WEEKEND PREDICTIONS

I did such a bad job making predictions last weekend I decided to get this weekends predictions in early. I would just like to say that when I make predictions, unfortunatly they come from the heart. If I were betting on these predictions I would sometimes go the other way. For instance, everyone knew that Wlad klitschko was going to beat Lamon Brewster on Saturday. I knew it too, but I wanted to be daring and hope for the Brewster upset again. If I had to put money on it, I would have gone with Wlad. That being said I have more than enough boxing coming up this weekend to be wrong about! Saturday night we have five big fights, four different venues, three up and comers, two PPV's, and one great night of boxing for the Bryguy! HERE GOES:

WELTER WEEKEND
The Antonio Margarito-Paul Williams fight is taking place at The Home Depot Center in California, but airing as an undercard for the Arturo Gatti-Alfonso Gomez fight in New Jersey. HBO was willing to spend a buck and bring three great fights to boxing fans(it's about time). After sitting through two Klitchsko snooze fests, and a terrible fight in Wales(Manfredo-Calzaghe), HBO owes this triple header to boxing fans.


ARTURO GATTI vs. ALFONSO GOMEZ
(40-8,31KO'S) (16-3-2,7KO'S)
I'm back and forth on whether or not it will be a good one. I understand that almost any fight Arturo Gatti is in is a good one(this excludes his fights against Mayweather, and Baldomir). From what I've seen Alfonso Gomez is full of heart just like his opponent. He has some skill as well, but has never fought anyone with more than 25 wins. Arturo Gatti has been in the ring with some of the best. Of course Gatti is also on the downslide of his career. I'm just afraid this fight might turn out to be more Gatti-Dorin than Gatti-Ward. Ward I should mention will be working the corner for Gatti in this fight(just a bit of trivia I thought I'd throw at ya). I think Gomez has enough heart to stay in there for a few rounds, but the ref will stop it late. I think after the beatings Gatti has taken from Mayweather and Baldomir this fight is for his fans.
PREDICTION: GATTI KO 10


KERMIT CINTRON vs. WALTER MATTHYSSE
(27-1,25KO'S) (26-1,27KO'S)
Fist off, the answer is I have no idea how to pronounce Walter's last name...so don't ask! This fight will be on the undercard of the Gatti Gomez fight and has a chance of being a better fight. Kermit Cintron is was once thought to be a wrecking machine until he bumped into Antonio Margarito two years ago. That fight sent Cintron back to the drawing board and Margarito on to the ever increasing list of guys to avoid. "The Killer" took some time off and came back to knock off two sturdy challengers(Mark Suarez and David Estrada). The Estrada fight was on my list as candidate for fight of the year. I think Kermit has gotten himself back on track and is looking to make a statement on Saturday...Bryguy predicts this statement will be loud and clear. I don't know much about Matthysse other than he has a solid record against solid opponents and almost as many KO' as victories. I'm not over looking Matthysse, but he's the smaller man against a hard hitting fighter with something to prove. I think this fight will be bombs away from the get go with Cintron coming out on top.
PREDICTION: CINTRON KO 11

PAUL WILLIAMS vs. ANTONIO MARGARITO
(32-0,24KO'S) (34-4,24KO'S)
This fight should be an interesting one. For a while it looked like Margarito would take a fight with Miguel Cotto and Williams wouldn't get his mandatory shot. I guess with all Margarito's bitching about being ducked by everyone, he couldn't then turn around and duck Williams. It looks like the winner could get a shot at miguel Cotto. Two years ago the Antonio found himself in a very similar situation, on a big fight card fighting a dangerous undefeated fighter, that many thought could defeat him(Bryguy included). So now it's 2007 and that undefeated dangerous fighter is "The Punisher". Paul Williams is a big weletrweight, at 6'1" he's got a three inch height advantage over Margarito, and a nine inch reach advantage. I have never been a big fan Margarito. I think he's a solid fighter with an akward style, but I I think he's been blown up into something he's not. He would have lost his fight with Joshua Clottey if Clottey hadn't broken both his hands. Two of his four loses have come against southpaws, and "The Punisher" is one big southpaw. I think Williams is going to finish the Margarito hype train and put himself on that list we talked about.(In case you missed it, that was the list of fighters to avoid.)
PREDICTION: WILLIAMS UD

PPV BONANZA!

This weekend sports fans also have two pay per views to choose from, that's if you don't mind foking over the cash. Headlining one is John Duddy who is fighting in Ireland for the first time. The other is headlined by the aging roy Jones Jr. They're not exactly dueling, Duddy's fight card will start at 5:00pm eastern time, Jones' will begin around 9:30pm. Let's break em down!

JOHN DUDDY PPV

The first PPV is John Duddy vs. Alessio Furlan in what is going to be "Ireland's" John Duddy's first pro fight in......well Ireland. The undercards are not so great, but there are a few reasons to get this fight.

1. I have yet to see John in a fight that isn't exciting.(That's kind of a lie, I saw him put Joseph Brady down 1 minute into the fight on a sad body shot...but I was front row so who cares?!)

2. The PPV is 20 bucks, much cheaper than most PPV's that have bad undercards.

3. The fights start at 5:00pm eastern time, which makes it a perfect pregame to the HBO fight card.(Or in The Bryguy's case perfect pregame before you go out on the town. Don't worry the HBO card will be DVR'd.)

As for my prediction, I see an easy night for Duddy. His opponent Furlan has lost 3 of his last 5 fights. His two wins came against a couple of guys with a combined record of 13 wins, 65 losses, 10 No Decisions, and only 3 KO's. I'd say his handlers want his home coming to be spectacular. PREDICTION DUDDY KO 5

ROY JONES JR. PPV
The second PPV of the night will be Roy Jones Jr. vs. Anthony Hanshaw. This fight has a better undercard, but costs ten dollars more than the Duddy fight. My problem with this is that it will start around 9:30pm, which will interfere with the HBO telecast. The main event also doesn't intrigue me all that much. Jones is doing what Shannon Briggs did, and what Evander Holyfield is in the midst of doing...fight opponents they know they can beat until someone gives them a title shot. I think Jones has lost a step and shouldn't be fighting a super middleweight. I like Hanshaw, he impressed me in Showtimes super middleweight tourney, but he's still not on Jones' level. Jones isn't going to let Hanshaw near him just in case he gets tapped on his chin. He'll probably make it a boring fight and then tell everyone after what a great fight and they're both warriors.(See Bryguy vs. Bozo). I'll save $10 and go with the Duddy pregame thanks. PREDICTION JONES UD

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