Kirks Championships : Boxing Prediction League : 2018

Michael Dasmarinas vs. Karim Guerfi
Dasmarinas is an under the radar Filipino talent, a real hidden gem, his two losses, one was an early KO loss, that can be forgiven and the other a sketchy SD loss, in Africa, where 2 judges had it wide the other way, and Roussel had it 118-110 for Dasmarinas, haven't seen the match, but those scorecards reek of bull****. That being said Guerfi has looked like a million bucks since coming back from being stopped by the underrated Zhakiyanov, picking up wins over Gonzalez Jr., Farrag and Jamoye. This is a 50/50 crapshoot.

Muhamad Ridhwan vs. Jeson Umbal
Umbal is underrated and a big step up for Ridwan, who's fought nothing but bums, Umbal recently avenged his loss to Geraldo by KOing him in 5, and many of his losses are early in his career and MD's in short matches. He's getting better, that being said, this is in Singapore against an unbeaten Singaporean, so if you want to role the dice on an Umbal KO win, that's probably the only way he can take the W, then do it, its possible.

Islam Dumanov vs. Ali Funeka
Dumanov lost to a journeyman with 10 losses, and his recent SD win against Mikhaylenko, haven't seen the match so I can't comment on how legit the win was, but were the Russians just giving Dmitry the shiv here???. Funeka is coming off of 3 losses, one to Horn, so what, another to Vargas, who when not fighting elite guys like Spence and Garcia is decent, the third was a loss in Ukraine to a Ukrainian, so was that legit? Who knows. But one thing is for sure, neither will have the home field advantage, this is in Spain. 50/50.

Nawaphon Kaikanha vs. Amnat Ruenroeng
Navarette KO'd Kaikanha, and then got stopped by Higa, oh well, no big deal Navarette is solid, or is he? Was Higa all hype and Navarette just average? Does that mean someone totally average may have KO'd Kaikanha? Ruenroeng has been on a losing streak, but to Casimero and Ge, who are both better than Kaikanha. Style wise, he's not a great match for Kaikanha, is he to the point where he's just showing up for a paycheck? Will Kaikanha have power enough to stop him? All he does is KO cab drivers. Who the hell knows. Another 50/50.

Damian Jonak vs. Lukas Ndafoluma
Featherfised Pole vs. featherfisted African in Poland, most likely outcome a featherfisted UD for the featherfisted Pole. But both are completely unproven at the top level, so who knows.... but its probably best to play it safe here just in case.

Mateusz Masternak vs. Youri Kayembre Kalenga
Kalenga has already beat him once, who's to say he can't repeat? Masternak has been on a winning streak against.... Bujaj, a bum, Sillakh, who he went the distance with, and HE BARELY BEAT and was hurt by, ****ing Sillakh, who has NO CHIN whatsoever, Masternak couldn't even stop frigging Eric Fields. Kalenga on the other hand has been on a losing streak, reality check time, he beat Lerena and was robbed, and how many of us wouldn't pick Dorticos and Lebedev to beat Masternak with absolute ease? Kalenga may have Mateusz number, or they could rob Youri blind. 50/50.

Tomasz Adamek vs. Joey Abell
Joey may be roided up, and is a kill or be killed fighter, Adamek has struggled with many a featherfisted bum and got KTFO by Eric Friggin Molina, Abell has only lost lately by KO to more or less elite fighters. Are his wins over Nofire and Zimnoch being overrated? Possibly, they both had that bummish stink to them, but is Adamek any better than a bum lately? He's ancient and his chin is gone. If Abell lands enough of his savage hooks, it could be nighty nite for Goral. Or Adamek may put on a dull as nails clinic and shut him out. Who knows.

Otto Wallin vs. Adrian Granat
Another 50/50, is Granat packing glass? Maybe, or was it that he just got too confidence and was caught with a big shot against a man with far more experience? Wallin is the slightly more skilled of the two, but they both are incredibly heavy handed, and it may be a case of who lands first. Wallin has never really taken on a live body, and has been quite inactive, also his highly rated power has been absent lately, he couldn't even stop Zumbano Love, which is pathetic. Granat may have just had a Badou Jack moment, but one thing is for certain, he has equal or more power than Helenius, who couldn't stop Rill, whereas he did. 50/50 coin toss.

