The purpose of Watchdog, I don’t think any one fight can be made in boxing today that alone is worth the price of a PPV. Unless of course, they can conjure up Dempsey vs Marciano or Joe Louis, but until that day comes, I want some quantity to go along with quality!
I say, if they want us to shell out 30, 40 sometimes 50 bucks per PPV, they should give us some bang for our buck! The card should be solid from top to bottom! Or at least it should be so top heavy with excellent fights that they can get away with a showcase fight to kick off the festivities, but these 2 or 3 showcase fights and 1 decent to mega main event PPV’s are for the birds! (My apologies to any of the birds I may have offended with that statement.)
SO HERE’S MY SYSTEM:
I preview and rate every fight that is scheduled to be televised on a PPV Boxing Card, and try to determine whether that card is worth purchasing or not based on my point system below.
Please note that at the end of each preview, I will mention what weight class the bout is being fought at and where each fighter ranks within that weight class. This is done by using ?The Ring? ratings.
HERE’S HOW STEVE’S PPV CRITERIA WORKS!
POINTS:
6 = MEGA MATCHUP 5 = Excellent Matchup 4 = Good Matchup 3 = Decent Matchup 2 = OK Matchup 1 = Bad Matchup
If a fight is scheduled to be televised on the card, it gets at least 1 point. This helps to reward quantity.
POINT SYSTEM:
14 or higher = GET IT! 13 = If you can find someone to split it with you or the price of the PPV is 24.99 or less, GET IT! 12 = If you can find someone to split it with you or the price of the PPV is 19.99 or less CONSIDER getting it. 11 = If you can find a place that is showing it, or get enough people over to split it with you, so that you are not paying more than 10 dollars for the card, CONSIDER getting it. 10 or under = Save your money and sleep well at night knowing you didn’t get ripped off!
AND AWAY WE GO!
November 18th – PPV PRICE: $44.95
MANNY PACQUIAO 42-3-2 (33) vs ERIC MORALES 48-4 (34)
This is the best fight that can be made in all of boxing today! Simple as that! No other matchup that can be made today can come this close to guaranteeing an entertaining all-action bout! If you saw the 1st two fights you know what you’ll be getting here. An exciting, close, back and forth brawl between two of boxing?s real warriors. It simply doesn’t get much better than this. Both have big power, great chins and a heart that makes them refuse to give anything less than everything they’ve got. This is the kind of fight boxing fans dream of. The only surprise here would be if this fight is not an absolute blast!
*Manny Pacquiao is rated # 1 at Jr Lightweight (130 lbs) – Erik Morales is rated # 3 at Jr Lightweight (130 lbs)*
SCORE = 6
RICARDO TORRES 29-1 (27) vs MIKE ARNAOUTIS 17-0-2 (9)
This in an excellent matchup between two up and comers, on the verge of cracking the top 10 in the talented junior welterweight division. The funny thing is that both of these guys’ claim to fame, are non-victories in fights they took on short notice. Torres was a late replacement against Miguel Cotto and had him one punch from being gone on seemingly countless occasions. Arum hasn’t put Cotto in with a puncher since! ?Mighty Mike? took a fight with young up and coming Juan Urango on short notice and gutted out an entertaining draw. Torres is a bomber with huge power, who will come out of the gate, swinging for the fences, whereas Arnaoutis is more of a tough counter puncher. Arnaoutis doesn’t have a big punch, but he has enough power to usually keep opponents honest. If the main event were anything other than Pacquiao vs Morales, I would say this fight would steal the show. It should be a barnburner while it lasts.
*This bout is being fought at Jr Welterweight (140 lbs) – Neither fighter is rated*
SCORE = 5
BRIAN VILORIA 19-1 (12) vs OMAR NINO 24-2-1 (10)
This is an interesting ?quick? rematch. These two met up back in August, in a bout that was basically supposed to be a showcase fight for Viloria. But someone forgot to tell Viloria that in order to win a fight, you have to throw punches. Against Nino, Viloria did his best David Tua impression, throwing what seemed like about three punches per round, while Nino simply picked him apart for a rather easy decision victory. If Viloria gives a repeat performance, the result will be exactly the same and he may as well take his gloves off, leave them in the ring, and find himself a new career because nobody wants to see a fighter like that. However, if he wakes up and fights, this can be pretty good. At his best, Viloria is an aggressive boxer-puncher with big power and if he can consistently press the action and let his hands go against the crafty veteran Nino, we might actually get a fairly entertaining bout here.
*Brian Viloria is rated # 6 at Jr Flyweight (108 lbs) – Omar Nino is rated # 5 at Jr Flyweight (108 lbs)*
SCORE = 3
JUAN SALGADO 15-0-1 (12) vs MARCOS LICONA 24-8-1 (9)
This is basically a showcase bout for Salgado, but Licona is by far the most experienced fighter he’s ever faced. Licona has been in there with Carlos Navarro, Angel Vazquez, Oscar Larios, Juan Manuel Marquez and Hector Velazquez. And while he did, in fact, lose every single one of those fights, the only one who stopped him was Marquez. If Salgado can get a stoppage here, it would be impressive. More likely it will be a one-sided 8 round decision victory.
*This fight is taking place at Jr Lightweight (130 lbs) – Neither fighter is rated*
SCORE = 1
FINAL SCORE = 15
SUMMARY: From top to bottom, this appears to be the best PPV of the year. Nowadays, it’s rare to actually have a MEGA matchup as the main event! But they didn?t stop there, by deciding to give us more bang for our buck with two solid undercard bouts. A better 4th fight to kick off the festivities would have been nice, but I won’t complain much since the rest of the card is so solid. If you are a boxing fan, you’re getting this card. This is the type of card where you can bring over your non-boxing friends and they’ll probably be boxing fans by the time the night is over. It should be a lot fun!
