**** Kirks ESB Championship 2012 ****

Juan Carlos Burgos vs. Cristobal Cruz- Juan Carlos Burgos by UD
Alexander Povetkin vs. Marco Huck- Alexander Povetkin by KO
Ermano Fegatilli vs. Antonio De Vitis II- Antonio De Vitis by SD
Nathan Cleverly vs. Tommy Carpency- Nathan Cleverly by KO
Denis Shafikov Vs. Lee McAllister- Denis Shafikov by KO
Juan Jose Montes vs. Oscar Ibarra- Juan Jose Montes by KO
Marcos Rene Maidana vs. Devon Alexander-Devon Alexander by UD
Adrien Broner vs. Eloy Perez- Adrien Broner by KO

Friday Night Fights has been pretty awful these year. A couple of decent fights, and only one real good fight and a couple of horrible, horrible, freak show fights that really make boxing and FNF look silly. This main event though should be a good one. It's between a couple of the same level guys, and both guys that throw, and two guys that get hit. Juan Carlos Burgos is the younger, fresher, more talented fighter in this one. Cristobal Cruz is no slouch though. You may boxrec him, look at his record, and his last three fights and just say, "Oh well, Burgos should stop Cruz and beat him easy." And if you thought that, you'd be wrong. Cruz, while he doesn't have a sexy record, he has won his fair share of big fights. Burgos is going to try and use his size to keep Cruz off him, Use that long jab, and follow it with a left hook to the head and body. Cruz is going to need to press the action. And he usually does press the action. He bull rushes in, uses his head, and fire off a nice, straight right hand. The right hand is Cruz's money punch. Hozumi Hasegawa was able to have success when throwing the right hand. I see Cruz using that right hand effectively and winning rounds, but probably not enough. I think Burgos' volume, size, and power, win him a close but clear UD. Look for a scrappy fight though, a very good fight, but quite a few headbutts.

On Saturday, we have another big heavyweight fight. I refuse to call it a championship fight, because it really isn't. It's a good fight heavyweight fight. Alexander Povetkin is back and looking to prove he doesn't need Teddy Atlas in his corner. Povetkin is now doing it his way, and we'll see if he's successful. Marco Huck is making his debut at heavyweight. The long time cruiserweight champion is moving up, and this is a big jump fighting a top 5-10 heavyweight. But, really, he doesn't have much to lose. If he loses, well, he can just go back down and continue his career at cruiserweight. When looking at the skills and boxing ability between the two, there is no contest. Povetkin is by far the more talented, skilled boxer between the two. Marco Huck has no skills. None. He is an awful boxer. His style fits in with that 1900's style. You know, the black and white pictures, a little circle pit, there standing there, chin up, arms out in that John L. Sullivan style. That's basically Marco Huck. if he didn't have power he'd definitely be a can, but fortunately for him, he has power, and massive power. And this means Huck has a really good puncher's chance. Povetkin's defense is below average and he goes back in straight lines meaning Huck can land that right hand and Povetkin could be sitting on the canvas. What Povetkin needs to do is circle, circle, circle and just tag Huck while he comes in. I sort of think he will do that, and I think, and as I mentioned, Huck leaves his chin up, if Povetkin lands nicely he could stop Huck. I'm sort of thinking Povetkin will do that, but we'll see. If Povetkin has a good gameplan, and without Atlas, who knows? But, he should be able to circle away from Huck's right hand, and it isn't hard to do, but we'll see I'm picking Povetkin will do that and win, but we'll see.

Nathan Cleverly is taking a soft touch against Tommy Carpency. Cleverly is a long, lengthy, volume boxer. Cleverly is going to attack, fire off shots, and Carpency is a long, southpaw, but he doesn't have any skills. His best move is bulling forward and holding. That sort of style should have him survive some rounds and make it a bore, but Cleverly should eventually get rid of Carpency. Not a good fight, one-sided fight...or at least it should be. Cleverly by stoppage.

Ermano Fegatilli-Antonio De Vitis is actually a pretty good fight. There both in the on the same level, both have fought before. Fegatilli won in his home town a few years back, and now De Vitis is getting a rematch in his home of Italy. Both are very much unknown, but both have that European style. You know, gloves up, not much going on. De Vitis has sneaky power. When an opponent opens up he has pretty good timing, and if you get clocked usually the opponents go down. Ermano Fegatilli is a very good body puncher. He goes to the body quite and bit and really breaks down his opponents. So his KO% is a bit misleading, he may not score a KTFO, but he definitely hurts his opponents by going to the body. Fegatilli is a smart guy, and a smart boxer. He looks for opening, and when he sees it, boom. He takes it. This is an interesting fight, it definitely will go unnoticed and swept aside, but it will be an intelligent fight between two pretty decent fighters. I've got De Vitis winning via SD. Being at home helps, so that's why I tip him. Otherwise, in neutral territory it may be a draw.

Juan Jose Montes-Oscar Ibarra is your typical Mexican fight. Montes and Ibarra don't take a step back, so it'll be interesting to see who will be the one on the back foot. My guess it'll be Ibarra, because Montes is a young, fresher, fighter. Montes is quite the beast and quite powerful and that's why I'm going with Montes. Ibarra might be slowing down. He was stopped last time out and he has a lot of wear and tear. So, I'm going with Juan Montes, should be a good fight for however long it lasts though.

