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

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.