Photo © Tom Casino/Showtime

by Jim "Boxadamus" De Pierro

16.05.2003 - Once again boxing fans are left in the quandary of which pair of fights to watch as HBO and Showtime will broadcast two fightcards at nearly the same time this Saturday night. I for one will be watching the HBO fights as I think Taylor-Cervera and Spadafora-Dorin are a more intriguing pair of fight than Lacy-Oshana and Tackie-Mitchell. The only thing I can say is thank God for VCRs.

Jeff Lacy 13-0 (11 KOs) vs. Anwar Oshana 23-2 (13 KOs)
(Showtime, undercard fight)

He came, he saw he conquered. That should be about all their is to this fight. Lacy hits harder and is a more aggresive fighter than Tate or Sheika, both of whom dispatched with Oshana by 3rd round stoppage. Well maybe Lacy's style is not as aggresive as Sheika but I think Lacy hits harder and is a more refined boxer. It will take you more time to read my prediction on this fight than it will for you to watch this whole fight in its entirety. I don't see this fight as anything more than record padding for Lacy's resume.

Jeff Lacy KO 1 over Anwar Oshana

Ben Tackie 24-3 (15 KOs) vs. Sharmba Mitchell 51-3 (29 KOs)
(Showtime, main event)

Sharmba Mitchell in my opinion is the modern day heir to Hector Camacho Sr. Like Camacho, Mitchell doesn't really do a whole lot of fighting he just bitch slaps his to victory and runs like heck for 10 or 12 rounds and the judges usually see fit to award him the fight. Everyone has there prejudices including myself but I just don't respect fighter who comes into the ring wearing a skirt whose only gameplan is to run and dance around his opponent. Not even Mia St. John wears a skirt into the boxing ring.

Admitedly Ben Tackie is not the greatest boxer. He was easily outclassed by Kostya Tszyu and John John Molina. He was also well on his way to losing to Roberto Garcia before stopping Garcia in the 10th round. Still despite his limitations Tackie does have some admirable traits as a fighter. He has a cast iron jaw and he is a relentless straight ahead fighter whose power punches can spell trouble for anyone who is careless enough to sit down and brawl with him. This is the hardest fight of the four fights to predict for me and Mitchell may very well slap his way to victory but I would like to think that Tackie is eventually going to corner Mitchell and put an end to this flamboyant trash talking fool. I expect that Tackie will be far behind on all three judges scorecards at the time of stoppage.

Ben Tackie TKO 12 over Sharmba Mitchell

Jermain Taylor 15-0 (11 KOs) vs. Nicholas Cervera 35-3-1 (32 KOs)*
(HBO undercard)

*Boxrec actually has Cervera's record listed as having 33 victories with 30 KOs but according to Michael Buffer's ring introduction in his bout against Carl Daniels his record was introduced as 35-2-1 (32 KOs).

Jermain Taylor is going to absolutely slaughter Nicholas Cervera. Most people reading this column probably have no idea of who the Cervera character is but I have actually seen this guy fight so my prediction is not without some basis. I am ashamed to admit it but I acually ordered the Holmes-Butterbean card last year and Cervera was one of the fighters on the undercard. Cervera tends to throw looping hooks and Daniels was able to beat Cervera largely because his punches are much straighter than Cervera's. Anything that Carl Daniels can do Jermain Taylor can do better and that includes beating the living bejesus out of Cervera.

Straight punches in bunches is going to spell the end for Nicholas Cervera. Cervera does have a few attributes. He is muscular and does have some degree of pop to his punches he takes a fairly decent punch although his defense is clearly lacking as Daniels was able nail him numerous times with a straight left. Cervera is a straight ahead type of fighter which is going to play into Taylors hands very nicely. I actually think Taylor is going to be the one backing up Cervera. The punch stats for this fight are going to be overwelming in Taylor's favor. Taylor may very well land more punches than Cervera throws in this fight.

I have a very odd prediction for this fight in how I see it breaking down. I think Cervera is going to quickly become very frustrated at his own inability to close the distance with Taylor and after several rounds eating nothing but jabs, hooks, crosses and uppercuts I see Cervera becoming ever more frustrated. Against Daniel's, Cervera lost a few points for low blows. The referee was a little harsh on Cervera for some of those calls. I don't believe that Cervera was intentionaly throwing low but I think some of those shots strayed low due to a lack of technique and a small degree of frustration Cervera's part. I see Cervera getting disqualified in much the same manner as Bronco McKart did against Winky Wright. Taylor should win one way or the other somewhere between rounds six and nine if not sooner.

Jermain Taylor DQ 7 over Nicholas Cervera

Paul Spadafora 36-0 (14 KOs) vs. Leonard Dorin 21-0 (7 KOs)

I have never been a believer in the Pittsburgh kid. I think he is overhyped, boring, very average in terms of boxing ability, has little power and is just waiting to get exposed by a real fighter. For Dorin's sake and I will be upfront and admit I am a Dorin fan and actively routing for him I am more worried about the judges and this fight taking place Spadafora's backyard than I am about Paul Spadafora. I am just waiting for someone to KO this bum so I can start calling him Paul Splatafora. I don't know if Dorin can KO Spaddy. Its not likely but its not out of the realm of possibility.

If you have ever seen Leonard Dorin fight its hard to believe that Dorin only has 7 KOs out of his 21 victories. If Dorin just had a tad more pop to his punches I think he would easily double his KO %. For those of you who have never seen Dorin fight he is a relentless volume puncher. Always in your face, always throwing punches. Dorin tends to grind out his victories through attrition as Martin O'Malley, Emanuel Augustus and Raul Balbi are all evidence of. Although Dorin rarely KOs his opponent nobody to date has gotten out of the ring with him without getting really beaten up in the process. Oddsmakers have Spadafora as a slightly more than two to one favorite to beat Dorin but I think that is largely because Spadafora has had more exposure over the years and people tend to go with what they know so thus Spadafora is favored to win this fight.

In reality I think Dorin is going to go through Spadafora like a hot knife through butter. What happens in Spadafora fights is that I think Spaddy tends to lull his opponents to sleep. Spaddy will stick that right jab in his opponents face the other guy will take a half step forward, Spaddy will move backwards and unleash a three or four punch combination that doesn't really hurt the other guy while the other guy will land maybe one or two punches if he is lucky and the process will repeat itself. I think a lot of Spadafora opponents don't really realise that they are losing the fight as bad as they are because they don't feel hurt by the punches they are taking from the light hitting Spadafora. Leonard Dorin tends to fight with a certain intensity which I think has been missing in Spadafora's past opponents. Dorin, I believe will fight every minuteof every round.

If this fight were taking place on neutral ground with absolutely fair and impartial judges I would confidently predict a Dorin to win by a fairly comfortable UD. I have never seen Spadafora in a good fight except for possibly the one with Sosa and I have yet to see Dorin in a boring fight. Dorin is the one that will be pressing and actually making the fight. Perhaps this is wishful thinking but I think the courage and determination of Leonard Dorin is going to win over the crowd and hopefully two of the three judges.

Leonard Dorin SD over Paul Spadafora

* * * * Bonus Prediction * * * *

Jean-Marc Mormeck (WBA) and Wayne Braithwaite (WBC) will fight before the year is out in an effort to land the winner a big fight with James "lights out" Toney.

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.