After the bell with Kyle

Two fairly big fights this past weekend that flew somewhat under the radar were Claressa Shields- Danni Gabriels in a female 160 pound title fight and a WBC Eliminator at 140 pounds in Scotland between Josh Taylor and former world champ Victor Postol. 

Shields-Gabriels 160 pounds
-Coming into this fights Shields was 5-0 and had fought very weak competition. Her two Olympic Gold Medals are impressive but so far in the pros she has not stepped up, regardless of the fact that some of her opponents had decent records. In Gabriels she finally had a legit opponent, albeit one whose lone loss was by KO and was moving up to 160 from 154 while Shields was coming down fro 168 to 160. The size difference showed in the fight. As for the fight itself it was very entertaining. Gabriel dropped Shields in the first round with an uppercut and was very active throughout.Shields used her size and strength to wear her down and push her back and win a decision. The good news for Shields is that she finally beat a legit contender and someone who came to win. Bad news is she got dropped and was unable to KO a much smaller girl who had been KO’d before at a lower weight. This win set up a big fight with Christina Hammer, who won and did it impressively on the undercard. She has very solid boxing skills and I believe has a very good chance of beating Shields when they fight. Now that is a fight I am looking forward to seeing. 

Josh Taylor-Victor Postol 135 pounds
-Iv said before that Taylor is my favorite prospect in boxing. A 2012 Olympian for Scotland he has moved up the ranks very quickly beating some very solid fighters and in his 13th fight took on a former wold champ in Victor Postol who had beaten Lucas Mathysse and whose lone loss was a decision to Terrance Crawford. Since the Crawford loss he had only fought once but he came in top shape here and fought very well. A  back and forth affair where through 9 it was anyones fight. But an overhand left from the southpaw Taylor dropped Postol in the 10th and Taylor poured it on in the last couple rounds to win an exciting unanimous decision. The most impressive part of the win to me was the fact that Taylor, in only his 13th pro fight and who had never been 10 actually closed the show stronger than Postol who was 29-1, had been 12 before and done it against some of the best in the world. This win sets Taylor up for a world title shot sometime in the next year against one of the better young fighters in the game in Jose Ramirez. It will be Ramirez’ solid chin and pressure come forward style against Taylor’s speed and southpaw style. This is a great fight and one that everyone should be looking forward to. 

-On a side note it is very impressive to me how fast certain prospects are moving forward in their careers, especially overseas. For some reason American prospects have not caught up in this regard. Look up Lomachenko, Josh Taylor and Josh Kelly’s first 10 fights and compare them to Keith Thurman, Errol Spence and Terrance Crawford. It is not even comparable. American prospects are babied compared to top prospects from other countries and worst of all they put these mismatches on tv. The type of guy Spence just beat last week (who was a 60-1 underdog in Vegas) would’ve been an opponent for Josh Taylor in his first 10 rounder if they were the same weight. Unfortunately records count to the casual fan and to TV executives who make the decisions and who only have a very basic knowledge of the sport. Who you fought and when you fought them and how you did with them matters so much more. I have literally seen dozens of guys with 10-10 records who are much better than guys Iv seen who are 21-1. Just remember, records can be very deceiving and only tell a very small part of the tale.

After the bell with Kyle

News and Notes and Opinions
-The Errol Spence fight last night was what I thought it would be, a joke. That is not to knock Ocampo, I am always glad to see a guy get a shot and make some money but the promoter and the network should be more careful about the product they put out there. To have such a mismatch as the main event on Showtime and in a beautiful packed arena in Spence’s hometown was disappointing and is what is wrong with the sport. I understand you can not fight killers every time but when you are a world champion you should never fight a 60-1 underdog. 

