NOT DEAD,

JUST DVR'D!

As a die hard boxing fan it saddens me to see the sport of boxing not doing well. (I know 2009 is off to a great start, but I'm talking in the grand scheme of things). I know the usual complaints of corruption, bad fights, and too many PPV's. I agree with all of them! The Bryguy is not here to convince you that the sport he loves is perfect. I am not here to talk about the reasons why you should overlook bad fights, or even forget about corruption. What I am here to do, is tell you the great secret about how I still enjoy boxing so much. THE DVR! It's not just great for the Office, and Always Sunny in Philidelphia, but boxing too. As much as I love the sport of boxing, I am not willing to lose out on a good Friday or Saturday night out. I can go to the bar and I am guaranteed not to see Jim Lampley and Emmanuel Steward on the TV, and I have even less of a chance catching a PPV or Showtime fight on. I don't have to worry about someone ruining the outcome of the fight and best of all, if the fight stinks, just fast forward past it! I am as big a fight fan as you'll find, and I actually watch most of my fights over coffee not beer. Pavlick - Taylor I, Lacy - Calzaghe, and Cotto - Malignaggi are just few of the brawls I watched over my morning caffeine. (there is the occasional fight I watch with one eye as the room spins, but I usually re-watch those in the morning too). Not a bad way to start the day if I do say so myself. (Of course I'm talking about the fight, not the hangover!) So next time you decide to say boxing is a dying sport, take a moment and ask yourself, "am I just watching it wrong?".

PREDICTION

Someone was upset that I didn't put in my prediction last night. Obviously not a regular Bryguy reader, or he'd know my predictions are worthless. I'm usually wrong and in wrong in a bad way! Oh well here goes anyway.

SHANE MOSLEY(44-4,37ko) vs. MIGUEL COTTO(30-0,25ko)

We've already had two fights this year worth the title fight of the year, Marquez-Vasquez, and Codrington-Bika. Yet some how I feel this one tonight could very well be fight of the year and the two combatants haven't even stepped in the ring. We have the young bull Miguel Cotto facing off against the veteran matador Shane Mosley. Is Mosley too old to avoid the bull's horns? Will it be too easy for the matador to tag the bull? Is Cotto destined for greatness? Does Mosley have one more great performance left?(I'm drooling!) All these questions will be answered tonight in front of a packed house at Madison Square Garden.

I see this fight being similar to the Zab Judah-Miguel Cotto fight. The first four to five rounds will be fast paced and anyone's guess as to who is winning each round. As time goes on I see Cotto's body attack wearing down the 36 year old Mosley. Miguel Cotto has not handled speed well in the past. Light punching Paulie Malignaggi gave Cotto a good test, and Zab Judah staggered the power puncher several times. I can see "Sugar Shane" putting the bull down more than once with viscious upper cuts, but I don't think any of them will keep him on the mat. Mosley looked great in his past few fights, but lets remember who they were against, Fernando Vargas twice and Louis Collazo. No disrespect to Collazo, but he is no Cotto. There is a differance when you're fighting a guy with little to no power and one who punishes you from the second the bell rings. I also have to question how good Mosley looked against Vargas, for Frenando is no longer Ferocious! As we have seen of late Fernando's body has just been giving up on him, I think most qualified fighters could look good against him lately. Cotto on the other hand has been slowly stepping up competition over the years and has passed all tests, I see no reason why tonight will be different. The undefeated Puerto Rican reminds me of Joe Calzaghe, every one he fights talks about how ordinary he is until he beats them. I even look at him and always say the quicker guy can beat him, yet I'm always wrong. I see Cotto breaking down Shane with a body attack and stopping him late. Then gain I've been wrong before, and there was ever a fight that I could wrong with, it's this one! PREDICTION: COTTO TKO 11

TESSITORE AGREES

I will come right out and say it I'm happy that Ricky Hatton is fighting Floyd Mayweather on December 8th. I will also say that I would have preferred to see him take on Brooklyn born Paulie Malignaggi first. Malignaggi is a hand full for anybody at 140lbs to handle. I think it would have been nice to see Hatton test the waters with Malignaggi and then move on to the "Pretty Boy". I used to think Mayweather would be too much for Miguel Cotto to handle until I witnessed him slow down the much quicker Malignaggi, now I would love to see this match up. Well, I don't want to brag, but the voice of Friday "Night Fights" Joe Tessitore agrees with "The Byrguy". Check it out. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/columns/story?columnist=tessitore_joe&id=2956984

THE BIG FINISH!


