Boxing

[H2O Man]

August 6
At Chicago (ESPN2): Breidis Prescott vs. Harrison Cuello, 10 rounds, junior welterweights; Patrick Lopez vs. Prenice Brewer, 10 rounds, junior welterweights; Mike Mollo vs. Franklin Lawrence, 8 rounds, heavyweights

At Hinckley, Minn. (Showtime): Chris Avalos vs. Christopher Martin, 10 rounds, bantamweights; Lateef Kayode vs. Alfredo Escalera Jr., 10 rounds, cruiserweights

August 7
At St. Louis (HBO): Devon Alexander vs. Andreas Kotelnik, 12 rounds, for Alexander's IBF/WBC junior welterweight title; Tavoris Cloud vs. Glen Johnson, 12 rounds, for Cloud's IBF light heavyweight title; Cory Spinks vs. Cornelius "K9" Bundrage, 12 rounds, for Spinks' IBF junior middleweight title.

This is a good weekend to watch boxing. Tonight, both ESPN and ShoBox will feature bouts with some young contenders, who are looking to break into the higher rankings in some tough divisions. There are also a couple guys hoping to get their careers back on track.

Breidis Prescott was an undefeated, though largely unknown young slugger when he came to the USA in June of 2006 for his first fight outside of South America. He appeared flawed in winning a split-decision over another undefeated novice, and so he was picked as a “victim” for the undefeated British slugger, Amir Khan. Prescott won a stunning KO victory in 54 seconds.

Prescott has had mixed results since, winning two and losing two decisions to more experienced opponents. One loss was by split-decision. (Khan has since been picked up by Freddie Roach, and won a title.) His opponent tonight is a punching bag who was 2-4-1 in 2009; the two guys he beat combined for an 18-35-2 record.

Avalos is 16-0, with 13 K.O.s; Martin is 18-0-2, with 5 K.O.s. It appears a classic boxer vs puncher contest.

The HBO card on Saturday will be interesting. In the co-feature, 28-year old Tavoris Cloud (20-0, with 18 knockouts) meets veteran Glen Johnson (50-13-2). Glen is 41 years old, and has fought against the top competition for many years. His only knockout lose came in 1997, at the hands of Bernard Hopkins.

Glen has looked his age in several recent fights. Still, he upset Yusaf Mack in February. Cloud has been inactive for 12 months, for a variety of reasons. But at 28, he has all of the advantages except experience. He can fight 12 hard, fast rounds, and is an explosive puncher. I have long enjoyed Glen Johnson, but I wish he did not take this fight.

The Alexander vs Kotelnik match should be the best fight of the weekend. Kottelnik will be fighting outside of Europe for the first time in his career. At 31-3-1, with 13 knockouts, he is a talented boxer. In his last fight (12 months ago), he lost a decision to Amir Khan.

Devon Alexander (20-0, with 13 KOs) is one of the best fighters today. He is tall for the weight class, a southpaw, and combines good speed with serious punching power. In his last fight, he became the first to KO tough Juan Urango.

If Alexander wins, he is probably going to fight Timothy Bradley in a "title unification" match in January. Reportedly, Bob Arum is trying to keep this from happening; Arum is dangling a "possible" match with Pac-Man in front of Bradley. However, I think Bradley will fight Alexander, in what will be one of the best fights possible in the sport today (second only to Mayweather vs Pacquiao). More, while I think highly of Bradley, and think he can decision Alexander, I am convinced that it is Devon Alexander who -- in one year's time -- might be the only fightercapable of giving Floyd Mayweather a serious fight.

[Redbear]

1. Thanks for the previews.

Looking forward to the Alexander - Kotelnik match.

[H2O Man]

2. Thanks.

It should be a good fight. I'm looking forward to it, too.

Alexander is a potentially great fighter. More, his manager is good for the sport. I'm encouraged by some of the articles I've read this week, where he is calling out some of the promoters who hurt the sport.

Last night's fights were entertaining. Martin pulled off an upset in the main event on ShoBox. One judge scored it for the other guy, making it a split-decision; the fight was so one-sided that this judge highlighted another problem with boxing. Promoters hire judges who will commit robbery in order to assist the promoter's fighter.

[JonLP24]

3. I don't have cable anymore

but thanks for this. I've always enjoyed these.

On edit-I do remember seeing Prescott last year. I'm pretty sure he won his match though I can't remember his opponent. My prediction is he wins this fight.

[H2O Man]

4. All three

televised cards were of good quality. Each of them featured at least one very good toe-to-toe contest between "sluggers," and there were also some good boxers, displaying the "hit-and-don't-be-hit" tactics that make for longer careers.

I've been thinking about posting more boxing articles on the sports forum here, although they rarely get much response. Recently, my son and I had breakfast with Marvis Frazier, for example, and did a heck of a good interview. And I'm getting ready to interview Mark Baker, on his outstanding book, "Title Town USA: Boxing in Upstate New York." (He and I share an interest in documenting the history of boxing, as it relates to the Irish and Italian immigrant workers on the canals and railroads. I sent him a copy of my book, and am thinking of helping my son on another on some of the lesser-know history -- particularly in the era when boxing was illegal in NYS. That would include teaching my son some of my research tactics, things he won't learn in a classroom!)