By Kristofer Williams Sr: In this first installment of KEEPING SCORE, I will be “judging” and critiquing some of the recent news and trends in the sport of boxing. Round by round for all 12 rounds, I will score it the way I see it.
Round 1 – The “Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire put on an impressive first four rounds against former IBF champ Jeffrey Mathebula on Saturday before cruising the final eight to secure the IBF 122-lb belt and add it to his WBO strap. After knocking down Mathebula with the same vicious left hook that concussed Fernando Montiel, Mathebula got up just in time to get saved by the bell and next thing you know we had a fight that turned into a cat-and-mouse chase. After Mathebula felt Donaire’s power, he changed his gameplan and back pedaled the rest of the fight while sticking to his jab in order to thwart Donaire’s advances. It reminded me of what Manny Pacquiao does to his opponents when he makes them taste his power, in the process turning them into mice running for cover…
Round 2 – Tyson Fury has the name that looks good, but does he have the game? His one-sided five round TKO victory over Vinny Maddalone was nice, but Fury wasn’t tested. His chin wasn’t tested. And his skills weren’t tested. Fury has the length and the size to give either of the Klitschkos problems but I don’t see him having the ring savvy to hurt them. I can see Fury battling David Haye if Haye gets past Dereck Chisora. A win over Haye would give Fury the inside track in getting one of the K-brothers. The 23-year old Fury vs a Klitschko is definitely a fight that is now marinating…
Round 3 – Wladimir Klitschko’s win courtesy of the overmatched Tony Thompson was nothing special as it was expected. This was what you call the ultimate cherry-pick in order to pad records, break a sweat, make some dough, and stay fresh…
Round 4 – Juan Manuel Marquez has chosen lightly regarded Filipino Al Sabaupan as his July opponent. In the Philippines, Sabaupan is simply known as a Manny Pacquiao look-a-like. Both Pacquiao and Sabaupan bear a striking resemblance to each other, from the mustache all the way down to the hairstyle. I guess if you can’t defeat the Pacman, you might as well try to beat someone who looks like him. There is still no word on whether or not this is guaranteed to increase self-confidence. What we do know is this: Sabaupan is the ultimate cherry-pick in order to pad records, break a sweat, make a little dough, and stay fresh…
Round 5 – I have this really good feeling that the Haye-Chisora post fight brawl after the Klitschko-Chisora fight earlier this year is going to be more electrifying than the Haye-Chisora fight this coming Saturday. Haye is going to show Chisora why Chisora has lost three out of his last four bouts…
Round 6 – Danny Garcia’s father, Angel, continued his trash talk and race-related commentary earlier this week in hopes he can help his son build confidence against Amir Khan. Khan reacted by saying he would let his fists do the talking this Saturday night. I bet he does exactly that…
Round 7 – Adrien Broner is taking on a no-name from the U.S. by the name of Vicente Escobedo instead of taking on IBF 130-lb titleholder Juan Carlos Salgado or WBA 130-lb undefeated titleholder Takashi Uchiyama. Indeed, Escobedo is the ultimate cherry-pick in order to pad records, stay fresh, break a sweat, and make some dough…
Round 8 – Kell Brook, whose career has been carefully matched and nurtured in order to someday get him a title shot in the United States, learned in his fight against American Carson Jones that there are plenty more fighters between 140-147 lbs that will give him a run for his money. When you cross the Atlantic, stiffer competition awaits. Look at Mike Jones…
Round 9 – Speaking of Jones, another up-and-coming welterweight who has been carefully matched in order to get him a title shot, who learned the hard way when he failed to take Randall Bailey seriously. Now it’s back to the drawing board for Jones who, as recently as 2011, was talked about as a possible opponent for Pacquiao…
Round 10 – Why is it that VADA has already caught three boxing cheaters in a span of a couple months while USADA hasn’t caught anyone since Hector was a pup? The answer is Carbon-Isotope Ratio testing and what this means to both VADA and USADA…
Round 11 – There are 275 million reasons why Pacquiao vs Mayweather hasn’t happened. The biggest one involves the math: $40 million to Pacquiao, $100 million to Floyd, and $135 million to the investors and promoters. Go figure: if there is a race of people who doesn’t suck at math, its Asians…
Round 12 – How relevant is Floyd Mayweather in the grand scheme of things? Since his incarceration, the only news to come out of the Floyd Mayweather Jr front involves when his uncle and dad will come out to visit him. Other than that, there is hardly any Mayweather publicity in the boxing wire. Meanwhile, Pacquiao announces a trip to the Holy Land and his plans on meeting Bob Arum for an hour in Los Angeles, and just like that a multitude of articles hit the worldwide web. It makes you think about some things, doesn’t it?
The Decision: Haye over Chisora; Khan over Garcia.
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