Joshua vs Parker - Thoughts and Pick

The big  heavyweight fights keep on coming and this weekends attraction looks to be another great show. Anthony Joshua of England vs Joseph Parker of New Zealand, two undefeated prime heavyweights putting on another prime fight and continuing to reinvigorate the marquee division of boxing. Anthony Joshua is a bona fide established star in England, he attracts massive crowds, closes the show, and has made a habit of fighting good fighters which is something that is often lacking in boxing. All too often once a fighter gets some belts they go on a seemingly endless parade of defenses against people that you were not aware were boxers until they show up to the ring. Joseph Parker is definitely not in this class of fighter, Parker has earned his shot for the title by beating Hughie Fury, Andy Ruiz Jr., and Alexander Dimitrenko over the past few years. He has climbed the ladder and he belongs among this class of fighters in the heavyweight division. That being said I think he is taking this fight a little early he is still just 26 and while he has more fights then Joshua does (24 compared to 20) and more rounds professionally (123 compared to 65) I don't think he will be ready for a fight of this magnitude. Fights like this in front of a big, raucous home crowd under the bright lights can make a fighter hesitate and not perform up to his true potential. Joshua has been here before, he has seen the crowds, he has been rocked and knocked down only to come back and win in tough wars. So even with his relative lack of fight experience compared to Parker as a pro he is a very mature fighter for the amount of fights he has had. His last two fights saw him topple once long reigning heavy weight king pin Wladimir Klitschko and stop tough veteran Carlos Takam who also was beaten by Parker in a fight that went the distance.

I think that the best chance for Parker to win the fight is to get to Joshua early while he is cold and catch him by surprise. Try to get a knock down or at the very least get Joshua's respect by hurting him so he will be hesitant to throw punches. I see the fight being competitive early with Joshua pulling away after the 4th or 5th round and breaking Parker down to stop him in the 8th. I have nothing against Parker I think he is a good fighter I just see him being out of depth in this fight.

Alex's Pick- Joshua TKO 8

Occasionally I have different ideas, recommendations or opinions on the sport of boxing. I will share some of them here-

1. Good heavyweight fight this Saturday evening on HBO. Dillian Whyte vs Lucas Browne. Solid competitive fight between two exciting big punchers. Browne's best moment was knocking out Ruslan Chagaev for a piece of the heavyweight title but was then stripped due to a failed drug test. Whyte gave Anthony Joshua a very competitive fight a year or two back before being stopped and subsequently holds wins over Derek Chisora and Robert Helenius. Browne has a punchers chance but I am going with Whyte by decision or late stoppage. Great move by HBO to pick up this fight and show it live from overseas. 6 pm ET start. 

2. Steroids in boxing-It is time that penalties for failing tests for steroids in boxing or mma become much more strict and much more enforceable. This is not baseball , this is combat sports where you are training to hit someone in the head as hard and as many times as you can. It is a dangerous sport with potentially severe physical consequences. All fighters know the risks before they step into the ring or the cage. I would be in favor of a one year ban for your first failed test and then a lifetime ban after your second. These sports are dangerous enough, the risk is only multiplied when you step into the ring with someone who has an artificial physical advantage and is trying to punch you in the head. And all fighters are responsible for what they put in their bodies, excuses like Canelo's where he blames his failed test on tainted meat is very suspect to me. Enough is enough. 

3. James Toney- I was watching some old James Toney fights the other night and I firmly believe that he would've been a great fighter in any era. I will go a step further and say that the tougher the era the better he would've been. He had the skill and attitude to rise to the occasion. I don't feel that way with most fighters nowadays. I think fighters today may be more physically skilled but toughness and a desire to fight the best and test themselves is nowhere near where it used to be. Part of that is because unfortunately fighters today are not forced to do that although some still do. Complaining about purses, who walks into the ring first, weight and other things have caused fights to fall through. Just remember when two guys can't come to an agreement over 2-3 pounds that Carmen Basilio gave up 9 pounds when he moved up and beat the great Sugar Ray Robinson to win the middleweight title. 

