Marcos Maidana vs. Victor Cayo

Marcos Maidana vs. Victor Cayo

This fight was exactly as advertised these two competitors put on a slugfest for as long as it lasted. Maidana coming off a punishing knockout victory over highly regarded Gold Boy prospect Victor Ortiz. Maidana (28-1 27 KOs) has cruel power in both hands and has knocked out almost every one he’s gotten into the ring with. His skills are a little raw but what he lacks in technical skill he makes up in refined power. He’s extremely explosive and I honestly see the top of the 140lb division avoiding him.

Even though Victor Cayo (24-1 16 KOs) before the fight was undefeated he was untested by quality opposition. Maidana was the real test of where he stood as a fighter. Cayo came out and had good movement was able to punch at diverse angles. He also had good hand speed that kept Maidana at bay for the first round and most of the 2nd round until Maidana connected with a left hook after the bell rang and Joe Cortez the referee counted it as a knock down. Cayo showed the world he has exceptional talent as an athletic boxer.

Outside of some technical flaws that were extremely apparent when Cayo was in danger or getting hit. Cayo kept his hands near his waist and against a knockout artist like Maidana that’s a huge mistake. After clubbing Cayo for a couple rounds Maidana ended the affair with a crushing body blow to the solar plexus instantly knocking out all the air from Cayo’s lungs. Cayo rolled around on the ring in obvious pain from the blow. You could see him gasping for air once the punch was delivered.

Another one bites the dust against Maidana’s awesome power blows. Hopefully the next fight for Maidana has a bigger name and is a significant fight in the 140lb weight class. This class is full of talent composing of names like Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, and Amir Khan. I don’t blame for one second any of those fighters if they don’t want a part of Marcos Maidana anybody with that type of power should be feared amongst his peers. Although in my opinion I feel either one of the three names I mentioned could beat Maidana but he always has the punchers chance and could end it at any moment.


Vic.P

Andre Dirrell vs. Arthur Abraham

Weekend Round up for Boxing.

This weekend was absolutely awesome for the world of boxing. We had some surprising performances from young and talented athletes. The majority of us thought we had clear cut winners on the matchups this past Saturday. Although on any given night anyone can be beat by any contender ask Buster Douglas.

Andre Dirrell vs. Arthur Abraham

I was pleasantly astonished with the show young Andre Dirrell displayed against the brutal veteran Arthur Abraham. Dirrell (19-1 13 KOs) not nearly having the experience the then undefeated Abraham (31-1 25 KOs) has in his professional career. Dirrell exploited several weaknesses that several of us didn’t even know Abraham had.

For being undefeated Dirrell made Abraham look extremely ordinary. Dirrell’s hand speed, lateral movement, and counter punching seemed to baffle Abraham. Styles make fights and if it wasn’t for the Super Six tournament then I doubt “King” Arthur’s camp would’ve chose to select Dirrell as an opponent.

Through out time we’ve seen the straight up European boxing style have difficultly with slick and athletic American boxers. Perfect example is this fight and the fight between Oakland native Andre Ward and Denmark native Mikkel Kessler. Where Ward just thumped Kessler for 11 rounds until one of the cuts Ward gave Kessler caused the fight to go to cards. Kessler had numerous cuts that night most from punches but some from accidental head butts.

There is no doubt that Abraham was frustrated by Dirrell’s movement and speed. It was clearly depicted when he started throwing wildly in the 10th and 11th round. And then he epitomized his frustration by punching Dirrell after he slipped onto his back side. Of course Showtime replayed the blow every opportunity possible and it was clear that it was an illegal blow. It was only fitting that the referee called the fight and handed Abraham a disqualification for his first loss.

This shouldn’t take away from what Dirrell did to Abraham Dirrell looked like the dominate professional against an under skilled amateur. Dirrell definitely turned the tournament upside down with this win now the American’s even up the wins with the Europeans. Next up for the Super Six tournament is a European show down undefeated WBC world champion Carl Froch against former WBA super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler on April 24th.




