[FanPosted promoted by Brick.  While this does present a good recap, there are some opinions involved, but it seems like this should be a great start to some discussions about what could happen from here on out in the tournament.]

Last night's fight between Mikkel Kessler and Andre Ward concluded the first stage of the Super Six World Boxing Classic.  Here is a quick rundown:

Points:

1. Arthur Abraham:  3
2. Carl Froch: 2
3. Andre Ward: 2
4. Mikkel Kessler: 0
5. Andre Dirrell:  0
   
6. Jermain Taylor: 0

In addition, we have a title change as Andre Ward won the WBA Super Middleweight title from Mikkel Kessler.

So far, so good.  There have been great performances by Ward and Abaraham, and a healthy bit of boxing controversy surrounding the Froch-Dirrell fight and Jermain Taylor.  But all three fights have been entertaining, hard fought, and close (even Taylor wasn't doing that bad).  But what have we learned?  And remember, lets keep this in the context of the tournament rules and standings.  Abraham getting those 3 points were key against the weakest fighter in the draw.  Kessler's loss also helps him immensely.

1.  Arthur Abraham is now the favorite, Andre Dirrell has a very narrow path through.  Part of it is the draw - Abraham won't have to fight Kessler or Ward, and instead got Taylor and then gets Dirrell next.  Now Dirrell has the kind of athleticism that could give a plodding fighter like Abraham who doesn't transition from offense to defense very well.  Dirrell showed how good he can be against Froch.  But Dirrell had a hard time dealing with Carl Froch when he got nasty, when he turned the fight into a slugfest.  Whether you think Dirrell won or lost, its clear that he wants to keep the fight outside and moving because once Froch made it about clutching and inside fighitng Dirrell had a hard time.  Abraham is a destroyer, much moreso than Froch, and Dirrell will have a lot to deal with.  I have a bad feeling that Dirrell might be the guy left out of the final four because he, by far, has the hardest draw of the six (Froch, Abraham, Ward).  Kessler's lost hurts because he doesn't fight Kessler and won't get a chance to take control of his future and he doesn't fight Taylor to try and get the 2 or 3 points.

2.  Andre Ward is the truth, but don't overlook Taylor.  Jermain Taylor hung in there with Arthur Abraham, and was arguably winning the fight halfway through.  Against Carl Froch last year, he would have won the fight if he hadn't gotten knocked out.  This is not to say I am making excuses for Taylor - he gassed against Froch and couldn't handle Abraham's power.  But for all the talk about Taylor quitting the tournament, Andre Ward's win is a gift for this veteran warrior from Arkansas.  I can't imagine it has ever happened in boxing that a man coming off of two knockout losses did he get to fight for a part of a world championship.  But that is the case here.  Ward looked fantastic against Kessler, and will be the favorite against Taylor.  But Ward doesn't have the power that Froch and Abraham have, and while he's fast Taylor won't have to worry about the raw power like he did before.  Ward got away with a lot of reckless tendencies against a Kessler who clearly wasn't ready for Ward or his southpaw stance.  Taylor is a crafty veteran who's fought the best, and just as people talked about his career being over, a title shot drops into his lap.  Ward now has to deal with the pressure of defending his title under the bright lights of this tournament.  But clearly of all the fighters, Ward has now leaped ahead to co-favorite with Abraham.  He should get past Taylor, but he better not overlook him.

3.  Carl Froch, everything to lose.  Mikkel Kessler, everything to gain. Of all the fights going into this tournament, this is the one I've most been looking forward too, even though its not a a title unifier anymore.  Both have a lot to prove.  Froch won a dirty war against Dirrell, but still has to answer some questions.  He's tough, but he was arguably losing to both Taylor and Dirrell and his hold on the title is not tight right now.  Kessler is a better fighter than the fighter that fought Ward.  But he needs to figure out how to keep the fight on the outside or how to fight on the inside because if he has problems with Ward's inside punches and clutching, Froch is a dog at that.  Froch also has more power than Ward.  But Kessler has time still . . . he gets Taylor in the last fight of stage one so he ends easier than the other fighters, and this fight will be in Copenhagen.  For a title.  It will be a chance at immediate redemption for the Viking Warrior.  Froch relishes the bad guy role, but if he had problems with Dirrell, an on-his-game Kessler will be a lot to ask for.  Froch needs to make this fight dirty, like he did against Dirrell, because I think Kessler is just a better fighter right now than Froch.  If Froch loses, its bad for the tournament too because he gets Abraham in round 3.