-There are several huge fights that can be made in boxing and Errol Spence vs Terrance Crawford is one of them. Unfortunately it is a fight that I think we will have to wait a little while for because of the usual boxing BS, mostly because they have different promoters who do not want  to work with each other. But, I will make a prediction. If they fought right now I would take Crawford. While Spence is the naturally bigger man I think Crawford does everything else better. He also has fought and beat the better competition. Some may disagree and I get it. Its a great fight between two great fighters. In a perfect world they would fight 2-3 times over the next 2 years. 
-Another big fight that is much closer to happening is the heavyweight fight between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. This is a great fight between two guys in their primes. Let me just say if Anthony Joshua decides to fight Alexander Povetkin, which is his mandatory, before he fights Wilder it may be the dumbest decision in the history of boxing. Povetkin is a dangerous puncher who may be the third best heavy in the world. Joshua would be favored but it is a very risky fight and a loss would ruin the big fight and the life changing career high payday. Now for my prediction and I know I am in the minority here. I am going with Wilder. I know, Joshua has beat better fighters and is technically much superior. This is a gut feeling, mostly because of one thing, Wilders power. Joshua does not move his head a lot, he stands tall with his hands up. He is vulnerable to a jab right hand down the middle as shown in the Klitschko fight. That is Wilders best punch. I go with Wilder by knockout. Hopefully we see this in the fall and in the end the boxing and sports fans win. 
-The New York State Athletic Commission continues to hinder boxing anywhere outside of NYC and for anything other than big shows. This is why I call them the New York City Athletic Commission. Other than the normal complaints of incompetence all over that is unfortunately commonplace in most Athletic Commissions across the country because the majority of these are staffed with political appointees and friends of friends. But the insurance demands that went into place a couple years back have made it almost impossible for promoters to put on small local shows. The commission never made it easy for upstate even before because most of them are salary positions and why drive to Albany if they don’t have to. They would not approve fights or opponents for promoters up here and then some weeks later would let a show go on in NYC that was horrid. In a perfect world you would have a small commission based in Albany to help work with upstate promoters and do everything in their power to help promote the sport and work with the people who are much more important than they are (fighters, trainers, managers, promoters, etc). 
- Horrible job by Jeff Horn’s trainer in the fight last week. When you have lost every round, have never shown the power to even stun Crawford and are getting beat up it is on your corner to save you, not the ref. Most refs don’t want to jump in when a guy is still fighting back and I understand why. In some ways I give Glenn Rushton (Horns trainer) credit for taking a kid and building him into an Olympian and a World champ. But, when I have never seen you in a corner with any other pro fighters and you’re experience is in martial arts and not boxing that is a huge warning sign to me of incompetence. Credit to Horn for fighting tough but a thumbs down to his trainer for making him prove his toughness way beyond what he should of had to...

Kyle’s picks for 6/16/2018

Boxing picks for June 16- Kyle Provenzano

Javier Fortuna-Adrien Granados
TV-Showtime
-This is the real main even of the night, a good competitive fight. Fortuna has been a world champ at 126, 130 and many people believe he beat Robert Easter in his title shot at 135 although he lost a decision. While he missed weight in that fight it is still a little surprising that he has made the jump so soon to 140 pounds. Granados has been a grinder his whole career, fighting his way to the top against stiff competition and losing some close fights along the way. Beating top contender Amir Imam in a big upset was his breakthrough fight. In his last fight he lost a close decision to one of the best 147 pounders in the world in Shawn Porter. Granados will definitely have the size and strength advantage in this fight while Fortuna is the more skilled versatile fighter. It really is going to come down to how well Fortuna handles 140. Granados is going to pressure him and try to make him uncomfortable. If Fortuna can stay off the ropes and get some respect with enough power to back Granados off once in a while I think he wins a close fight. 
Pick- Fortuna by close Decision. 

Errol Spence-Carlos Ocampo
-This is a mismatch. Spence is one of the best fighters in the world and Ocampo is a 22 year old unproven prospect from Mexico. How he landed this fight is the big question. While I am sure he is tough and is coming to win it will be a miracle to me if he lasts the distance. Fights like this for world champions like Spence prove nothing. 
Pick -Spence by TKO

Kyle’s Boxing Picks 6/9/2018

Abner Mares-Leo Santa Cruz
-Rematch of a good competitive fight from 2015 where Santa Cruz won a majority decision. I expect both guys to come to fight but since there first fight it has been Santa Cruz who has been in the bigger fights and has furthered his career more..Mares has had a longer career and I think his best days may be behind him. I expect this to be a good fight but not as close as the first one. 
Pick- Santa Cruz by Unanimous Decision.

Jermell Charlo-Austin Trout
-Trout has been in a lot of big fights over the years and has won some and lost some. Very good fighter who, even in his losses, puts up a good fight. But his last loss against Jarett Hurd had a brutal finish after Trout started strong and I think all the punishment will catch up to him here. Charlo, like his brother, is a special talent who has had several high profile spectacular KO’s in a row. I expect Charlo to win but Trout to fight hard as always. It just won’t be enough and this may be the end of Trout in big fights. 
Pick -Charlo by TKO in 8

Jeff Horn-Terrance Crawford
-This is the highest profile fight of the weekend. Horn, coming off his big win over Pacquaio (which I think he deserved) and one successful title defense and Crawford in his first fight at welterweight. Let me say this first, Horn is the real deal. An Australian Olympian who fought and beat some very good fighters even before he beat Pacquaio does not get the credit he deserves. Crawford though is one of the top 3 pound for pound fighters in the world. Horn will be the bigger stronger guy but I am not sure how much that will matter, I expect it to go some rounds because Horn is very awkward, strong and game but Crawford will gradually figure him out. I could see Horn going the distance and losing a decision but I have a feeling he will get stopped late. 
Pick-Crawford TKO 9

