Official picks thread for this weekend's fights
by Scott Christ on Mar 19, 2009 1:12 PM EDT
in Boxing Fight Previews
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It's a pickin' time of year. I'm currently enjoying the hell out of the start of March Madness and hope everyone else is, too, but there's fights to be decided this weekend as well.
Vitali Klitschko v. Juan Carlos Gomez (ESPN, Heavyweights, 12 rounds - Klitschko's WBC title on the line)
This is the real test of whether or not Vitali is "back," I think. I picked Vitali to beat Peter and though I didn't expect he'd totally overwhelm him, that's what we got. We saw Vitali against a fighter easy for him to hit, a guy that couldn't move, couldn't get inside of his piston-like jab, and just couldn't do anything with the tall, disciplined Klitschko. Sam gave Wlad a hard run a few years ago, but did nothing with Vitali, who may still be a better fighter than Wladimir is.
Gomez (44-1, 35 KO) has waited impatiently and is talking big. These two are familiar with one another from way back. Gomez is not a big hitter, but he's got some pop, he's got style, and he's a really confident guy. Vitali will have to hammer on him pretty hard to get him to go away.
I can't pick against Klitschko, but I'll say this: A Gomez win would not shock me in the least. Vitali's bill of health will never truly be clean ever again. His back problems could haunt him in any given fight.
The winner of this one likely faces 40-year old Oleg Maskave, though Vitali wants to take an optional fight between the two mandatories. I still think he's right to want that and to feel he deserves it. He just better not get totally ahead of himself. Klitschko UD-12
Roy Jones Jr. v. Omar Sheika (PPV, Light Heavyweights, 12 Rounds)
Roy's 40. Anything can happen when a guy's 40, and Sheika hits harder than Joe Calzaghe, who beat Roy up last November worse than anyone besides Glen Johnson ever has.
But Roy is not going to lose to Sheika, who hasn't fought since September 2007, and that is his only fight since September 2005. Sheika is a pawn in Roy's B.S. game, where he loses big to someone good and F's off back to the C-show circuit to grab some wins, hoping to fool people into thinking he'll ever be Roy Jones again. He will wipe the mat with Sheika, who is nothing more than a speed bump. Talent is talent and neither of these guys are near their best at this point. 70% of Jones is a lot better than 75% of Omar Sheika, if Sheika even has that left. This is a payday for Omar and a chance to knock out a legend if he can find that punch. Jones TKO-10
BJ Flores v. Jose Luis Herrera (PPV, Cruiserweights, 10 Rounds)
Flores will leave his schedule of ducking out of big fights and fighting fat amateurs to take a chance against Herrera, who has ended all 16 of his victories by way of knockout, and has been knocked out in every one of his five losses. Herrera is live here. Flores isn't a very big puncher, although he's not feather-fisted, either. BJ doesn't care about making an attractive fight either; recall the way he completely and easily avoided Darnell Wilson on ESPN2. I hope Herrera knocks him out. I really do. Flores UD-10
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ESPN has really pimped hard the heavyweight fight…
They go all out with the flash
http://proxy.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/twelverounds
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
Vitali KO 9th… I can’t see him losing to an overblown crusierweight
Jones UD… 60% of Jones is better than most journeymen
Flores UD…Eh….
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
Vitali KO 11
Jones UD
Flores UD
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Mar 19, 2009 4:15 PM EDT reply actions
By the way
ESPN has moved the fight from ESPN to ESPN Classic, and will be showing a replay on ESPN2 at 7 pm.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
Lame. ESPN Classic = no one watching. I had a feeling ESPN would pansy out on this.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 19, 2009 7:04 PM EDT up reply actions
No HD :(
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
I didn’t expect any HD anyway.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 20, 2009 2:43 AM EDT up reply actions
I think as big as boxing is in Germany it would have been in HD. Now not so much.
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Mar 21, 2009 2:18 AM EDT up reply actions
Maybe, I dunno. ESPN isn’t sending anyone over as far as I know, just taking the feed and letting Joe and Teddy call it from Connecticut (which I hate, by the way, but it’s cost-effective and it gets the fight on my TV, so whatever).
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 21, 2009 4:07 AM EDT up reply actions
Is Teddy even going to be there?
Teddy wasn’t on FNF last night, it was Nard.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
HD in Europe is different than HD in the US
They’re not compatible. There’s like 7 different HD standards out there. Same reason last week’s PPV wasn’t available in HD in the US.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
Oh I had absolutely no idea about that
Learned something. I don’t get PPV in HD anyways so I wouldn’t have missed any difference had I not been working anyways.
Gimme 1 round!
by ItBurnzWhenIP on Mar 21, 2009 5:34 PM EDT up reply actions
Not really their fault
K2 moved the card back by an hour, so it no longer fit into ESPN’s timeslot.
ESPN Classic does have HD in some places. I remember when I had Comcast, I only got ESPN Classic in HD, but not as a regular channel. It was weird.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
Klitscko UD- I think the big fella is just too big and strong, but Gomez is no bum.
Jones wide UD-Jones won’t take chances and there’s not enough left of Shieka to fight back.
Herrera TKO6-He’s a puncher and I’ve never been too impressed with Flores; and it helps to make one pick against the grain.
