Boxing Heavyweight Championship thoughts…

Boxing Heavyweight Championship fans’ get to enjoy a veritable smorgasbord of Heavyweight World Championship bouts in the next few weeks. As we have no less than three championship fights in our midst beginning this weekend “over there” in mum’s home country of jolly ole England.

"The baddest man in the world" ... 1o1
The baddest man in the world” … 1o1

O2 Arena – London, then on to the Manchester Arena – in Manchester, United Kingdom, and finally back home in the Legacy Arena down in Birmingham Alabama.

Xceptinoal heavyweight boxing bouts in the forecast –am I wiling to put my name beside that one? Me? Well, I will say this; there is indeed exceptional heavyweight power in every single bout. And I do mean exceptional, as in all-time exceptional in no less than two of these three fights. Make no mistake on that one sports-fans. There is the potentiality for all three to end in showcase and truly ballistic intercontinental city killing kiloton fashion. As you have three of the top-4 hitters squaring off out of these six heavyweights, and at least two of those same six -some might say three- have suspect… chins! So if you crave seeing people getting poleaxed or knocked the (bleep) out? Odds are no less than two outta three –that you’ve come to the right place.Saturday 6/25:
12 rounds – O2 Arena – London, United Kingdom – Showtime 5:15 p.m.
Anthony Joshua-4ooo (bet 40 to win 1)
Dominic Breazeale+2ooo (bet 1 to win 20)

^that^, just ain't, right!
A.Jay’s back divots like ^that^, just ain’t, right!

I’m not quite as low as some boxing pundits are on Dominic Breazeale; at least not in long-view terms. That is, if he is still around come Sunday morning over in the U.K.


Dominic is a 6’7”, 30 year old, ~260 lb. guy, with a still perfect 17-o record courtesy of 15 kayos. He was a Qb at Northern Colorado and he is a former USofA Olympian. Dominic is willing,  he at least tries to use his organic size/height advantages and fight downhill; and he has decent orthodox or right-side power. He did show some heart getting himself back up and back together again after being knocked down in his last fight. That said; Breazeale is also a bit gawky and seemingly out-of-step or out of sync’ at times; he could use a bit more head movement; not to mention being a bit plodding or slow of foot. And oh by the way, he is fighting the most powerful heavyweight hitter this side of the mid-1970’s and Earnie Shavers, or possibly since the mid-1980’s and “iron” Mike Tyson; reader’s take thy pick.

6’6”, ~245 lbs., 16-o, all 16 by way of knockout: Anthony Joshua (see: pic) is the truth and his raw power or voltage is truly, chilling! As in… there  is a credible chance that Anthony Joshua truly injures someone on a head shot before his likely hall of fame career is all said and done. This guy (Joshua) is basically a London Blitz WWII era of Wladimir Klitschko who lets his hands go and appears to have the whiskers to catch in addition to his possibly lethal ability to offensively pitch. About the only (potentially) credible knock to the monsta sized Anthony Joshua’s game is… later round(s) stamina. As Joshua power-trains like no other; seriously, A.Jay does high-voltage Creatine crazed weight-lifting movements that are easily past the threshold of lumbar spine safety; to the point of strategic back endangerment. He emphasizes power training above all else; perhaps not entirely in lieu of more traditional boxing cardio-pulmonary work-outs, although at times, at the expense of the very same. Accordingly… can someone -can anyone for that matter- survive Anthony’s frightful initial handful of rounds powerhouse big gun barrage in order to attempt to drag Anthony into the deeper physically fit waters otherwise known as the so-called: championship round(s), and subsequently drown him there? It will take one helluva a man with a helluva a chin, neck, and trapezius muscles to do the same. And as any still photog’ of Breazeale will show you, Dominic is at least a Bridge Too Far and therefore out of his professional depth as neck and traps regimentation  |  accordingly, so let the next Arthurian or legendary heavyweight face-smashing Anthonytastic cultus begin.

