June 7th fights...impressions and context.

I'm still getting over Quintana's performance.

I'm going to have to change my avatar.:-(

How will he bounce back after such a disappointment!:huh atsch

Anyway, yes, Paul Williams looked great - for reference, Quintana took hell from Cotto for four rounds until Cotto won via left-hook to the body.

Williams is going to be a great fighter - I can feel it.

Still didn't get to see De Leon's loss to Lopez (heard he was annihilated, I was watching Vernon Forrest disappoint).

Vernon Forrest is probably finished as a top-tier boxer.

 

Quintana-Williams
I'm shocked by the outcome. I was going with Quintana by decision. I wasn't sold on the Williams hype yet, and after the first fight I thought it would be more of the same. Williams looked great, stunned him in the first round and went for the kill. The Williams that showed up tonight will give any top welterweight problems. I say no to a rubber match because of how it ended. If Williams would've won by close decision, then yes....but he bombed Quintana. Williams should look to unify against the Judah-Clottey, or Cotto-Margarito winners, and Quintana should look elsewhere to rebound.

Lopez-Ponce De Leon
I went with Lopez by decision. I knew he was the better boxer coming in, but I was shocked again at how quick he got rid of Ponce De Leon. You can say what you want about Ponce's technique and lack of boxing skills.... but NOBODY has dropped him the way Lopez did. Lopez looks like the real deal and I can't wait to see him again. I'd be ok with him making an optional defense before he tries to unify against Molitor, Caballero, or Vasquez. I like his chances against all three, but I wouldn't mind if he waited until early next year. Ponce might finally be forced to move up to 126. There were rumors about him fighting Linares a while back, his team didn't want to take it but that might be their best option now.

Forrest-Mora
MAN!,what a shocker!. I gave more NO CHANCE to win this fight, but I think it's a little bit more of what Forrest didn't do than what Mora did. Forrest made it hard on himself by not throwing the jab to set up combinations. He had success when he did it, but didn't follow up. Mora should stay at 154 and forget about 160. He matches up ok against Phillips, and Alcine... so unification could be a good option. I have a feeling the Contender promoters will hold this belt hostage and match Mora with weak opposition. He also has a mandatory in Sergio Martinez. As for Forrest, I think that's pretty much it for a good career. He looked like and old, slow fighter tonight. He seemed gassed after 6 rounds, I don't know if it was poor conditioning or age. After losing to Mora, he should really think about retirement.lol

Pavlik-Lockett
Did anyone else expect this to go any other way? Everyone expected Pavlik to blow out Lockett, and he did just that. If this fight lasted 12 rounds, there would've been some questions but Pavlik did what he was supposed to do. I don't know why he is wasting his time with Rubio. Is he a mandatory?? If he is then its ok, but if he's not then Pavlik needs to go straight to an Abraham fight. If not Abraham, then bring Sturm for the time being.

Overall, good night of boxing.:good :happy :bbb
I went 0 for 2 on the Showtime card, and 2 for 2 on the HBO card.

 

Boxrec.com is posting for some reason that Pavlik and Calzaghe will be fighting October 18 somewhere in the US. Is this for real?

 

Don't believe everything Boxrec says. They jump the gun ALL the time.... sooo don't believe it for now until its confirmed by other sources.

 

Look to the posted treard i already posted the junma vs de leon fight.

 

Impressions? Boxing is unpredictable.

Just think. The fight that was supposed to go the distance in Williams/Quintana, lasted 1 round. And the fight that was supposed to be an execution not only went 12 rounds, but the guy that was supposed to get executed won the fight.

 

The Williams-Quintana result is the biggest shocker of the year.

A Williams TKO after Quintana lost stamina, even if he were to win every round prior, would not have shocked me. Williams shutting out Quintana would have been surprising, but not 'shocking'.

A TKO 1, when Quintana has never shown chin issue's and Williams has never shown anything in the way of serious punching power is quite a surprise, a real one.

 

Great post.

1) Williams has power when he sets his feet, and finally he did that. He also kept his guard higher and forced Quintana to search for a target, something that he never had to do in the first fight. Credit to Paul and his people for making the change. I'd favor Williams against everyone except Cotto, who I believe would knock him out emphatically, or Margo in the rematch. Let's see how July goes before speculating further on that!

2) Lopez looked sensational and like a potential PfP fighter. My strong hunch is that neither Vazquez nor Marquez will ever be the same, and thus by the end of 2009 Lopez will be ready to pounce on the rest of the division.

3) Props to Mora for a game effort, but Forrest is finished. He should retire. My only disagreement with your post is the assessment of Mora/Kirkland. Mora offers nothing offensively when pushed backward and is open to basic combos, and Kirkland specializes in those two areas. Crazy as it sounds, I actually believe Forrest poses more of a threat to Kirkland due to his right-hand punching power, as James tends to run face-first into shots. Mora just doesn't hit hard enough to make him pay for that.

4) Completely agreed on Pavlik/Lockett. He mixed his punches together very well but also had a completely stationary and molasses-slow opponent to make him shine. Lockett was brave but wouldn't be a good fighter for ESPN's WNF, much less as a title contender on HBO. The fact that Kelly took some shots from him reinforced to me that he'll always have some defensive issues. I still like him over Abraham, though, due to his workrate and chin. Would strongly prefer that bout (assuming Abraham isn't destroyed by Miranda) over Pavlik/Calzaghe.

 

Agreed. I hold Williams in higher regard than you, I suspect, but a first-round demolition of a slick fighter like Quintana blew my mind.

 

frank warren spoke to pavliks promoter after the blowout on saturday and there is a tv date available for the 18th(possibly the boardwalk) but its all up to joe(he looks like he wants jones jnr in november instead)as far as warren said.Calzaghe is all about the money now(before frochs last fight ITV(1 of britains largest tv channels)recored Carl froch phoneing Calzaghe and asking him for a dance,Calzaghe told him its all about the price being right.So if u ask me it looks like a shot Jones jnr next for Calzaghe next.

 

Juanma by KO, what a great way to be on everyone's radar