Here I go, shouting into the
V O I D again.
4/30 - Bethnal Hall, York ENGLUND
Called it right for
Mick Conlan, who had a razor close majority decision against the very durable
Ionut Boluta of Romania. Conlan managed to eke out a majority decision via his slick boxing and counterpunching. Props to Baluta, who made him earn every hard fought point from the judges.
Troy Williamson KO’d
Kieran Smith in the sixth from a barrage of punches, and sent the Scotsman out of the ring on a stretcher. Good win for ‘The Trojan.’ Would like to see him fight for the Lonsdale, or the BBBofC belt next. ARE
TED Cheeseman would be a great matchup for him.
Moruti Mthalane, the IBF flyweight champ from South Africa, faced the much younger Englishman
Sunny Edwards. Mthalane hasn’t lost since 2008, and that was to Nonito Donaire who is also still fighting competitively. Mthalane definitely looked the older man tonight, as he tried to chase down the elusive Edwards for all twelve rounds. Edwards played turtle the last two rounds, figuring he had it in the bag. And, to his credit, he did. Congratulations to the new champ! Sunny joins his older brother Charlie in being a flyweight champ. The big dog in the flyweight world is Julio Cesar Martinez, and I think Sunny needs to fight a few more top 10 names before he tries to unify.
Sho Kimura perhaps, or
McWilliams Arroyo would both be excellent fights.
5/1 - Manchester Arena, ENGLUND
Craig Richards avoided the KO, and
Dmitry Bivol cruised to a decision win. Missed the call here. Richards was competitive the entire fight, and the scorecards reflected it with scores of 115-114, 115-113, and a lopsided card of 118-110. Richards began to figure out some winning strategies as the fight wore on, but it was just too late. Look for Richards to have another top 10 fight in the LHW division this year, and for Bivol to continue to be avoided.
Joe Parker got knocked down early in the first round, shook it off, and managed to get his decision win against
‘War’ Chisora. Parker stayed calm, rode out the storm, and just wore Chisora down as the fight went along. Split decision victory, and he stays in the heavyweight limelight.
Of note on the undercard -
Campbell Hatton, son of
Ricky Hatton, had the second fight of his pro career. His first fight, five weeks ago in Gibraltar, was a bit sloppy, and one could tell that nerves got the better of him in his initial win. His second fight showed vast improvement. One to keep an eye on.
Irish Olympian
Katie Taylor put her belts up for grabs against
Natasha Jonas in a bout that was difficult to score throughout. She came out on top with scores of 96-95 x2 and 96-94. Gotta love a handsy, violent Irish broad.
Chris Eubank Jr. continued his winning ways against fellow Englishman
Marcus Morrison. Eubank is now trained by Roy Jones Jr., and watching him operate today, you can clearly see the influence Roy has taken in his training. He looked good, and promoter Kalle Sauerland is hyping a big fight this summer. Should be fun.
5/1 - Carson, CA
Sebastian Fundora continued his KO ways, with a bit of an early stoppage in my opinion. The battle-hardened
Jorge Cota was stopped standing, right after landing a nasty left hook that had Fundora looking a bit dazed. Hard luck for Cota, and onwards and upwards for Fundora.
Cornflake got knocked the fuck out, as predicted, in the first round by
Erislandy Lara. 1 out of 2 people had a good time, etc.
Andy Ruiz got a W in his ring return against
Chris Arreola. Not a great victory, as he was knocked down in round 2, and proceeded to get the decision win. I was a little disappointed, but I'm hoping that this is a transition between trainers fight, and things will mesh together better for the next fight. There are rumors that a Wilder-Ruiz clash is in the works, which would be a lot of fun.
As for the upcoming fights of interest -
It's Five-o de Mayo weekend, boys and girls, which means it's a
Canelo weekend. He takes on
Billy Joe Saunders, a Gypsy boxer from ENGLUND. BJ has never really had any opposition in the ring IMO, but he is an excellent boxer. Excellent boxers happen to be Canelo's closest thing to a weakness, so he is a live dog in this one. I am going to keep my money away from this one, but if I were to wager, mybookie has 'Will the fight go the distance?' Y @-125, N @-110. I'd put some money on YES. BJ is not going to KO Canelo, but is slick enough to stay out of harms way for 12 rounds. So you are getting two outcomes for the price of one.
Canelo by UD, with a knockdown of Saunders on the way
Cuban heavyweight prospect
Frank Sanchez will be taking on journeyman
Nagy Aguilera in a 10 rounder, but don't look for it to last that long.
Sanchez by KO.
Bets for the weekend -
Besides the aforementioned parlay, I put $160 on Conlan to win by decision at -160. Nail biter, but I pulled through. +$100!
And my cheesy parlay delivered, giving me +$30.
I put a 'spare change' bet on Jorge Cota by KO over Fundora. -$9.
+$121 for the weekend.
OK, the wager for today, 5/8 - Soto v. Takeyama - O 7.5 Rounds @-135. Put 270 on it. Let's see what happens!