Night of the Young Heavyweights Predictions

by Jim "Boxadamus" De Pierro

25.09 - I must say after that farce of a fight last week between Fres Oquendo and Chris Byrd I am really looking forward to this night of the young heavyweights that HBO is putting on. Watching two guys with skill who couldn't punch there way out of a wet paper bag is all fine and good but what people really crave to see are knock outs. No corrupt/incompetent judges who see a completely different fight. Byrd-Oquendo had so much glove tapping that as I was watching this fight with my old man remarked that we decided to call this the patty cake fight. Just for the record I felt that Fres Oquendo clearly beat Chris Byrd by nine rounds to three. I thought Oquendo had a brilliant gameplan by forcing Byrd to bring the fight to him. IMO the fight was one of the worst heavyweight title fights in recent memory ranking right up there Holyfield-Ruiz III and Moorer-Bean.

This weeks HBO card has the promise of delivering what I think and will be three bouts ending inside the distance. The six comabatants Joe Mesi, DaVaryll Williamson, Duncan Dokiwari, Dominic Guinn, Sinan Samil Sam and Juan Carlos Gomez sport a combined record of 142-2-0 (118 KOs) in what I think will be a night that defines the landscape of the next generation of up and coming heavyweights. The question is who will emerge as the contenders and who will be exposed as the pretenders this Saturday night.

Juan Carlos Gomez 36-0 (31 KOs) vs. Sinan Samil Sam 18-0 (11 KOs)

I heard a rumour and I am assuming its only a rumour because I haven't seen any confirmation of this in print or any legitimate news source that Sam had pulled out of this fight and that Samuel Peter was a possible replacement along with Derek Bryant and Ray Austin.

I will be upfront right now and say that I am not very qualified to make an accurate prediction on this fight as I have never seen either of these fighters fight before. I have seen brief highlight clips of Sinan Sam beating Danny Williams in his last fight. From what little I saw Sam looked to me to be an over aggresive, bit wild power puncher. Gomez, from what little I know of him has the reputation I am told of being very well schooled technical fighter. I tend to think that well rounded fighters that can do a little bit of everything tend to make the best fighters. Sinan Sam looks to be on a roll lately but I am not so sure that the heavyweight scene in Europe is an accurate barometer by which to gauge how good Sam is. The one intangible that heavily favors Sam going into this fight is that Gomez hasn't fought in more than a year whereas Sam has been active.

A couple of names stand out on Gomez's record stand out which I think indicates that the former WBC cruiserweight champ is a fighter to be reckoned with. J.C. Gomez is one of only two men to have ever beaten Al Cole inside the distance. The other is Corrie Sanders and if you don't think Corrie Sanders can't punch just ask Wladimir Klitschko. That is pretty amazing when you at the other fighters that Al Cole has fought such as Michael Grant, Kirk Johnson (twice) and Jeremy Williams (whom Cole fought to a draw not to long ago). The other name that really speaks volumes about Gomez is Jorge Castro. Castro has fought over 130 times as a professional and only been stopped once and that was by Gomez back in his cruiserweight days. Given that Gomez is about 6' 3" or 6' 4" he shouldn't be at a physical disadvantage fighting as a heavyweight.

Juan Carlos Gomez TKO 6 over Sinan Samil Sam

Dominic Guinn 22-0 (17 KOs) vs. Duncan Dokiwari 22-1 (19 KOs)

I haven't seen Dokiwari fight in years and I only saw him once or twice on some televised undercard when he was an up and coming prospect but he made enough of an impression on me to stand out in my mind. I have a lot of respect for Dominc Guinn as a fighter but I don't feel that Guinn has truly been tested yet in the professional ranks. Michael Grant, when Guinn fought him, was a spent shell and I think any number of prospects could have beaten him at that point. Dokiwari isn't quite the same size as Michael Grant but he is a big 6' 4" with a lot of physical strength. Guinn is about the same height although he is naturally a good 10-15 lbs. lighter than Dokiwari. This is really a flip of the coin type of fight but my best guess is that Dokiwari's size and strenghth is going to be the difference in this matchup. Both guys have a lot of early round KO's on there ledger which could spell one of two possible things. Either this fight will be an all out slugfest or the fight could turn into a stinker as both men will have too much respect for the punching power of their opponent. Guinn wasn't afraid to mix it up with Grant and I suspect he will at least not at first fear the punching power of Dokiwari. Dokiwari from what I remember of him was a seek and destroy type of fighter. I predict a very tough back and forth struggle.