Predictions come after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

A decade ago today, on November 20, 1999, Andrew Golota squared off against perhaps the biggest American heavyweight boxing prospect in recent memory, "Big" Michael Grant. These two men battled it out for the NABF Heavyweight Title and the WBC #1 Contender rating. The fight began promising for the "Foul Pole," but ended horifically. He out-boxed Grant all throughout, but couldn't finish what he started. This resembled Golota's magic from the Bowe figths-onslaught and out-jabbing. He was winning this fight pretty easily, leading on all three judges' scorecards, but his psyche was too weak and before you knew it it was deja vu all over again for Andrew Golota. Golota floored Grant twice in the first round, setting up an early advantage for himself and exciting the crowd. Then for the next eight rounds it was Golota all the way, dominating the pugilism. Unluckily, in round ten, that all suddenly changed. Grant started an attack on Golota and put him on the mat. After rising from that knockdown, referre Randy Neumann asked Golota if he wanted to continue fighting, and the Pole shook his head back and forth, saying no. This came as a stunner to a number of people watching the fight. After the bout, Golota told Polish press that the reason he quit was because he thought he was already losing the fight on the judges' scorecards anyway, so his judgment was that either way he wasn't going to win this contest. Golota's thinking couldn't be more opposite of reality, as he was in the lead with all the judges. When Golota destroyed Riddick Bowe three years prior to this bout, in fact the Brownsville fighter got hurt so bad that his career was in ruins; in short, Bowe was never the same again. With this fight against Grant, we saw similar things on behalf of Golota, acting as a career destroyer. He embarassed Grant by beating him all around the ring like no one had before, ruining his reputation. Heck, he lead Grant by a huge margin, just like against Bowe. Is it shocking that the man from Norristown, PA never went on to achieve what many were expecting of him-to become World Heavyweight Champion? After beating Golota, Grant was disposed of by "The Lion" Lennox Lewis and iced by Jameel "Big Time" McCline. My gut is telling me that it was Golota's dominance that took a toll on Grant both physically and mentally, and the Pennsylvania fighter was never able to climb the heights once sought for him. What's overlooked is the hurtin' that Grant took in this fight, not being able to work his skills in the way he did before. He was never the same fighting hungry lion we remembered him as from fights versus Lou Savarese, Obed Sullivan, David Izon, and Jorge Luis Gonzalez. Both of these "G" men were viewed as the next big thing in heavyweight boxing in the late 1990's, but both never won a World Heavyweight Title. This was also Golota's last fight in Atlantic City, a place he was identified with in the early stages of his career-the 90's. To this day, both fighters are still active. Neither has been able to recapture, however, the same firepower from his prime that led to a world title shot. Of the two, Golota has come the closest to winning one of the alphabet trinkets, but was on the wrong side of the judging in two title tries in 2004. Meanwhile, Grant has been facing unserious opposition which begs the question: "Is this guy fighting for achievement or for money?" The answer to this question is probably the second part. I would say that since their meeting Golota has no doubt achieved more-just being in world title fights speaks for itself and overall the Pole's pro career is filled with better reputable fights that only make him look as the better heavyeight of the two. This fight probably will never go down as an all-time great, but maybe we'll see it on ESPN Classic someday.

