There's a decent amount of fights this week, most of which promise to be action packed. Which one do you expect to be the most crowd pleasing? For me it's a toss up between Valero vs. Pitalua and Andrade vs. Tsypko.
From what I've gathered, Katsidis is focusing more now on boxing rather the brawling. Which seemed to be the case in the Diaz fight. A fight that promised to be a FOTY candidate but ultimately was relatively forgettable. His days of being a guts and guts brawler could be over. Though you can't knock the man for wanting to minimize the amount of punishment he absorbs. It's perfectly understandable.
all of the fights listed will probably be terrific, all action affairs. i'll watch all of them with great satisfaction, no doubt. but i am most interested to see adrade v. tsypko because it is the rare opportunity to see two guys in the ring together who have basically willed themselves behind iron chins and workmanlike grinding into the fringes of the world title picture. neither guy possesses anything like natural athleticism or even one superlative boxing trait other than the great beard like huge power in one hand, real hand or foot speed, brilliant defensive movement, perfect timing...terms just don't apply. neither guy should have ever approached a title shot. andrade is slow, flat-footed, an open book defensively, succeptible to quick counters and being worked from angles, but he's physically very strong, sturdy and heroically tough, in there whether you want to get him out of there or not and in your face all night, even if only to eat more shots. tyspko is easy to throw off balance, a relatively moderate puncher who is fairly quick, but loses any such advantage because he cannot turn on his speed and move--or move his punches. however, tsypko is such a willful grinder, no matter what happens in a fight, he just goes back to it, undaunted. he, like andrade, finds a way to make it happen by simply being unafraid to be there all night, ready to find the poor man's path to victory that is usually crowned in punishment. that said, how could these two not make a great scrap? two guys coming forward, just doing the work all night, no flash, no ego shows, no looking past the guy in front of him, just gutting out every inch. these guys remind me of the best parts of small hall boxing taken to a rough and tumble extreme and transported to the world stage.
Bradley-Holt is gonna be a slugfest!!! dont let the KO's fool you, they bout to throw down. Kaistdis-Chavez is gonna be a war too.
Pianeta-Sosnowski Just kidding. Katsidis-Chavez and Valero-Pitalua both have the potential to be very exciting. Escobedo-Hernandez might actually end up being the best fight of that card though.
THe most intriguing is Valero vs. Pitalua, for obvious reasons. Sadly I won't be able to watch that other here, so I hope Holt and Bradley makes for a good fight, which I think it will. Bradley is undefeated, and whilst Holt has a suspect chin Bradley isn't a massive hitter. Holt can really bang when he needs (wants?) to and I think the clash of styles will make for a god fight. Unless they both make it a tactical affair and it's a stinker. At least I can watch Valero-Pitalua on Sunday at some point, hopefully find it on y-o-u-t-u-b-e (didn't know whether it would censor that!!!) without knowing the result. And hopefully Valero gets shown up to shut Jeff M/FINITO up....or if he wins impressively then I will get excited about the potential matchups he can figure in. Hell, if he wins, who the Hell is Pitalua???? It'll take a fight with someone like Katsidis or Soto to convince me, someone we have actually SEEN!!! Unless someone has seen the Santa Cruz-Pitalua fight and can tell me whether it would be of some worth. I've heard he's got a good K.O record but then again so has Edwin Valero, and he isn't exactly, ahem, 'impressive'.
I don't think it's to do with punishment. I think his corner actually think that will win him fights atsch He cannot win by boxing. You can see in his physique, his stature (i.e his instincts) that the man wants to fight. Let him fight, he might actually win then. No silly mistakes like in the Casamayor fight (final round springs to mind when he came out swinging right at the beginning and got caught by a well-rested counter puncher, who within a minute would've been at his mercy again!!!!) but by applying sustained, intelligent pressure, he will be more than effective to do well in the current LW division. His new type of fighting is more about jab, overhand right, jab, feign, overhand right, a couple of hooks, back off, jab. His whole frenzies assault was what was winning him fights. If anyone disagrees I'll be glad to hear your reasons and admit if I was wrong.
I really like Kendall Holt. Charismatic fighter, who comes to fight, and irrespective of the accidental clash of heads, displayed great will to get off the canvas twice to come out victorious. However, why couldn't Setanta Sports have shown Lightweight thunder instead of his fight with Timothy Bradley. I'm pissed. Setanta did not have the sense to grab hold of arguably the best card of the year.
This is true. Katsidis' trainer seems rather delusional. It seemed like he honestly felt Michael deserved the decision against Diaz. atsch
