Marco Antonio Rubio vs. Matt Vanda- Marco Antonio Rubio by KO
Antonin Decarie vs Victor Lupo Puiu- Antonin Decarie by UD
Librado Andrade vs. Don George- Librado Andrade by KO
Jorge Paez Jr vs. Omar Chavez- Omar Chavez by SD
Orlando Salido vs. Weng Haya- Orlando Salido by KO
Robinson Castellanos vs. Orlando Rizo- Robinson Castellanos by UD
Carl Froch vs. Andre Ward- Andre Ward by UD
This isn’t a weekend where you have a ton of heart pounding fights, but there is one that excites fans on one side of the Atlantic to the other. The Super 6 is coming to a close, and it is going out with a bang. Two fighters that have taken two totally different roads, but two originals of the Super 6. My opinion on it is that it has been a success. It has actually generated casual interest, but they didn’t really do it right. What I mean is that it has gone on a bit too long, and they didn’t fully promote it right. The casual talk seems to be Manny/Floyd, and then on the next level of “Well, isn’t there a tournament going on, too?” From what I’m aware the Super 6 has gather attention, but not to the level you want to get at it, if you know what I mean. Anyway, let’s get on with the other fights this weekend.
First up, let’s start with the obvious winner,Orlando Salido. This is, basically, just a tune up fight for Orlando Salido taking on replacement Weng Haya…yeah, I’ve got Salido by KO. Also, in Mexico Omar Chavez is fighting Jorge Paez Jr. and this is a good fight. Paez is the type of fighter that always brings it. Exciting, sort of looks like a gatekeeper type fighter, still young, but that looks to be what he’ll be. Chavez is the son of Julio, and brother of Julio Jr. And much like Jr. he’s a very young fighter learning as he goes. He’s got a lot of filler on his record, but that’s to be expected because he is learning the ropes as he goes. When you look at him he definitely looks green. Very sloppy boxing skills. Bad jab, slow, when he throws the right hand he tends to get off balance. He’s got a lot of work to do before he makes it to that next step. But a big positive, and it comes to no shock, is that he has good body work. I think Chavez will have problems in this fight, may’be even getting a bit of one of those controversial decisions. Should be a good little scrap, I’ve got Chavez by SD.
Robinson Castellanos-Orlando Rizo is also a fight in Mexico, one of many this weekend, actually. Castellanos’ record doesn’t tell his tale. He’s actually a decent fighter, much better than what his record indicates. When you watch him fight, he’s got solid boxing skills, you know, he knows what he’s doing, and has quick hands. In his last 5 fights he seems to have gotten it and has good boxing skills, fast, solid power, and he’s got a chin. In his last 5 fights he has won them all. Orlando Rizo is good as well. He’s got solid boxing skills as well. A tricky southpaw, who has solid power as well. This fight is very even on paper. I’ve got Castellanos in this fight. Not only is he fighting in Mexico, but I think he is just a little better than Rizo. This should be a pretty good fight, some decent boxing in there, believe. I’ve got Castellanos by close UD.
Marco Antonio Rubio has been on a roll since getting beat by Kelly Pavlik in 2009. Even before then he was on a hot winning streak. Rubio is a very good boxer, and Matt Vanda is a good journeyman. He’s fought everybody and basically gotten beat by every name fighter. He’s fought Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. twice, Andy Kolle twice, Peter Manfredo Jr., Sebastian Demers, and John Duddy. The most impressive thing about that is he’s only been stopped once in his 13 losses, and it was to neither of those fighters. He got stopped by Armando Velardez. Yeah…not sure how that happened. Anyway, Vanda is a quality journeyman, one of those fighters you like to put in a prospect just to see where he’s at in his career. Rubio is a vet, and a good fighter with power, good skills, knows what he’s doing and I think he stops Vanda. Just a hunch, Vanda’s getting long in the tooth and he’s about due for a loss by stoppage. So, Rubio by stoppage.
Librado Andrade and Don George is a great, great match up. This is just a slugfest that should be shown on some sort of outlet. And somehow, someway, this fight is actually an IBF eliminator. Ha! If you’re not keeping track (and quite frankly, I don’t blame you) it is the 168 IBF eliminator, which is Lucian Bute’s belt. Oh joy! If Bute decides to fight his mando it’ll either be against Andrade for a 3rd time, or against Don George. That is thinking too far out ahead though, I won’t go into it too much, but let’s just hope that doesn’t happen. As for the match up it’s very exciting. Librado Andrade is a fun, come forward, face first brawler. And with that style you really regress quickly, and Andrade is experiencing that. He has looked awful this year, and even his 3rd round TKO of Matt O’Brian this year he was getting tagged quite a lot. Don George is definitely no world beater either, he is quite a crude, powerful, club fighter with a glossy record. 2010 was supposed to be the year of “Da Bomb” but that bomb was a dud. (insert drums do-do-qssssh) He beat up Phil Williams, was lucky to get a decision against Osumanu Adamu, and got his face rearranged against Francisco Sierra. That was just a bloody, beatdown. Just a beatdown of epic proportions. You couldn’t help feeling bad for the guy, but he has since won two fights, and now faces Andrade. This could go either way. George may lack skills, but he’s got a punch, and Andrade might be sliding, but he still can punch. This really could go either way and it basically all depends on who has more heart, who has the better chin, and who wants it more. And with that, I’ve gotta go with Andrade in this fight and hope we don’t get Bute-Andrade III.
