Think hard about how many boxers in 2010 have taken a legitimate chance in a highly risky fight. There’s the Super Six tournament, Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley, Sergio Martinez-Kelly Pavlik, and some a tier or two below that like Chad Dawson-Jean Pascal or Pongsaklek Wonjongkam-Koki Kameda.
So, while I welcome Showtime’s bantamweight tournament (two participants, Abner Mares and Yonnhy Perez, pictured at right via Golden Boy) and Amir Khan-Marcos Maidana on HBO, I kind of wish they weren’t both on Dec. 11. I’ve got a DVR these days, but not everybody does. And I guess I’d rather get a few risky bouts on the same night than not at all. You just wish with a whole year to put on bouts like this and so few occasions where it happened, they didn’t end up competing.
I’ll discuss all those bouts at length more below, but because I’ve missed two weeks of fights in the works, we won’t be going in order of importance. We’ll just go division by division.
Heavyweight
Division champion Wladimir Klitschko plans to be back in December. David Haye (chicken/is fighting Audley Harrison Nov. 13) isn’t an option, nor is Alexander Povetkin (has a fight against an unspecified opponent Oct. 30/trainer Teddy Atlas said he isn’t ready) or Tomasz Adamek (has a fight in December already/is being lined up for the spring against a Klitschko). That doesn’t leave a whole lot. Reported potential opponents include Odlanier Solis, Dennis Boytsov, David Tua and Jean-Marc Mormeck. That’s the order of my interest. Solis, outside of Haye, might rank a as the most legit threat to either Klitschko, not that anyone truly is MUCH of a threat.
Adamek’s fight in December is on the 9th, and it’s against Vinny Maddalone. I can only figure that, after the scare against Michael Grant and after Lance Whitaker crapped out in his last fight, Adamek’s team doesn’t want to take any chances of him getting knocked off prior to a Klitschko fight. Maddalone’s a minor TQBR favorite and it should be a good brawl, but his talent level is very low and he poses zero threat. I won’t be buying this one on pay-per-view unless I am extremely drunk and extremely bored that night.
Cruiserweight
Krzysztof Wlodarczyk is fighting Jason Robinson Sept. 25. Robinson hasn’t beaten anyone of note and has lost to worse fighters than Wlodarczyk, so this is kind of a stay-busy bout prior to the cruiserweight tournament that’s being discussed.
Danny Green will actually fight a live body/real cruiserweight in his next fight! He’s booked against B.J. Flores, a borderline top-10 cruiser Nov. 17. Nobody ever says, “I’m looking forward to that Flores fight,” but at least it’s a competitive bout on paper for Green, who’s an exciting fighter I want to see in competitive bouts.
I just read Troy Ross could?ve headlined a Friday Night Fights card on Aug. 28 but turned it down. I can’t figure out why. Here’s a guy who needs exposure to create some public demand for himself, and he turns down a chance at that? I’d wonder if he wasn’t healed from that cut against Steve Cunningham, except I saw him in Montreal for Dawson-Pascal and he looked fine to me.
Light Heavyweight
Speaking of Pascal, his Dec. 18 bout with Bernard Hopkins will be distributed by Showtime Pay-Per-View. I can’t figure out why anyone thinks this will sell. I know Hopkins always wants too much money for stuff, but this bout should have been on regular Showtime if anything.
Super Middleweight
Lucian Bute-Jesse Brinkley will be on ESPN3.com on Oct 15. I don’t anticipate it being a competitive bout, but again, I’m glad it’s an option to watch it. Also glad that welterweight Jo Jo Dan will be making an appearance, as he got jobbed in his last fight and deserves another shot at the spotlight, and this is a minor dose of it.
Andre Ward-Andre Dirrell — if it ever, ever happens — will be for the belt vacated by Mkkel Kessler, instead of Carl Froch-Arthur Abraham. If you care about the Machiavellian designs of the alphabet gang.
Middleweight
Paul Williams-Martinez II, this time for Martinez’ middleweight championship, has been put on the schedule by HBO for Nov. 20 but it still apparently isn’t finalized. They’re debating whether to put it in Atlantic City or Washington, D.C., to which I say oh please oh please want want want in my hometown of D.C.
The talks are reportedly serious for Felix Sturm to fight Dmitry Pirog in November or December. I really like the bout. Sturm isn’t thrilling, but he’s not boring, either, and he’s very good — and we know Pirog is exciting and good now after his upset of Daniel Jacobs.
Pavlik’s return will be at 164, and against an opponent who was only ever modestly good at 154, Daniel Edouard, on the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito undercard. It’s the worst bout on the undercard by far, which is nonetheless not as terrible as some recent Top Rank shows, as it offers some decently interesting bouts. Pavlik is at least a big name; Guillermo Rigondeaux-Ricardo Cordoba is a legit contender vs. contender fight at junior featherweight featuring an ultra-promising fighter in Rigondeaux; and Mike Jones vs. Jesus Soto Karass at welterweight is Jones fighting a touch higher level of opponent than he has lately and that doesn’t figure as a bad scrap.
Sebastian Sylvester will fight Mahir Oral in an Oct. 30 bout that figures to be tougher for Sylvester than it was for Arthur Abraham when he beat Oral. Sylvester’s not so good, and Oral’s not so bad, that I figure this one to be uncompetitive.
Borderline top-10 middles Roman Karmazin and Daniel Geale have their eliminator booked tentatively for Oct. 31. I like both men a bit, so it should be a friiiiiiiiightfully good time on Halloween.
Junior Middleweight
Miguel Cotto’s Dec. 4 opponent probably won’t be Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. as originally planned — no surprise there — but he’ll probably fight on the same card. Actually, the whole card appears headed toward a huge upgrade. I don’t care about Cotto-Chavez. But I am interested in the opponent being discussed for Cotto, Kermit Cintron. I think that’s a more competitive bout. Cintron is big, athletic and improving in recent bouts, plus there’s a Puerto Rican rivalry angle. Chavez is fighting an opponent in Pawel Wolak who is a bit more on his level, and if he can beat Wolak (and he should) then I might become more interested in Cotto-Chavez later. Also, Anthony Mundine said he wants Cotto. He doesn’t. It’s time for Ring to remove this guy from its middleweight rankings, by the way, since he doesn’t fight or talk about fighting in the division much these days and hasn’t accomplished anything in years.
Junior Welterweight
