brantford's Isaac Maich as he took on John LePere from Toronto at 147lbs. It was a good workmanlike perfomance for Maich's first time out as he pounded out a 4 round unanimous decision.

The second fight had local fighter Dan Slezsak take on Scott Paul from Niagra Falls in a rematch where Paul had stopped Slezsak in the second round. This was a tough lightweight fight that I would have called a draw. Paul got the decision but I felt he gave away the second and third rounds as he looked very tired. I thought he just edged the fourth and final round as Slezsak also looked very exhausted by that point.

The third fight, which had the most action of the night, was a 124 lbs women's fight between Kara McCleod of Brantford and Priscilla Trompowsky of Toronto. Entertaining back and forth action with both fighters landing clean hard shots, but Kara just stole the decision with the cleaner punches over 4 rounds. These two never stopped.

Next up was London's Frank Abbiw as he took on Chris Aucoin in a welterweight bout. Aucoin was never able to get himself into the fight as he was dropped in the first and second round. Abbiw might have been able to finish the hurt fighter but got a little too wild throwing wide hooks trying too hard to get the KO. Abbiw looked tired by the fourth but swept the fight with a unanimous decision.

The fifth fight was for the newly created Ontario Boxing Council Lightweight championship belt. Orangeville's Buzz Grant took on Bellville's Harrison King-McBain in a 6 rounder. Grant's effective movement and counter punching allowed him to steal most of the earlier rounds but McBain came on stong in the last two rounds chasing Grant down and landing some good shots. Just felt he waited a little too long and Grant pulled out the decision.

The main event was another 6 round fight for the OBC Welterweight belt between local Paul Watson and Mississauga's Tebor Brosch. This fight had the crowd charged up, especially since the pro Watson crowd was pretty liquored up and getting a little rowdy. I'd say the first half of the fight was fairly close, neither fighter really taking charge and landing clean blows...but Watson started slowly showing the signs of being beaten up as Brosch landed more frequently with power shots in the second half of the fight. I felt Brosch could have possibly gotten a TKO in the sixth but was pretty tired by the last round and he did enough to take the decision which was not a popular one with the crowd.
All in all a good show.

A Giant Rematch!

The Heavyweight division in boxing is in a sad state, and has been for quite some time now. How many people even realize that this weekend is the WBA Heavyweight Championship? How many people even know who the WBA champ is? Or any Heavyweight champion? Well the WBA Heavyweight champion is the 7 foot 1 Russian giant...Nicolai Valuev. On saturday in Germany he will fight in a rematch against the only man who has beaten him so far, the undefeated and former WBA champ Ruslan Chagaev. The only thing that makes this fight even remotely interesting is shown in the photo here...7 foot 1, against 6 foot 1! It's not very often you'll get to see a fight where a whole foot in height separates the two fighters...and about 100 pounds!
And yet after mentioning the statistical differences between them, Chagaev didn't have alot of trouble beating Valuev when they first met in 2007 for the WBA title. The fight was dull and boring to be honest. Valuev plodding forward like Frankenstein's Monster...and Chagaev moving left and right constantly and not missing his straight left hand (Chagaev is a southpaw). Valuev just seemed to have no defense against the left. Chagaev is nicknamed "White Tyson" which is deceiving since he holds not even a fraction of the punching power Mike Tyson did. Frankly, Chagaev has bored me to death every fight I've seen him in. Like with John Ruiz...I find myself always routing for Chagaev's opponents regardless of who it is in the hopes that Chagaev will lose and his fights will not be televised anymore. I have a curse....that if a fight is televised at least somewhere, I must watch it, no matter if I am not a fan of the fighters. While the giant Valuev really has no talent whatsoever, I find myself interested in watching his fights. The size of him grabs my curiousity as I want to see how his opponents adapt and fight him. Unfortunately for me I can see Chagaev winning another boring 12 round decision this weekend. I am not quite sure what Valuev can do different to beat him. Valuev is slow, plodding, doesn't pack a big punch even though he weighs over 300 pounds, has awful defense.....I am hoping Valuev finds some way to win but I feel Chagaev will once again be WBA champ. Chagaev only lost the belt when he was stripped due to some injuries and he was not able to defend it.

Also this weeked there is an interesting Welterweight championship fight with undefeated WBC champ Andre Berto.

Berto is fighting once beaten Juan Urango. Urango is stepping up in weight but was a champion at 140 lbs, losing only to Ricky Hatton by decision. Urango packs a punch but I feel will be too slow for Berto. Berto is an action fighter with decent power. His last fight was a very entertaining 12 round decision over former Welterweight champ Luis Collazo. Berto should be able to outbox Urango and win a decision. The undercard has another interesting fight between rising Super Welterweight star Alfredo Angulo and former world champion Kermit Cintron. I was never too impressed with Cintron but he can punch very hard. I feel that his two devastating losses to Antonio Margarito really took alot of out him too. I can see Angulo scoring a TKO in an all action fight.

