The biggest fight will be from Montreal Friday night as the feared bomber Artur Beterbiev defending his WBC and IBF light heavyweight titles against his mandatory challenger from the WBC in former Olympian Marcus Browne.
All sixteen of Beterbiev's wins have been by knockout and his relentless walk forward style with every punch intended to cause a stoppage makes Beterbiev an entertaining fighter to watch, yet Betevbiev has been knocked down a few times and shows just enough vulnerability to add drama to each of his fights as well.
Marcus Browne is a former Olympian with good boxing ability to go with his excellent size for the division (6'2 76-inch reach) and holds a very good win over Badou Jack.
However, he "won" one of the worst decisions of the last decade with his split decision win over Radivoje Kalajozic with features such as cutting the fight from ten rounds to eight rounds minutes before the fight, Browne scoring a knockdown without throwing a punch (really!), Browne was knocked down in the sixth and was so badly hurt, few would have argued the fight being stopped and after all that, Browne refused Kalajozic a rematch and returned Kalajozic to boxing oblivion.
Browne's only loss was a technical decision loss to veteran Jean Pascal when Browne was badly cut after the fighter's heads collided in a fight that saw Browne knocked down three times and he has only one win since the loss to Pascal in a unanimous decision win over Denis Grachev.
Browne has the ability to outbox Beterbiev and I wouldn't be surprised to see him build a lead over the first half of the fight but I haven't seen anything that makes me think that his chin can handle the punishing attack of Beterviev and will crumble in the middle to late rounds.
Beterbiev-Browne can be seen on ESPN+
In the afternoon from Tashkent Uzbekistan, DAZN will offer a main event of Israil Madrimov against Michel Soro in what is a WBA title eliminator at junior middleweight.
Madrimov is a highly decorated amateur that has won all seven of his pro fights but hasn't fought anyone of note yet somehow has risen to second in the rankings.
Soro isn't really deserving of his top-rating either as his claim to fame was a split decision loss to current WBO champion Brian Castano in 2017 but is a solid European level fighter and in a division that isn't exactly loaded with premiere fighters currently, I wouldn't complain about Soro (or Madrimov) at the back half of the top ten but not at first overall.
The winner will become the WBA's mandatory contender for the winner of the Jermell Charlo (WBA/WBC/IBF champion)- Brian Castano (WBO) rematch.
In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 169-153.
No comments:
Post a Comment