4. Floyd Mayweather- First of all , Floyd was the best of the past 20 years but not in the conversation of best of all time. Records don't mean anything, who you fought and when you fought them is what counts. But, he gets a bad rap from people who call him boring and safety first. He became that way as he moved up in weight and used boxing skills to beat bigger men. At the end of his career he was fighting guys at 147 and 154 he still could've made 135. Watch him early in his career when he was fighting at lightweight, he was exciting, could punch and had a mean streak. Two fights that showed that the best were his KO wins against Phillip N'dou and Diego Corrales. 

5.ESPN-Do not underestimate the importance of ESPN showing world class title fights with the biggest names in boxing. A good rating for an HBO or Showtime fight may get 750,00 to 1 million viewers. On ESPN they are doing over 2 million a show. Fighters like Lomachenko have become household names to casual sports fans whereas if this was several years ago and he was fighting on HBO at midnight he would not be nearly the star he is now. Credit to Top Rank who have brought boxing back to the mainstream and the results speak for themselves. Vasyl Lomachenko vs Jorge Linares on May 12 is the next great example of this. 

Imam loses title fight to Ramirez and Verdejo is stopped in upset loss

In another excellent edition of Top Rank boxing on ESPN we had a card that featured a bit of everything. There was a somewhat major upset, a new force at 140, and Michael Conlan. On the undercard Felix Verdejo the once top tier prospect who has seemed to completely stalled with injuries, vehicle accidents and inactivity was back in action against unknown Antonio Lozada. The fight was going Verdejos way and he was seemingly up by a few rounds going into the 10th and final round. Then disaster, Verdejo was caught and knocked down with about 40 seconds left in the fight. He got up looking shaky and Lozada went after him connecting with enough clean shots that the ringside Doctor stepped up onto the canvas to stop the fight with 20 seconds left. Verdejo's corner was absolutely livid over the doctor stepping in and they had somewhat of an argument. I felt that they could've let the fight play out but it wasn't an especially outrageous stoppage. Felix was hurt and was taking clean punches but he was still on his feet and not completely defenseless at the time of the stoppage. For Lozada this is a huge win and puts him on the scene at the very competitive and exciting 135lb standings. He really ground out this fight and when he had his opportunity he went for it. Verdejo on the other hand was handed his first loss as a pro and it is crushing for his career which already had been in somewhat dire straits is now further set back. When he was being featured on HBO a few years ago he looked every bit like the next Tito Trinidad. Now I don't want to completely write him off after only one loss he is only 24 and definitely has talent but unless he makes some changes I think he may be the next busted prospect.

In the main event Albany's own Amir Imam squared off against Jose Ramirez. Both guys are young up and comers looking to make their mark at 140 which maybe the most interesting division right now in terms of belt holders with Terrance Crawford moving up to 147. Imam started out sticking the jab and taking control of the distance in the center of the ring giving Ramirez issues when he was trying to close the distance. After having his way for the first third of the fight Imam abandoned the jab and started to back into the ropes in response to the relentless pressure of Ramirez. In close Ramirez banged up Amir to the body and was able to hurt him a few times with overhand rights thrown over slow jabs in close from Amir. Late in the fight there were some great exchanges but they never turned out to benefit Amir. Both fighters closed the fight strong but Ramirez was consistently getting the better of the exchanges and steadily built up a good lead on points leading to a wide UD win on the scorecards. This fight had shades of Amir's stoppage loss to Adrian Granados as Ramirez employed a similar steady pressure that wore Imam down and never let him get too comfortable. Amir when he worked the jab at range  was able to control the pace and distance of the fight but he never put the right hand behind it. Ramirez is now a title holder at 140 and joins newly minted belt holders Mikey Garcia and Kiryl Relikh.

Saturday March 17 Madison Square Garden- Televised on ESPN 8pm ET

This is a great fight card from top to bottom. I am mostly going to cover the main event which is for the vacant WBC 140 pound title and pits Albany, NY's Amir Imam vs California's Jose Carlos Ramirez. 

Amir Imam (21-0 18 KO's) vs Jose Carlos Ramirez (21-0 16 KO's)

-This is a great matchup between two young, hungry and exciting 140 pound contenders. Both have power but set their power up with two different styles. Ramirez is a skilled but aggressive body puncher who comes forward and throws a very good left hook to the body and the head. Imam is a tall, long boxer with a good jab, very high level skills and crushing power. The odds that I have seen have Ramirez as a 3-1 favorite and those seem a little wide for me. I think this is a very competitive fight and while Imam does have 1 loss I also think he has fought the better competition. 

