WEEKEND PREDICTIONS

We have decent entertainment to look forward to this weekend. A heavyweight showdown, that has an interesting back story. A Junior Middleweight title fight, two guys about the size of children, and I will assume a ton of dollar drafts. Overall, I'd say not too shabby!


Vic Darchinyan vs. Nonito Donaire
(28-0, 22ko's) (17-1, 10ko's)

I've read that some people think Donaire is slick enough to give Darchinyan some trouble. I am not one of those people. Everyone needs to stop thinking about how Christian Mijares upset Jorge Arce. I think Darchinyan is a much more dedicated animal. I'm even gonna as far to say he's like a mini Miguel Cotto. He breaks his opponents down and punishes them until the ref feels they've had enough. I just hope no one ends up in a coma this time.
PREDICTION: DARCHINYAN KO 8


Travis Simms vs. Joachim Alcine
(25-0, 19ko's) (28-0, 18ko's)

This should be a pretty good scrap between two evenly matched players. Both men are undefeated against pretty good opposition, and have a decent knock out ratio. The difference is Alcine fought three times last year, and Simms has only fought once in three years. Of course that one time was is absolute annihilation of Jose Antonio Rivera. Simms showed no sign of ring rust and looked as if his best years were still in front of him. Simms is also a southpaw, and tricky one at that. For that reason I have to go with Tremendous Travis in a late fight TKO.
PREDICTION: SIMMS TKO 10


Wladimir Klitschko vs. Lamon Brewster II
(48-3, 43ko's) (33-3, 29ko's)

Just like three years ago, on paper Klitschko should destroy Brewster. The only problem with that is "Dr. Steelhammer" has no chin, and a bit of a mental block. I think if he gets tapped by Brewster he'll have a panic attack just like last time. Brewster may not be the most talented heavyweight, but he sure is the most exciting. He's like the Arturo Gatti of the big boys, he's even got Buddy McGirt in his corner. Which now that I mention that may not be such a good thing. It seems like Buddy has been in a lot of losing corners lately. Anyway, back to the fight at hand, I don't see Wlad taking any chances of letting history repeat itself. He is going to fight the same way he did against Sam Peter, jab and grab. I could be wrong, but I'm gonna say this fight will go the same way the Brewster Krasniqi fight went. Brewster is gonna get slapped around for most of the fight only to land a few bombs and walk away with the win. Brewster knows if lands a hard punch or two Wlad will start to unravel.
PREDICTION:BREWSTER KO 11

NEW ENGLAND GOLDEN GLOVES

Two years ago I got to do a story on the New England Golden Gloves tournament in Lowell Massachusetts. It was one of the best boxing events I've been too. There were Olympic hopefuls(Demetrius "Boo-Boo"Andrade, Edwin Rodriquez) and guys just trying to prove they could compete on this level. Many good fighters have come through the Lowell Gloves including Lowell's own Micky Ward, Rocky Marciano and current Cruiserweight contender Matt Godfrey. If you ever get a chance to catch one of the shows I highly recommend it.
Let me know what you think of the story.

A HAYE'K OF A FIGHT
VS.

It was just announced that hard hitting slugger David Haye(19-1,18ko's)will get his shot at Jean-Marc Mormeck's(33-3,22ko's)WBA and WBC cruiserweight titles on September 28th. To me this fight has the potential to be better than any heavyweight fight this year. I have said for a while now that the cruiserweight division is what the heavyweight division used to be. It's a bunch of great boxers, that are all in good shape, and they all have KO power. Most importantly, unlike the heavies, they're willing to fight each other, this fight proves that. David Haye is a monster puncher with a good record, a guy like this would have been avoided as a heavyweight. Mormeck is coming off a hard fought twelve rounder with O'neil Bell and easily could have taken on a lesser opponent. This fight is going to be an all out war. I'm not sure Mormeck knows how to take a backward step.(Until the late rounds when he's winded of course.) Haye is like a much less sloppy version of O'Niel Bell. He stalks his opponent cutting off the ring with his right hand cocked looking for his patented "Hayemaker".(He calls it that not me, although being the tool I am, I kinda like it.) I have a feeling Mormeck could be in trouble in this fight. From the looks of it David Haye is a beast in the cruiserweight division. I will however mention that everyone thought the same thing about Edison Miranda in the Middleweight division. That is until Kelly Pavlick showed us that Miranda couldn't fight backing up. We will have to wait till September 28th to see if Haye can fight backing up. If HBO and Showtime pass on this possible fight of the year they may receive a very angry letter from "The Bryguy", and trust me they don't want that. As a side note if you've never seen David Haye fight look him up on Youtube, they have a few of his fights.

