Holyfield-Toney, Morales-Espadas and Casamayor-Corrales Predictions

by Jim "Boxadamus" De Pierro

04.10 - I must first apologize to those of you who say I should have do my articles a few days before the fight. Your right but what can I say I am a slacker. This will probably be the first time ever that the Showtime card of Holyfield-Toney is going to get more attention than the HBO promoted card of the rematch between Erik Morales and Guty Espadas.

Erik Morales 44-1 (33 KOs) vs. Guty Espadas 37-5 (23 KOs)

You would either have to be a moron or someone with too much money on their hands to want to purchase this PPV. If I was going to buy this card it would be to see Rafael Marquez take on Mauricio Pastrana on the undercard. Marquez should win that fight in my view although Pastrana is a very live underdog in that fight who will give Marquez a run for his money

This fight is actually a rematch of a fight that took place a few years ago. Morales-Espadas I was a close fight but not because it was hard fought it was more of a case of neither guy doing anything. Why in the world would anyone want to see a sequel to this fight is beyond me. Might as well market Holyfield-Ruiz IV as PPV because thats about how much appeal this fight has to me. Oh yeah, the fight I have to make a prediction on that don't I. Morales is almost a full blow lightweigh at this point. I think this time around Morales is going to prove to be to strong for Espadas to handle. I kind of got the feeling from the first fight that Morales wasn't trying particularly hard and just going through the motions. I see Morales overwelming Espadas in a very dominant fight.

Erik Morales TKO 6 over Guty Espadas

Joel Casamayor 29-1 (18 KOs) vs. Diego Corrales 37-1 (31 KOs)

Photo: TOM CASINO

This one of the tougher fights to predict but for me what it really all comes down to is who is more consistant and that man is Joel Casamayor. I would kind of like to see Corrales put Cassamyour in his place as I think Casamayor is more arrogant but I think Casamayorl is fundamentally more sound than Corrales and that will be the differnce in this figth. Corrales in a lot of his fights even against lesser oppositon at least to me looks really ackward at times and I think Cassamayour will take advantage of that. Corrales ackwardness is often overlooked because the end result is usually a devestating KO in favor of Corrales. Its not with any degree of certainty that I make this pick because Corrales punches hard enough to turn this fight around at anytime but I think Cassamayour is going grind Corrales down in a very dirty fight in which there will be at least a point or two deducted for fouls. I see both men hitting the canvas but I see Casamayor winning inside the distance when the ref over the protests of Corrales stops the fight a little earlier than most fans would like to see.

Joel Casamayor TKO 8 over Diego Corrales

Evander Holyfield 38-6-2 (25 KOs) vs. James Toney 66-4-2 (42 KOs)

Photo: TOM CASINO

James "lights out" Toney talk a good game but it remains to be seen whether the IBF cruiserweight champ has finally bitten off more than he can chew when he takes on the former heavyweight champion of the world Evander "the real deal" Holyfield. The scary thing about Toney is he fights almost as well as he talks. James Toney is p4p number one in the world when it comes to talking smack. I think Toney's belligerant attitude towards his fellow fighters is mostly act that he does to get under the skin of those he is fighting and to help sell fights. One thing I am sure of though is that Toney's trash talking will not affect a veteran warrior like Evander Holyfield.

For the past few weeks leading up to this fight I had been inclined to picking Toney over the geriatric Holyfield. One thing I find interesting is that its already a given that Holyfield has seen better days but James Toney is no spring chicken himself. What if Toney were to show his age tonight we might end up watching to has beens. I hope that doesn't happen but it would entirely conceivable that Toney and Holyfield might both make eachother look old.

The old saying goes that your only as good as your last fight and if that were indeed true than Toney is a shoe in to win this fight but I don't think going by each fighters most recent performances is going to be an accurate indicator of how this fight is going to play out. Lets remember Evander Holyfield was paired with Chris Byrd, one of the most elsive and ackward heavyweights in the game whereas James Toney fought Vasili Jirov whose only idea of how to win a fight is keep walking forward no matter how many counter punches he has to take. Jirov is a very tough, strong and determined fighter but he fights stupidly. The Toney-Jirov fight I think is one of the few fights where the judges had it right and the public was off in their perception of the fight being that close. Jirov was aggressive but he kept walking into Toney's traps all night and almost got KO'd in the last round. If Toney had 30 more seconds Jirov would not have gone the distance. Evander Holyfield is no dummy so Toney is going to have to rely on more than just his ring experience to carry him through this one.

Toney for the past few months leading up to this fight has promised to KO Holyfield. I read an interview with Toney a while back in which he said something to the effect of that he is the best puncher that Holyfield will have ever faced. For a man that has fought Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis twice and Riddick Bowe three times, that statement comes off as laughable but then Toney made an interesting point. In the interview I read he says he wasn't the hardest puncher that Holyfield will have ever faced but that he knows how to put his punches together better than anyone Holyfield has fought before and I thought to myself that is probably true. I don't see Toney stopping Holyfield but I could envision a scenario of Holyfield getting really beaten up by a man who is naturally smaller than him like the first Michael Moorer fight.

I take part in a boxing prediction league in which we were required to give our predictions on how this fight among others would turn out. For weeks I had been leaning towards predicting Toney and my official prediction for the prediction league I take place in is Toney by UD but having heard that Toney came onto the scales at a whopping 217 lbs I am having second thoughts. Say what you will about Evander Holyfield but he always comes in the best conditioning that he can get his body into. One interesting little fact that will give you Holyfield fans out there a little extra hope is that the 'real deal' has never lost two fights in a row. Nevetheless I am sticking with my original prediction even though I have serious doubts now about whether it will come true now.

James Toney UD over Evander Holyfield

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.