Miranda Outclassed...

As a follow up my instincts held true and Andre Ward just outboxed and outclassed Edison Miranda last saturday night winning a 12 round unanimous decision. Miranda's accuracy was horrible. It was no wonder he looked completely spent by the third round after missing so many bombs! But to my surprise the odd times that Miranda did land a good shot, Ward took them very well and never really appeared hurt in the fight. I give Ward alot of credit....he is alot tougher than I had initially thought. It was a rough and tough fight but you would have been hard pressed to find any rounds that you could have given to Miranda. In fact there was a few times in the fight that I felt if Ward was just a little bit more aggressive he could have gotten a TKO. He is not a big puncher but he does put punches together very well. He is a definite threat
in the Super Middleweight division....I could see him outboxing WBC champ Carl Froch and IBF champ Lucian Bute....but not sure if he could do the same thing to WBA champ Mikkel Kessler who I feel is the best in the division. I know there is talks now for Froch and Bute to fight and unify the titles this summer. I see Froch winning that fight, then maybe Ward taking both his belts after that. We shall see.....

The Boxer vs. The Puncher

In just a few hours I will be sitting down to watch a classic matchup of the "Boxer" versus the "Puncher". The "Boxer" in this fight, Andre Ward, is undefeated in 18 matches and won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics for the US in the Light Heavyweight division. The "Puncher" is Colombia's Edison Miranda who has 32 wins and 28 knockouts! I have to say I am excited about this fight. Ward is a very good boxer but hasn't had any tough competition yet. His biggest step up so far was his last fight with Henry Buchanan where he pounded out an easy 12 round decision. Miranda has been in tough many times already having had 2 fights with middleweight kingpin Arthur Abraham, Kelly Pavlik who is also a middleweight champion, and strong Allan Green. The professional experience, and power edge goes to the hard punching Miranda but Ward was a highly decorated amateur star with excellent technical abilities. Ward is also the younger fighter by 3 years. How will this play out? It's a tough call for me. I am sitting right in the middle this time. Having watched them both fight many many times I am leaning towards a decision victory for Ward after outboxing Miranda and staying away from exchanges. BUT...if there is one thing Miranda does exceedingly well...that's punch hard...very very hard. For evidence of that you just have to look back to his first fight with Germany's Arthur Abraham and the damage he did to Abraham by breaking his jaw in two places by the 5th round.

Although the amazing part to that story is that Abraham continued to fight with the broken jaw and won the decision over Miranda! Ward has been knocked down only once in his career but the fighter that dropped him was not known to be a puncher. So does that tell us something about his chin? Or was that just a lucky shot? Well Miranda is going to put that chin to the test tonight. Miranda has been stopped twice before, once in the rematch with Abraham, and again by Kelly Pavlik. But both those fighters are power punches, I wouldn't necessarily classify Ward as a power puncher. So I can definitely see Ward boxing his way to a decision tonight but it would not surprise me either if Miranda spoiled those plans and knocked him out. Should be interesting either way!

Dawson/Tarver II....Much Anticipated??

Last week I was flipping channels and came across the commercial for saturday nights rematch between IBF Light Heavyweight champion "Bad" Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver. The commercial referred to the fight as "Much Anticipated". Who was anticipating this fight? Other than maybe Antonio Tarver? Not me that's for sure. But still, I will watch any fight and find a way to enjoy it. I was interested in seeing their first fight when it was announced. Tarver was nearing the end of his career but I figured it would be a good test to see how Dawson handles a good southpaw boxer like himself. He passed the test pounding out a good workman like decision without taking any damage like his previous fight against tough veteran Glen Johnson. Now there was no drama or controversy in that first fight to warrant a rematch in my mind. Dawson beat Tarver....and beat him clearly. It wasnt' even entertaining enough to want to see them do it again. But, saturday night they did it again, and Dawson, as expected, beat him again much like the first fight. Tarver may have been a little more aggressive but showed none of the pop to his punches that he had in the second and third fight with Roy Jones Jr., he wasn't a threat at all.
Chad Dawson is the star in the Light Heavyweight division but needs some big fights now to really get his name out there. He does have a good win over current Cruiserweight kingpin Tomasz Adamek, a win over Glen Johnson and now two over Tarver but those haven't really done much to bring him the recognition he is seeking. He's been trying to get a shot at now retired Joe Calzaghe, so that fight looks very unlikely. His only other chance at a big fight in this current division is one against Bernard Hopkins which could be likely somewhere in the near future as Bernard nevers seems to duck a challenge. Other than that he may need to move up to Cruiserweight and seek a rematch with Adamek or hope that some Middle and Super Middleweight stars move up like a Carl Froch, or Mikkel Kessler, or Arthur Abraham. I believe Chad Dawson is a very talented fighter with great potential....he is just stuck right now in a division lacking the big opponents he needs to really showcase himself.

