**** Kirk's ESB Championships 2011 ****

Olusegun TKO
Smith UD

 

Well, I guess BigBone is ducking me. :verysad :|Anybody else want to make a bet? I've got Mares, whomever has Agbeko.

 

Yes they do pop up... When I first used the list I did it to prevent exactly that, only that doesn't work :roll:
Would be a huge asset to the forum, to filter out threads from trolling thread spammers.

 

Kermit Cintron-Antwone Smith- Antwone Smith by UD
Teon Kennedy-Alejandro Lopez- Teon Kennedy by UD
Juan Palacios vs. Armando Torres- Juan Palacios by KO
Monte Barrett vs. David Tua II- David Tua by UD
Joseph Agbeko vs. Abner Mares- Abner Mares by UD

After a couple of subpar weeks, boxing is back to it's regualrly scheduled program. A lot of terrific fights on tap for the weekend and let's dive right in 'em.

First up, we'll start off with the main event of Friday Night Fights. A fantastic season for ESPN2's Friday Night Fights. This year and last year have just been phenomenal. Almost every week it's just terrific, this week is no different. Kermit Cintron and Antwone Smith are squaring off. You may say to yourself, Kermit Cintron? Didn't he just fight not too long ago? And yes he did. He fought just about a month ago against Carlos Molina. I thought that was a 50/50 fight going in, but had to roll with the favorite Cintron squeaking by a decision victory. It didn't happen like that, Cintron was beaten up for pretty much all 10 rounds, and lost by a wide UD. Just a month later he is taking on sort of the same style of opponent in Antwone Smith. Smith likes to press, solid D a lot of shoulder roll, James Toney like D rolling with the shoulder coming out with a straight right. Now, if this fight is 2, 3, 4 months later I easily take Antwone Smith by decision, but the fact that Cintron is coming back just after a month tells me that he may'be embarrassed by his performance and that he wants to bounce back with a vengeance. So, with that variable thrown in there it makes for a tough pick. Definitely a tough pick, but until Cintron shows fire and heart in the ring, I gotta roll with Antwone Smith. Who is pretty much just like Carlos Molina. He'll take a couple of rounds to feel you out and then boom here he comes, on you like a shirt, and if you don't like getting in dog fights, he's going to beat you then, and Cintron hates dog fights. He is mentally weak and I can't pick him because of that. Until he shows that in the ring, I can't pick him. I've got Antwone Smith winning via UD.

Juan Palacios is, so far in his career, a tough luck loser. He's gotten two world title shots and has come up short. Both fights on the road where he has lost two close decisions. His first lost came in his 5th fight, where he was stopped by fellow undefeated fighter by the name of Ernesto Castro. He has won every other fight, besides the two world title shots losing against Jose Antonio Aguirre and Oleydong Sithsamerchai. Other than that he has been perfect and has a couple of nice scalps on his record against Omar Soto and Sammy Gutierrez. With all that experience and his powerful style he beats up the overwhelmed Armando Torres....probably knocks him out.

David Tua and Monte Barrett are going at it again. The rematch was very good and controversial. Tua was down in the fight, was deducted a point in the 12th, and the fight ended in a draw. Most felt that Barrett did enough, but two of the three judges thought differently. Now, both look to settle the score and win this rematch. Now, this is picking before they weigh in. With heavyweight it is very important. Just a few weeks ago when Fury-Chisora fought, I had Chisora winning, but after the weigh in had to change to Fury. So, I put a disclaimer out there, I am making this prediction before the weigh in. With that said, I think Tua is the safe bet. Barrett somehow seemed to survive and seemed to get the better of Tua, but I think Tua being at home helps, and I think they may have been Monte Barrett's last hurrah. He had a fight early this year and ended with a draw...to a 19-21-2 fighter. Before the Tua draw he had lost three straight. So, basically, his last 5 fights he is 0-3-2. Really nothing screams pick Barrett, besides the fact that last year he had a good performance. So, with that I go with the Tuaminator by UD. I feel a bit funny, not taking Tua via KO, but may'be Barrett takes his boxing experience, and his experience fighting Tua again, and makes it the distance again.