If you're reading this blog you're:

A: someone I work with
B: my mom
C: a boxing fan

For those of you in the C group I'm sure you've already heard about a few of the bouts close to being signed to finish out the year. For those of you in the A and B groups I will let know what's going on(mom you don't have to pretend you know who these people are). It looks as if Chad Dawson could be taking on Antonio Tarver on September 23rd, Shane Mosley might tangle with Miguel Cotto on November 10th, and on December 8th Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton will square off. For me this makes for a great end to a pretty decent boxing year. Aside from the heavyweight division and the Jermain Taylor Corey Spinks fight, we've had a pretty good year.(I actually enjoyed my recent root canal more than those two bouts). Even if you were let down by the "Golden Boy" vs. "Pretty Boy" matchup you've got to admit it was kinda fun having boxing in the spotlight again. The first big fight being lined up is Tarver - Dawson for late September. I'm impressed that Tarver took this fight. Dawson looks to be one of the most dangerous guys in all of boxing, and I thought Tarver would duck the young lion. I'm glad it's being made, Dawson can now begin to clean up the division starting with it's most popular man, and then move on to the rest of the nursing home known as the Light Heavyweight division. Very soon after that fight ends HBO-PPV will air Shane Mosley vs. Miguel Cotto. This very well could be the best fight of the year. Mosley has looked great in last couple of performances against Louis Collazo and both fights with Fernando Vargas. Miguel Cotto has been steam rolling opponents for thirty straight bouts. This fight could very well be the one to seal Mosley's legacy or vault Cotto into superstardom. To cap off the boxing year we are going to see two unbeatens face off on December 8th in Las Vegas, when Ricky Hatton gets in the ring with the pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. This fight could be a slight let down just like the Oscar Delahoya fight, but again it will have a bunch of hype leading up to the fight so perhaps for the second time this year the general public will pay attention to the world of boxing. One thing is for sure the crowd on hand will be extremely entertaining. Those are three fights I'm looking forward to seeing along with a few others(Pavlick-Taylor, Kessler-Calzaghe, and Pacquiao-Barrera). So it looks like the Fall of '07 is trying to resuscitate the so called "dead" sport of boxing. I better get started on my predictions. Let me know what fight you're most looking forward to seeing.

EXPLOSIVE WEEKEND

When the fight between Zab Judah and Miguel Cotto was announced I was surprised at the criticism it received from fans. I for one was very excited about the idea of the thudding Cotto taking on the lightning fast Judah. Getting two guys in the ring who have heavy hands, suspect chins, and their careers on the line, genius! Slowly the criticism has faded away and people are getting excited for this brawl, however long it lasts. I do however feel this should not be a PPV fight. Definitely not a 45 dollar PPV anyway. Luckily for fight fans Showtime has an interesting card airing at the same time. It's time to let The Bryguy do his thing and make a few bad predictions. If you're a betting man you should probably stay away from my predictions, I have a terrible record.

ZAB JUDAH vs. MIGUEL COTTO

I think this fight is going to start fast and leave bodies all over the mat. I have a feeling Zab is going to come out throwing bombs the same way he did against Mayweather. The only difference between Mayweather and Cotto is a major amount of punching power. I think Miguel Cotto is going to do what he does best, chop his opponent down like a tree. As long as Cotto can deal with Zab's speed for the first few rounds he is going to cut off the ring and punish Judah with body shots. Of course I am not discounting Zab, he is a live underdog. If Zab can expose Cotto's chin early, I think he has the speed and power to put away the undefeated Puerto Rican fighter. If the fight goes more than four rounds I don't think Zab has the heart to survive the pressure of Cotto. PREDICTION: COTTO TKO 9


ANTONIO TARVER - ELVIR MURIQI

While most people are thinking there could be an upset at Madison Square Garden , my upset of the weekend is Elvir Muriqi over Antonio Tarver. I just don't think Tarver has looked good since his win over Glen Johnson in 2005. He had terrible fight against a lame duck Roy Jones, and was completely dominated against Bernard Hopkins. I can't help but think that this fight is very similar to Roy Jones Glen Johnson fight back in 2004. Jones was brutally knocked out by Tarver months earlier and decided to fight a relatively unknown Johnson in what was supposed to be a tune up fight. We all know what happened in the ninth round. Tarver's career lately is taking on the same feel as Jones. He moved up to heavyweight like Jones.(Jones fought John Ruiz, Tarver Tangled with Rocky Balboa.) After fighting at heavyweight Jones moves down and is KO'd by Tarver, Tarver moves down and is outclassed by a middleweight. Now Tarver is looking for his tune up, be careful in ninth Magic Man! PREDICTION: MURIQI UD


CHAD DAWSON - JESUS RUIZ

This is Bad Chad's first defense of his Light Heavyweight belt. I think this is an easy one, Bad Chad will prove there is a reason why he is the future of the Light Heavyweight division. This fight won't go the distance. PREDICTION: DAWSON TKO 9

HEAD TO HEAD

Once again Showtime and HBO are going head to head with big fight cards. This weekend as with most of the weekends Showtime's main event is far superior to HBO's. Showtime has the very evenly matched Manuel Marquez moving up a few pounds to take on the reigning Super Bantamweight titlist Israel Vasquez in what should be a shootout. Over on the other cable network the human wrecking ball Miguel Cotto is facing off a against unknown German Oktay Urkal, in what should be a slaughtering. Usually I am very angry, and would continue to bash the networks and the entire boxing world for airing such big fights at the same time. Today I am a little older, a slight bit more mature, a few beers deeper, and the proud owner of a DVR. These days opposing fight cards just means I will have something to watch while I have a cup of coffee and wish to god I hadn't had that last beer. My hangover feels especially good when someone takes a solid shot, cause hey, at least I'm not that guy. So, on Saturday night when Cotto is slaying Urkal, and Marquez is trading punches with Vazquez, I'll be pounding Bud Lights and looking forward to my morning coffee.