Vic.P

Taking a closer look

Pacquiao vs Clottey


This past weekend HBO replayed the mega fight between pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao and Ghana’s pride Joshua Clottey. I sat there for a second time and watched Manny be Manny and unfortunately watch Clottey be Clottey. If anything could’ve been a tell all precursor to the lopsided event to come was the pre fight weigh in. After the initial weigh in both fighters meet in front of the scales face to face for the battle of intimidation. In the Mike Tyson documentary Tyson claimed this was the first battle to win and once he won the intimidation factor the fight would already be over. In this particular post weigh in stare down Pacquiao met Clottey in front of all the people and cameras and proceeded to work the intimidation factor. Which in seconds of this Pacquiao breaks the tension with a smile which causes both fighters to start laughing and everyone that seen the fight knows Clottey’s performance was just as laughable. Keep in mind that Joshua “GrandMaster” Clottey is not a bad fighter he has wins over good boxers like Diego Corrales and Zab Judah. Clottey also has debatable losses against Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto both fights being for championship belts. Cotto literally only beat Clottey by one point in there fight it came by way of knockdown in the first round and we all remember what Pacquiao did to Cotto. Pacquiao completely out classed him every single round. What I’m getting at is Clottey isn’t to blame completely for the disappointing performance it was Pacquiao completely out classing another top fighter. Everyone knows that he is a defense first fighter which works well against slower and stamina lacked fighters. But Manny Pacquiao has neither of those qualities in his fighting arsenal. Now by compustats, a system that tracks punches thrown, landed etc…, the fight wasn’t even close Pacquiao destroyed Clottey by a landslide.
Punch Stats

Pacquiao
1,231 Punches thrown
246 Connected
20% Percent
549 Jabs Thrown
14 (3%) Jabs Connected
682 Power Thrown
232 (34%) Power Connected

Clottey
399 Punches thrown
108 Connected
27% Percent
162 Jabs Thrown
26 (16%) Jabs Connected
237 Power Thrown
82 (35%) Power Connected

Pacquiao was recorded throwing 1,231 punches that’s roughly 103 punches per round just banging away at Clottey’s guard. Pacquiao literally through more power shots than Clottey through all together. This just goes to show that it wasn’t just a bad performance by an overestimated figher in Clottey. It was the complete opposite of that it was an overwhelming stellar performance by the best boxer in the world Manny Pacquiao. To the near 51,000 people that crowed Cowboy Stadium in Dallas that day I apologize as a fan for the boring fight but Dallas you were treated to a full movie story of how dominate Pacquiao really is. Boxing for the sake of the fans we have to make the Mayweather – Pacquiao happen although I honestly believe the fight would be extremely similar to the Clottey-Pacquiao fight. In the sense that Mayweather is a defense first fighter and Pacquiao would have to figure out how to break Mayweather down otherwise welcome to snore town! If I had to make a fight that would be an all out epic brawl ending in knockout for the fans it would be Mosley-Pacquiao!

Vic.P

UFC OUTSOURCING?

UFC OUTSOURCING?



Before I get to the main point of this splatter of words that is called a blog, let me remind all readers about this Saturdays UFC 111, whose fight card contains three fights with real good potential. GSP defends his title against Dan Hardy, should be an exciting match up. You also have a heavyweight match up between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin, this fight is for the Interim Heavyweight Championship, according to UFC president Dana White, the winner of that match up is supposed to square up against Brock for the title, but with the UFC you never know, Brock might come down with a cold or something or he might just decide he doesn’t wish to fight which will inurn mean more interim matches ..blah blah blah, he needs to lose!. Also on the UFC 111 card is a another Welterweight matchup between Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch should also be exciting.

Regardless of my opinion about Dana White and his weird fight scheduling, I have to respect him as a business man. Due to the horrid Economical Situation even the worlds self proclaimed fastest growing sport has taken a hit in the attendance of their fights within the states. Due to the high popularity of the sport there has been a high demand for more International UFC events. The UFC piloted the idea a few times by holding events in Europe. All the events where sold out within the first day of ticket sales. The last UFC, 110 was held in Australia and that also sold out. The UFC figures that it can sell out arenas outside of the US and still get all those people in the states that did want to attend the event, will end up purchasing the PPV anyway. So in retrospect they are raking in mad cheddar! It is also fair that the UFC hold events in other countries, being that over 50% of the fighters in the UFC are international fighters, the majority from Brazil and Japan.

After Saturdays UFC event that will be held in New Jersey, the following three UFC title bouts will be held on foreign soil. In my opinion the biggest International UFC event to date will be held on April 10th 2010. UFC 112 will be held in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, yes this is the middle east! The card will also host two tile bouts with two huge names in the UFC and in the world of MMA. Anderson Silva and BJ Penn will both be defending their belts. Following UFC 112, UFC 113 is set to be held in Canada with a re match between Machida and Shogun. It is expected that the winner of that bout will face the Winner of Evans vs Jackson… oh yes I forgot to mention that RAMPAGE IS BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK MAY 29th is official Evans VS Rampage! Never the less it has been a while that there has been this much anticipation for MMA events especially in the UFC, as a Fan I am very pleased with the improvements the UFC has made in their fight scheduling, by being fair to the fighters and fans, they need some improvement but its getting there. And as a Business Student I truly do admire the way the UFC’s is handling the venues of their fights and once again making money and keeping fans around the globe pleased


Amarjit “The Fighting Guru” Singh