Denis Shafikov is another strong, powerful fighter to come from Russia. And a southpaw, much like Denis Lebedev. Shafikov is a prospect sort of bordering contender, because he has been handled really, really slowly. But, at the same time, I do understand because he is a Russian fighter in the 140 division. American TV don't want him, and top fighters don't want to fight him. So, he has to take any offer he can get and he's got an offer to fight in Lee McAllister's backyard on Sky Sports. McAllister is a decent boxer, a bit of a padded record, he is tough, and a bit tricky. A lot of length and decent boxing ability. McAllister's is going to stay out of Shafikov's range and just stick on the outside and try and jab his way to victory. Shafikov, though, isn't a one trick pony like Lebedev. Shafikov actually has some moves, good feints, moves in and out. He does get a bit wild when throwing combos, he'll be reckless and throw wide shots. In this fight though, I don't think that error will be a problem. I think McAllister can't keep Shafikov off him, he'll get tagged too much and get stopped late in the fight. McAllister's toughness, grit, and being in his backyard helps him get through some tough parts, but not enough to go all 12 and possibly get a gift. And speaking of which, I think Shafkiov knows he needs a KO. Heck, he was robbed in his own backyard in 2010 against Italian Brunet Zamora. That fight was a draw, and Shafikov clearly won in the 117-111 range. So, anyway, I've got Shafikov by stoppage, because he'll need to stop McAllister.

 

Adrien Broner is looking to be the next generation of a boxing superstar. He's got the backing of HBO, Al Haymon, and Golden Boy. That always helps and that goes a long, long way. Now Broner just needs to do his part and that is win, and win impressively. Which he has done in his last two fights. Coming off a close decision against Daniel Ponce De Leon, he knocked out Jason Litzau in one round, and then Vicente Rodriguez in 3 rounds. Against Rodriguez that was a decent fight, but turned out to really be a farce since it was for a world title. That was pretty much a gimme fight and a farce, basically. Broner going up against Eloy Perez is definitely not a farce and this will really prove if Broner is a championship level fighter. He'll earn his title if he beats Perez. Eloy Perez has been hot of late as well though. He's coming off his two best performances of late knocking out Daniel Jimenez, and Ira Terry. Perez will come in, be the aggressor, but he'll be an effective aggressor. He's patient, comes in behind the jab, sees punches well and moves his head as his defense. What he lacks for speed, and power, he makes up with good, solid, fundamental boxing ability. I don't think that will be enough though. In parts I think this fight could resemble the Broner-De Leon fight. Broner on his bike for the most part, not throwing and Perez coming in, but not able to land anything significant. So, overall, this definitely has the potential to be a stinker, but may'be Broner has gained in confidence and will be in more exchanges, which I think would be to his advantage in this fight. Broner with more power and speed would get to Perez first in an exchange. Perez gets a bit wide, and sloppy at times when inside throwing combos. If Broner stands his ground, fights in the pocket, I think Broner could stop Perez. He is a very talented individual with his combo of speed and power. Should be an interesting fight, I think Perez pushes Broner, but I'm banking that Broner will fight a little bit more in the pocket and be first to the punch and that gets Broner a late stoppage win. Too much speed, too much power and Broner counters his way to a win.

Devon Alexander has turned out to be the fraud I thought he was. Just a basic 1-1-2 type fighter. You could go back to my history, and I think should try and make it a bit easier to find. Anyway, He's lost his last three straight, don't care what the judges say, everybody knows he's lost his last three. He was clearly beaten up by Kotelnik, Bradley outworked and outhustled him, and Matthysse bullied him and constantly landed a lot of hard blows. To Alexander's credit though, he does have a decent chin. That's about it. Last night, boxrec changed this fight from 12 rounds to 10. So, this is basically the Matthysse fight all over again, thankfully, at least we got a bit of heads up a couple of days before the fight, unlike the Matthysse fight where it was right before the broadcast started. Anyway, the weight will help Alexander. Marcos Maidana is a small 140 and being up at 147 probably wont help him, and this fight, what looks to be now a 10 round fight, definitely doesn't help Maidana. It's pretty clear Maidana needs a knockout to win, and I don't think he'll do that. Matthysse couldn't do it, Maidana might hit a bit harder, but he's a much more sloppy fighter than Matthysse. I don't think Maidana will be able to get to Alexander and stop him. If this was in neutral territory this is a 50/50 fight that could do either way. But it's in St. Louis, a Don King fighter, Alexander has to be the heavy, heavy favorite. You gotta roll with Alexander winning this by decision...and I am. I'm taking Alexander by...we'll go with UD. Why not? All three judges score the fight 96-94 in favor of Alexander.

 

Juan Carlos Burgos UD
Alexander Povetkin UD
Ermano Fegatilli UD
Nathan Cleverly TKO
Denis Shafikov UD
Juan Jose Montes TKO
Devon Alexander UD
Adrien Broner KO

 

George Foreman UD 15 over Vitali

 

Juan Carlos Burgos by UD

 

Juan Carlos Burgos UD
Alexander Povetkin TKO
Ermano Fegatilli UD
Nathan Cleverly TKO
Denis Shafikov TKO
Juan Jose Montes TKO
Devon Alexander UD
Adrien Broner MD

 

Wage offer:

Anyone picking Maidana who want to wage with me? 25 kirk dollars.

Or anyone who wants to pick Di Vitis against Fegatilli (Kirk Dollar amount negotiable?)

 

Delete

 

Burgos UD
Povetkin TKO
De Vitis UD
Cleverly TKO
Shafikov TKO
Montes UD
Broner MD
Arakawa TKO

 

foreman stops vitali

ali beats tyson but i would feel more confident if it was the young clay

 

3/18 – Alex Leapai vs. Kevin Johnson – 12x3 is for the IBF Australasian Heavyweight Title.

However Johnson qualifies for that

 

Burgos UD
Povetkin UD
Fegatilli UD
Clevery TKO
Shafikov KO
Montes UD
Alexander UD
Broner KO

 

He needed to pronounce "Well hello mate, put another shrimp on the barby will ya!?" and the term "crickey!" the right way at least twice.
They don't make it easy to qualify you know :bart