by Jim "Boxadamus" De Pierro

01.02 - Well it has been a week since I last wrote a column and your truly is right now eating a big heap of humble pie and let me tell you it doesn't taste to good. If I were to have told you about a year and a week ago that a virtual unknown cigarette smoking and beer drinking brawler from Nicaragua would own two thirds of the welterweight crown I would have been laughed off the face of the Earth. In the beggining of January of 2002 Shane Mosley was on top of the world and ruled the welterweight division with an iron fist ready to defend his WBC welterweight title for the 4th time. In one day less than a year it is now Vernon Forrest who has been deposed and we are left with Ricardo Mayorga standing on top of the scrap heap. That is the great thing about boxing jsut about and anyone on a good night can be on top of the world.

A couple of you e-mailed me that you were inspired to take up smoking now that Mayorga is the champ. I even got one person who told me that he thinks I am full of it. Even though in my traditional signature after each column I put in my "Agree? Disagree? Think I'm full of it?" at the end of each column I have never until now had someone say I'm that I am actually full of it. Sure I have gotten a few nasty e-mails before on a few occasions which basically said something to that effect. Well first time for everything.

Here is one letter I got from "Ragin' Adrian" of Arizona. Even though it kind of comes in at my expense I thought all you degenerate Mayorga fans out their might enjoy this and get a good laugh out of it. I certainly did.

Lookz like ya sure had alot a pride to swallow with your Mayorga-Forrest prediction.
Yeah, I think I'll go out and buy anotha pack a smokes and smoke up w/ Ricardo!
I guess if Mayorga got smoked, then the Forrest-fire got burnt! Yeeeeeeaaaahhhhh!!!!!!

Take a drag,

Ragin' Adrian
Arizona

What can I say. I am a glutton for punishment. Here are my predictions for tonights PPV fightcard featuring Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Manuel Medina which I don't plan on purchasing. I have even thrown in one predicted upset. So enjoy.

David Santos 42-5 (27 KOs) vs. Carlos Hernandez 37-3-1 (23 KOs)

Hmm, tough call this about a pick-em fight as it gets IMO. Both fighters are competent but nothing exceptional. David Santos in the the two times I have seen him fight Steve Forbes kind of strikes me as the type of fighter that puts a lot of work and training prior to the fight. I am picking Santos cause I think he wants to win a little bit more than Hernandez after losing a close decision to Forbes in a rematch in a fight that he almost won. I saw Forbes-Santos II on TV a while back and Forbes was probably at least two maybe even three weight divisions higher than Santos on the night of the fight. Santos gave a good account of himself so for that reason I am going with Diamond Dave by a close decision in an unremarkable fight.

Miguel Cotto 13-0 (10 KOs) vs. Cesar Bazan 39-5-1 (27 KOs)

(sniff, sniff) I smell something. What is that smell? Ah! I know what that smell is. I smell upset. I don't see Cotto as being anything exceptional at this point. He is a good fighter and he will probably pan out to be a solid contender and maybe even a brief champion like Bazan but I don't see the heir to Felix Trinidad in him. Bazan IMO has still got plenty of fight in him and at 28 he is still very much in his prime and he does own one victory over Stevie Johnston. Even in a losing effort against Jose Luis Castillo I thought he was still a very good fighter.

I think team Cotto bit off a bit more than they can chew at this point in picking Bazan. I like experience to beat youth and power in this fight. Bazan publicly stated that he is going to beat Cotto in 7 rounds and I think he is going to try. If Bazan does KO Cotto their is a good chance it will be round 7 or earlier cause Bazan has never scored a KO past round 7.

Caesar Bazan KO 7 over Miguel Cotto

Juan Manuel Marquez 39-2 (31 KOs) vs. Manuel Medina 60-12 (27 KOs)

Medina looked pretty good in his last fight and I even thought he deserved the victory against Johnny Tapia but I think that fight was largely a reflection of Tapia being clearly past his prime. If Medina can throw 1400+ punches against Marquez he should win if the judges are honest but I think he will only throw about half that number this fight. Juan Manuel Marquez is one of the most underated fighters I can think of. Medina is pretty tough to get out of their and I think his experience will carry him through the distance. Only Naseem Hamed and Derrick Gainer have stopped Medina in recent years and I don't think Marquez has quite the punching power of those two. Marquez is a good puncherin his own right though. I expect Marquez will come close to scoring a KO/TKO victory at several points but I think Medina survives to lose a lopsided decision.

Juan Manuel Marquez UD over Manuel Medina

Agree? Disagree? Think I'm full of it? E-mail me at boxadamus@surfglobal.net and tell me what you think or post a comment.