-Prediction- Before I even get into a prediction I have to say that I am rooting for Imam. He is from Albany and I have watched him all through the amateurs, he has sparred in my gym and is a very nice kid. Having said that though I will try to predict this fight using my brain and not my heart. I definitely think that Imam has a good chance, with his skills and his power he is capable of beating anyone in the world on any given day. There are several reasons though I believe this may be a tough fight for him. First, his only loss was to a tough come forward aggressive fighter named Adrian Granados who gradually broke him down and stopped him after Imam started fast and dropped him early. Ramirez is a come forward break you down type of fighter in the Granados mold but is better. Second, since that loss Imam has only fought 3 times, once in 2016 and twice in 2017 and all three wins have been against very average competition. On the other side Ramirez is coming off a career best win, a stoppage victory against undefeated Mike Reed. For those reasons, as much as it hurts me to do it, I am picking Ramirez by late TKO. 

-Also on the card is undefeated Irish Olympian Michael Conlan and undefeated Puerto Rican Felix Verdejo. They will be getting a lot of hype but in my eyes the two undercard guys to watch are Puerto Rico's Christopher Diaz,who fights at 130  and the Ukraine's Oleksander Gvozdyk who fights at 175. These are both future world champs in my opinion and I expect them to steal the show on the undercard. 

Garcia tops Lipinets and Relikh gets his revenge over Barthelemy

The Shobox weekend finished with a pair of dominant showings by Mikey Garcia and Kiryl Relikh. In the double feature opener Kiryl Relikh faced Rances Barthelemy in a rematch of their questionably scored first fight in May of last year. In their first fight Barthelemy walked away with a win that many thought he did not deserve and in fact was so contentious that a rematch was mandated by the sanctioning body. This time around Relikh didn't give the judges any choice but to award him a wide decision. Barthelemy had no answers and spent most of the fight backpedaling occasionally mounting  brief offensive bursts punctuated with numerous low blows. Relikh was active and accurate throwing over 1000 punches in the fight showcasing good combinations and varying up his speed to give Rances issues all night. Relikh was impressive and showed a deeper skill set in this fight compared to the first meeting. On the other side of the ring Barthelemy just looked flat and uncomfortable all night and he ended up being throughly outclassed. Rances looks to be on his way out during the fight the announcers mentioned he had contemplated retirement before feeling renewed during this camp. If this was a renewed Rances fighting then it seems like retirement might be the right choice for him. Relikh looks like a real up and comer he fought like a hungry contender looking to prove a point and he certainly did against Rances. Keep your eyes on Kiryl Relikh I think he's a fighter with a lot of upside.

The main event saw Mikey Garcia moving up yet again and looking for a title at 140, specifically the title held by Sergey Lipinets. Winning this title would put Garcia in the company of Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez who had also won titles in 4 different weight divisions. The fight started out a little tentative with both fighters wary of getting caught. The pace quickly changed once Garcia began to open up and Sergey threw with him. Garcia was on point all night with the jab- right hand combination. He found Sergey easy to hit all night and Sergey made it easy for Mikey by keeping his left hand low and simply ducking slightly to his right any time Mikey hit him with a jab. It was Garcias left hook however that gave him a knockdown in the fight, thrown as a counter to a lazy uppercut from Sergey. Garcia was able to put a beating on Sergey all night but he couldn't put him away, Lipinets showed tremendous heart and a stiff chin but he couldn't span the gap in skill. Sergey had some success when he threw with Garcia. He did get up from a hard knock down and recovered to close the fight with a strong showing in the final round. Garcia did as expected though and was just too good a technician for Sergey to deal with. Lipinets showed a lack of adaptability in the fight and didn't change anything he was doing despite being soundly beaten. Garcia showed that he has enough power at 140 to give fighters in that division problems en route to his wide unanimous decision victory, Lipinets has a pretty iron chin and had never been down as a pro before this fight. With the win Garcia now holds part of the 140 lb title but he may not be staying around long. In the prefight interviews his brother and trainer Robert Garcia voiced his opinion that Mikey's best weight is 135 and he may be headed back down there in his next fight. Whatever the weight maybe one thing is certain; Mikey Garcia is one of the best boxers fighting right now.

