Sad affair saturday night at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. Expectations were high. Fans hoped for a classic matchup. What they got was an attempted mugging and resulting robbery. To call Andre Ward’s efforts scientific would be ill-judged, which is what happened with the decision in Ward’s favor.
One simple way to tell who won the fight is to look at each fighter’s face. Andre Ward’s was red, lumpy and swollen. The Krusher’s face was relatively unmarked.
Andre SOG Ward (30-0-0 18KOs) and Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-0-1, 25KOs) are set to do battle on Nov 19th, at T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV. Krusher is expected to throw bombs starting with the opening bell. Undoubtedly, he will experience more than a little difficulty landing on Ward, a moving target and one that strikes back in a blur.
Ward is admired for his ring generalship. Carl Froch explained it best when he described it this way……Ward controlled the distance. He was either too close or too far away….. He might have added “too low” too.
Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (33-5-1, 18KO) was expected to win, and look good doing it. His opponent David Emanuel Peralta sported a decent record (26-2-1,14KO), but all his fights were in Argentina against weaker opposition. Guerrero, a former world champion, fought the likes of Floyd jr., Danny Garcia, and Keith Thurman. Of course, he lost to each of those men, but you’re missing the point. Just being in the ring with those guys is supposed to mean something.
Undefeated against undefeated, only good can come from it. At least that was the build up, but in actual fact it was bad. There was more than a smattering of punchless minutes. The MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV crowd squirmed in their seats wanting something to happen. When it didn’t, they half heartily booed, not sure if they were doing the right thing. They were.
The fights limited action was okay for two or three rounds, and then in the fifth round Crawford dropped Postol with a surprise right hook. The punch landed high on the left side of Postol’s head. It had enough force and push to deposit Postol on the canvas.
By now you know light heavyweight contender Andrzej Fonfara was annihilated in the first round this past Saturday night. Fonfara was being showcased on NBC by Premier Boxing Champions at UIC Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois. Chicago is Fonfara’s stomping ground, and the largely Polish crowd looked forward to an impressive win by their hero. After all, Fonfara was a top World Title contender, and “Who was this Joe Smith, Jr. guy”? Fonfara, the heavy favorite, was expected to do a little Polka as he danced through the gaps in Smith’s defense.
The “Irish Bomber” with a record of 21-1-0 with 17KOs seemed impressive on paper, but really who had he beat? Five years ago he suffered a TKO loss to Eddie Caminero, whose current record is 7-9-0, 7KOs. To make matters worse, Caminero has been kayo’d seven times. What does that say about the power of this Irish lad from Long Island, N.Y? The announcers let fans know Smith’s real job was in construction with Union #66. Polish fans expected an exciting, but short night with a Chicago Honky or Push to follow.
Saturday night the Charlo brothers and Erislandy Lara paraded their talents for all to see at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Chelsea Ballroom, Las Vegas, NV. Their fights begged for attention. After all, they were being displayed by Showtime as three of the best junior middleweights in boxing, and they were facing very tough opponents.
Jermell was first, and there were serious doubts about whether he was going to measure up. John “Dah Rock” Jackson, (20-3-0, 15KO) son of fearsome puncher Julian Jackson, surprised Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo (28-0-0, 12KO) by boxing instead of slugging.
The stunning one punch ending came as no surprise. Most of the experts felt Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-1-1, 33KO) would kayo Amir “King” Khan Saturday night at the new T-Mobile Area, Las Vegas, NV. All the hoopla concerning speed versus power only goes so far, especially with a stronger fighter who can box.
For the first three rounds, Khan circled, and dodged, darted and held, with speedy combinations mixed in for good measure. He landed some good one-two’s, but with little effect. When he fired off multi-punch combinations, his right foot would come off the canvas. He was like a frightened bird in flight.
Chris Algieri (21-3-0, KO8) couldn’t muster up much of a test for Errol “The Truth” Spence, Jr. (20-0-0, 17KO) at Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York. He promised fans he would be Errol’s toughest test, but he barely provided a “True or False” quiz. He tried to counter the odds makers low opinion of his chances by explaining he did his homework. He assured fans that he studied film of the young Texan, and saw areas he might exploit. Sure Spence was the power puncher, but he planned to tag Errol early in the fight and make him respect his own power. Errol was going to know that he wasn’t going to be able to walk through him.
For purely selfish reasons, boxing fans lament, “say it ain’t so” to Manny “Pac man” Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38KO) and Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr. (49-0-0, 26KO). They are two fighters, who should remain at the top of the P4P lists. There is a problem, though. Money wisely continues with his desire to be in control. In other words, as he explains, he wants it to be his decision to retire, rather than have adverse effects of the brutal game dictate when it’s time to retire.
Will the winner of Manny “Pac man” Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38KO) vs Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley, Jr. (33-1-1, 13K0) fight at the MGM Grand, Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV also determine which trainer is best? It might, at least for one fight. The previous years are a little cloudy on Atlas’ side of the ledger. Who has Teddy trained besides Michael Moore, Barry McGuigan (one fight), and Donny Lalonde to 8-0 before Donny dumped him? Teddy trained Alexander Povetkin for a fight with Ruslan Chagsev. Povetkin earned a UD, but his relationship with Teddy fell apart and the two parted ways.