Saturday, February 23, 2019

Boxing Challenge

The boxing weekend has some very interesting and for the most part, competitive and difficult fights to pick the victors, which for boxing fans is about as much as one can ask for on any given weekend.

The biggest two fights are both in the super middleweight division, one for a title and one not, with the bigger of the two being the one without a belt on the line from England in the afternoon.

Former IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale faces Chris Eubank Jr in England in what is a true crossroads bout that I can see going either way.
DeGale hasn't been the same fighter since taking a beating against Badou Jack in a unification bout in January 2017 that was judged a draw (I thought DeGale held off the late rally of Jack to win a close decision) and since lost his title to heavy underdog Caleb Truax before winning the title back, but didn't look like a peak fighter in doing so.
DeGale then vacated his title to look for "bigger challenges", but has only won an eight round fight to stay busy since.
Eubank Jr might be a fighter that proves to be a top ten level boxer, but not a top five one as he has lost his two biggest fights, both bitter matches against countrymen Billy Joe Saunders ( a win would have put him as the mandatory contender for then WBO middleweight champ Andy Lee, a fight Saunders would win) and more recently George Groves for the WBA title in the World Boxing Super Series semi-finals.
The questions are these - Does DeGale have enough left to defeat a top ten fighter such as Eubank and does Eubank have enough talent and his often-questioned desire to defeat DeGale, if DeGale is not as depleted as he may be?
DeGale is the better fighter at his best, but we might not see his best again.

The Degale-Eubank fight is on Showtime Saturday afternoon at 3;30 and will also be televising a heavyweight eliminator between Olympic silver medalist Joe Joyce and former WBC champion Bermane Stiverne.
The 33-year-old Joyce is being moved quickly due to his age and none of his seven victims are near the quality that Stiverne once had, but that Stiverne looks to have been left in the past as his one round loss to Deontay Wilder is the only round that he has fought in the last 28 months and at 40, looks to be exactly what Joyce's management is looking for- a name fighter that might be perfect for their fighter to look spectacular against.
In an untelevised challenge fight, former IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby jumps two divisions to lightweight in his first fight since losing that title to Josh Warrington.
Selby faces Philadelphia's hard-nosed Omar Douglas, who always comes to fight, but suffered both of his losses when he moved up in competition in decision losses to Edner Cherry and Javier Fortuna.

Fox Sports One will fill the vacant WBC super middleweight title that Badou Jack gave up to move up in weight with former champion Anthony Dirrell battling Avni Yildrim for the green belt in Minneapolis.
Dirrell, who only has one defeat ( to Badou Jack in 2015), attempts to regain that title after never receiving a rematch with Jack, which surprises me with both of the pair promoted by PBC, has won five fights since including a one round KO of Caleb Truax before Truax briefly held the IBF championship, while Turkey's Yildirim has also won five in a row (one over a fighter with a record of 3-31!) after being knocked cold in three rounds by Chris Eubank Jr in the first round of the World Boxing Super Series.
Dirrell is talking about retirement, so I do wonder about the motivation for the Michigan native, but is Yildirim talented enough to send him there?

DAZN travels to Tijuana. Mexico for what should be an old school loser leaves town (or sport in this case) as Brandon Rios faces Humberto Soto in a junior middleweight fight that style wise should be entertaining, if not at the world-class level.
Once you get by that you have two former lightweight champions facing each other at 154 pounds and that neither has defeated a top ten fighter in years (Rios' DQ win over Diego Chaves in 2014 Soto's decision victory over John Molina in the same year), you might see an action fight with neither fighter able to move away from the other.
Credit to both fighters management teams for matching them carefully enough in their declining years in giving them a chance to win, yet hopefully not get their fighter hurt.
Rios seems to be a hair more versatile than Soto and that might be enough to make the difference.
The only problem is that the winner (Especially if Rios) will likely attempt a leap in opponent next time and that's a recipe for the type of pounding that sees a fighter injured.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica leads me 36-34.

Super Middleweights. 12 Rds
James DeGale vs Chris Eubank Jr
R.L: Eubank Split Decision
TRS: Eubank Unanimous Decision

Heavyweights, 12 Rds
Bermane Stiverne vs Joe Joyce
R.L: Joyce KO 5
TRS: Joyce KO 2

Lightweights. 10 Rds
Lee Selby vs Omar Douglas
Both: Selby Unanimous Decision

Vacant WBC Super Middleweight title. 12 Rds
Anthony Dirrell vs Avni Yildirim
Both: Dirrell Unanimous Decision

Junior Middleweights.12 Rds
Brandon Rios vs Humberto Soto
R.L: Rios KO 10
TRS: Rios Unanimous Decision



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