Quick Hits

Rising stars are emerging in the sport of boxing, and some old ones are showing up again. Yuriorkis Gamboa is one those fighters I can't wait to see again. He has unbelievable skills and athleticism. He is extremely fast, with a decent chin but has a habit of keeping his hands down and relying on his freakish speed and reflexes which creates opportunities for opponents to capitalize on his flaky defense. An Olympic Gold Medal, natural ability, and a questionable defense all make for entertaining TV.

I'm also looking forward to David Haye's Heavyweight debut. The fight against Maccarinelli was extremely entertaining. Haye showed fast hands and power in his knockout victory. I would like to see Haye start cleaning up the pathetic Heavyweight division starting with the unretiring John Ruiz.

Vernon Forrest's upcoming fight against the contender star Sergio Mora should be interesting. Forrest has looked extremely sharp since his latest comeback. In his last two fights, especially against Carlos Baldomir. His two years away from boxing have preserved his skills, and he appears to be 100% healthy again.

Miguel Cotto is already a star with wins against Zab Juddah and Shane Mosley. His fight against Antonio Margarito promises to be a "Fight of the Year" candidate. It will be an all out brawl pitting two of the sport's toughest fighters against each other. They both throw punches in bunches, have power in both hands, and great chins.

Lastly, Calzaghe vs Jones is another fight that I'm anticipating. It should be an extremely technical fight against two of the greatest boxers of my era. Sure Roy is past his prime, but he still shows flashes of his former greatness. The only question is can his chin hold up?

Byrd vs. George

The outcome of this fight left me with mixed emotions. I've never really liked Chris Byrd, but I admire his determination and passion for the game. I thought it was time for Chris to hang up the gloves after his fight with Klitchko, now I think the boxing commision should step in and ensure he hangs them up.

Byrd looked lethargic, slow, and weak against the very average Shaun George. He was knocked down in the opening round and wobbled again towards the end of the round. He was noticeably slower then George, and looked uncoordinated and old. I'm sure the weight loss had something to do with it, and yes, there are adjustments that need to be made moving from Heavyweight to Light Heavyweight, but Byrd looked outclassed. The fight ended with a knockout of Byrd in the 9th round.

To add insult to injury, Byrd dislocated his shoulder during the knockout. Althougth I haven't been a fan of Byrd, I have respect for what he's accomplished and hope he makes the responsible decision to retire and not follow in the footsteps of former champions like Holmes, Holyfield, and Ali who fought well past their prime.

Witter vs Bradley

What an upset! The fight was pretty uneventful if you don't count the knockdown in round 6, but the results were surprising. It's definately the front runner for Upset of the Year. Witter looked old and unmotivated. He attempted to box from the outside, and tied up Bradley whenever he got close. It was pretty effective for the first 4 rounds, but he ran out of gas in the second half of the fight. He really looked unmotivated during the entire fight, which was parallel to Bradley, who looked extremely focused and unintimidated.

Bradley is a good young figther with fast hands and a big heart. He comes in shape for all of his fights, but I don't think he'll hold on to the title for very long. He doesn't appear to have a whole lot of talent. He mainly relies on his heart, and relentless, brawling style to win fights. Look for him to cash in on the title with a big money fight against Ricky Hatton.

As far as Witter, I'm not sure what's left of his career. I can't imagine there are too many fighters lining up to fight him now. There can't be alot of options left for an old, unorthodox, and boring fighter.

Dream Fight - Heavyweights

Ike Ibeabuchi vs Sam Peter. They both hail from Nigeria, and were both at one point rising stars. Ibeabuchi's career was derailed in 2001 after he was convicted and imprisoned for the rape of an exotic dancer. Ike was truly talented.



He outboxed and KO'd Chris Byrd when Chris was undefeated and in his prime.



He also won a Unanimous Decision against David Tua in a fight that can only be described as extremely violent.

Since then, a new "Nigerian Nightmare" has come on the scene. Sam Peter. I have to admit when I first saw Sam I wasn't too impressed. You could tell that he had alot of power and a clubbing, brawling style. He lacked in technical skills, but showed promise.



He made a believer of me when he KO'd the slick boxer Jeremy Williams in the 2nd round of their 2004 fight.

Peter further impressed me when he outboxed the extremely slick veteran James Toney. He not only outboxed him, but he did it twice. He beat him even more convincingly in their 2007 rematch.

So let's here it who do you think would win this dream match? What Heavyweight matchup would you like to see?

De Lay Hoya vs Forbes

Ok. So it went just as I expected. Forbes gave a great effort, but of course he came way too short of success. Two of the judges had it 119/109 for De La Hoya. De La Hoya looked pretty good and resembled his old self. Forbes acted more like a sparring partner for most of the night. He consistently initiated “handshakes” and nodded when De La Hoya had a good round. De La Hoya flurried when he got Forbes against the ropes, and did a lot of shoe shining to get the fans excited. Forbes was not busy enough during the fight, he threw and landed less punches throughout the fight, but landed the more effective punches until the second half of the fight. The bottom line is Forbes is a slick, technical fighter, but was just too nice to capitalize on his opportunity.

What’s next for De La Hoya? Hopefully after the Mayweather fight in September (which I don’t think is official yet, but it probably will happen) he will fight the winner of the Cotto/Margarito fight. A fight with Cotto would be a mega fight that certainly would rival his fight with Trinidad. It would also be a great way to make up for his performance in the championship rounds of that fight where he basically gave the fight away to Trinidad.

The Golden Boy's Latest Endeavor

I can’t say I’m really excited for Oscar De La Hoya’s fight with Steve Forbes. Both are past their primes, but even in his prime Steve was never at the level of Oscar. It’s a quick pay check for Oscar, but he could have had a better line up for the first fight in his swan song.

How bout, Zab Judah, Miguel Cotto, then a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr.? I personally don’t think he deserves to be called the Golden Boy any more. These days he’s spending more time promoting fights then participating in them. I guess I’ll reserve the rest of my opinion until after May 3rd.

Fight Night: Round 4?

Looks like there's a new "Fight Night" coming out June 6th. It's now called Don King's Prizefighter. Here's a link to the official website and a trailer I found on YouTube. It looks legit. I read they got rid of the punch via axxis, and now you have to use the buttons like the original Fight Night, but it should make the action more fluid.

Prizefighter Official Website