"GOLDEN" OPPORTUNITY

As a boxing fan I would like to give a big shout out to Bob Arum and Oscar DeLahoya for putting their differences aside, and giving the fans a chance to see some great fights. Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions had been stuck in court fighting over the rights to superstar Manny Pacquiao. Both promoters had signed contracts from the Pacman, but after some further discussions have decided to split the promoting duties, and pave the way for some major brawls. The first fight under the new marriage will be a second fight between Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera. Just for the record I would prefer a second fight between Jaun Manuel Marquez and Pacquiao, but hopefully that fight will be made right after. This could also pave the way for potential match ups between Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley, and a number of match ups including Pacman, Joan Guzman and Humberto Soto. So once again I would like to say thank you to Golden Boy and Top Rank promotions for finally giving back to fans.

GO HOME HATTON!


I mean that in the nicest possible way. I like Ricky Hatton, as you can see by my picture located on the left.(Excuse my double chin, it sneaks up on me sometimes.) I mean seriously, how can you not like a guy who wears a shirt that says Ricky Fatton?(That's what people call him when he puts on weight between fights.) Anyway, this past Saturday I cut the drinking a little short and ventured to the lounge to enjoy the Ricky Hatton- Jose Louis Castillo fight, which I had DVR'd. Leading up to the fight all people were talking about was their displeasure in Ricky's two past performances. Some blamed Ricky's level of opposition, others said Ricky was overrated. I say Ricky's always been Ricky! The difference is when he's fighting in the states the crowd is not behind him. When he fought Kotya Tszyu he packed an arena full of rabid fans wanting nothing more than to see their man Ricky maul whoever Else was in the ring. This past weekend in Vegas Jim Lampley kept talking about the atmosphere, and how passionate the Hatton fan base was. There were an estimated 13,000 fans attendance. While they were loud and entertaining, I would much prefer to have that be 30,000 loud entertaining fans! Watching Ricky Hatton fight in Vegas is like watching the Red Sox play in Toronto. I'll watch the games, but complain that nobody appreciates what they're seeing. I am begging the promoters, if Mayweather and Hatton fight, PLEASE make the fight in England. Mayweather doesn't have any fans anyway! So for the sake of boxing, Ricky please go home!
Just as a side note: you could rewrite this article and put Joe Calzaghe's name in the place of Ricky Hatton.

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

FIGHT WEEK HYPE

So once again I state that I'm very excited about this fight. Not just for the fact that I think it should be a good scrap, but also because everyone else is excited about this fight. Not just freaks like The Bryguy, who write blogs about their favorite sport. It's the people who wouldn't normally care about a fight that are getting me amped up. Today I read two articles in ESPN the magazine, and one in SI about the fight. Both magazines had the fight featured on the front cover, which is unheard of these days. After all that i didn't think I could be more into this fight, but wait there's more! I worked an early day and went home for some delicious home cooking, and some overdue vegetables. On my way home I decided last minute to stop and do some food shopping. Probably not the best idea when you're not sure exactly what you need. I found myself wondering the supermarket aimlessly. Suddenly I was in the magazine section and looking at me square in the face was the new Ring Magazine. In bold letters across the front it said "25 PAGE SPECIAL SECTION GOLDEN BOY VS. PRETTY BOY THE WORLD AWAITS". My first thought was I wish I had renewed my subscription to The Ring. My second thought was I don't have the money for this and yet I'll buy it anyway. As I stood in line I realized I didn't need most of what I had put in my basket. Then the cashier asked "who you taking". It took me a minute to realize what he was talking about, when I noticed the magazine was on top of my groceries. So, of course I replied "Mayweather". The cashier then came with "ya, I think Delahoya's been out too long". That was pretty much the extent of the conversation, but it was a first for me and a much better chit chat than, "nice day out huh". So, my friend the cashier said he is going to have to work during the fight, which I honestly felt bad about for some reason. I will not be working and I will enjoy sharing in the excitement with all the people who will probably never get excited about boxing again after May 5th. Of course that's not me, I get excited about every fight.