Prediction for Floyd Mayweather’s September 13th Fight

by Robert Uzzell and Chip Mitchell: Floyd Mayweather, Jr is in the final three fights of his career. Many names have been thrown out there: Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, and of course Marcos Maidana.

In Floyd’s last fight, he faced his stiffest challenge in a while in defeating Maidana by majority decision. The victory by Floyd came at the cost of a few shots to the family jewels and a nice shiner above his right eye.

Before we get to the predictions, let’s look at the odds of each fighter facing Floyd in September.

Manny Pacquiao – 0%. The politics or politricks involved continue and even if both guys were ready to play, there is not enough time to build up this super-fight.

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Anthony Joshua vs Matt Skelton on July 12

Anthony Joshua MBE expects the toughest test of his professional career on July 12 when he faces Matt Skelton at the Echo Arena in Liverpool live on Sky Sports.

Joshua has raced to 6-0 with all six wins coming inside the first two rounds and now the Olympic gold medal star steps into his first scheduled eight-round contest against the former British, European and Commonwealth champion and World title challenger.

Skelton has amassed 36 pro fights and stands just shy of 200 rounds, and while Joshua is preparing for a tough fight, he says he will not be taking silly risks to prove his chin can take a punch at the top level.

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Erislandy Lara Looking Sensational In Sparring

LAS VEGAS (June 30, 2014) — With less than two weeks to go until his SHOWTIME PPV® showdown with Canelo Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KOs), WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara (19-1-2, 12 KOs) is looking sensational in sparring and running on all cylinders.

“My sparring partners are pushing me with numerous styles and I’m adapting to all of them comfortably,” Lara said. “I told them to come extra hard to prepare me for the pressure Canelo is going to bring. I feel great and my timing is right on.

“I know Canelo is training hard for this fight, as am I, but unfortunately for him, there is nothing he can do to surprise me. He’s going to find out on July 12 that I’m the superior fighter. His insecurities as a fighter will surface on fight night — that I can guarantee.”

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Decline of the Lightweight Division

On Saturday night Lightweight champion Terence Crawford delivered a breakout performance. The Omaha native showed speed, great technical ability and power, dropping Yuriorkis Gamboa four times en route to a ninth round stoppage win. The question now is, where does he go from here?

The answer is that he has to move up to Light Welterweight to get the big fights. Crawford’s victory has shone a light on the decline of the once great Lightweight division.

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Terence Crawford KO’s Yuriorkis Gamboa

Terence Crawford not only transitioned from orthodox to southpaw, he pulled off a much bigger metamorphosis going from eastern Nebraska to the top of the world. That came as no surprise to the ten thousand plus fans on hand at the Century Link Center, Omaha, Nebraska. They already knew something that the rest of the world was only beginning to see. That pearl of knowledge is Terence “Hunter/Bud” Crawford is one helleva fighter!

If you watch the History Channel, you know Omaha is not only a good sized city on the banks of the Missouri River, it is also the name of the famous beach where allied troops landed on D-Day in June of 1944. It was the beginning of the end for the Axis Powers. Crawford pulled off his own D-Day when he transitioned from orthodox to southpaw in the third round of his battle with the undefeated Cuban sensation named Yuriorkis Gamboa.

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Terence Crawford takes a big step towards superstardom with sizzling stoppage win over Yuriorkis Gamboa

WBO lightweight king Terence Crawford looked superb last night in handing former amateur superstar Yuriorkis Gamboa his first pro defeat. Too big, tall and rangy he may have been for former featherweight Gamboa, but nothing should be taken from Crawford’s win. Looking for all the world like a Thomas Hearns clone, Crawford displayed power, accuracy, speed and, most of the time – barring the occasion in the 9th-round when he was hurt before turning things back around in his favour – patience.

Gamboa, at a major disadvantage in terms of reach, had to, as commentator Larry Merchant said, “try and make things happen,” and in doing so, by coming in and trying to land dome hurt on his taller opponent, the Cuban talent put himself at serious risk. Crawford of course took advantage of this and buzzed his challenger a number of times. Only Gamboa’s ridiculous heart and courage kept him in the fight, and Gamboa even stated post-fight that, after the second hurtful knockdown of the 9th and final round, he’d wanted to continue.

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Crawford beats Gamboa

If you would have told me before the Terrance Crawford (24-0) and Yuriorkis Gamboa’s (23-1) Saturday night tilt (contested in Omaha…known the world over as the fight capital of Nebraska) that Crawford was going to win by a tenth round stoppage I would have said…okay, fine. Crawford is a talented, skilled boxer fighting in his hometown. He’s also significantly bigger than Gamboa, both in terms of height and natural weight class, and he’s looked far sharper in his recent bouts. So yeah, a tenth round stoppage seems about right. But if you would have told me that Crawford and Gamboa would also be sort of a spectacularly entertaining life or death slugfest, and probably the leading candidate for fight of the year, I would have said no that won’t happen: I don’t care if you’re clairvoyant or from the future or whatever your deal is, but you’re wrong. A blown-up featherweight coming off a slow paced tap-fest over a year ago against a defensively responsible counter-puncher could never be a fight of the year candidate and really, it’s idiotic to suggest otherwise. And yet Saturday night happened.

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Crawford stops Gamboa; Korobov decisions Uzcategui

WBO lightweight champion Terence Crawford (24-0, 17 KO’s) got off to a slow start in the first 4 rounds, but then came on to knock 32-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa (23-1, 16 KO’s) down 4 times en route to stopping him in the 9th round tonight in a fight televised by HBO from the CenturyLink Center, in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

Crawford was hurt in the 9th round after getting a little too overanxious trying to score a stoppage. But Crawford came back to knock Gamboa down twice with big punches to get the stoppage. Gamboa got back up after the second knockdown but the referee Genaro Rodriguez chose to stop the fight at 2:53 of the round.

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The “Polish Prince” Ryan Kielczewski goes to 20-0

St. Charles, MO– Ryan Kielczewski, 24, the pride of Quincy, Massachusetts went to 20-0 (4 KO’s) with an eight round unanimous decision over Ramsey Luna. Luna, 22, of Corpus Christi, Texas now stands at 12-2 (5 KO’s). The Ameristar Casino crowd never got enthused with the plodding and lackluster match. The win puts Kielczewski into a great position for a super flyweight title bout. Kielczewski kept scoring with a methodical style.

With the win, Kielczewski, who has been branded as Boston’s “Polish Prince” should be in-line for a title fight. The fight was the lead in to the main event on the Friday Night Fights telecast on ESPN.

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Errol Spence Jr. Impresses With Resounding Victory Over Ronald Cruz Friday on ShoBox: The New Generation

LAS VEGAS (June 27, 2014) – Undefeated Errol Spence, Jr. didn’t lose a round and may have made the transition from prospect to contender in a dominating unanimous decision victory (100-90 three times) over the durable Ronald Cruz in the main event of ShoBox: The New Generation on SHOWTIME® from The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Spence (13-0, 10 KOs) was remarkably efficient with his power punches, landing 282 shots compared to Cruz’s 65 at a rate of 58 percent. Looking like a potential future world champion, the 2012 U.S. Olympian was technically sound and sharp with his punches, picking apart the courageous Cruz (20-4, 15 KOs) as he went past the eighth round for the first time in his career. Conditioning certainly wasn’t an issue for the 24-year-old, who threw more punches in the 10th and final round (114) than he did in any other round in the fight.

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