 

With all the speculation concerning Pacquiao's weight and body-type, I figured this short outline will bring clarity.
source-Wikipedia:

1995 - age 16 - 106lbs.
2001 - age 22 - 122lbs.
2003 - age 24 - 126lbs.
2006 - age 27 - 130lbs.
 - 2007 - De La Hoya vs. Mayweather contested at 154lbs.
2008 - age 29 - 135lbs.
2008 - age 29 - 147lbs. (vs. Oscar De La Hoya - December 6th)
2009 - age 30 - 140lbs. (vs. Ricky Hatton - May 2)
2009 - age 30 - 145lbs. (vs. Miguel Angel Cotto - November 14)

I will be honest, I don't post a a lot on here, but I couldn't pass this one up!

HERE IS THE LINK OF THE VID

I don't know how often it happens, but at the link, the two boxers somehow time each other perfectly and knock each other down.  It is pretty funny.

If this happened and both fighters were knocked out, who would be determined the winner?  Would it be considered a no contest or draw?  If you guys have similar videos post the link and I will send them to the site!

FanPost promoted by Brickhaus. The press conference is now over, and Waldo did manage to live-blog the events, which are in the comments. Most interestingly, Kalle Sauerland is threatening to call off the fight, and has filed a formal protest with the WBA, since he does not believe the officials for the fight meet the proper standards of impartiality. Namely, two of the judges are from Ward's home state of California, and the referee is American and not from a neutral country.

While most of the boxing world is still enraptured with the incredible performance of Manny Pacquiao, and his next opponent, Showtime is in the corner jumping up and down trying to get your attention.  When you decide to take a break from salivating over the possibility of Mayweather-Pacquiao, there is another huge fight this weekend for the WBA Super Middleweight belt.  Of course, I'm talking about the final fight of the first round of the Super Six, and arguably one of the most difficult to predict.

Mikkel "the Viking Warrior" Kessler (42-1 32 KOs) comes in as the favorite not only in the fight but as the one to take the whole tournament.  He is the one with the experience at 168 and has been a title holder since essentially 2004 (with a little bit of a Calzaghe break in there).  His only loss was to Joe Calzaghe, and even in defeat he looked pretty good still.  Also the loss to Calzaghe was really seen as a good thing, motivating him to work harder and improve further, where this loss could have been mentally devastating. 

However, there are a couple issues with Kessler.  He hasn't really been in the ring with great competition since the Calzaghe fight (Dimitri Sartison, Danilo Haussler, and Gusmyr Perdomo not exactly a murder's row right there).  Also some people say, one of the writers over at TSS I forget who, said that Kessler looked stiff in the fight against Perdomo, and that Ward's speed will take advantage of that.  I thought he looked pretty good dismantling the scrub in a tune up fight, but perhaps I was simply blinded by Kesssler's totally awesome tattoos.

Andre "S.O.G." Ward (20-0 13 KOs) comes into the tournament as one of the 2 prospect Andres.  Coming into the tournament he had a better resume than Dirrell mainly coming from a solid win over Edison Miranda.  Known for being a fast technical boxer, with a strikingly good ability to switch between orthodox and southpaw.  In my opinion Ward's best rounds against Miranda were when he switched it up to southpaw, landing more solid shots.  Although he is an underdog, he does have several advantages.  First, he's at home and all of the Super Six fights have gone to the home team.  Second, he was also an underdog going into the 2004 Olympics and he came out with the gold medal.

Obviously Ward has the downside of being at the top level for a short amount of time.  This would be the first time he would face anyone the quality of a Mikkel Kessler and his low KO number versus mostly scrubs likely points to the fact that he does not have much power.  Most of the issue with Ward is the unknown.  Is he really fast?  How effective will switching stances be against someone like Kessler?  Can he really take the punch from someone who has power? And so on...

Besides trying to drum up interest, the main point of this post is that I will be at the Press Conference today in downtown Oakland (Starts 11:30 AM PST).  Both of these fighters are fairly respectful of each other, so don't expect any fireworks between the two.  However, Goosen and Sauerland will probably be there so there might be fireworks there.  And its in downtown Oakland, meaning that someone might get shot, and I will definitely be asked by some hobo/druggie why all the people are in his park.  I'll try to liveblog in the comments but its dependent on there being magical wifi near city hall.  Any observations you want or any other information about the press conference I'll try to answer in the comments.

