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Jacqui Snow's "K.O.'s" Tuesday Report By "K.O." Jacqui Snow While it's promotional hype to say that the world awaits Saturday's bout between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, in the world of boxing, it's no exaggeration. But while this is definitely the fight that's generating the most buzz on the internet boxing forums, it isn't the only one which needs to be penciled in on this year's calendar. Here's a sampling of some of the other great fights on the horizon. Thursday, May 3 Both of Alexander Munoz' losses came at the hands of Martin Castillo, who was considered a pound-for-pound player at the time. But in the thrilling and bloody rematch in January 2006, Castillo had to dig deep, overcoming a first-round knockdown and bad cuts around his eyes to win the close split decision. Six months later and still undefeated, Castillo took on Nobuo Nashiro, who was fighting in just his 8th professional bout. Nashiro pulled off a stunning upset, opening a huge gash on Castillo's face and taking his WBA Super Flyweight title by 10th round TKO. Nashiro and Munoz can both crack: Nashiro's opponent, Seiji Tanaka, tragically passed away from head trauma sustained in their bout, and only two of Munoz's 29 wins went the distance. Saturday, May 19, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Joan Guzman's a slick boxer who's undefeated against some good fighters, although he almost got robbed against Jorge Barrios, whom he actually beat quite easily, but had to settle for a close split-decision win. Michael Katsidis, for his part, is coming off an absolute destruction of the game, but hopelessly outgunned Graham Earl, who was eager, but simply unable, to continue after the 5th round. Only one of Katsidis' 22 fights have gone the distance and this is a gutsy move for Guzman, who'll need to use his speed and talent to outwork the hard-punching Greek. Saturday, June 9, 2007
2006 was a bad year for former world champion and pound-for-pound-ranked welterweight Zab Judah. He suffered back-to-back losses to Carlos Baldomir and Floyd Mayweather, followed by a year's suspension for his part in the riot during the Mayweather bout. He's just won his tune-up fight against Ruben Galvin in impressive fashion, but he must beat Miguel Cotto, or at least look impressive, in order to restart his career. Although Cotto is undefeated, he hasn't really faced anybody of note, so he'll also be desperate for a win against Judah, who's easily his toughest opponent to date. Saturday, June 23, 2007
Following a close call against supposedly safe WBA welterweight champ Luis Collazo, Ricky Hatton moved back to junior welterweight and won the IBF strap from Juan Urango. His excessive clinching and running, however, were booed by the fans and he's made it quite clear that he wants this fight against Jose Luis Castillo to be his defining performance. Castillo's coming off a scare of his own: a lackluster performance at his new weight on January 20th, when he scored a razor-thin split decision win against Canadian Herman Ngoudjo. In spite of (or, perhaps, owing to) their failure to impress in their most recent performances, this is a potentially explosive fight between two men with knockout power, both of whom consider the fight to be a must-win. Saturday, July 21, 2007 Don't expect shock and awe when these two defensive counter-punchers step into the ring, but this is as much boxing talent as you're ever likely to see on display. Winky Wright's fought at 154 for most of his career and is taking a big step up in weight class for this fight, which takes place at 170. Although the legendary Bernard Hopkins fought most of his career at 160, he's the naturally much bigger man--he's four inches taller than Wright and was dominant at 174 against Antonio Tarver. If Wright beats Hopkins at light heavyweight, he'll be an easy choice for the best fighter, pound for pound, in the sport right now. |
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