Monday’s Weekend Round-Up

Let me get it out of the way quickly.  The 5 fights I Picked were 5 winners.  Increasing my record to 7-1!  With bigger fights on the horizon, I will be breaking down some betting odds and giving you some bets if you are interested in making a little extra cash on the side.

Brandon Rios failed to make weight again.  Rios and team fooled themselves into thinking they can get down to 135 again.  He looked sick before and he looked sick again.  This time it affected him in the ring with a crafty Abril opposing him.  I had Abril winning the fight 7 rounds to 5 and I felt I was generous to Rios with that scoring.  Abril used a clutching method to limit Rios output and then shot a nice jab down the middle to control the fight.  Rios had the visual effect going, but with little substance behind his punches.  He never really hurt Abril as he did to his former opponents.  According to most on press row, Rios was granted a gift decision.  Bob Arum can stop sweating now his bout between Rios and Marquez can continue.  Abril based on what was perceived to be an unfavorable decision gets to keep his interim belt and will get another shot at the real title.

In the Friday bout Felix Sturm put on a clinic against Sebastian Zbik.  Sturm’s jab was on point.  It reminded me of when he lost a decision to Oscar De La Hoya back in 2004.  Zbik had some success in the first couple of rounds, but Sturm quickly turned the tide and cruised to a victory in when Zbik’s corner through in the towel in the 9^th.  Sturm is a legit middleweight champion; I just wish he would come back to America to fight.  His future plans include a possible showdown with highly regarded Dmitry Pirog.  In my eyes both Pirog and Sturm would provide division kingpin Sergio Martinez the two toughest tests at middleweight.

Mike Alvarado is my winner of the week.  Mike puts on a show every time he steps in the ring.  He has beat two tough fighters back to back and stretched his record to 33-0-0.  If anyone deserves the bout with Marquez at Cowboys stadium it is Alvarado.  This fight started off as a brawl with both Herrera and Alvarado landing some nice hard shots.  As the fight wore on Alvarado started to impose his will and clearly land the harder cleaner shots.  Mike deserved this victory and some kind of title shot.

Mercito Gesta and Juan Manuel Marquez both rolled to victories as expected.

News Notes:

*Sergio Martinez continued his verbal assault on Chavez Jr.  He claimed Chavez Jr. is afraid to get in the ring without random drug testing and that he would be even more scared if they did testing.  Martinez wants Olympic style testing if he were to fight Chavez Jr. in the fall due to Chavez Jr.’s large weight jump post weigh-in.

*Trainer Robert Garcia spoke about Rios’s win.  He blames Rios sub-par performance on the weight issues and that at 140 lbs. Rios will prove his worth against Juan Manuel Marquez.  He gave a bit of credit to Abril for having an awkward style, but felt he held too much. 

*Kelly Pavlik pleaded guilty to lesser charges stemming back from a DUI arrest in his hometown of Youngstown, OH.  Pavlik was fined $300 on top of having to pay for $2000 worth of property damage he caused.

*Mercito Gesta was hanging out with countryman Nonito Donaire.  There have been small rumblings that Gesta has played his way into the Marquez bout in July as well.

*Fight Alert – For you across the pond boxing fans.  Paul McCoskey has signed on to face veteran gatekeeper Chop Chop Corley.

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