Mayweather Jr. is Back!

On the day of the big Pacquiao/Hatton fight, former pound4pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. has officially announced his return to the ring. And was anyone surprised by that? I knew it would just be a matter of time before he returned. I think all the talk about Pacquiao being the best and the new pound4pound king got to him and he wants to come back to prove to the world that he is still the best and everyone needs to acknowledge that. He returns July 18 to face lightweight star Juan Manuel Marquez. Now I am a huge Marquez fan and one of those people who believe that Marquez actually should have gotten the decisions in both his fights with Manny Pacquiao. Close tough fights yes....but Marquez just squeezed them out in my mind. So with those two fights combined with his recent performances you have to place him right up there in the pound4pound rankings. But the fight with Mayweather....bad matchup. Marquez will just be too small in my opinion. He's only recently moved up to 135lbs and had a very tough fight his last time out against former lightweight champ Juan Diaz. The best fight so far of 2009! Diaz is not considered a power puncher at all but seemed to have Marquez stunned a few times in the fight which led me to believe Marquez was just not used to facing a bigger opponent. Now he wants to face Mayweather at welterweight?? The fight does make sense on a few levels. He'll make more money in this fight than any he's had before...and hey, it's Floyd Mayweather Jr., if you lose it's not really a big deal because everyone else has lost to him as well. Doesn't hurt your career to lose to the best fighter in boxing. Marquez is very tough and very strong but as I said will just be too small for Floyd at that weight and I imagine will lose a decision. After taking a year and half off from boxing after the Hatton fight, Mayweather certainly wouldn't want to jump straight into the mega fight with Pacquiao with the roll that he has been on lately. You don't want to be shaking off ring rust with Pacquiao coming straight at you. So Mayweather did the right thing by taking another fight first, and while Marquez is a great fighter, Floyd doesn't feel threatened by the smaller fighter. I just don't feel as though Marquez can be as effective as Pacquiao at the higher weights. Now after the July 18 bout I think we see a Mayweather/Pacquiao mega fight later this year. I will need to analyze this fight carefully before giving my final prediction. My initial thoughts are that Mayweather should be able to beat Pacquiao. Manny has never faced a fighter with Floyd's defensive abilities and style. BUT...if anyone has a shot at beating Mayweather...it's Pacquiao. Will be alot of excitement around this fight if it gets made.

Hayes on the Radio...

Yours truly has started doing some radio interviews as a Boxing Analyst. Here are the audio files from my first two interviews.

The first was from May 1, 2009 with Stormin Norm Rumack on the "FAN 590" station in Toronto to discuss the Pacquiao/Hatton fight. Can download the file here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8DNXJCS6

The second was from May 4, 2009 with Jake Daniels on "The Team 1260" in Edmonton to recap the Pacquiao/Hatton fight. Can download that file here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U5ZB3ZOM

Pacquiao does it again!

Coming off the destruction of Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao has proven once again why he is considered the world's best pound 4 pound fighter with a devastating 2nd round knockout of Ricky Hatton. The fight played out pretty much as I had expected only that it ended quicker than what I thought. I figured Hatton would have been able to stay in there and last until the later rounds before getting stopped but it was a blowout from the opening bell. It was all downhill for Hatton starting with the ring entrance where he decided to let down his cheering fans by not playing his customary "Blue Moon". The Hatton fans had worked themselves up into a frenzy and were waiting to sing their beloved hero into the ring when he played a different song and the usually loud fans were surprisingly silent. That was my first indication that Hatton was in for some difficulty. If you watched closely he also had a very nervous look about him coming into the ring and all during the introductions. Not his normal confident face. Almost as if he knew the result that was to come. Which is shocking given his confidence during his traning and buildup to the fight. It was a very different Ricky Hatton that stepped into the ring last night.