Prograis thrashes Indongo, Baranchyk stops Petrov, and Junior Fa picks up a win

Shobox delivered a triple header as the first leg of this weekends doubleheader of boxing. In the opener prospective heavy weight prospect Junior Fa improved to 14-0 with a win over Craig Lewis. He had to settle for a majority decision as one judge scored it a draw which was not correct. This was a clear win for Junior but a win that he labored a bit for in the end. Junior is being brought up to be the next heavyweight contender but he showed that he still has some things to learn in this fight as well as some improvements that need to be made to his conditioning. He is early in his career though and worth keeping an eye on I'm sure he will be featured on future Shobox events.

For the co-feature Ivan Baranchyk beat up and broke down late replacement opponent Petr Petrov. Baranchyk started his career on a tear and was knocking everyone out that he faced until he hit a drought in his last 4 fights which all went to decision. It seemed as though he may not be quite the beast that he was made out to be. When I saw that he would be facing Petr Petrov I thought there was a good chance that Petrov would be the man to hand Baranchyk his first loss. Instead Baranchyk dropped Petrov with the first punch he threw in the fight and never really let up from there beating Petrov around the ring, dropping him numerous times before forcing the ref to stop the fight at the beginning of the 8th round. Petrov had his moments in the fight when he held his ground and threw with Baranchyk. His shorter tighter punches found their target easily showing Baranchyk's biggest weakness, he doesn't move his head. Baranchyk was too big and too strong though for Petrov and really put a beating on him. This was a very very good win for Baranchyk and it will be interesting to see who he will matched with in the lively junior welterweight  division.

Our main event ended up being a much mor one sided affair than anticipated. Indongo figured to be a challenge to Prograis based on his awkward style and better record in terms of opponents faced. This was not even close to how the fight shook out. Prograis knocked down Indongo at the end of the first round then 3 more times in round 2 to finish the fight. Indongo never really seemed like he recovered from the first knockdown and seemed like he was fighting for his life afterwards in round 2. This is a huge statement win for Prograis and he has really exploded onto the scene at 140 as an aggressive pressure fighter with excellent power. For Indongo this is a huge step back losing to Crawford was one thing but getting thrashed by a prospect on the way up is another thing entirely. Indongo is 35 and hasn't made it out of the 3rd round in the past two fights he's been in so the future for him as a top fighter is cloudy at best. For Prograis I expect that we will see him in a big fight fairly soon I would love to see him against John Molina or Adrien Broner.

Boxing Picks for March 9/10

Lots of good boxing coming up for the weekend of March 10....Here I will breakdown and give picks for the TV fights.

1.Friday Night March 9 Showtime- Regis Prograis (20-0 17 KO's) vs Julius Indongo (22-1 11 KO's)
-Odds Prograis -400 / Indongo +310
-Prograis is one of the top prospects in boxing, a southpaw who has skills but comes forward with huge power and confidence. Coming off a career best win in blowing out previously undefeated Joel Diaz Jr and looking great doing it. Indongo is a step up for Prograis but a good step up and something he is ready for.  Pick = Prograis by TKO

2.Friday Night March 9 Showtime- Petr Petrov (38-5-2- 19KO's) vs Ivan Baranchyk (17-0 10 KO's)
-Odds Petrov +265/ Baranchyk -385
- Petrov is by far the best guy Baranchyk has fought.He is a smooth boxer/puncher who has fought good competition and in his last fight lost a close decision in England to World Champ Terry Flanagan. He is moving up in weight for this fight from 135 to 140 pounds. Baranchyk is an aggressive come forward type who throws a lot of punches and has had his share of great tv fights. But, he has been in some life and death fights with guys who are not on the level of Petrov. Petrov took this fight on short notice but assuming he is in shape this is a very winnable fight for him.
Pick= Petrov by Unanimous Decision

3.Saturday night March 10 ESPN-Oscar Valdez (23-0 19 KO's) vs Scott Quigg (34-1-2 25 KO's)
-Odds Valdez -425/ Quigg +340
-Valdez is an extremely talented young fighter with an aggressive knockout mentality. He was dropped and looked very shaky at times in his last fight though and showed a little vulnerability even though he came up with the W. Quigg is a proven world class fighter whose only loss was in a very competitive fight against World Champ Carl Frampton. Since then he has won 3 straight and has begun training with Freddie Roach at the Wildcard Gym. This is a very interesting good matchup that I could see either guy winning.
Pick= Valdez by Decision but very close. Odds are way too wide though, this should be close to a pick em fight....

