**** Kirk's ESB Championships 2011 ****

Kirk, two changes, kiko ud, popoca ud and if he's still fighting, cruz ud.

 

Kiko Martinez vs. Jason Booth- Kiko Martinez by UD
Ruslan Provodnikov vs. Ivan Popoca- Ruslan Provodnikov by KO
Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Orlando Salido- Juan Manuel Lopez by UD
Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey- Amir Khan by KO

Alright, great weekend of boxing (even with the canceled fight of Macklin-Gevor and the Roman Martinez getting injured in his preparation for his fight against Luis Cruz. Rumor is though Cruz is going to fight Martin Honorio which is a great fight as well) ok enough talking lots of great fights still and without further adou...

Ok, the only real lopsided mismatch, Khan-McCloskey. Before I start McCloskey is a real nice fighter. He's undefeated for a reason, he can beat fighters of the lower level and while it is unknown if he can beat somebody like Amir Khan, I'm banking that he can't. I feel the gulf in class is far too great. He's there there to make Khan look good. It's a nice tune up fight in which Khan wins and I'll take a guess that King Khan stops McCloskey.

Ok, now for the almost 50/50 matchups. First up is the FNF main event, Ruslan Provodnikov is back and he is taking on the undefeated, Ivan Popoca. I think everybody reading this already knows about Provodnikov (and if you don't know, you can read my breakdown of the fight he had against Mauricio Herrera :hey shameless plug, I know, :yep) Ok, and we got Popoca who has a glossy record, but he hasn't fought anybody yet. He has 15 wins, but no real step up fights as I like to say and no he is taking on somebody like Provodnikov who is a BIG step up. He hasn't fought somebody like Ruslan who is as battle tested and hasn't fought anybody that will be on him for 3 minutes throwing 100 punches a round. And speaking of rounds this will be his first 10 round fight in his career. This fight will really show how good Popoca is, a lot of question marks surrounding him and I'm banking that Ruslan stops him mid to late rounds.

Now, we got our first 50/50 fight of the week. Kiko Martinez-Jason Booth. Both of these fighters are good, good solid fighters. Starting with the hometown fighter, Kiko Martinez, Martinez has very good power in the early rounds, but as the fight wears on his power starts to fade and he has to rely on his boxing skills. 122, the weight it is taking place at, is his natural weight. He has fought at 122 his whole career. And he has solid scalps on his resume. With the likes of Bernard Dunne, FDAL, and Arsen Martirosyan. He has also fought Rendall Monroe twice and Takalani Ndlovu...who just beat Steve Molitor, who beat Jason Booth about 6 months ago. Then now Booth, he is the much much smaller man. He started his career at 112 and has plently of quality wins and losses as well. Michael Hunter, Mark Moran, Dale Robinson, and of course Steve Molitor, just to name a few. So, where does that leave us? Well, I gotta think if Kiko his Booth with anything really clean, Booth is gone, but Booth is nice and smooth...just like his nickname. He's got nice D and can box really well. I think though the key for Booth is to put rounds in the bank early, because if he doesn't things could get very ugly. What Booth has shown over the past few fights at 122 is that he doesn't have the strength or size to keep up with natural 122 fighters. In the later rounds Kiko will start getting to him and who knows may'be even drops him and stops him late. That wouldn't be a surprise, but I think Booth goes the distance loses by a close UD in Spain, Kiko Martinez' hometown.

Then we got the for sure barnburner of a fight Juan Manuel Lopez vs Orlando Salido. Now, before I start the only thing you need to know is that this is P.R. vs Mexico. P.R. vs Mexico. It's worth saying twice. That's the only motivation you need to watch this fight. Now, let's go inside the numbers. Now, before you scoff and say "Well, this Salido has 11 losses, and 5 of which have come by KO....why should I watch this fight? The other guy is undefeated!" While that may'be true, it lies at the sametime. You gotta realize Salido turned Pro early and that's where most of his losses, and losses by KO were when he was in his teens and early twenties. And back in 2001 when he fought Alejandro Gonzalez, you can see the potential he had. Only 21 years old and he fought to a MD loss to a very very quality fighter. He then eventually, racked up some wins before he lost to JMM. Racked up some more wins, then lost pretty recently to Cristobal Cruz and then his latest fight last year he took on Gamboa and fought really close. So, what does all that mean? Well, it means that Salido's real career he has only lost four times and none by KO, and none of them were really beatings...except ofr the JMM fight. He lost that fight by a pretty wide margin....and I guess Gamboa too, but he made it to the final bell which nobody really thought he would. So, with all that said he is a quality opponent and it will be interesting looking at who did the better job. JuanMa, or Gamboa? And I don't really need to go over JuanMa. He's got a superb resume, superb skills. All arounds great fighter, great power. Should be a great night, in which I think JuanMa wins by somewhat wide UD, he is fighting in P.R. Should be a great fight though.

Alright, I've wrote a lot and will be writing some more on another page. That way it doesn't look so long and what not.

 

Paulie Malignaggi is more powerful than I am! Damn it!

 

Omar Andres Narvaez vs. Cesar Seda- Omar Andres Narvaez by UD
Andre Berto vs. Victor Ortiz- Victor Ortiz by KO
Chris John vs. Daud Cino Yordan- Daud Yordan by KO

Alright, let's start off with the main event on HBO. Andre Berto vs Victor Ortiz, and let me start off by saying. Berto is NOT fighting "another" 140 fighter. Ortiz was a massive 140 fighter who had lots of trouble making weight and now at 147 he is probably his most comfortable he has been probably since Maidana. Meaning, Ortiz is probably naturally the bigger guy and I think that has been shown during the press conferences, will be shown in the weigh in and in the ring. So, stop with that "Berto is cherrypicking and fighting another small JWW." That could not be farther from the truth. Ok, now with all that said, let's get to the fight itself. This, in my eyes, is a high risk high reward fight for both fighters and I feel this fight could be a major stinker. Just looking at the styles and how both of them act I just feel that this fight will be a stinker, not to me, but in terms of what others view as a bad fight. Personally, it would take a lot for me to say a fight is bad.