Prediction: aye; this one ends early, and this one ends badly if you are a family member or chum of the useful though about to get totally wrecked and destroyed Dominic Breazeale. As only one human has gone more than eight minutes and change with Anthony Joshua to date; ergo, you do the maths… Under 3½ rounds @-35o for me.

***

Saturday, the 9th of July:
12 Rounds, Manchester Arena – Manchester, United Kingdom, 5 p.m. SKY/H.b.o.
Tyson Fury-115
Wladimir Klitschko-1o5

An actual heavyweight championship upsetting rematch as Tyson Fury stunned (most) of the boxing world as a 5 to 1 underdog last November down in the Deutschland lifting no less than five full heavyweight championship belts from former world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. In Wlad’s very own adoptive Rhineland backyard with surprising, and Klitschko fans may rightfully say… with frightful ease.

For this one I foresee no less than four competing and/or possibly partially overlapping tag-lines that portend how this rematch will ultimately turn out. Among them:…

  1. God, aging, and sex. Only three things I know of that have never been beaten. As in… did we not recently see an aging Wladimir Klitschko prove unable to put the game, though clearly over-matched Brant Jennings away in the penultimate fight to Furry Klitschko I? Is Wlad’ now just too old? Unable to reflexively pull the fast-twitch trigger? That could be, as Wlad’s truncated or abysmal 52 punches landed out of a mere 231 punches thrown or offensive pyrite in part I could very well quantitatively aver. As boxing fans, we’ve all seen this T.M.C. movie before, we all know how it ends when a champion stays too long. Wlad’ is a 68 bout professionally who is approximately 14 years Tyson’s senior and Wlad’ ain’t getting any younger as I type.
  2. Just a bad match-up? As the age old boxing adage never ceases to inform us all: “styles make fights”. Is that all this really is? Is Tyson Fury’s style all wrong for Wladimir Klitschko? As since half past when has Wladimir ever had to punch uphill vs. a very awkward, herky-jerky, leaning-in/leaning-out, highly unusual opponent with a stunning near 5” advantage in reach? Well, the short answer is: never. Not once, not ever; and it is not like the Klitschko corner did anything to prepare or even attempt to adjust in-fight for these completely know metric testing advantages that the mercurial Tyson Furry employed -if not industrialized- in fight number one to full clinical effect.

    ...a Ty-fighter with a furious reach!
    …a Ty-fighter with a furious reach!
  3. Mind games 1o1: one thing I’ll say for the entertaining, odd, thoroughly outspoken, never ever politically correct, and hard to analytically grasp self proclaimed “gypsy king” Tyson Fury… he ain’t afraid of Wlad’. Not one bit, not one iota. Tyson did not go to Germany just to get beat and he was not intimated and basically done for -like so may previous Klitschko opponents have been- even before this fight ever began. And you have to sense that the (former) applied sports psych clean-cut master and terminal degree holder with a PhD degree in Sports Science from Kiev University, one Wladimir Klitschko, scored a D- at best on his initial Tyson Fury psychological final exam’.
  4. Motivation: or lack thereof on Wlad’s behalf. Did the then reigning world champion grow complacent, disinterested or even professionally, bored? Getting beaten and soundly tends to helps one’s motivation; or so last time I checked. As does getting outed sans one consent, (or admission), for (alleged) bisexually.Wlad fires back

Prediction: I gotta confess, this is a tough –as in a severely tough one to call. As there are lotta head reasons to pick the young lion to finish off the aging former alpha tiger of the Ukraine in this one. There are also a few hearty reasons to tab Wlad’ to regain his heavyweight championship straps. As even a pocket sized sports-psychologist could sense in the made for telly U.K. version H.b.o.’s Face-Off program, that Wlad’ seems reinvigorated by Tyson, and perhaps the most ardent Klitschko supporter could spin this one somewhere along the lines of: … Tyson Furry is exactly what Wladimir Klitschko needs. However, sometimes what you need is not always what you get and you can’t always get what you want. Wlad’ is not only not getting any younger as I type, he is not getting any faster, any better at this stage as a pro’; nor is he getting any better training/coaching/strategizing less the now reposed wizardly Emmanuel Stewart. And Wlad’ likely will not be getting many -if any- benefits of the scoring doubt(s) across the pond on Tyson Fury’s home turf. Or in other words, Wlad needs to take some risks in this one, let his hands go and go for the knockout in this heavyweight world title rematch. As we all know power is the last thing to go in boxing and I’m ever so narrowly predicting that Wlad’ has just enough spark left to crack the less than sturdy chin of the always willing Tyson Fury before this one ends. (Or leave him(self) wide open and get cracked by the underrated right hand of Tyson Fury in the process) The pick: Fight won’t go the distance+165.