Tom Schwarz vs. Senad Gashi
Schwarz is quite dull and tends to win by UD, he couldn't even stop Bacurin, and even though its not listed, he was dropped and hurt bad by Mezecev. Gashi is heavy handed and reminds me of a HW version of David Lemieux, I'm quite fond of his fighting style, he keeps the high guard up, gets in his opponents faces, works the body, then the head, and down they go, 16-0 16 KO's. But can he do that to this bore? Tom is a violent KO waiting to happen, and Senad may have the style to pull it off. Make no mistake, do not sleep on this one, its a really really hard match to call. Gashi may very well be his stiffest test to date.


Agit Kabayel vs. Miljan Rovcanin
Agit's big win is over Chisora, which arguably should have been a draw, and Rovcanin's big loss, arguably should have been a win, the match against Dimitrenko was originally a draw, and that's with Miljan gtting 3 points deducted, then Dimitrenko's crew asked them to overturn it and make a DQ, and they did, so Rovcanin probably should be considered undefeated. Agit looked great against Lewandowski, who's looked like **** since, and he gassed in the second half of the Chisora match, will he gas this time? Does Miljan have what it takes to capitalize? Can he flat out outbox Agit? This one is another genuine toss up.

Sean Dodd vs. Tommy Coyle
Genuine toss up, this one can truly go either way, Masher's Dodd's draw to Cardle was BS, he should have won that, but Coyle's loss to Nurse one could argue was BS as well, he had an argument he won that, both featherfisted, both KO'd by featherfists, both fan favorites, Dodd is the more skilled, Coyle is probably the grittier of the two and could drag Dodd into a war and even there, both men could win in a war. I can see a KO win for either man, a SD or UD for either, and if you ever wanted to use the Draw option, this might be a good place to attempt it.

Amir Khan vs. Phil Lo Greco
Lo Greco is being brought in to lose, and lose he'll most likely do, either by wide UD o late TKO, and while yeah, Khan is glass jawed as hell, even after a year off he was able to outbox a massive heavy handed Middleweight in Canelo until he got timed, Lo Greco isn't Canelo, hell he's not even Alexander or Diaz, yeah Diaz dropped Khan, but Diaz also arguably has a win over Porter, and hurt Thurman as well. Lo Greco's only chance is a puncher's. But this is Khan we're talking about. So..... You never know.

Zolani Tete vs. Omar Andres Narvaez
In spite of the fact that Narvaez is at a staggering height and reach disadvantage, I think he's going to do much better than people think he will. Tete is probably one of the most overrated fighters in the sport today, Kinoshita was destroyed by Ancajas, went the distance with Tete, Villanueva was destroyed by Nery, went the distance with Tete, what's that leave Tete with? Paul Butler? Narvaez is a crafty little booger, who knows how to survive, look at the Donarire performance, he paid for going all out against The Monster, who he underestimated, he won't make that mistake with Tete. Navaez has a chance, he's fought big men before and southpaws, and does well with both. You never know.

Carl Frampton vs. Nonito Donaire
Donaire is being written off way too easily in this one. Frampton isn't particularly fast, but has decent timing, but here's the catch Donaire's timing is still there as well and he definitely has the power edge, still. I think this will be a tit for tat chess match with each man nicking a round here and there with neither man fully figuing the other out and if Carl starts gassing like he did against Horacio, Donaire can and possibly will violently capitalize. People tend to forget, the Magdaleno fight was close, as in, either way close, with Donaire hurting Jessie badly at one time. And Jessie has a few intangibles that Carl lacks, he's awkward and has a hard o time rhythm, Carl does not. This is a coin flip.

Duke Micah vs. Yoan Boyeaux
Boyeaux is being brought in to lose and lose he probably will, since the Inoue match probably took a lot out of him, that being said, he hadn't lost in a long time before that match, and while Micah seems to be heavy handed, when he doesn't KO his opponents, he barely beats them in his own backyard, something to think about.