A fascinating interview with Mr. Richardson in which he not only mentions how he discovered Marg's loaded wraps, but why he was looking out for them in the first place. He mentions that, in the Cotto fight, Margarito was throwing with abandon and that his hands weren't being hurt, even though he was hitting Cotto in place that boxers try to stay away from (elbows, crown of the head, etc...). Thanks to Elie Seckbach for the video.

Golota was in his prime between 1995-1999. He showed that he was a dirty fighter vs. Riddick Bowe after being disqualified for low blows in both their meetings; the second time in stupefying fashion after a combination of punches way below the belt, appearing as if it was on purpose. He then added more of the wrong flare to his resume when he quit in tough fights against Michael Grant and Mike Tyson, showing no heart at all. Golota has taken us on a thirteen-year long boxing journey (1996-2009), with his latest outing being a defeat to also-Polish Tomasz Adamek via a 5th round stoppage in the "Polish Fight of the Century." This said, it is his durability that has kept him in the game long and it's been to his benefit. Many of you might be saying, "what are you talking about?" Well, I'm saying that there is, believe it or not, good news that has come out of the Golota story. The Pole redeemed himself for the first unfortunate Bowe bout by fighting then-IBF Heavyweight titleholder Chris Byrd respectably to a draw at New York's Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena, and the site of the "infamous" first fight with Bowe which ensued a riot. Three years later he got redemption for the second also-unfortunate Bowe battle by stopping former Irish Heavyweight Champion Kevin McBride by a 6th round TKO. For the two aforementioned fights in which he quit, Golota made a redeemer out of himself again by decision-ing heavy-handed Mike Mollo after 12 rounds in a very entertaining slugfest. In this bout Golota had a cut over his left eye for most of the contest but still fought on craftily. He also took some no joke shots from his opponent but still stayed in there and showed heart. Some say that Golota-Mollo was the best heavyweight fight of 2008. The people who still call Golota a bum to this day are mistaking, because he came back after quits and embarrassments and tried to do good. Even in his last bout with Adamek, he fought back even in that last 5th round before referee Bill Clancy finally halted it. So if he were to retire today, his career wouldn't look as bad as it would if he retired for good after the Tyson fight.  

With Million buy ppv fights like Mayweather Marquez and probably Pacquiao Cotto, Boxing, a sport that many have labeled as dead, was enjoying a period of increased popularity and exposure. Unfortunately, I realize now this brief period may be over soon and the sport may possibly even enter the darkest hour in it's history.

You see, the big names are what is keeping the sport afloat at the moment, and the biggest draws, Money May and Manny are hopefully set for what could be the most lucrative bout of all time. But what happens after Mayweather Pacquiao? Pacquiao will likely retire and the same may go for Mayweather. Without it's two biggest stars, who can carry the sport and fuel ppv buys like Oscar De La Hoya did. There are a great deal of talented youngsters but no one that is a real hot commodity

so while Mayweather Pacquiao might be the biggest fight ever, will it be the last big fight for years?

Poll

Who will be the sports next cash cow?

• David Haye
• Amir Khan
• Juan Diaz
• Other (specify in comments)
• No one?

  42 votes | Results

Scoring a fight seems far from a pefect system. It appears that everyone has a different opinion of how it should be done, how to view certain events and what deserves the most praise. I thought it would be interesting to post a question which I have been mulling over and see what the BLHers think.

 

Very simply it is this. If a boxer stands still and blocks ten punches without throwing anything back and then lands one clean punch right after his opponent's flurry does he deserve to get more credit?

It's very unlikely that he would be looked on favourably by the judges but I beleive the judging criteria rewards clean and effective punching which the boxer landing only one punch has more of. This is just a casual question but I'm interested to read people's opinions on it.

We have a chance at something special here. Last night, we all know the history that took place. It was a night to compare with any other night in boxing history. It was the night where....

Continue reading this post »