After the bell with Kyle

Thoughts and ideas…
-With Oleksander Usyk’s dominant win against Murrat Gassiev Saturday night he becomes the unified cruiserweight world champion after only 15 pro fights. This comes after winning an Olympic Gold Medal as an amateur. Look for him to move up to heavyweight soon, possibly facing Tony Bellew which is a very interesting fight. Il take Usyk. He is a crafty southpaw who throws a ton of punches and fights at great angles. Il pick Usyk against most heavyweights other than maybe the top 5 in the division. He is over 6ft3 and if he can bulk up to 215 which shouldn’t be a problem he can make some noise at heavyweight. 

-A very interesting heavyweight fight coming up this Saturday between Dillian Whyte and Joseph Parker. Both guys have 1 loss and it was to the same guy, Anthony Joshua. Parker lost a fairly uneventful decision and Whyte was stopped but hurt Joshua and gave him a great action fight. Il take Whyte to beat Parker. I think Parker is more technically sound but Whyte is a big puncher who is very active and is aggressive. I think his tenacity and power will overcome Parker’s skill. On a side note if you ever want to watch a great heavyweight fight go to youtube and watch Dillian Whyte vs Derek Chisora. 

-Looks like Anthony Joshua’s next title defense unfortunately will not be against Deontay Wilder but instead Alexander Povetkin. While this is a huge letdown to fans it is not a big step down when it comes to danger for Joshua. Povetkin is a legit top 5 heavyweight with a lot of experience and a bunch of quality wins including some huge knockouts. Do not be surprised if Povetkin gives Joshua a very hard time. And if Povetkin happens to beat Joshua it will go down as one of the dumbest business decisions in boxing history because the Wilder fight will go down the drain. 

-Mikey Garcia also fights this coming Saturday on Showtime against Robert Easter, an undefeated world champ at 135 pounds Easter is a tall rangy skilled fighter who will be coming to win. It is a quality fight but one in which Garcia should win. And after that hopefully we see Garcia in with Lomachenko or another top guy between 135-147. 

-Jaime Munguia had a good win against a tough Liam Smith Saturday night. Munguia burst onto the scene two months ago with a total destruction of Saddam Ali who was coming off a win against Miguel Cotto. The fight Saturday night showed what we knew, Munguia has good power, is extremely strong and big for 154 and has a great chin. Those are the positives. The negative would be his defense. He gets hit way too much. He gets away with it because of his chin but he will pay for it as he moves up in competition. He is only 21 though so there is room for improvement. If you think of fan friendly fights based on styles Im not sure if there is a better one in boxing than Munguia vs Jarrett Hurd. Both are pressure fighters who come forward, have great chins and throw a lot of punches. This would be a war. 

-One of the biggest fights this year is coming up towards the end of August and it is between Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia. Very interesting fight between two different styles. Porter the super aggressive guy who fights inside and is also probably one of the dirties fighters in boxing, most of it unintentional but he uses his head as a third hand better than anyone in boxing. Garcia is a big left hooker who can also box but is more of a counterpuncher who tries to catch you with a big hook in exchanges. While I like Garcia better I have to pick Porter in this fight. His activity and physical strength will give Garcia problems. Porter has a good chin and will be hard to get out of there with one big left hook. While Garcia is looking for a big shot Porter will be in his face working with both hands. I doubt Porter stops him because Garcia takes a great shot and has a ton of pride. 

-Finally, there is more boxing on TV than ever before. Almost every weekend there are 2 or 3 cards on different channels and times. It is hard to keep up with at times but a DVR helps. For those who do not know check out www.fightnews.com. It is an informative site that updates boxing news from around the world 24/7 but more importantly if you look at the right hand side as you scroll down it has the tv schedule of fights for the upcoming week. It lists the channel, the fighters, the date and the time. While they miss something once in a while for the most part they are extremely accurate and thorough. I constantly check it and it is the main reason I rarely miss a fight that is on tv.