***

Saturday, o7.23:
12 Rounds, Legacy Arena – Birmingham, Alabama, ~10 p.m. on FOX

Chris Arreola+175o
Deontay Wilder-35oo

Henry David Thoreau once wrote… “It is not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” What a whole host of the squared-circled cognoscenti see here is… heavyweight flaws; albeit championship heavyweight, flaws’. What they are not seeing however is anyone (yet) topple the 36-o with 35 stoppages W.B.C. champion, one Deontay Wilder of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Mister Wilder goes 6’8”, 83” in reach with a backbreaking 97% kayo percentage at a shockingly mere, ~227 lbs. Can you say: “…gaunt, wiry, rail-thin Heavyweight champion of the world?” You should if you’ve seen my boy Deontay fight. As his B.M.I. or pinch-test body-fat is by far and away the narrowest of the new super Top-5 (possible Top-6 if you still insist upon Joseph Parker from New Zealand).

That being rightfully said, and for being the human Whippet breed of fighters; one might could argue that Deontay packs the greatest lb. for lb. shot in the sport –in the way of his straight smokehouse best right-hand; just ask the left-side of Artur Szpilka’s face if further evidence need apply. Deontay does without question bring the greatest speed, agility, endurance of these Top-5 or six; and yet his critics are correct; to a point; as Deontay probably brings the lowest contemporary tradecraft floor among the Top-5. As Deontay is critically the furthest from his maximum developmental ceiling of the big-5 at this moment; no if’s and’s or headbutts. As Wilder is awkward, ungainly, relatively new to the sport (he started during junior college); and he has a nasty habit of overthrowing his best punches on misses, and fighting way too small from his therefore necessary to maintain balance extra wide heel-to-heel base. To wit, there is a lot to like here every bit as much as there is a good deal left to correct.

...nite nite!
…nite nite!

Chris Arreloa on the other hand is nearly a contemporary waste of pugilistic time, and nearly a waste of this very space. The 30 year old, 36-4-1, 31 KO’s, 6’3”, 240-260 lb. former two-time title challenger is a lot of things. Not among them however would be the following: in-camp, on a good success driven diet, drug free or clean when testing for cannabis, known for his tremendous work-ethos, a hater of doughnuts or someone with an unbreakable and therefore easily coagulating beak. As this once useful enough Mexicali-American heavyweight is pretty much the antithesis of everything I just typed out. As the former legit’ prospect gone turnstile or heavyweight gatekeeper otherwise known as Chris Arreloa is just that, a boob as a credible –much less as a deserving heavyweight title bout recipient goes.

Prediction: not much too this one, is there? Wilder wins by stoppage; the only real discussion we can field is when? Deontay seems content enough to let lesser guys hang around a bit; which does give him some additional and much needed work; every bit as much as it keeps really big guys who can actually hit, in front of him for longer than they should be. Before being eventually being felled by his signature lumberjack bunkhouse stampede style orthodox right-cross. Hence, it is reasonable to foresee more of the same, Chris makes it about 6-7 rounds before Deontay turns on the heat and turns Chris’ lights out on his way to a late mid-round stoppage; a.k.a. a Wilder TKO in 8.

The best Heavyweight in the world right now is ... ???

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Boxing=5 maybe 6, very credible Heavyweights for the first time in a long time!

LETS GO!

Hokies!

bourbonstreet**

V.A.D.A. approved