4.Saturday Night March 10 on Showtime- Sergey Lippinets (13-0 10 KO's) vs Mikey Garcia (37-0 30 KO's)
-Odds Garcia -3000/Lippinets +1500
-Garcia is coming off a career best with in his first fight at 140 against Adrien Broner. He is in the top 5 of almost everyones pound for pound list and seems to be getting even better. Lippinets is a tough good fighter but this is a huge step up, too big a step up in my opinion.
Pick=Garcia by TKO

5.Saturday March 10 Showtime - Rances Barthelemy (26-0 13 KO's) vs Kiryl Relikh(21-2 19 KO's)
-Odds Barthelemy -220/ Relikh +180
-Rematch of a very good competitive fight where both guys were knocked down and where most thought Relikh deserved the decision but did not get it. His other loss was very controversial as well, a close decision loss to Ricky Burns in Scotland. I expect another close competitive fight.
Pick= Relikh by Decision

Kyle Provenzano

Wilder stops Ortiz in a heavyweight war

The heavyweight division is great again! In a fight that turned into a dramatic back and forth war Deontay Wilder emerged victorious after being pushed to the brink by a sharp and dangerous Luis Ortiz. The fight started at a methodic pace with both fighters being very wary of the others power. Ortiz had a better start through the first 4 rounds, working well behind his jab and landing left hands to the body and head. Wilder had brief moments of success but he was getting picked apart by Ortiz's jab and seemed tight and hesitated to throw anything big. Ortiz looked very comfortable and was dictating the range and pace of the fight. I honestly did not expect this performance from Ortiz and I admit some of that opinion was based on resentment over his failed drug test that led to their original date being cancelled. Ortiz on my card was winning the fight easily after the first 4 rounds. 

All that changed at the end round 5 when Wilder's power came into play and he caught Ortiz with a right hand high on the head beginning a combo leading to a knockdown. Ortiz would answer back in round 7 by almost stopping Wilder on his feet in the final 45 seconds of the round. Deontay did just enough to hold on and not give the ref a reason to stop the fight and was saved by the bell. Ortiz came out looking for the finish in round 8 and it looked like Wilder was still hurt from the last round. Yet again though Wilder dug deep and proved he had tremendous heart by surviving a surging Ortiz. Round 9 began with Ortiz picking up wher he left off in rounds 7-8 but Wilder came alive near the end of the round and shook Luis up with several big right hands. 

Round 10 was fairly even until the last minute at which point the power of Wilder broke through and he put Ortiz down twice. The fight was waved off after the second knock down giving Wilder the best win of his career so far. Surviving his toughest test to date Wilder sits only behind Joshua in the world heavyweight rankings. Joshua vs Wilder is the next super fight to be made and would pit the two undeafted top ranked heavyweight knockout kings against each other. Wilder has stated that he is looking to face Joshua next but it seems unlikely to happen this year. Who would you favor in that fight?

Boxing Picks for March 3

Deontay Wilder v Luis Ortiz
Wilder is a 3.5 to 1 favorite and the over/under in rounds is 9.5. I am picking Wilder and the under.

Jose Uzcategui v Andre Direll
Uzcategui was on his way to stopping Direll the first time they met until Direll said he couldn’t continue when he was hit a split second after the bell which to most seemed like a great acting job..I expect Uzcategui to finish what he started the first time...Uz by late TKO or Decision..

Dmitry Bivol v Sullivan Barrera
This is the sleeper fight of the weekend...Bivol being a 7-1 favorite is mostly because Bivol is that good...Barrera is solid but in my opinion Bivol is on his way to being the best light heavy in the world..Bivol by late TKO...

Kovalev v Mikhalkin
Mikhalkin is mostly unknown and it seems like a step backwards for Kovalev in level of opponent..Kovalev by knockout....