By Craig Joseph Daly: April 17th (Sunday), 2011
At The Jakarta International Expo, Jakarta, Indonesia
Chris John (44-0-2) 22KO’s vs. Daud Yordan (27-1-0) 21KO’s)
With each of the chosen fights you may pick up on the fact that I will air on the side of caution and in some cases point out exactly why I believe the champion will prevail. After all, the majority of us, gun to head would go with the heavy betting favourite but that’s what makes the potential upset exactly that. It’s all about playing the percentages or in these cases intangibles. A card shark doesn’t go all in until he or she sees the odds have swayed slightly in their direction.
The next match up is one such case whereby the gambler could be a touch more liberal when pushing their chips to the centre of the table. Long standing 126lb champion Chris John is to Indonesia what Manny Pacquiao is to the Philippines. Since his title reign began in September 2003, John has defended the belt 13 times against what for the most part has been undeserving opposition. A narrow decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez being the lone world class name on his record. During this lengthy period of defences, John has shown an inability to get his opponent out of there early and more often than not labours his way to a decision victory.
The man who will be in the opposite corner come April 17th will be his fellow countryman and boxer of eight years his junior, Daud Yordan. Yordan has also built himself a large following within Indonesia, making the fight the biggest sporting event in the country since the Games of the New Emerging Forces in 1962. National pride and sentiment can prove quite a natural performance enhancer. Just ask Marco Antonio Barrera, a 4/1 underdog prior to his trilogy with Erik Morales. It all makes you question why Ricky Hatton never locked horns with Junior Witter. Bottom line John possesses the national admiration that the younger Yordan craves. I watched Yordan in his only career defeat versus the excellent Celestino Caballero and was astonished by his resilience in standing up to such a fierce champion. I do believe he’s learned from that fight with Caballero, who himself was on the wrong end of an upset last year. Make no mistake however, Caballero is far from a spent force. The only reason he was fighting in a weight class he didn’t belong was because there were no takers in his naturally lighter division.
The irony is now that he’s lost there probably will be. Since his loss to Caballero, Yordan has rolled off two knockout victories on the bounce and appears to be heading into this fight during a purple patch. John on the other hand made hard work of his last defence against one Fernando Saucedo, a fighter that belongs about as close to a world title fight as the vendor selling peanuts in row z. Having watched the fight, I also noticed how ragged and hittable John looked. This is a criticism I would never have thought I’d be one day levelling at the champion. In John’s defence he was the aggressor over the 12 rounds and deservedly won by wide margins, but at no point did it appear as if he’d sufficiently hurt Saucedo. Obviously, as with all of the selected bouts you favour the champion, however I’m considerably more divided on this one and believe a changing of the guard may be upon us come the 17th. Upset Likelihood: Heavy