Last night had it all... Brutal KO's, slick boxing, and controversy. Definitely HBO put the best fight card put by a cable provider in years. The fights: Cintrón-Mattise It was too quick of an affair. I agree with Max Kellerman when he said: "This fight was over so soon that is somewhat of a disappointment. It didn't build up as a war" I guess Cintron cut to the chase on that one, but he could have benefited from a few rounds however, this is good for him as it builds up his confidence and as the weakest beltholder (WBO); he can keep himself in the mix. Matchmaking: Stay away from Margarito and Shane Mosley. Good options are: Joshua Cottley, Oktay Urkal or even Luis Collazo (tough southpaw, but if Manny Stewart wants to step it up in the boxing department this is the way to go). Gatti-Gomez This fight was very sad and pleasing at the same time. Gomez showed that staying busy and being a road warrior pays off. He fought as if he could see everything from Gatti coming in slow motion. Too bad to see Gatti get KO'd in such fashion in front of his NJ fans. Kellerman was right on the money when he said that Gatti was well matched against the second tier fighters with non awkward styles. Gomez was too strong just like Baldomir. Farewell to the warrior!! Matchmaking: Gomez is versatile because he'll fight anyone from 147 up to 160, but at 5'9" he must carefully pick his opponents. Chavez Jr. would be the best fight money-wise, but I think Top Rank will not match him with Gomez. My advice: find somebody in the Top 20. For a step-up, fight Margarito. Williams-Margarito I was amazed at both fighters watching this bout. For five or six rounds Williams was fighting the perfect fight, the work rate, the punching angles, the accuracy made him look like the second coming of Ali! But then, I saw why people should fear Antonio Margarito - he started blocking more and more punches and committed to the body slowing down Williams. By the 11th he had a few rounds in the bag and looked like he would at least knock down Williams. I believe that the last 3 rounds of this fight are the graduation of Paul, as he stared at adversity and came out as a champion. He took a lot of punishment (his speech was even slurred during the interview) but he deserved the win. Funny enough, had this fight been in Vegas it could have been a draw or even a majority decision for Margarito (as they favor power punching). The way I view it: Effective Aggressiveness: Close but Paul wins. Also, when a fighter throws almost twice the amount of punches than the other while outlanding him you have your outcome, but Margo's rounds were very very clear as he edged in power punching towards the second half of the fight. Ring Generalship: Paul hands down! He was circling and maintaining a proper distance most of the fight. It took 5 rounds for Margo to start figuring out the puzzle. Defense: Margarito hands down - he made it look like a sparring session at times. When Williams fainted, he was able to land more frequently. What are the options for Paul Williams...? I am going to go out of a limb here and match him only against the very top of the food chain in the Welterweight division: Easier fights: Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather. Why? Master boxers can be beat by another taller Master Boxer. Mosley is easy to frustrate if you stick to a gameplan (see Forrest and Wright), and PBF will have a tough time with the range and volume of punches. Toughest Fights: Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. Both guys not only beat the body but put a beat down on their opponents. Margarito lost because he started late, next time this won't happen. Miguel Cotto has better footwork than Margo, so I anticipate a rough night for Williams. On Letterman's DLH announcement The Welterweight Division is a big party right now, and I'd like to use Bob Arum's designation to say that there are Business Men (DelaHoya, Mayweather and to an extent, Mosley) and Fighters (Williams, Cotto, Cintron, Cottley, Margarito, Collazo, etc.) and DeLaHoya's intentions to go back to 147 are not good for the sport. What this does is that everyone holds their cards agains their chest to wait for DLH to make a move, rather than doing what they did last night: fight each other. More of my boxing articles here: http://alefgard.blogspot.com/search/label/Boxing (Spare my English as Spanish is my mother tounge)
It wasn't PPV, yet it was 10x better than most PPVs turn out to be. Kudos to HBO for getting it done. Great, great welterweight card that really showcased one of the best weight classes in boxing.
