Rios vs. Alvarado II Fight Prediction

This weekend fight fans will be treated to another fight of the year between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado. Their first fight was a barn burner and immediate candidate for fight of the year. Most of the fight was fought on equal footing, until Rios was finally able to hurt Alvarado and end matters in the 7th. This time around Rios is the favorite to win.

Rios, as pictured above on the left, looked a bit emaciated to me, I am not sure what weight he walks around at, but it looks like he lost a lot of weight while Alvarado looked far better. Also, Rios has been in some serious wars and something I think takes an even bigger toll is that he was often struggling to make weight before going into those fights. However, his last fight against Alvarado, none of that seemed to matter. He took a good punch, was clearly in great shape and showed he belonged in that division, which he had just moved up to. Alvarado looked as if he could have boxed a little more, taken less punishment, and perhaps won the fight. But, the warrior in him would not allow him to employ a game plan like that. While Rios won the first fight, I thought Alvarado showed that he possessed greater skill than Rios, even if he did not actually use all of them.

What should happen
What we are all expecting is a continuation of the first fight. Both guys coming out, going to war, and Rios eventually overcoming Alvarado. Its really that simple, fight until someone falls, and it should be Rios who prevails.

What could happen
Alvarado showed some good skills and boxing knowledge in the first fight, however, he did not always employ his greater skill. If he and his team learned anything from the first fight its that both guys can hurt each other, and Rios is one dimensional. It is one hell of a dimension, but he can be outboxed. If Alvarado boxes and moves, picks his spots, he can surprise a lot of people and being the bigger guy, he could wear Rios down and possibly stop him.

What I think will happen
I think Alvarado will certainly try to employ a different strategy but I am not sure how long this will last. How long can he box before the pressure of Rios forces him to fight? Can he do enough damage to wear Rios down? This is what makes the fight tough for me to call because if Alvarado is able to box effectively, I think he can beat Rios. My concern is Alvarado's mentality, how long can he do this before the warrior in him comes out and he decides to go toe to toe? If Alvarado can maintain a different strategy I think he will win, however, if he cannot or does not then Rios will repeat his victory over Alvarado.

Abraham vs Stieglitz, post fight

Last saturday Robert Stieglitz effectively ended the career of Arthur Abraham. From the first round Stieglitz dominated a befuddled Abraham who fought out of his patented high guard and unpredictable offense. After Abraham fought Edison Miranda the first time, I thought he would not have much left, even though he won that fight he took a tremendous beating, the kind that ends a career. However he fought on but to me never seemed to be the same fighter. What kept him in fights is his good defense and destructive power which could quickly turn a fight and keep fighters honest for sure. The last few years he has clearly diminished and Robert Stieglitz put an effective punctuation mark at the end of this fight. He tore into Abraham from the get go, and my thinking was that eventually Abraham would catch him and end the fight. However, he never seemed to have the ability to hurt Stieglitz, or even deter him in the slightest.

In the second round Abraham tried to get Stieglitz off of him by fighting back, which he was forced to do with Stieglitz pressure. It did not seem to matter, Stieglitz was a man on a mission and would not be denied. He even shocked me by seriously hurting Abraham at the end of the second stanza and he clearly had no intention in engaging Stieglitz at that point as he was only interested in holding.

It was more of the same in the third round, this time Abraham had a badly swollen eye. Having little to no chance in winning the fight, the referee correctly called an end to the bout. It is hard to see where Abraham goes from here, he has struggled the last few years and if he couldn't punch, he would have lost many more fights, in my opinion. Stieglitz, however, looked amazing and seems to have many options on the table after a performance like that.

Bradley vs Provodnikov, the Aftermath

I just finished watching one of the best fights that I have seen in years. Last weekend we were treated to a highly technical and historical fight in Hopkins vs. Cloud, not one that everyone appreciated but historical none the less. This weekend I was not expecting much. Bradley is a very tough guy and a damn good fighter who was on the receiving end of some very unfair criticism in his win over Pacquiao. Bradley was very emotional in the buildup to this fight about the Pacquiao fight so I thought he was going into this fight emotionally unprepared. Provodnikov was a mystery to me. I had never seen him fight and only knew that he was a sparring partner for Pacquiao. I thought this would be a boring Bradley decision as Provodnikov was coming up in weight it seemed Bradley may be just too much and that this was more of a confidence builder for Bradley.

