Bika batters Manfredo; BIKA TKO 3!!! What next for Sakio "The Scorpion" Bika?

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Houston thinks Manfredo's the favourite but still favours Bika for the win:

Fighting in Rhode Island gives Manfredo the advantage. Although a little shorter than Bika, Manfredo is the better boxer with superior hand speed. If he can avoid Bika’s often wide punches and score with counters, he can do very well. The crowd will be roaring every time Manfredo hits the mark, and I think he will be lifted psychologically by the cheers of his supporters: all of Manfredo’s losses were away from home.

For Bika, meanwhile, this fight is the chance to follow up the dramatic win over Codrington and advance his career, and I believe he will be fighting with confidence and determination. Bika has heavy hands, and while he tends to wing his punches he has been known to use a solid jab from time to time. In Bika’s four-round technical draw with Beyer, I thought that the jab was his most effective weapon against the German southpaw.

If Bika simply goes out and tries to overpower Manfredo he might get a good result but he also might run into trouble. I think that if he presses forward in a measured manner, looking to land the right hand after jabbing first, and not getting too carried away, too soon, he can work his way into the fight and perhaps start to come on strongly after the halfway point.

Bika has shown that he can prevail in a tough, gruelling fight, and although he was well beaten by Bute and Calzaghe he was facing tall, fast-punching southpaws who were too skilled for him. Although Manfredo can box, move and punch, he might not quite such a difficult problem for Bika from the style perspective.
Manfredo is the favourite, but I think that Bika, bolstered by his Contender success, can grind out a decision win with a consistent-pressure type of fight.

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It's surprising people don't get more excited about this fight...I cannot recall the last time Bika was involved in a boring fight...:-(

 

He's a draw at home, a bit of a local hero...he's one of the most famous American boxers under 30 in the USA....he was in a big fight against Calzaghe, because he was so famous in the USA, so on the back of that he got more big fights...the snowball effect...and Bika didn't have that many other options.

 

I can't understand why Manfredo would think he has much of a chance at 168...Bika isn't even a big SMW but he looks a division bigger...