**** Kirks Championships 2014 ****

What's up Kirk, I'll throw my hat in the ring here...please add the following picks

Kamil Laszczyk KO
Jonathan Oquendo
Miquel Beltran jr KO
Daniel Geale
Miquel Vazquez

 

Dodged a bullet.

 

Zhong could have used some of your elusiveness this morning. :!:

 

Lasczyk UD
Hirales UD
Beltran Jr. UD
Maldonado UD

 

Beltran and Hirales both had very late opponent changes (yesterday) so I would imagine both those matches should be off the list in Kirk's league as they are in Rummy's. :think

 

Because:

• Forbes was extremely competitive with Johan Perez last year. Yes, he for quite some time before that had looked to have lapsed into permanent sparring partner mode (and not even a really good sparring partner...more like the guy that owes your coach a favor who they drag off his couch when all the real studs in your gym come down with the flu or something) and was easily shut out by Jessie Vargas the year before, and out-hustled and stopped for the first time in his career by tepid prospect Karim Mayfield the year before that, and in perhaps the most glaring jump-of-the-shark dropped a decision to kickboxing-journeyman-turned-boxing-tomato-can (literally suffering more knockdowns in his career than he scored wins, I believe) Harrison Cuello the year before that... but, thirteen months ago he dug way deep and found some relic of the past, some hidden bit of mojo tucked away somewhere, and he rumbled his way to what should've been a snap of his three-loss streak and his most significant conquest since Panchito Bojado in 2007. Instead he got robbed, hard. It was by no means a vintage display of pure boxing from his championship heyday, but it was classic Two Pound, "size of the dog in the fight" type stuff. He stood in with a bigger, younger man and he actually dominated for long stretches and did more than enough to earn a larger tally of the scores. That same Perez would go on to shut out Yoshi Kamegai (on my card and one judge's) and pop the figurative cherry of Paul Spadafora (his literal cherry having been left in the cell block since days). Now, was that a last gasp, just lightning in a bottle, a stylistic anomaly contraindicative of his ability to hang with anything more than fellow gatekeepers, a matter of it all coming together and being the right night for Stevie while also catching the kid on the wrong night for Perez? Maybe. That very well may be. It has also been thirteen months, and in one's late thirties rust begins to become more problematic than a rainy season in Oz for old Tin Woodman. However, it was the last bit of in-ring form we have to go on for Stevie (addendum: he recently served as chief sparring partner for Marcos Rene Maidana, who spoke very highly of his work...and who obviously benefited from an intense camp with his thrashing of Adrien Broner. How much credit for that does Forbes deserve? Not mine to say...but he was from the sound of it more competitive with Maidana with nothing at stake than was Broner with his titles and career trajectory on the line...kibbles for thought...), and it augurs very well for his chances against just about everyone B-level and below. Which brings me to...

• Fidel Maldonado Jr. is maybe B-level, if only barely. He was a fixture on Golden Boy's televised Deportes & Solo Boxeo cards on the way up while unbeaten, but never had the feel of a genuine 'look out, world!' prospect - more a fun TV fighter that would eventually make a living being fed to Golden Boy's actual golden boys. Truthfully, his only two losses are quite forgivable: being stopped by the crazy hard-punching Carcamo is no great blight, nor is surrendering a tight split decision to highly skilled Michael "The Artist" Perez. One might still think he could resurrect prospect status - if he indeed had ever had any to begin with. I have seen a lot of Maldonado Jr. over the years and while he does have some positive attributes (tall, southpaw, with stupid long reach for a lightweight or even light welter, not afraid to get hit, and boy can he punch at both weights, either hand...) but otherwise he is and has always been a hot mess. Despite matchmaking as good as he could ask for, there is no discernible improvement to his craft and I've reached the point of writing off the possibility of there being any. He is slow enough of hand to more or less avoid with a modicum of cleverness. He will always be someone you can find and time with a counter, and will always have trouble standing up to accurate punches from any elite with his skinny neck & legs and the way inbound punches always seem to absolutely blindside him in exchanges. He is as sloppy and open to checks on the inside today as he was my first couple of times seeing him against John Willoughby and Luis Sanchez (who to date has never professionally recorded a knockout, and yet very nearly dealt Maldonado a KO1...). He is, like Forbes, coming off a strong performance, grinding down Luis Ramos Jr. on Fox Sports 1 last November. Decent notch on the bedpost, but Ramos' highest ever distinction to date was getting a gift over Ray Beltran - and he was at the end of the day simply not tough enough to hang with a fellow lefty packing lots more firepower and with orangutan limbs compared with his own little Tyrannosaurus Rex stubs. Forbes on the other hand is proven tough and is no greenhorn when it comes to being an underdog in physical stats. However, point in Maldonado's favor - throughout his nearly two decades in the ring Forbes has faced precious few southpaws and generally not done too well. He was held to a SD by Steve Quinonez and upset by Cuello...

• Bottom line, Johan Perez > Fidel Maldonado Jr. or anyone he ever fought. If today's Forbes can replicate what he did last January, there is no version of Maldonado I've ever seen (roughly a dozen bouts, nearly all of his) that can defeat Forbes via anything but robbery.

...and despite his four years of yeoman service, Maldonado Jr. is owed not a hundredth of what Golden Boy owes Forbes. (the gift to D-Hop, the wanton use of tiny Forbes by giant bully De La Hoya for a whipping-boy tuneup before the Mayweather rematch that never happened...not to mention the countless times Forbes has been available, sometimes on short notice, to give someone in their roster a competitive night's work...). So if there is bad scoring, I can't see it favoring Maldonado. He is the younger man, yes, but he is hardly any more of a "build around for the future" guy than Forbes. In fact, they are in the same exact boat...as gatekeepers. One is just an older gatekeeper and has paid more dues. (and once upon a time held a world title belt, which Maldonado probably won't...)

 

HILARES KO7
BELTRAn KO5
FORBES UD

 

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! :twisted:

...so, I write all that up, return to Maldonado's page on Boxrec scantly over an hour later, refresh my browser - and Forbes' name is gone, replaced with that of a John Gregory Nater Jimenez.

Forbes is off Monday's card; he got injured while training.

They found Maldonado a fellow 'live or die by the sword', kayo or be kayoed type...not a horrible record either, though he is definitely expected to lose - and better yet it makes for a Mexico vs. Puerto Rico match-up. Efficient promotional work by GBP to save the show on short notce. Still a crappy main event, though.


c


...after I typed all that...

Russ, I swear, this must be karma...for all those private messages I made a mental note to 'get around to'...

 

Literally none of those count. :!:

 

Lasczyk SD

 

Laszczyk UD
Hirales UD
Beltran TKO
Forbes UD

 

All those fights except Laszczyk vs. Diaz are off.

 

So anyone watching Olympic Iceboxing this weekend? :!:

 

Daniel Diaz UD

 

Lasczyk UD