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Bad Left Hook Fight Night: Chris Byrd v. Shaun George

Junior Witter
Chris Byrd
  Timothy Bradley
Shaun George
40-4-1 Record 16-2-2
21 KO 7
Las Vegas, NV (Flint, MI) Hometown Brooklyn, NY
6'0" Height 6'1"
Evander Holyfield (UD-12)
David Tua (UD-12)
Vitali Klitschko (RTD-9)
Notable Wins Chad Van Sickle (UD-10)
Alexander Povetkin (TKO-11)
Wladimir Klitschko (UD-12, TKO-7)
Ike Ibeabuchi (TKO-5)
Notable Losses Matt Godfrey (TKO-1)
Alexander Gurov (UD-12)

 


The show starts at 9pm on ESPN2.

It's the moment of truth for Chris Byrd. If he fails to impress tonight at 175 pounds, you can more or less stick a fork in his career. As much as I really respect this decision by Byrd to take a step down in weight and see what he can muster up, he's 37 years old. Having fought heavyweights, he'll be expected to knock George out tonight.

The co-featured bout will see Georgian-born (country, not American state) Philadelphian Koba Gogoladze (20-2, 8 KO) take on South Korean Ji-Hoon Kim (13-5, 10 KO) in a super featherweight contest. Gogoladze lost to Alex Arthur by tenth round TKO last July and hasn't been seen since. Kim's most notable fight came against Makyo Sugita in 2006, I suppose.

Antonio Tarver will be in the studio, so you know I'm psyched for him to make preposterous claims about his Hall of Fame worthiness and accuse Joe Calzaghe of ducking him, and I also expect he'll dodge questions about Chad Dawson and say things like, "Well Chad Dawson got a, a, a, a, gift against Glen JOHNson, but if the money's right, I'll do it." He will not state what money, exactly, would be "right." Even if Brian Kenny asks him to.

33 comments  |  0 recs

Bad Left Hook Fight Night: Junior Witter v. Timothy Bradley

Junior Witter
Junior Witter
WBC Junior Welterweight Titlist
Ring Magazine No. 1 Contender
  Timothy Bradley
Timothy Bradley
 
 
36-1-2 Record 21-0
21 KO 11
Bradford, UK Hometown Palm Springs, CA
5'7" Height 5'6"
70" Reach 69"
Vivian Harris (KO-7)
Andreas Kotelnik (UD-12)
DeMarcus Corley (UD-12)
Notable Wins Miguel Vazquez (UD-10)
Donald Camarena (UD-10)
Jaime Rangel (TD-8)
Zab Judah (UD-12) Notable Losses  

SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHTS

CARL FROCH
Ring Magazine No. 6 Contender
(22-0, 18 KO, Nottingham, UK)
versus
ALBERT RYBACKI
(15-0, 8 KO, Katowice, Poland)


10:45 PM EDT - Showtime

Witter and Froch, the home team fighters, are both the overwhelming favorites tonight. This is the first time that "Desert Storm" Bradley has fought not only outside of the United States, but outside of the cocoon in California. As for Rybacki, he's a late substitute for Denis Inkin, after Alejandro Berrio backed out, so it's excusable in many ways that he has no hope tonight. Rybacki's only even sort of credible win is over Tony Dodson, a fighter that Froch knocked out in the third round back in 2006.

Showtime did a pretty good job salvaging this card, which was supposed to happen back in March with Froch-Inkin and Murray-Fewkes, alongside an EliteXC card. Witter getting American TV is good for everyone (particularly for Witter), and I expect he's going to outclass an underprepared Bradley. I don't think he'll knock him out, but I do think he'll dominate. And that's not a knock on Bradley. He's just not ready for someone like Witter, who is a world-class boxer.

This special edition of Shobox starts at 10:45 eastern, and we'll be here. Our new format allows you to simply enter the comments section of this post and get live updates -- no refreshing necessary. It's really awesome, and makes the whole experience ten times better than it used to be. So stop in and critique the fights with us, or just talk some jive.

NOTE: This fight is tape delayed in America, not live. DO NOT post spoilers, and if you don't WANT spoilers, I'd recommend staying away from BoxRec.com.

 

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