Update [2006-12-2 22:16:20 by Matt Miller]: Margarito wins by UD. The judges must have been on crack, though. Margarito may have won, but the scoring was criminal. Clottey put up a great fight for a guy with a broken hand, and the fight was very close.
Kevin and I will be live blogging these two great fights tonight, right here in this thread. Kevin has picked Cotto over Quintana (though he acknowledges Quintana is a major threat) and, in an upset, Clottey over Magarito. Magarito is favored by almost 5 to 1 in the current Vegas odds, so he's going out on a limb there.
I admire that, but I don't see Margarito losing this one. It's not that I'm a huge Margarito fan. In fact, I agree that he's overhyped. But I think Arum chose this fight for a reason, and he sure as hell doesn't want to see the guy he has invested so much of his money and reputation in lose. Styles make fights, as we all know, and I think this one favors Margarito. Margarito by TKO in, say, round nine.
Scott split with Kevin on the Cotto fight, picking Quintana, and I can see why. This fight is going to be very hard fought, and I'm predicting it's the most entertaining fight of the night. I think it's basically a pick-em match, considering Cotto's problem with southpaws. Still, I'm going to go with the stronger Puerto Rican here and say that Cotto knocks Quintana out late, lets say round 10.
For the HBO fights, which Scott will be live blogging, I also don't see any big upsets in the making, though if there is one, it will be Lacy losing because he was so badly battered by Calzaghe in his last fight. I really wonder how much confidence he will have. I see Wright beating Quartey pretty handily in a UD.
For the record, I'm the Bad Left Hook fight calling champion of the world! I've only missed one call (two if you count Peter vs. Toney, but Toney won that fight). So my record is either 11 or 12 out of 13 since this blog began, depending on who you thought won the Toney vs. Peter fight. I hope to see that improve tonight.
So join us for constant live updates below the fold. We can't promise professionalism (Kevin and I will both be pretty hammered), but we do promise to be lively.