Note- The Mares-Santa Cruz and Charlo-Trout fights are Saturday on Showtime. Horn-Crawford will be Saturday night on ESPN+. You have to sign up for ESPN+ on espn.comand it is 4.99 a month. It is well worth it. Fights are streamed with HD quality and the upcoming Pacquaio - Mathysse fight will also be on it. So basically for the cost of 2 cups of coffee a month you will get big fights and a ton of other boxing and sports programming.You 

Alex's Boxing Picks for 6/9/2018

Alex’s Boxing Picks for 6/9/2018

Crawford Vs Horn- The biggest fight of the weekend is with out a doubt the 147 title fight between pound for pound candidate Terrance Crawford and current welterweight champion Jeff Horn. Crawford is moving up in weight after clearing out the 140lb division and making a strong case to be #1 on the pound for pound list. He hasn’t just won he has dominated by stopping almost all of his recent opponents or winning thoroughly one sided decisions. He is the portrait of a boxer puncher, rounded in all aspects of boxing he can fight from the outside using his superior skill or go for the aggressive finish when he has a guy hurt. Crawford is at his peak and even though he is moving up in weight he has to be the favorite in this fight based on what he has done so far.

Jeff Horn has burst onto the mainstream boxing scene in a less than stellar way. Back in the summer of 2017 Manny Pacquiao traveled to Horn’s home country of Australia to fight for a 147lb title. Many people did not give Horn much of a chance mostly based on the huge gap in experience between the fighters. Horn however made a fight of it and brawled his way to a highly debatable win in a fight that many scored for Pacquiao. The fight was a messy affair due to the thuggish nature in which Horn boxes but he was able to have some success against Manny on the inside and managed to survive a nightmare of a 9^th round where he seemed to be seconds from being stopped. After winning the belt he made one defense against Gary Corcoran a solid fighter but far from the class that Crawford has been dominating.

Horn is in for the toughest fight of his career by far against Terrance Crawford he will be the underdog and he will need to have a near perfect night to pull the upset off. He has shown he has a ton of heart and is capable of rising to a challenge but I don’t think in this case it will be enough. Crawford is just that good he is on a different level than Horn so much so that I think the move up in weight will be a non-issue entirely. Expect a wild fight I think Horn will make it interesting and we will see a rough, physical affair as he tries to bully Crawford. Eventually though the gap in skill will be evident and I think Crawford will be able to stop Horn late after starting to land more and more clean shots.

Pick-Crawford late TKO 9<

Charlo vs Trout - The Charlo twin still at 154 faces off against former champ Austin Trout in the co feature for the Santa Cruz-Mares rematch. This is an interesting fight for Charlo who is coming off a first round KO of Erikson Lubin. Austin Trout is coming off a win since being stopped by Jarrett Hurd in a brutal war of attrition. Trout has been through some tough fights that have definitely taken a toll on his body his loss to Hurd was especially brutal and he took alot of shots that he probably shouldn't have before his corner stopped the fight. However against the bigger punching twin Jermall he did quite well and fought a very close fight that saw him lose a decision. Jermell isn't quite the puncher his brother is but he has found his KO groove as of late stopping 4 of his last 5 opponents. That being said he does get into trouble in fights and was having issues with John Jackson before ultimately knocking him out. John Jackson is a big puncher but he is not as slick as Trout. Jermell is a great all around fighter who is technically sound and makes adjustments during the fight that make him a little more of a complete fighter than his brother. His brother is a KO artist but Jermell is a better boxer who has decent power. If this fight was a few years earlier I would be more inclined to favor Trout actually because he does have the style to give anybody issues. He is a southpaw with a great jab and is hard to hit clean. However he has taken too many tough fights and I think he isn't the same fighter that he was. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a close fight that goes the distance but more likely I think we're going to see a fight were Charlo wears down Trout en route to a late TKO.

Pick-Charlo TKO 7<

Santa Cruz vs Mares II- A rematch that may be a little late we are getting another edition of what was a classic in 2015 between Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares. The first fight was a back and forth battle that ended with Santa Cruz taking the win based on his non stop punching and high accuracy. Both fighters left it all in the ring and it was a very fan friendly fight. How could it not be though you have too guys that have only one gear which is offense offense offense. Santa Cruz especially is a grinder of a fighter who doesn't stop throwing from round 1 to 12. Mares is a similar style but he does have the ability to box he just doesn't do it very often. This fight should have been an immediate rematch but we had to wait 3 years so here we are. Mares is a little more worn out than Santa Cruz and I think he will show it this fight. He isn't as fresh as Leo and I don't know if he can stand the same style of fight this time around. Santa Cruz is not a huge puncher so I don't think that he can stop Mares but I think it will be a one sided affair in his favor.

Pick-Santa Cruz by wide UD