Boxing: Vargas vs. Castillejo

[dr.zoidberg]

This fight takes place this Saturday night on HBO. I believe it starts at 10:00 eastern.

The show has two fights. The first fight is between Rocky Juarez and Humberto Soto. Soto is replacing an injured In Jin Chi, who suffered an Achilles Tendon injury a few weeks back. I expect Juarez to win this easily, most likely by KO because Soto is old and washed up.

In the main event, Fernando Vargas fights Javier Castillejo. The weeks leading up to the fight were hectic as Castillejo was unjustly stripped of the WBC 154-pound belt. The WBC tried to soften the blow by making this fight an eliminator for the belt, however, both men told the WBC where to stick it. Contrary to what the odds say, I feel that this will not be easy for Vargas. I personally have never seen Castillejo fight, but everyone that I have talked to that has seen him said that he is no slouch. He also hold a win over Roman Kamarzin, who recently defeated Kassim Ouma. In the end, I expect Vargas to win this one by a close UD.

[H2O Man]

1. Good calls.

Juarez is a good young fighter, who should win convincingly.

Vargas used to be a good fighter. Never a complete package, though. His best fight may have been the loss to Tito. I haven't seen film of his come-back fight, but I have heard he wasn't really impressive. I'm thinking that his next fight will be a real test.

Looks like there will be some interesting heavyweight fights in the fall and winter.

[Stephist]

2. The First fight was great

and the judges got it right. Soto deserved a close decision win. Vargas is shot IMHO. he is afraid to get hit anymore and that's obviously not good for a boxer. he could have ended the show at anytime tonight but he was too afraid to get hit even against a guy that couldn't do anything against him. Good to see Vargas call himself out at the end of the fight though.

And what was with Drunky Merchant making so many excuses for Vargas? How many times has this guy call out fighters for not taking a chance and fighting boring but safe fights? Yet every time Stewart or Lampley called out Vargas for the very same thing merchant jumped to his defense.

[dr.zoidberg]

4. I was surprised by Merchant.

Usually Larry and Manny(sometimes) are the critical ones and Lampley does the fawning.

I noticed that Soto threw 1006 punches. That's Emmanuel Augustus number right there.

[dr.zoidberg]

3. Vargas wins, Juarez loses in shocker.

Vargas did what I expected him to do, which is dominate the fight. I wish that he would have stepped on the gas a little bit and finished Catillejo, but otherwise it was a good performance.

The big surprise was Juarez losing to Soto. I didn't think that Soto was going to be able to win, but he did. And the way he kept walking through Juarez's left hooks was inhuman.

[Sean138666]

5. Juarez

I'm not sure he got to throw those left hooks that he's known for, since Soto was fighting a smart enough fight to avoid them/prevent Juarez from getting the opportunity to throw them.

Remember how Mike Tyson used to weave in and throw bodypunches? I would think that Juarez needs to learn that. He's good enough already; if he learns weaving, he could have a chance against the beltholders.

[H2O Man]

7. On body punches:

When all else is even, the better body puncher almost always wins. And when you fight someone a step up, body punching can even things out. So I agree fully that Juarez will be a more complete fighter if he masters the delivery of a body attack.

A loss (or even a few) early in a person's career can make them become a better fighter. There's no shame in his losing to an old pro. I have always enjoyed watching Juarez, and think he'll continue to do well.

[SpiralHawk]

6. I bet on Sonny Liston twice ($5 each time)

against Cassius Clay, so I long ago gave up predicting boxing matches. You don't want to know my opinion, trust me.

[H2O Man]

8. Betting on Sonny

against Cassius Clay was actually a smart bet. When he had his return match against Muhammad Ali, it wasn't.

What is interesting to consider is if Ali had not postponed the return match, due to his hernia, how it might have gone. Liston had trained hard, and was actually in the best shape of his life. It wasn't just the old-timers who couldn't stand Ali who wrote about this. Howard Cosell writes about it in his first book. When the fight was postponed, Sonny "got old." He wasn't able to maintain the discipline, and avoid the temptations of the flesh. He was an intense fighter at his best, and their first fight still ranks as one of the better heavyweight title fights.