Anyway, I think there will be a lot of standing around, lots of feeling out throughout the fight. Both fighters don't want to make the first wrong move because that could be it. Both are mirror images of each other. Both are very fast, strong, powerful, below average D, and shaky chins. You got all that which is usually a recipe for a great fight, but I don't see it. I think it has the potential to be a good fight, but not a war or a FOTY canidate which seems to be the buzz around this fight. Anyway, yea, I view this fight as a 25/25/25/25 type fight. Meaning, Ortiz has a 25/25 chance of a KO or decision and same goes for Berto. It really is that close of a fight. And this is a really hard fight to call. Both have a lot to gain and a lot to lose. Ortiz, well, red flags for me started popping up when he didn't get the decision win over Peterson, a fight in which, looked like he should have gotten, and now he's fighting Berto. Meaning, GBP isn't holding Ortiz' hand anymore. There throwing him in the lions den and are saying "Hey, go prove yourself" and Berto is continuing doing the same fighting yet another quality fighter in Victor Ortiz. And you know, I start leaning towards Ortiz, but then my mind starts replaying the last few rounds of the Peterson fight and then I tell myself "What would happen if that was Berto" because you know Berto is just as quick as Peterson, but much much more powerful. So, I start leaning towards Berto, but then I start thinking about the Collazo and Quintana fights. Damn, a realy really tough fight to call. You know, I think I'll go with Ortiz by KO. I may end up changing my pick tommorrow when i see the weigh in, but Ima go with Ortiz by KO as of right now. I'm really looking forward to this fight, I'm not expecting a barnburner or a war or anything like that I'm very interested in the chess match that goes on in the ring saturday night.

This fight though, might be my favorite fight of the weekend. Omar Narvaez-Cesar Seda. Where do I start with Narvaez? He's a lot like Calzaghe or fellow Argentine Maravilla.. Very talented, very slick, the only difference is he hasn't had his chance to shine in the States and he is in a much much lower weight class at 115 currently, which is probably why he hasn't been showed at the States. Either way, that doesn't take away the fact that Narvaez is the longest reigning champ, ATM, and that he is very very talented. Then we got the prospect from P.R. Cesar Seda who has been moved very quick, and now has his shot at another world title (if you call the IBO a world title) Good boxer lots of 1, 2's from him. Solid D, and the comparison for him is that he's like his fellow countryman as well, JuanMa. Sprinkle in some D, less vulnerability, chin isn't as shaky (but then again it has never really been tested because he doesn't leave himself open too much) less power, and you got yourself a Cesar Seda. Really tight, good one two's, backs up and throws a left uppercut with a right hook that follows. Very consistant, good solid all around boxer. Now, in this fight I've got Narvaez winning the decision. I think this fight will be very close and may'be even debatable as to who wins the fight. A big factor is that Narvaez will be fighting at home. A lot of close rounds, and I'm sure there will be at least 4-6 close rounds in the fight and I gotta think Narvaez will get most of those rounds. Close fight, but I've got Omar winning because of his stamina, and a big factor his volume. He throws very fast 10 punch combos in 1 second. Very fast and I think that will be the difference. Narvaez winning in the 116-112 range.

Uh oh, I've got Yordan pulling off the upset against John. John is quickly fading and hasn't looked like him in his prime in the last 3 or 4 fights. I think age is catching up to him and I think his team realizes that. I think that is why this fight is getting made against very popular Daud Yordan. Yordan, is just as popular as John, over there in Indonesia. It might be time for a new reign, and Yordan is damn good. He is crude at times, but shows excellent skill at times. He is a big of a hot n cold fighter, but I think he'll be up for this fight and John sill get caught early and often by a Yordan counter that will shake up and eventually stop John. John has a very very shaky jaw and Yordan has good power and again I'm expecting that inbetween a John combo, Yordan will throw a sneaky counter punch that will catch John and hurt him badly. Yordan is a relentless fighter that will never stop and John doesn't have anything in his bag of tricks that can or will stop Yordan.

 

Yea, I couldn't help myself. Lotta great fights this week and my brain kept thinking and my fingers kept typing.

:yep I like the idea of my breakdowns being a feature. I like that a lot.:good :yep

 

Narvaez TKO
Martinez TKO
Provodnikov TKO
Lopez TKO
Khan TKO
Ortiz TKO
John UD

:good

Kirk, clean you message space

 

Narvaez UD
Booth SD
Provodnikov UD
Macklin UD
Lopez TKO
Khan TKO
Martinez KO
Berto TKO
John UD

 

Well Dan you made the choice I know I should, but sheer mathematics (which is stupid in boxing) makes me stay with Berto at the moment. I just think that Andre by decision or by stoppage have a slightly more chance than 50% of happening despite I just feel Ortiz is likely to pull it off. It's just... I can see Berto hugging his way through those opening stanzas plus Vic try to box with the boxer, despite - and I agree with him - Roberto Garcia stating to bro Danny that Ortiz MUST go in there and spark Andre out, that his style and best chance. Too many question marks around Vic, but I do hope he answers them with flying colors.