If Brian can up his workrate slightly, I think he can nick a very close points decision. Technically they are both very good. Brian can take a good dig and is very durable. This will be a battle of the jabs. I think Brian is will win this exchange and ultimately win the fight. I cant see Andrade stopping Brian Rose if Maciel couldnt.
I disagree, Maciel made Pirog look very ordinary who is was a top World Champ at the weight above. Rose vs Maciel was close but you couldnt deny him the win. I had Brian one round up. I know Brian and what he is capable of, People think this fight is a mis-match. Brian has been written off in everyone of his fights. He thrives on it as he continuously proves everyone wrong. Michael Jennings - Miguel Cotto Lee Purdy -Devon Alexander These were mis-matches. This will be close, mark my words.
I think Rose beat Maciel, and would love to see him bring the world title home, but I think even if he puts in the performance of his life, it still won't be enough, there's simply too big a gap in skill between Andrade and Rose
When you put it like that it does make me reconsider what an actaul mismatch is but i have no doubt Andrade will win.
Nico -Pirog was crippled with back pain in the Maciel fight. Maciel wouldnt lay a glove on a fit Pirog
Totally invalid comparison. Pirog was hampered by a career-ending bulging spinal disc injury in that fight. Couldnt even train properly. Ordinarily Maciel - the crudest mulloker you could meet - would not win a minute of a round against a fit Pirog.
That answers a lot of questions then as to why his performance was lackluster. I only saw the fight on youtube and based my opinion on that. Regardless of that fight, I still believe Rose - Andrade will be competitive and last the duration. Time will tell.
You could well be right about Rose-Andrade. Both are fairly ordinary IMO and Im not at all convinced that Andrade has the massive advantages over Rose (apart from power) that everyone seems to think he does. As for Pirog - sickening what happened to him isnt it? If he had nursed his back along a bit more gently he could have continued his career IMO - but as far as I know he apparently re-injured it by continuing to swing Sledge-hammers at tyres: all this after he already knew he had a bulging disk - the muppet! Looks all over for him now - what a loss to middleweight boxing eh?