I really like Teon Kennedy. Nice fast, and powerful kid and proving that he has a great chin. He's coming off a big win over Jorge Diaz, a Fight of the Year candidate. Both men slugged it out for 12 rounds, with Kennedy dropping Diaz twice in the fight. My only concern was his chin, and he has a very good chin. It was definitely answered in the Diaz fight. I really like Kennedy and I think in 1-2 years he will be fighting for a world title. See, with all this building up I'm doing watch him get upended. Alejandro Lopez is a good fighter, too. He definitely is no pushover, but to me, he definitely has the look of a dangerous fighter-a big step up for a prospect, but falls short of being a contender and probably not ever a world champ. I think Kennedy takes this fight by decision, may'be gets the late stoppage, but Lopez is tough, I think he'll make it the distance, but Kennedy wins a wide UD in the end.

Now we have the main event of the evening. The fight that we have all been waiting for since about December. Abner Mares and Joseph Agbeko were originally supposed to fight in late April, but unfortunately, Agbeko collapsed and suffered sciatica. And really both fighters haven't been in the spotlight for too long. Agbeko's really big fight came back in 2009 when he took on Vic Darchinyan and ended up beating him, close, but clearly. His momentum was quickly shut down though 4 months later when he took on the undefeated Yonnhy Perez. He was on the wrong end of the upset and isn't wasn't until last December he would fight again, and against Yonnhy Perez. It was clear that Agbeko had a new gameplan and he got revenge. He also has the scalps of William Gonzalez (a thrilling fight) and a dominating win over Luis Alberto Perez. His only loss, and his first notable opponent came way back in 2004 when he went to Germany and lost via MD to Volodymyr Sydorenko. Over on the other side is the young, Abner Mares. Last year he took on a giant step up against Yonnhy Perez. He hadn't fought anybody really noteworthy up until that point, but that didn't much matter. Mares held his own and ended up getting a draw out of it. He then took on Vic Darchinyan and again, had to over come adversity and really dig himself out of a hole. He did, he fought ad came back and won a SD victory over Vic Darchinyan. What these couple of fights told me is that Mares has a lot of heart, but may'be a bit too basic with his boxing. Agbeko, is a very talented fighter, but lapses in concentration, very hot and cold fighter. You don't always know what you are getting with him. Style wise Agbeko is most successful when he moves, throws, moves, throws. Agbeko was able to do this in the 2nd fight against Perez. While Mares loves starting things off with that jab and doesn't mind moving forward or backwards. Going back to Agbeko-Perez the first fight, Agbeko didn't move, he stayed in the pocket and let Perez start things off with the jab. Second fight, Perez never got going with the jab. This is the key for Mares. If he can work his jab, like he does in every fight he should be good to go. Agbeko though, will have to make it tough. He's going to have to move and throws and he can't allow Mares to set his feet. Assuming both try and execute these gameplans, I think Mares edges and wins this via close UD. Mares has quick hands and feet and I think he can match Agbeko's lateral movement. Which I believe will frustrate Agbeko and start to wear him down in the late rounds. While Mares has proven to have great stamina and great mental toughness. Mares moves forward jabs, closes in on Agbeko and wins the fight. Agbeko does his best to move and get away, but Mares' foot speed closes in on him and Mares wins the fight. Very close UD, may'be even a SD, since Agbeko is a Don King fighter, but my pick is Mares wins by UD.

 

Did you shorten it to fit exactly in 1 post DD?

 

Yeah I sort of tripped down a couple of paragraphs. I started going into a bit of detail of the Palacios-Torres fight, but when I was done it said I went over I'm like ah I don't need to go into that much detail of that fight so I edited that fight a bit to make it fit into just the one page.

 

Kermit Cintron TKO
Teon Kennedy UD
Juan Palacios UD
David Tua TKO
Joseph Agbeko UD