By Grey Johnson
14.08 - I guess I want to start off by taking about my adventures of watching boxing in front of the television last Friday. ESPN2 featured Michael Stewart vs. Brad Jensen in the opener. If you're curious for why Stewart has been on ESPN often, it's because Russell Peltz, the matchmaker for the channel, promotes him. Peltz is given 4-5 cards a year by ESPN, and he's able to put his talent on television. Jensen came in with an unimpressive record of 12-4-1, and his opposition indicated that he was nothing more than a club fighter. It was a pointless matchup, considering Stewart was clearly a class ahead of Jensen. I'm tired of Peltz building up his fighter's records, and letting them on television in the meantime. I would suggest you guys read Charles Jay's work if you want to know the complete story of Russell Peltz. After being put to sleep by a swing bout, I decided to switch to Telefutura for Leyva-Barrera. Thank God I did, as it ended up being one of the best fights I've seen this year with the exception of Ward-Gatti. While the rest of the television audience got to see John Poore do an impression of a toughman fighter, I got to see two warriors slug it out for twelve rounds. The only good thing to happen on ESPN2 was the main event, and even that wasn't real high quality.
I guess what I'm saying is that ESPN needs to strengthen it's fight cards. I think Russell Peltz needs to be replaced with a matchmaker whose second job is not being a promoter. I've noticed that anybody who is good friends with Peltz gets his fighters on the air. Take Bobby Hiltz for example, who has graced us with fights such as Teddy Reid vs. Germain Sanders and Oscar Bravo vs. Antwun Echols. Do you seriously think Hiltz's club fighters would be on television against world-class contenders if he weren't a friend with Peltz? Another thing, ESPN needs to stop showing cruiserweight and super middleweight fights so often. They're the two weakest divisions in boxing, and people don't care about the matchups. Having two fights at 190 on the show this week doesn't help, either.
So with that said, let's take a look at the fights this week:
Ravea Springs (24-2) vs. Kelvin Davis (18-0-1)
Davis is a prospect at 190, and he faces a minor test in Springs, whose last win was against bloated former champion William Guthrie. Springs has never beaten anybody other than that, and I think Davis has lots more talent. I think Davis will win by knockout in a boring ESPN2 main event.
Joe Calzaghe (33-0) vs. Miguel Jimenez (20-1)
Please, I don't think this future fight takes very long to come to a conclusion: Jimenez sucks.
Daniel Santos (25-2-1) vs. Mehrdud "Takaloo" Takaloobighashi (19-2)
Now this fight is a little more even. Santos is a solid fighter at 154, and Takaloo is a very big puncher. The fight will be on Takaloo's turf, so it will be interesting to see if the consistent Santos can adjust to the new scenery.
Agapito Sanchez (33-7-2) vs. Joan Guzman (17-0)
Not on television, which is a shame. I've seen Guzman twice; good puncher, raw talent, nowhere near a title shot. I think Sanchez will eat him up, but hey, I could be wrong.Agapito could disqualify himself.
Jermain Taylor (9-0) vs. Sam Hill (15-2-1)
I wish I could see something a little more interesting on the HBO undercard. I think we all know Taylor will win.
Michel Trabant (36-0) vs. Joszef Matolcsi (16-2)
Damn, the only thing more padded than Trabant's record is Ike Ibeabuchi's prison cell.
Laila Ali (11-0) vs. Suzette Taylor (10-6-1)
Only 19.95 on PPV, and it's more worthless than Bean-Holmes. Ali KO3.
Michael Moorer (43-2-1) vs. David Tua (40-3)
Ah, the matchup of the week. Every person that I've talked to about this gave me the same scenario: Moorer will outbox Tua for 5 to 6 rounds before Tua catches Moorer with a single punch to score a comeback knockout. No bonus points if the punch is a left hook. I think Tua will give his usual performance, and continue towards another title shot. This fight will either make or break Moorer's career. If he loses, I don't think there's a point of him continuing to fight.
James Toney (64-4-2) vs. Jason Robinson (16-2)
I think Toney is starting to take his boxing career seriously again, and he's always been good enough to beat the fringe contenders like Jason Robinson. I like Toney by decision, and look forward to Toney- Jirov early next year.
Steve Forbes (20-1) vs. David Santos (42-4)
Aw.they fought this fight for us once before: Forbes W12 Santos.
OTHER FIGHTERS IN ACTION THIS WEEK: Jermell Barnes, Gary Wilcox, Frankie Archuleta, Frankie Randall, Paolo Vidoz, Jose Navarro, Juan Carlos Gomez, Mario Veit, Thomas Ulrich, Fitz Vanderpool, William Abelyan, Orlando Soto, Gregory Pickrom, Cedric Boswell, Bert Schenk, Zsolt Erdei, Anthony Thompson