Looking Ahead at the Fights this Week

By Grey Johnson

08.07 - Well, hello boxing fans, hope you enjoyed your week off. I was happy to see that the Grant-Williams fight ended up not counting towards either fighter's record, but the fight shouldn't have occurred in the first place. Anyways, Sharmba disappointed, and the major fight of the week had a lousy ending (Lucero-Chacon). Makes me despite the headbutt ending even more. I always find myself rooting for a fight to go past the fourth round for a sense of closure.

My jaw almost dropped when I read freakin' Saoul Mamby was returning to the ring. The man is 55 years old! Granted, I know Larry Holmes is past his 50's, but he is fighting Butterbean, so I doubt he'll be hurt by Butterbean's ten total punches landed, and they're heavyweights, the division where a fighter can last for a loooong time. Mamby is fighting a ten rounder against Aswin Tjabuy, apparently a national champion. It's nice to know that I can go to Indonesia when I am an old man and start up a fighting career.

This week only has one big name fighter (Zab Judah), but it is packed with interesting and entertaining match ups:

Alex Trujillo (21-0) vs. Juan Valenzuela (15-5)

A very interesting fight here. Trujillo was considered to be a top prospect a year ago, but he lost a lot of time due to inactivity (assuming problems with America Presents). He won't be in against an easy opponent, either. Juan Valenzeuela is considered to be a "spoiler", as he is unafraid to fight in the hometown in his opponent. He is also known for destroying Julio Diaz in his last fight. Though this may appear as a win for Trujillio, there could be an upset, considering Valenzuela does have some power, and Trujillo has been down in his career before.

Bryon Mackie (20-8) vs. Wayne Harris (20-17)

My Canadian friend says there is some controversy surrounding this fight. The controversy: how the hell can they charge almost one hundred dollars for good seats!?. I really don't care much about this fight, but let's just say Mackie is the one who hasn't been losing a lot of fights lately.

Audley Harrison (5-0) vs. Dominic Negus (13-4-1)

Horray, Audley is stepping up. Sorta. Hey, it's better than nothing, and come to think of it, Audley is fighting tougher opponents early in his career than some of the current best heavyweights did. Negus poses some threat with his experience, but there is a reason Audley is matched up against him....Audley can beat him, of course.

Angel Vasquez (22-1) vs. Edwin Santana (27-5-5)

YES! YES! YES! ANGEL VASQUEZ! One of my favorite fighters, and is always a dangerous force at feather. The question is if he will have the desire to win. I think he would have fought Hamed a while back if he cared enough about boxing. He can look magnificent, as he did early in his career, or he can be very disappointing, as he did against Victor Polo. Santana comes in on a downswing. A loss to Casamayor, and a shock loss to Tejedor doesn't help. Angel should win this fight no matter what mental shape he is in, instead of depending on his power to get a razor-thin decision.

Pito Cardona (34-5) vs. Miguel Figueroa (19-3-1)

Another interesting matchup.to me, Cardona hasn't been the same since he lost to Spadafora. He lost two fights that he should have won, and looked very rusty in the process. Figueroa is an upcoming and hungry fighter, so he may go at Cardona early and try to see what he has left. I think Figueroa should win a decision based on the Cardona's recent pattern in fights.

Adonis Rivas (18-2-1) vs. Omar Narvaez (10-0-1)

Really don't know any of these fighters, but wanted to let you know this is for a title at a lower weight division, and Narvaez is a 2000 olympian.

Rocky Juarez (10-0) vs. Isidro Tejedor (15-9-4)

This is a very nice test for Juarez. He hasn't been in anybody who is nearly as good as Tejedor. Rocky will at least have a long night, as Tejedor is very durable, and has given some contenders problems. Let's see if Tejedor can stand up to Rocky's body shots.

Bruno Girard (40-2-2) vs. Lou Del Valle (31-2-1)

Ok, this in my eyes is NOT for a title. Don't believe what you read, the WBA superchampion idea is a piece of crap we all must ignore. Instead, look at this as a semi-intriguing fight at light heavyweight. They two fighters drew in their first contest, with the press favoring Del Valle. My friends who saw Girard in his last fight said he wasn't impressive, and Lou sounds like he is more motivated to fight. Look for Lou to pull this fight out in Girard's hometown.

Javier Castillejo (53-5) vs. Roman Karmazin (29-0-1)

The winner of this fight has an "official" shot at the De La Hoya-Vargas. I have never seen Karmazin, and Castillejo has looked like a fighter with average skills when I saw him against De La Hoya. Castillejo has the privilege to be fighting in his home turf, where he seems to perform at his best. We will see if the little-known "Made in Hell" (awesome nickname) Karmazin can surprise me.

Zab Judah (27-1) vs. Omar Weiss (35-3-3)

EXCELLENT fight for Judah. Weiss is the perfect guy to fight coming off a knockout loss. He's coming of a decent win against coward Camacho, and he doesn't have the power to put Zab away. Weiss is a warrior and will last the distance. Zab should probably spend the fight outworking Weiss, who will spend most of the fight being the aggressor. It will be entertaining to see how Omar can overcome the speed of Zab.

OTHER FIGHTERS IN ACTION: Mauricio Pastrana, Robin Reid, Glenn Catley, Rafael Marquez, Michael Lerma, Malik Scott, Kevin Kelley, Monte Barrett, Vaughn Bean, Antonio Mesquita, Joe Hutchinson, Guillermo Jones, Sione Asipeli, Julien Lorcy, Anthony Mundine

Um...yeah, that's all I have to say for this week. Enjoy the fights, and keep watching and reading about boxing!