Gervonta Davis vs. Jesus Marcelo Andres Cuellar
Not very long ago, everyone was picking Cuellar to KO Mares, except for me. And not very long ago Gervonta looked awful against a nobody in Fonseca and struggled to get the KO, Mares beat Cuellar because he was the far better boxer of the two, and most importantly was defense first, controlled the range well and kept his distance. If Gervonta gets too aggressive here he could pay, Cuellar is very heavy handed, and he looks like a guy who's power could increase at 130, and he has something to prove here. Also who knows what's going on with Davis mentally, he didn't seem too sound the last time out, he might have gone further to the dark side as of late, we just don't know. This is a hard to call match, they're both southpaws, both heavy handed, both flawed, and who says Tank will even make weight or can?

 

Adrien Broner vs. Jessie Vargas
I'm leaning Broner, not with much confidence though, no matter how well refined Vargas' punching technique is now, his straight right is still a little too telegraphed for Broner to fall for more than once, if its a pure boxing match it'll be similar to Vargas-Ali, without the KO, and up until the stoppage, that match was tit for tat. Vargas is far too conservative to take the all out war like Maidana or Granados approach, an doesn't trust his chin after Manny dropped him, case in point look at his safety first dull as hell by the numbers win over Herrera, sure he'll step it up against Broner, but Broner is 2 or 3 levels above Herrera, and even Vargas at his very best, is still a pimple on the ass of Mikey Garcia. This is a match between the kings of the SD they probably didn't deserve, Al should sweeten the pot and add Swift in to make it a 3 way dance. Vargas is thoroughly average aside from 2 beautiful punches he landed on Bradley and Ali, and based purely on skill level he's not on Broner's. If its fought at range like I think it'll be, Broner's speed will ultimately be decisive factor, and I'm not ruling out a stoppage win for him as well.

Jermall Charlo vs. Hugo Centeno Jr.
Centeno is no pushover, Sulecki has a terribly awkward style, and took a hell of a lot of punishment before finally going down. everyone thought Aleem would KO Centeno, except for me, I really believed Centeno could pull it off, but went with the herd, well not only did he pull it off, he pulled it off brutally. If Charlo walks into his overhand left, he might be laying prone on the canvass, so far he's KO'd two guys with it cold, and Trout hit Charlo with a hell of a lot of lefts. Its something to think about. Its not like Jermall got a one legged man out of there easily, and Hugo's got two legs that he'll use. Hugo is a skilled operator, who doesn't have a glass chin, and Trout wasn't dropped once, Heiland's KD's were due to balance, we have no solid evidence Charlo's power carried up, r that its that devastating to begin with. This is far closer and harder to pick than most seem to think it is, an upset is possible here.

Hernan Marquez vs. Jose Quirino II
Marquez dropped Quirino in the first round of their first fight, but Quirino fought back valiantly to even it up on the cards, winning on one of them, it ended in a Split Draw. So in the rematch does Tyson just take Quirino too lightly, and rectify his poor showing by finishing what he started in the 1st round of the first fight? Or is Marquez shot to bits and in this 10, not 8 like the first, give Quirino the opportunity to put an exclamation mark on it and win a UD this time?

Ramon Alvarez vs. Jorge Paez Jr.
Will the Paez that fought Margarito and took him to the limit and KO'd Sandoval show up? Or will the Paez that got beaten by Paz, Navarette and Ocampo show up? Who knows. Also which Ramon shows up, the one who was blitzed in one against Omar Chavez or the one that schooled Chavez? The one that drew with a Navarette, should've lost, or the one that beat him with relative ease show up? Damned if I know, its anyone's guess, total crapshoot.

Zaur Abdullaev vs. Deiner Berrio
Abdullaev is an unknown commodity, he's looked good so far against subpar competition, Berrio is the more proven of the two, the loss to Malikov was sketchy, it could have gone either way, and tis match will probably look the same. How good is Zaur's chin? Who knows, Zaur is probably a little better than Malikov slightly, but slower, yet has better timing and a sneaky left hook, but is he ready for such a step up in class?

Pavel Malikov vs. Daud Yordan
News flash, Yordan's two most recent losses are to Vetyeka and Chris John, guess what, Malikov loses to both. Malikov is a no defense having blood and guts warrior primed and ready for a vicious KO loss, will Yordan be the man to hand it to him, maybe! Yordan is solid and Mailkov isn't very good, but this is in Russia.


I hope I thoroughly cleared everything up and made your decisions much easier guys!


Now goddammit, I need a nap after that.