Boy was I wrong....and thankfully.

Provodnikov came out looking to kill, stalking like a lion his prey. Bradley seemed to concur that this was how things were going to get done, fighting it out like two gladiators in a roman colliseum. Unfortunately for Bradley it did not go so well the first two rounds. Provodnikov hammered Bradley around the ring with relative ease, and actually looked the bigger of the two. Bradley was hurt and did eventually go down, although the referee ruled that it wasn't a knockdown as Provodnikov did sort of push him to the canvas. The second round was so one sided, I would have scored it a 10-8 round for Provodnikov. However, to Bradley's credit, he remained on his feet, and not only that, he kept fighting as if nothing happened. Eventually he took control of the fight as Provodnikov looked like a tired plodding heavyweight looking for one hail mary shot to end things.

This is why in the 7th it seemed as such a shock that Provodnikov nearly ended it again with a sneaky, yet brutal, left hook. Once again, the tough as nails Bradley remained on his feet, seemingly out, yet fighting back furiously off the ropes. The fight was back and fourth from that point on, and before the 11th trainer Freddie Roach told Provodnikov that he had to hurt Bradley or he would stop the fight, yes, it was that brutal. Provodnikov came out and attempted to do just that, come at Bradley with everything he had left, this seemed to appease Roach and he allowed his fighter to enter into the 12th, even though he looked the worse for wear.

Bradley had built up a good lead on the scorecards and all he had to do was survive, and his trainers told him that. Provodnikov was relentless and finally caught up to the iron chinned and iron willed Timothy Bradley, hurting him badly, however this time he was able to put him on the canvas, but it was too little too late. Bradley had too big of a lead on the cards and won a close unanimous decision.

These are the types of fights that end fighters careers. Both fighters took tremendous punishment and Bradley stated after the fight that he knew that he had a concussion early on in the fight. While that is certainly ballsy and brave, it is also stupid and not good for ones mental health. Thankfully for Provodnikov Bradley is not a big puncher and despite Roy Jones insisting that a steady legged Provodnikov was "seriously hurt" he never really did seem hurt at any point. He seemed more fatigued than anything.

This fight should set the tone for what is to come in 2013, this was a classic war that you rarely get to see.

Hopkins vs Cloud, Post Fight Analysis

I have seen some amazing things in my short time on this earth, one of the most amazing things I seen in boxing was Foreman vs. Moorer. I was excited because it was Foreman and my dad liked him. I thought this would be a time for us to bond and watch the old man give it another go. But as the fight wore on, my dad grudgingly went off to bed saying he did not want to see a boyhood idol take such a beating. Lone behold it was only 6 minutes or so that he bolted out of the bedroom upon hearing me scream "He did it, he did it!" What an awesome feeling. However, the fight tonight was not exactly a wake everyone up with screaming type fight, but it was something special for sure, something rarely seen.

I had predicted that Hopkins would soundly defeat the much younger Cloud, however, I was still hanging on the edge of my seat while watching the fight. I know Cloud can punch and Hopkins was playing a deadly game. But he played it wisely. Instead of hopping around the ring to keep Cloud off balance and unable to plant his feet, he calmly walked, conserving his energy. Cloud was completely unaware of this and failed to put more pressure on Hopkins. But Hopkins, the cagey veteran used everything he has ever learned, and did it with relative ease, so it seemed.

Hopkins would nail Cloud and then either tie up or, get this, use the shoulder roll and bobbing and weaving to get away. And this was reflected in the compubox as Cloud landed around 20% of his punches, which is dismal, and Hopkins 41%, which is amazing, especially considering that he is 17 years older than Cloud. Anytime Cloud started to put his foot on the pedal Hopkins would engage him and nail him with something that was hard enough to back him off. A couple times Cloud, clearly buzzed, backed away and Hopkins let him be because he knew that Cloud would think twice about rushing in so why try and go after a guy and risk getting stopped yourself? Classy veteran move. Hopkins literally beat up the younger man and in the 12th Clouds corner told him he needs to put Hopkins down and he came out initially trying and Hopkins threw a few uncharictaristically hard shots that landed solid on Cloud and ended any desire he may have had to come at Hopkins for the KO. A wonderfully brilliant and masterful performance by Hopkins who continues to give us more reasons to call him "The Greatest".

I am beginning to wonder if death himself is starting to worry about having to face Hopkins someday, I wonder.