Saturday, August 29, 2020

Boxing Challenge

The major title fight of boxing's return leads the boxing weekend with ESPN+ featuring Jose Ramirez defending his WBC and WBO junior welterweight titles against former WBC champion Viktor Postol as this fight takes its third try at getting into the ring.

Ramirez will be making his mandatory title defense in a rare Top Rank (Ramirez) versus PBC (Postol) pairing and should Ramirez defend successfully, it is expected that he will unify all four titles in the division early next year against WBA and IBF champion Josh Taylor of Great Britain.
Postol will not be an easy out, even at 36, as he has the height and reach advantage and Postol does best against aggressive fighters that move forward and it was Postol that busted up Lucas Matthysse in winning by upset knockout in 2015.
In college football, this is known as a "trap game", a game that a good team overlooks a bit because a bigger game is coming up the following week.
Ramirez will try to break Postol down in the same manner as Josh Taylor did ( and Terence Crawford) and something tells me that if Postol is at the top of his game, Ramirez is going to have a difficult time, but Ramirez will answer this question- Is he potentially a special fighter or just a very good one?
Special fighters dominate in trap fights, I'm very intrigued by this one.

The co-feature pits undefeated junior welterweight Arnold Barboza against veteran Canadian Tony Luis.
Barboza was very impressive in his last fight in stopping William Silva in five rounds in Las Vegas and in Luis, Barboza faces a durable journeyman that is on a twelve fight winning streak.
Barboza looks to be a cut above Luis and if he isn't, then this might be a better fight than I suspect it may be.

In the afternoon, ESPN+ will stream another young prospect and perhaps the future of the heavyweight division as Daniel Dubois returns in his prep for his showdown with fellow undefeated Briton Joe Joyce.
Ricardo Snijders is the latest fighter with a decent record against bad opposition (Dubois' last four opponents entered with a combined record of 70-2)  to face Dubois and I'm not sure he'll last any longer than his last two opponents, who were finished in rounds one and two.
It's good for Dubois to have a little action before his big fight with Joe Joyce (Joyce had his prep last month), but I'd have my snacks ready before the fight begins.

And then there's the latest "card" from PBC on Fox filled with mismatches and past their prime boxers.
The main event looks like an incredible mismatch as Erislandy Lara defends his minor title against clubfighter Greg Vendetti.
Lara, who has become a more exciting fighter as he has aged, is more than worthy of fighting the best in the division, but he's not receiving that in Vendetti, who does own a decision win over Yoshihiro Kamegai (Kamegai retired after the fight) but was knocked out in two rounds by Michel Soro in 2018 and even putting the worthless "title" aside, Vendetti is unworthy of a nationally televised main event against someone as skilled as Lara.

The co-feature is an IBF super middleweight eliminator between former IBF champion Caleb Truax and Alfredo Angulo.
Truax, a journeyman that caught lightning on one night against an almost washed-up James DeGale to win his world championship and would lose the rematch, faces Angulo, who once was one of the most exciting fighters in the world, but five losses in seven fights before his last fight vs the equally shopworn Peter Quillin had Angulo's career firmly in the opponent category.
Angulo's exciting split decision win over Quillin allowed him this chance against Truax and should Truax stand in front of  Angulo this could be a fun fight to watch.
However, neither of these two is world title material at this stage of their career and no matter the victor, it appears that IBF champion Caleb Plant will have yet another unqualified challenger in a career filled with them.

Editors Note: Caleb Truax pulled out of his fight with Alfredo Angulo due to "effects from dehydration" attempting to make the 168-pound limit.
Vladimir Hernandez will be taking his place against Angulo.
Hernandez is 11-4 and upset 16-2 Aaron Coley in his last fight in July.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica has been chopping into my lead of late and has cut it to 94-87.

WBC/WBO Junior Welterweight Titles, 12 Rds
Jose Ramirez vs Viktor Postol
R.L: Ramirez KO 10
TRS: Ramirez Unanimous Decision

Junior Welterweights 10 Rds
Arnold Barboza vs Tony Luis
Both: Barboza Unanimous Decision

Heavyweights. 12 Rds
Daniel Dubois vs Ricardo Snijders
R.L: Dubois KO 5
TRS: Dubois KO 2

Junior Middleweights 12 Rds
Erislandy Lara vs Greg Vendetti
R.L: Lara Unanimous Decision
TRS: Lara KO 6

Super Middleweights. 12 Rds
Alfredo Angulo vs Vladimir Hernandez
R.L: Angulo KO 8
TRS: Angulo KO 7


No comments: