Pacquiao-Bradley Aftermath: JD's Case For Bradley

The sports world was rocked last Saturday night after Michael Buffer's "and new" announcement in Vegas.  Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao by split decision.

Marquez vs. Ramos

Tonight Juan Manuel Marquez fights Colombian Likar Ramos at 140 lbs.

The fight's a tune-up for the Pacquiao match in November.  Marquez will be fighting above 135 pounds for only the second time ever, the first being in his notorious lopsided loss to Floyd Mayweather, Jr.  This fight will be telling of how Marquez deals with the added weight.

Problem is, if Marquez loses tonight, the fight with Pacquiao is off.

He shouldn't lose.  Ramos is lightly regarded and nowhere near the class of Marquez.  Then again, so was James "Buster" Douglas when he fought Mike Tyson, and we all know what happened then.

The fight streams on www.toprank.tv at 9 pm ET.  This is an important fight, and as with all Marquez fights, it's a must-watch.

JD's Prediction
Marquez by TKO in 5.

Update
Marquez KO'd Ramos in the first round.  Seemed like it could have been fake.  It came off of a powerful straight right hand to the chin, but not powerful enough.

Hate to say it--it could have been a setup.  Marquez may get heat for this one.

-JD

Floyd Open To Pacquiao Fight!!!

Gotta give credit where it's due--Mayweather has said that he would be willing to fight Pacquiao.  He's been ducking him for a year and a half; finally, it looks like the fight can be made.

-JD

More on Marquez-Pacquiao

Since it's become official I have yet to discuss it: in case you hadn't heard, Marquez-Pacquiao III is on for November 2011.

Pacquiao Pokes Fun At Mayweather

Manny Pacquiao rarely trash talks or makes fun of other boxers, which is really a wonder considering some of the stuff Mayweather has hurled his way.  Here we see an exception.

JD's Take

At the Pacquiao-Margarito fight I met a few guys that were rooting on Margarito.  When he got his butt kicked, they insisted that another boxer would whoop Manny.  Turned out they were talking about Floyd, and what do you know, they were Mayweather fans.  I told them I could tell they enjoyed boring fights.  They loved that!

Seriously, Mayweather gets called one of the best boxers of all time and it's crap.  The game is prizefighting people--prizefighting; nobody should respect a boxer that wins by avoiding confrontation.  It's about damn time somebody call out Floyd for having one of the most boring styles ever, and none better than Manny Pacquiao.

Go Manny!

-JD

Pacquiao-Mosley Reflections

Last night the legendary Sugar Shane Mosley took on the Filipino superstar Manny Pacman Pacquiao.  Mosley came into the ring in tremendous shape and with incredible determination.  His trainer Naazim Richardson claimed they had solved the "Pacquiao Rubik's Cube" and that they would pull off the upset.  Fans wondered.  Pacquiao came into the ring after his best training camp ever with a plan to knock his 39-year-old antagonist out, a feat that no other fighter has ever accomplished.  Fans wondered.

Rumor has it: Mayweather vs. Ortiz

As we prepare for the Pacquiao-Mosley fight tonight, it is worth noticing the buzz about Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s comeback.

Tomorrow Night: Pacquiao vs. Mosley

After much consideration, I've made some conclusions about the fight tomorrow.

Pacquiao-Mosley

Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley square off in less than two weeks in Vegas.  This one's an enigma.

Should we care?

The match up has been criticized left and right.  Shane's looked less than impressive in his last two fights.  Pacquiao's been on fire.  This fight's been plagued with mismatch headlines.

And yet I believe Mosley may do better than people think.  First, Mosley is absolutely determined to win this fight, no doubt.  He is mentally prepared.  Secondly, age may not be what has held him up lately.  In his fight with Margarito, only two years ago now, he dominated.  His previous two fights could have just been flukes.  And, still, he had his moments in each.  Third, styles make fights.  Mosley, like Pacquiao, likes a brawl.  Sergio Mora and Floyd Mayweather are not aggressors, whereas Pacquiao most definitely is.  Mosley generally does better in offensive fights.  If he's able to work through Pacquiao's barrages of punches to land a few of his own, we may have a great fight.  Mosley packs a hard punch and could probably stun Pacquiao.  That said, very few have been able to consistently withstand Pacquiao's flurries, and Mosley tends to try to tie up with guys prematurely (often just getting hit some more).  Mosley's key to victory: take Pacquiao's punches to land a few of his own and don't tie up.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao, according to trainer Freddie Roach, is in his best training camp ever.  He and Roach both have explicitly stated how foolish it would be to discount Shane Mosley.  That said, Roach intends for Pacquiao to be the first person to ever knock him out.  That's certainly not out of the question, and who doesn't love a good knockout?

If both guys follow their game plans and both have a good night (and that's a big "if") this could be a great fight.  Mosley could give a shockingly good performance, whichever way it goes.  So does JD predict the upset?  Great question.  This fight is very hard to predict.  I'll have to get back to you on that after I watch some more of Mosley's old fights.

Three years ago people would have laughed at this match up.  Mosley was a Super Welterweight and Pacquiao a Super Featherweight.  Mosley would be too much for Pacquiao.  Three years and four weight classes later, well, people are still laughing at the match up, but with the opposite reasoning.  Fancy that.

-JD

Berto vs. Ortiz Reflections

I wanted to first acknowledge that my predictions have been awful since I began this dang blog.  Maidana took the decision over Morales; Guerrera decisively won against Katsidis; Khan's evening ended after 6 rounds; and Victor Ortiz, new Welterweight champion, beat up Andre Berto in a big upset.  Hopefully my predictions get better so you readers can trust my word a little more.

But never mind that; let's talk about Berto-Ortiz.  What a fight.  Ortiz shows up "possessed," as Jim Lampley and Larry merchant both mention.  Berto gets stunned in the first round by Ortiz's power and hits the canvas twice.  Still wobbly in the second round, he sends Ortiz off balance and scores a knockdown (I did predict that both would get knocked down!).  Ortiz makes his way back ahead in the next few rounds, landing serious bombs as he pins Berto against the ropes.  Round 6 sees a somewhat recomposed Andre Berto scoring significantly against Ortiz, dropping him within the last minute of the round.  Ortiz gets up, and, facing a storm of power shots as Berto tries to end the fight, lands a hook that in turn reacquaints Berto with the canvas.  He lost that round, but in that turn of events he won the fight.  For the rest of the fight Berto tries tying up with Ortiz to avoid taking anymore big shots, but as a result loses many of those later rounds.  Ortiz takes the unanimous decision win.

Ortiz's win was all the more impressive being that he was up against both Andre Berto and all the naysayers.  His move up to welterweight seemed like a complete whim, and very few understood why he would do that.  But he was sure that the move was right for him, and he succeeded--he out-worked and out-matched his opponent, left it all in the ring, and proved us wrong.  That never should have happened.

Boxing fans have every reason to be stoked about this.  We now have some serious commotion in the welterweight division.  Victor Ortiz is all of a sudden one of the belt-holders in the division (let alone a member of the division), and Berto is still a dangerous contender in the division (and he's been claiming that the guy who fought Ortiz last night was not him).  There will probably be a rematch, meaning these two alone already guarantee more drama to come.  And don't forget about the other welterweights, a couple of whom also took note of last night's showing.  None-Other-Than Floyd Mayweather was in the crowd watching that fight, laughing off the boos he received when he showed up on the big screen.  And after the fight Ortiz received a congratulatory phone call from None-Other-Than Manny Pacquiao.

Might we have the next Leonard-Hearns-Hagler-Duran 4-way rivalry?  Maybe I'm just ambitious....
 

I am still in shock about this upset.  I can't wait for more welterweight action.
-JD