Duncan Dokiwari TKO 8 over Dominic Guinn

Joe Mesi 26-0 (24 KOs) vs. DaVaryll Williamson 18-1 (16 KOs)

It is no secret to DaVaryll Williamson that when he steps into the ring he will not only be fighting Joe Mesi but will be taking on the whole city of Buffalo. For Mesi, Williamson represents the first real step up in class against a live body where their is a real chance Mesi stands to suffer his first defeat. Perhaps we should start calling him toddler Joe now. Up until now Mesi's has built his undefeated record on bums and hasbeens. It was thought that Robert Davis would at least present a stiffer test for the undefeated Mesi. The only thing I learned as a result of that fight is a.) Robert Davis is pretty much shot as a fighter and b.) Joe Mesi isn't all hype afterall, he can actually fight some.

One thing I find very interesting about Joe Mesi is that he is very analytical in his pre-fight interviews. He has a very good grasp of what his opponents bring to the table and of his own strenghts and weaknesses. That signals to me that Mesi really does his homework (alawys a good thing for an aspiring teacher) for each and every fight. Joe Mesi doesn't claim to be the best heavyweight on the planet only the hardest working one and on that I don't think he is to far off from the truth.

For DaVaryll Williamson this is really the end of the line for him. Even though this event is being called the night of the young heavyweights Williamson is anything but a young man in the boxing ring at the age of 35. I don't believe that Williamson's age at this point will be a physical detriment to him because at less than 20 pro fights his odometer is still relatively low. A loss for Williamson would spell the end for any chance of being in contention for a heavyweight title shot IMO because he would not have enough time to make a comeback before his age does begin to take its toll on his body. Williamson's only other loss was a 4th round TKO loss to Willie Chapman early in his career. I have never seen the Williamson-Chapman fight but from what I am told Chapman was down several times but had somehow gotten a flashknockdown on Williamson which was enough of an excuse for the referee to jump the gun and stop the fight. In his last fight against heavyweight spoiler Robert Wiggins, Williamson fought a very gruelling 10 rounds with a broken jaw. Following that fight my first reaction was that Williamson wasn't nearly as good as I thought he was but the more I think about it that fight actually showcases Williamson's toughness as a fighter. Some might perceive Williamson as having a vulnerable chin given the loss early in his career to Willie Chapman and the knockdown he suffered against Corrie "T-Rex" Sanders (not the Klitschko slayer). Williamson deserves some criticism for the Sanders fight IMO not because he went down from a clean punch from a man that outweighed him by more than 100 lbs. but because he got caught by "T-Rex" Sanders who as a fighter has abysmal handspeed. Still the fact of the matter is that Williamson got up and won the fight.

In an interview this past August with Greg Leon, Williamson says that he would never have taken this fight if he felt that this fight were going to the scorecards. I think this signals that Williamson is going to go for broke. I am a little worried that with this fight taking place in Mesi's backyard that this fight migh end in a premature stoppage with Williamson only a little hurt. I think Mesi is a more well rounded better overall fighter than Williamson. My head says Mesi is more than likely going to win but my gut feeling is Williamson is going to get lucky and win on a one punch KO in a fight that he(Williamson) is being dominated in.

DaVaryll Williamson KO 4 over Joe Mesi

* * * Bonus Prediction * * *

Win, lose or draw Joe Mesi will fight for linear (if Lewis or Lewis's eventual conquerer doesn't retire first) or universally recognized heavyweight championship within a year.

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.