Froch v Groves: Preview and Prediction

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by Peter Broderick: It’s difficult to believe that nearly 6 months have elapsed since George Groves shocked the world by flooring Carl Froch in round one of their much anticipated first clash. The four time world champion had only been dropped once previously and although the fight was stopped controversially in the 9th round, It was one of the most exciting fights in recent history; what should have been a four round blow-out by the defending champion was turned into a grueling war, when Groves decided to ignore the script and meet Froch in the center of the ring and beat him at his own game.

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Mayweather v Guerrero: Preview

mayweather232By Peter Broderick: – “There’s no blueprint on how to beat Floyd Mayweather!”. If you’ve been watching  the Showtime series;  all access, or any other piece of media that features Floyd Mayweather of late, the preceding quote might seem familiar to you. Mayweather is never more than a couple of sentences away from reminding us that 43 have tried and 43 have failed to beat him, something he’s also been saying recently is that there’s no blueprint on how to beat him. But there is.

The Blueprint

When Oscar deLa Hoya fought Mayweather in 2007, many people thought that the Mexican won the first half of the fight. Mayweather was shipping rounds because he was finding it difficult to counter the jabs from the bigger man.

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Is Floyd Mayweather still number one?

floyd43By Peter Broderick: A premature retirement in 2007 after a stellar career, turned out to just be a 2 year sabbatical for Floyd Mayweather jr. There is no doubt in my mind, (or most other people’s in fact) that he was the best pound for pound boxer on earth when he made his announcement to hang up his gloves. But today, with 2012 drawing to a close, 3 years after his come back and with as few as 4 more fights under his belt, can he still be called the best?

If so, what is it that puts him ahead of other boxers such as Nonito Donaire, Andre Ward, Sergio Martinez, Juan Manuel Marquez or Manny Pacquiao? Let’s analyze his career since his return to the ring.

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Robert Guerrero: Every which way but lose

Image: Robert Guerrero: Every which way but loseby Peter Broderick Before Robert Guerrero’s fight against Andre Berto, I predicted a stoppage by the latter. I called the fight a mismatch and expected Berto to impose his physicality, speed and punching power on Guerrero, forcing him to try to find respite on the ropes as Berto cut him down. I was completely wrong. I didn’t give Guerrero enough credit pre-fight and I gave Berto too much.

Underestimating the Ghost: My main reason for disregarding Guerrero as a contender in this fight was that he had only recently moved up in weight, and having seen him limp to a victory over Selcuk Aydin I thought what the majority of people who watched the fight did, that Guerrero had lost his punching power during his rapid climb to welterweight.

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Andre Berto v Robert Guerrero: Mismatch

Image: Andre Berto v Robert Guerrero: MismatchBy Peter Broderick: Robert Guerrero (30-1-1, 18ko’s)’s second outing as a welterweight takes place this weekend at the Citizens Business Bank Arena against Andre Berto (28-1-0, 22ko’s). A classy boxer at featherweight and super featherweight “The Ghost” brought his weight up to fight as a lightweight and continued to look good, going on to capture interim world titles.

After a year out of the sport due to an illness to his wife he returned to the ring on the 28th of July this year, this time even bigger again having skipped two weight classes to battle for the vacant interim WBC title at welterweight. He accomplished this at the expense of Selcuk Aydin and looked relatively comfortable at 145lbs, a whole 20lbs heavier than when he earned his first title 8 years previous. But there’s a big difference between looking good against Aydin and surviving against an aggressive fast starter like Berto.

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George Groves: World Champion in 2013

Image: George Groves: World Champion in 2013By PETER BRODERICK With his next fight penned for Dec 15th against Glen Johnson, George Groves already has his sights set on conquering the world next year. “Johnson is a great name and it will be a fantastic fight to end the year with before looking at a world title shot in 2013,” Groves said as quoted by thesun.co.uk. This is a bold statement for any boxer to make especially since the titles are now heavily guarded by Andre Ward, Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham. But to me Groves looks like he is one of the fighters that is capable of backing up his claims.

I’m not saying he’s going to be world champion by 2013 or that he’d be a favourite in any of those match-ups but from what I’ve seen of him so far in his career he has all the tools in his armoury to mix it with top level fighters and is becoming increasingly skillful in the ring and looking extremely polished in spite of the fact he’s had as few as 15 fights.

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Adrien Broner: Where to next?

Image: Adrien Broner: Where to next?Like most people I haven’t seen Adrien Broner’s earlier fights, but a quick glance at his record looks like it was plain sailing for his first 19 fights with only 3 of those going the distance. Granted this record may be flattering as he didn’t fight anyone of note but in his last few fights he’s looked as impressive as you’d hope a fighter who idolizes and models himself on Floyd Mayweather should look. It’s unfair on the 23 year old to compare him to the best fighter of his generation but the similarities are unmissable.

The way he stalks his opponents using the windshield wiper defense, leaning back throwing sharp straight right hands and discarding right hand punches with a casual roll of the shoulder reminds you of only one person and while I’m hesitant to claim he’ll accomplish as much as Mayweather it’s difficult to see him being far outside the top 10 p4p rankings for the next 10 years. The only problem for the problem now is which route to take next.

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