One More Round With Mark Lyons: Thoughts on Williams/Martinez, Arreola, Diaz/Malignaggi and Bradley/Peterson
by The Boxing Bulletin on Dec 10, 2009 12:26 AM EST
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Mark Lyons is back with his weekly look at upcoming and recent fights. In this instalment of One More Round, Mark gives his thoughts on last weekend's HBO show, while looking at ahead to Diaz/Malignaggi and Bradley/Peterson.
Great fight last week in Atlantic City and a bunch of fights coming up this weekend. Forgive me for my brevity, but I’m battling an illness that has knocked me out.
My Take on this Past Weekend's Action...
-- Paul Williams & Sergio Martinez gave the fans all they could expect and then some. Paul showed off his grit and tremendous chin as he leaned into flush power shots and kept on coming. Martinez displayed more toughness than I think anyone thought he had along with his defensive skills and incredibly fast hands.
-- I think we saw the two best 154/160lb fighters in the world giving it all they had, and while I haven’t had a chance to re-watch the fight, on first viewing I had Williams taking the last round and the fight by a point. Regardless of what that one pathetic scorecard added up to, it was extremely close, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to score it for Sergio the second time around. Let's do it again!
-- I didn’t even mention Arreola vs Minto last week and probably shouldn't here either. Shame on HBO for broadcasting such a match-up and for those who called it entertaining, I disagree. That level of fight might satisfy expectations for an under-card on FNF, but I expect far better quality from HBO. Not only does Arreola not care to train, he isn’t skilled either. Only a matter of time before his bouncing breasts sail into the sunset as a footnote in the worst Heavyweight era in history.
-- Amir Khan was in fine form on Saturday. Say what you will about his chin, for my money he has the fastest hands in the sport..
Looking ahead to this Weekend...
-- I think Juan Diaz & Paulie Malignaggi delivered a close fight that was better than expected last time out, but not one that really warrants a rematch. Sometimes people tend to over-react to an underdog performing well and scream "robbery", and the first meeting was one of those times.
-- Look for Paulie to run, hold and stink out the joint in losing the clear and dull decision we all expected the first time. Diaz will always fight hard, so it wont be unbearable, but I imagine everyone watching will wish they just left it at one fight.
-- Showtime main-event is a whole different story. Two young and undefeated fighters that are very familiar with each other square off for the top spot at Jr Welterweight. I’m expecting this fight to be tight the whole way with a lot of ebb and flow and sustained action. Bradley is more comfortable coming forward and I think that will benefit the fans and Peterson.
-- I’m taking Lamont by split decision in a mild upset between two guys that will be around the top of this division for quite some time.
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A few points
I feel completely the opposite on Diaz-Malignaggi. I think it could be a potential classic as both guys look to ‘prove’ that they clearly won the first one. Neither will want to win another close decision, both will want to impose their styles more, I think.
I don’t think anyone would have over-reacted/cried robbery but for That card. A narrow SD, maybe Malignaggi doesn’t even open his mouth, maybe if he does so he sounds like a sore loser. I’m guessing that unlike with Martinez, you can’t imagine seeing any way of scoring the first one for Malignaggi? If you could then there might also be a case for ’Let’s do it again!’ ;)
Agreed completely on Arreola, very well put. Despite it being a terrible heavweight division, I still think the Klitschko brothers would grace any era, while maybe not being at the very top.
Rec’d
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)
Paulie/Diaz
Actually, I had the first fight a draw and would have no issue with a Malignaggi card. I guess I’m just not expecting much and I think Juan goes back to 35 anyway. I shouldn’t complain about guys doing a rematch of a close fight and I’m really not trying to. I just think the first fight served it’s purpose, paulie could have got another fight at 40 on a pay network & Juan could get back to business at 35. That being said, HBO wanted the rematch, so lets see what happens.
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Let me know how it goes. As always, I will skip any Malignaggi fight.
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