Antonin Decarie-Victor Lupo Puiu, I actually forgot about this fight while I was writing this. So, I just stuck this write before the Ward-Froch write up. I was so, excited to write about it I totally forgot about this fight. So, yeah, Decarie good fighter who’s got nice skills. Victor Lupo Puiu came on the scene early this year beating a very faded, shot, Junior Witter. Puiu is an aggressive fighter, but his footwork gets silly at times. Squares up, turns southpaw, then orthodox as he walks forward and what not. Crude fighter and Decarie has more tools in his tool box. So, I’ve got him winning by UD.
Andre Ward-Carl Froch. This. Is. It. Well, for the Super 6 tournament it is. It’s bittersweet for me. Because when looking into 2010 and 2011 it was always, well we are guaranteed to have some of the best in the division fight each other. In 2012? No guarantees. And no more Fight Camp 360’s, for the time being, (I’m really hoping there is a FC 360 for Victor Ortiz-Andre Berto, but that’s my point atop, no guarantees. We may or may not. We’ll just have to wait and see.) with the Super 6 you knew, okay, in 2011 I will see Froch-Johnson and Ward-Abraham…we wouldn’t know when, but, we knew that they would take place. So, anyway, Andre Ward-Carl Froch, oh, one more thing, I was actually quite all right with this fight being pushed back to now. There was just something about it being stuck towards the end of October in the middle of mayhem. It just didn’t feel right. This is about as close to a Super Bowl, or a World Cup, for all you non-American readers, as we will get in boxing. A tourney with some of the best fighters in the division and a conclusion. It just feels right that the biggest event in boxing (aside from a Floyd/Manny fight) is reserved for the end.
All right, there’s my long winded intro…didn’t plan on that being that long, but hey it is what it is. All right, Andre Ward-Carl Froch or Carl Froch-Andre Ward, doesn’t matter to me, but we will finally have a unification and a lineal title holder. This is history we will be witnessing, one of the biggest fights ever at 168. Andre Ward has gotten here the easy way. He’s gotten all his fights in California and has had 3 of the 4 in Oakland. People bash Ward for this, but I say why? Where was Ward supposed to face Allan Green at? Or Sakio Bika? Those fights had to be in Oakland, because that’s the only place those fights would have sold at. If he fought Mikkel Kessler in Denmark, then that would have been 3 fights in Europe and 0 in the States in the first round. That’s not exactly fair. So, Ward shouldn’t get blame for having all his fights in Oakland. The semi-final fight against Arthur Abraham was in Los Angeles, and that was a good neutral venue. Abraham is an Armenian and L.A. has a big Armenian population so L.A. was fair enough. Abraham may have had more fans there for him, then Ward. So, when you break it down like that, how can you blame Ward for fighting in Oakland? All right, Ward has nice speed, good footwork, and just enough power to get fighter’s respect. There really isn’t much not to like about Ward, Ward just has every single tool in his toolbox. The best attribute though, is his mind. He has a great boxing I.Q. and can adapt in the ring.
On the other side is Carl Froch. His style may not looking good, it may not look pretty, but it definitely gets the job done. In 29 fights he’s won 28 fights and he has an impressive resume, even without the Super 6. Charles Adamu, Brian Magee, Tony Dodson, Robin Reid, Jean Pascal, and Jermain Taylor. That is quite good, and then, of course, the Super 6 he has taken on Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, and Glen Johnson. Froch is on an impressive run and has looked fantastic in his last two fights barely losing a handful of rounds. In this fight though, I’m not expecting him to win a handful of rounds. I would give Froch a big hand if he won 3 rounds in this fight. Not to say Froch is bad, he’s great, but Ward is just that much better. Everybody’s got a key to why so and so will win. Ward’s speed, Froch’s power, etc. The key I’m seeing is punch placement. Punch placement? Yes, punch placement. Ward goes up and down stairs with his punches. Froch is strictly a head hunter. He hardly ever goes down stairs. Ward will be there sort of ending at the knees, Froch throws a jab or a left hook, Ward will move his head to his right, counter, and clinch. If you want to hit Ward with your left hook you have to aim, basically, for his waist, because that’s where he moves his head, over to the right and comes up with a left hook or straight right. Also, when Ward starts leading, he’ll be jabbing up to Froch’s head, and he will jab at his and to his body to slow him down. Jab to the body, right to the body, move away, left hook to the head, clinch. Rinse, wash, and repeat. Froch really doesn’t have a chance in this fight. Froch will miss Ward time and time again winging shots to Ward’s head, and missing. Ward will throw and land and win this fight barely losing a round. Just a guess, I could, obviously, be totally, totally wrong, but Froch can’t outbox Ward, and he has about a puncher’s chance to stop Ward. Froch has good power, but he hasn’t shown world class power. So, I’ve got Andre Ward by UD.
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