Saturday, December 14, 2019

Boxing Challenge

The boxing weekend starts early on DAZN with one of the best prospects in the game and then moves to ESPN on Saturday with arguably the best fighter in the game defending his title with two anticipated bouts on the undercard.

DAZN and Golden Boy will showcase their coming star as welterweight Vergil Ortiz faces veteran Brad Solomon on Friday night.
Ortiz is an exciting young fighter and might be mildly tested by Solomon, a veteran that is a slick and difficult to fight boxer and could have had a far different career but was plagued by a lack of power and a difficult time finding opponents due to his style and ability.
I think Ortiz breaks Solomon down, but it'll be good for the development of Ortiz fighting a fighter such as Solomon.

ESPN is in the Big Apple with WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford facing his WBO mandatory contender in Egidijus Kavaliauskus.
Crawford, who might be the best fighter in all of boxing and almost certainly is the fighter that is most avoided around his weight class, looks to keep things running smoothly against the undefeated  Kavaliauskus.
Kavaliauskus struggled to a draw against Ray ( Sugar withheld) Robinson in his last fight in March and looks to be another overmatched opponent against Crawford, who looks to land a big fight in a division that the other top fighters in the division are promoted by the PBC.

The co-feature looks like a very good battle with IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey defending against another of the blazing young stars in boxing, Teofimo Lopez.
Commey, who in both of his defeats were by debatable split decision, could arguably be undefeated looked very good in defending his title for the first time against former champion Ray Beltran, stopping him in eight rounds.
Lopez didn't look as sharp as normal in his last bout, but still controlled Masayoshi Nakatani in a clear unanimous decision victory.
This looks to me to be a very close fight that you could make a strong case for either fighter.
The winner will fight Vasyl Lomachenko for his WBA and WBO titles in their next fight in what would have for all four lightweight belts, had the WBC not implemented their silly franchise champion designation.

The other bout is an Olympic rematch between Michael Conlan and Vladimir Nikitin at featherweight.
Their controversial Olympic bout that memorably saw Conlan give judges the middle finger and an enraged post-fight interview that is remembered to this day, is just the beginning with both fighters now undefeated in the pro ranks.
Conlan has won all twelve of his fights, while Nikitin has won only three against non-threatening opponents, stopping none of them.
This looks to be the time for Conlan to settle the score.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 297-258.

Welterweights. 12 Rds
Vergil Ortiz vs Brad Solomon
R.L: Ortiz KO 7
TRS: Ortiz Unanimous Decision

WBO Welterweight Title. 12 Rds
Terence Crawford vs Egidijus Kavaliauskus
R.L: Crawford KO 8
TRS: Crawford KO 11

IBF Lightweight Title. 12 Rds
Richard Commey vs Teofimo Lopez
R.L: Lopez Unanimous Decision
TRS: Commey Majority Decision

Featherweights. 10 Rds
Michael Conlan vs Vladimir Nikitin
Both: Conlan Unanimous Decision



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