I thought about picking against Flores too
I’m not a fan either, but I feel like he’s shown that his tendency is to run from punchers, and I see no reason why he wouldn’t do that again here.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
Here we go
Klitschko tko 7
Jones tko 9
Flores ud
My Picks
Vitali- KO 8 (I hope Gomez wins, but I think he’ll have trouble finding the Klit….)
Jones- UD (He is still by far the better mover and Sheika…)
Flores- TKO 9 (With his initials, no play on words necessary here….)
Does the fact a boxer doesn't switch weight divisions during their career detract from their overall P4P ranking?
Cos I'd take Hagler over most heavies in history, P4P, and also over "6 weight world champion" Oscar De La Hoya, and Marvellous Marvin never really messed about with his weight, did he?
Quick Picks
Klitschko SD 12
Jones UD 12
Flores UD 10
Bienvendos!
By the way, I want to welcome Emily (AKA, Calabacita) to the site. Calabacita lives up the street from me in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. She’s rapidly becoming a fervent boxing fan (which is great for me, since we’ve been hanging out a lot), and after a few short months of putting up with my incessant boxing-chatter—and a lot of fights watched, old and new—she already knows more about current boxing than most of my other friends. So welcome Calabacita!
by Matt Miller on Mar 19, 2009 10:34 PM EDT up reply actions
welcome indeed!
Always great to have new folks around to talk some boxing.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 20, 2009 2:43 AM EDT up reply actions
AND she’s an O’s fan. Outstanding.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 20, 2009 2:44 AM EDT up reply actions
More importantly
She’s a New Yorker.
We are growing.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
The Picks
Klitschko – TKO 9th The big man beats up the blown up crusierweight and eventualy stops him in the latter stages
Jones – UD I dont think jones has it in him to get an early KO and even if Sheika fades late (what i think will happen) Jones wont have much left in the tank to kick it up a gear to finish him
Flores – UD He gets on his bike and bores his way to a points victory
picks
Klitschko- UD12
Jones- KO6
Herrera-TKO10
I want to thank the good Lord for making me a Philip Rivers fan.
by Sam (sdsuaztec4) on Mar 20, 2009 3:11 AM EDT reply actions
my picks
Klitschko KO 10
Jones UD 12
Flores UD 12
Picks
Juan Carlos Gomez has talent but he doesn’t strike me as someone who can stop the bigger Klitschko
KLITSCHKO by UD
ROY JONES JR. by 7th Round KO
BJ FLORES 5th Round TKO
picks
Klitschko TKO 9 VK Spars with his old employee for a half hour and then drops the hammer
RJJ UD fight will stink and last forever
Herra KO 5 big money punch stops the marathon man (Please!)
Ice is my baby, so play nice. Calabacita coming aboard forced her hand. Anyway:
Klitschko KO 8
Jones UD
Flores KO 8 (Sorry!)
Look here now— If Gomez wins this fight, it is first ballot for upset of the year. I remember when Gomez got stopped by Yanqui Diaz. In the first round. Yeah.
I’m not a fan of Flores either, but I think Herrara will not just lose but will get parked. I just think this is the whole entire plot behind this fiasco.
I don’t even want to think about Roy and Omar, let alone watch it.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
Gomez-Diaz
It was a dumb decision, but to this day I think Gomez sort of took a dive in that fight. He took the fight on less than 2 week’s notice, and it was against one of his best friends. I think he was doing one of his buddies a favor by being in the fight at all, then just didn’t train or take it seriously. Gomez has taken flush shots from some serious punchers and not gotten hurt, it still doesn’t make much sense to me that Yanqui Diaz would have actually hurt him unless he just wasn’t paying attention.
Vogt early, Vogt often.
Yeah but
Taking a fight on two weeks notice just doesn’t impress me as much with a southpaw heavyweight. If anything, it could’ve screwed Diaz as much as Gomez, being suddenly asked to fight a mirror. Anyway, Yanqui sure didn’t look like a buddy when he hammered him with that right hand. No offense to JC, but he was just an all around-immature sort of guy for many years… if he had six months to prep for Diaz, I’m still not convinced that he would’t have spent five-and-a-half of them clubbin’ and bumpin’.
I do think Gomez is a world class boxer and looked very good at cruiserweight, and when you add southpaw to that it’s tough to rule his chances out completely. But it’s going to be impossible for him to get a decision against Vitali K in Germany. Can he knock Vitali out?
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
Vitali hurt Lennox
And took Lennox’s best. It would take a miracle for Gomez to hurt him and not get his brain scrambled planting his feet long enough to wind up and try and nail Vit like that. So KO is out the window. His only hope is to make like RJJ vs John Ruiz and boxboxbox to a decision. Here’s the problem. Vit doesn’t suck.
Vitaly crushing KO round 5
Gimme 1 round!
His best?
I figure that Lenny’s best was two or three years south of the Klitschko fight.
Did Vitali do well? Yeah. Was he winning at stoppage time? Probably (on my card he was). Was Lennox dodgy about the rematch? Yep, sure was. But those shots weren’t the best I’ve seen from Lewis by far. Well maybe the best that he had left at that point.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
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