Just as I had thought when the fight started Hatton came right at Pacquiao leading with his face and getting hammered with counter hooks. Hatton looked very stiff in there to me. I know he gets hit alot trying to get inside on a fighter but usually he is able to slip/block more punches than he did this time...again he didn't look like himself. Pacquiao's punches looked amazingly strong at that weight and he had Hatton down twice in the first round and I honestly didn't think he would have made it to the second. I give Hatton credit though for surviving and coming out in the second but he almost should have just stayed down. He had no way of avoiding Pacquiao's punches. I am not sure what Mayweather Sr.'s plan was for the fight but it certainly wasn't to get Hatton to slip more punches. The second round was the same as the first, Pacquiao showing superior speed, strength, and deadly accuracy. Then the end came with 7 seconds left in the round as Pacquiao landed a perfect left hook to the chin that laid Hatton flat. And he stayed down and looked in bad shape for several minutes. A very impressive win for Pacquiao who is definitely on a roll and steamrolling through his last few opponents. Who's next? Well Floyd Mayweather Jr. is back out of retirement and has announced his July 18 fight with Juan Manuel Marquez. I believe Floyd is looking at the Marquez fight as a tune up fight to get ready for the mega showdown between him and Pacquiao later this year. I will discuss more on this in my next post.

The undercard of the fight was decent as well. Most impressive was middleweight prospect Matt Korobov. Now he did have a questionable opponent in front of him but he did what he should do with that level of fighter and get him out of there in 2 rounds. Korobov has a great style with crisp, accurate, hard punches. Keep and eye on this guy.
Daniel Jacobs had a good win over tough Michael Walker. Jacobs is used to early knockouts so while the fight may not have been entertaining to some people, it was exactly what Jacobs needed. He needed to get some rounds in and show that he can still win a decision if he is unable to KO his opponent. Walker had a solid chin and a good defense and never looked really hurt in the fight. Jacobs took an easy 8 round decision.
Canadian super featherweight Benoit Gaudet put up a better fight than I expected against WBC champ Humberto Soto. I expected Soto to overwhelm Gaudet and stop him early in the fight. Gaudet was dropped in round one with a beauty left hook but did get up and seemed to frustrate the champ who seemed distracted and at times not interested in the fight. Then Soto ended the fight in the 9th round with what started with a great uppercut.

Pacquiao/Hatton - May 2!

Well the fight is only one day away now and my excitement is building. I feel like a kid at Christmas time the night before a good fight and find it hard to sleep. I've been following the careers of both fighters and now saturday night they will clash in what has a possible "Fight of the Year" written all over it. I can get excited about most fights, even when I know there could be very little action. Certain fighters and certain styles can make for a dull fight to the casual fan, but this fight should be all action from the first bell. You have two fighters who both have a come straight at you style and they throw alot of punches. Neither one likes to back up or give their opponents any ground. The key factor in this fight though I believe is that Hatton tends to lead with his face far too much. Granted the man has a great chin, only being dropped once by Eamonn Magee in 2002, and then again when KO'd by Floyd Mayweather Jr. two fights ago, but Pacquiao is a much harder puncher than what Hatton is used to. Hopefully trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. has been working on Hatton's defense, moving his head more as he rushes forward. Each time Hatton has sat on the canvas was because he walked into a counter hook. I can see this happening again later in the fight. I feel it will be a back and forth action fight with Hatton's face slowly showing the signs of getting beaten up as the fight progresses. Swollen eyes...possible cut. Then as Hatton tires late in the fight as he has in others with Luis Collazo and Juan Lazcano...Pacquiao will score the TKO started by a counter hook. Not a Knockout....but I feel the ref will step in and save a dazed and hurt Hatton.
BUT....there is still one thing that gives me pause in this prediction...and that is how will Pacquiao handle the weight? The Pacman only recently moved up to the 135lb division to take on WBC champ David Diaz. He looked fantastic in taking the title and knocking out the champ. Then from there he jumped right up to the 147lb division where he destroyed a much bigger Oscar De La Hoya...BUT...and here is the BUT....but Oscar gave no resistance. It was a completely one sided beating from the opening bell. So it didn't give us any indication of how Pacquiao could handle the bigger punches and getting ruffed up by a bigger fighter. The fight with Hatton is at 140lbs and Hatton has fought at that weight for his entire career, with the exception of the Collazo and Mayweather fights where he stepped up to 147lbs. Pacquiao turned pro at 106lbs!! Then captured the WBC Flyweight title at 113lbs! Now the Pacman has slowly moved up in weight over the years and has looked good in doing so but Hatton will be his biggest and strongest opponent to date....since I don't count Oscar in that equation. And Hatton is a very physical fighter that can drain the energy from opponents quickly. Pacquaio has been KO'd twice early in his career but has shown a solid chin since then. So as long as he can take the punches of a natural 140 pounder, and we'll learn that VERY early in the fight, then I feel it should play out as I described and Pacquiao's speed, skill, and power will prevail in the end. Don't miss this fight!!!
The undercard will be great as well....Steven Luevano....Humberto Soto....and the devastating middleweight puncher Daniel Jacobs. Don't blink when Jacobs is in the ring...you'll miss his impressive one punch KO's.