awesome Awesome AWESOME lightweight card 4/4/09

Good card but easy to predict.

 

I like Casa over Diaz as well. No shame in a reasonably competitive loss to a top 5 P4P. Diaz will be on his bike, but I don't think he's slick enough to box all night against even an old Casa.

 

I wouldn't completely sleep on Pitalua. Sure, he's old, but he's a big puncher and coming off a big confidence boosting KO against Santa Cruz. And we remember the problems Cruz caused Casamayor. We should learn a thing or two about Valero's whiskers, and overall, this is his biggest test in his career by far. It may be something of a shock to him after all the soft competition.

Barrios should win big. Hernandez has been real inactive which is not a good sign at his age, and he was already on a poor run of form. I question if he even has any ambition, looks like he came for a cheque. Barrios to KO Hernandez for the first time...written all over it.

I actually think Julio Diaz has something left in the tank and Casamayor has been slipping for a long time now. I think that brings them closer together. I'm sure we'll see a competitive fight actually.

Looks like they gave Katsidis a climb back onboard the win train fight. Everything points towards that, but Katsidis has been fragile in the past and he's easy to hit so maybe it retains slight interest.

Overall I think theres a chance we might see one upset on the night.

 

as long as we still get to see the Katsidis-Chavez fight its still good.

 

Katsidis/Chavez sucks.. Katsidis is a one dimensional caveman and Chavez is too injury prone.. He's not healthy enough to fight at a good pace anymore. Im picking Katsidis to beat him only cuz this isn't the same chavez from years back..

Katsidis beats chavez..

 

Should be a fun night of boxing.

For those of you who want an updated card:

Julio Diaz (36-4) vs Rolando Reyes (30-4)

-Should be a nice return for Julio Diaz and even though I don't know a shitload about Rolando, from all accounts it's still a decent opener.

Vincente Escobedo (19-1) vs Carlos "El Famoso" Hernandez (43-7)

-SHOULD be a break out party for Escobedo. After his first loss he's railed off 9 straight wins against less than stellar opposition. He's facing Hernandez whose 6-4 with losses against the likes of Jesus Chavez, Bobby Pac and Kevin Kelly. El Famoso is tailor made for Escobedo and chances are unless Vincente chokes, he'll stop Hernandez and early. That said this is a massive step up for Escobedo and with a veteran fighter you always run the risk of a potential upset. I'd still put my faith behind Vincente to potentially stop a past it and potentially uninspired Hernandez.

Michael Katsidis (24-2) vs Jesus Chavez (44-4)

-Should be a fun little war. I think it'll be very close and sluggish til about the midway point with both fighters wailing away and trying to put the other away. We've seen Katsidis hurt a bunch of times so Chavez will always have that famed punchers chance. I figure by the mid way point the better conditioned and better winded fighter (Katsidis) will pull away with it late. I don't know if it'll be a stoppage or a UD win for Katsidis but I see him pulling it out.

Edwin Valero (24-0) vs Antonio Pitalua (46-3)

-The fighter with the most to gain on a GBP PPV is a Top Rank fighter. Go figure eh? Anyways this is the fight that will help boxing fans paint the real picture on Edwin Valero. Protected limited skills KO artist or future P4P contender? Say what you want but Pitalua isn't a soft touch, he's got 14 wins in a row NONE have gone the distance and he's coming off a tremendous upset win over Jose Armando Santa Cruz. Honestly? I have to imagine that Valero takes this one. I think it'll start off rough for him (considering that he's been fighting less than stellar opposition) and Pitalua will probably try to frustrate and rough Valero up a bit. I think Valero will eventually catch up with him and put him down around 6 or so.

A good night of boxing indeed.

 

Valero is going to make alot of fans in this fight and this will be Escobedo's coming out party!!!! **** yea!!!!

 

We agree on Katsidis... good athlete, crap boxer.

 

I don't think Katsidis is trying to play anyone into thinking he's a good boxer. He's a tremendously fun brawler and I think that's really all he'll ever be.

THAT SAID he's the sort of dude who will make a killing because he's personable and people will pay a lot of money to see him fight.

 

Well, he might not be anymore, but HBO sure was shoving him at everybody last year.

Kats will be a great gatekeeper for the young guns at 135.

 

Thanks for the info about Pitalua. Interesting. I didn't know he was that good. Impressive record he got as well as upsetting Santa Cruz. Based on these facts I pick Pitalua either by k.o. or decision.

 

OMG, thats the best card I have seen in recent years. I mean a greedy promoter could easily put every single one of those fights on PPV, deserving or not. Gonna buy it, definitely worth the money. 4 hours of boxing.

 

Because he's very fun to watch really. I mean I doubt he'll ever be an amazing superstar but HBO was advertising him as the new Arturo Gatti which was a fitting title IMO.

That said of course, I hope they understand that he's not a main eventer IMO.

 

ARRRR ****...a few pullouts...looking forward in seeing Casa V Diaz and Barrios.

Anyway go Rocky :good

Looking forward to seeing an early KO for Valero.