Kell Brook vs Shawn Porter – early thoughts and prediction

Kell Brook vs Shawn Porter – early thoughts and prediction

The scheduled match-up between Kell Brook and Shawn Porter is a highly intriguing one; both are unbeaten, spearheading the uprising talent, in the welterweight division, from the UK and the US respectively. For Kell Brook, the pressure is especially intense given that he’s long chased an Amir Khan bout, pulled out of a Devon Alexander clash (who Porter previously toppled), and yet remains relatively untested. Add all of these ingredients to the contrasting fight-styles of these combatants, and it’s easy to foresee a highly entertaining, explosive fight.

Shawn Porter’s style is unorthodox. He’s short but powerfully built. In the ring he stays on the outside, well outside of his opponent’s range, and cleverly accentuates his lack of height by keeping low. Then, almost cobra-like, he’ll literally launch himself into his opponent with straight punches and bombarding them with body shots on the inside. His style does bear similarities to Pacquiao of old, where he uses the element of surprise by jumping in with hard straight shots. It’s actually quite fitting that they were former sparring partners. However, unlike Pacquiao, Porter likes to fight inside. He can also use both hands and bends at the waist. His arsenal together with his awkward style makes him a very tricky opponent.

read more

Why Juan Manuel Marquez should avoid a fifth fight with Manny Pacquiao

Why Juan Manuel Marquez should avoid a fifth fight with Manny Pacquiao

When two fighters, who are almost evenly matched, fight multiple times, the outcome of each bout eventually becomes subject to the law of probabilities. In other words, the more times the combatants fight, the greater each one’s chance of losing – or winning.

Applying this same law to Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, if they fought 10 times, they would probably win five fights each, on average, minus of course the controversial decisions from the judges. Now, after four fights, the question is, when is enough enough? After such a sensational ending to the fourth fight, an unbiased person would assume that the story has finally ended. Game over. Marquez finally silenced his critics.

read more

Paulie Malignaggi shouldn’t retire just yet

Paulie Malignaggi shouldn’t retire just yet

Now that the dust has settled after his recent crushing loss to Shawn Porter, Paulie Malignaggi shouldn’t retire just yet.

Sure, what happened to him on April 19th was shocking to most. Despite not being known for having a right hand, his chin, ring- intelligence, and technical ability have gotten him this far in his career. He’s been in the ring and lost to big punchers before: Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Adrien Broner, but none of those fights ended anywhere near as dramatically as it did against Porter.

In the post-fight interview, Paulie hinted at retirement but held back from making such a decision after reeling from a loss. I think his reticence at the time was wise because, after watching the fight, perhaps he shouldn’t retire. It was apparent from the moment both fighters entered the ring that Porter was the stronger and more powerful of the two – however, nothing out of the ordinary. Contrary to what we’ve seen Paulie do in the past, stick a jab and move, he decided to bring it to his opponent not afraid of fighting in close quarters, toe-to-toe.

read more

Manny Pacquiao: good enough to compete, but should now retire

Manny Pacquiao: good enough to compete, but should now retire

After watching his performance last Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao should probably retire.
Make no mistake, Timothy Bradley officially and rightly lost by unanimous decision. But the real loser that night, however, was Juan Manuel Marquez.

His emphatic 2012 victory over Pacquiao was dampened by a subsequent loss to Bradley. And now Pacquiao’s convincing win over Bradley has put the final nail in the coffin for him. Why couldn’t he just retire after knocking Pacquiao out? From being on top of the world, he now sees himself sliding down the ladder of relevance.

Now, in the aftermath of his latest victory, Manny Pacquiao now finds himself at a similar crossroad. No doubt, he gave a career-resurrecting performance, with a legitimate, credible win over a previously undefeated Tim Bradley. The question the people are now asking is; who next? Floyd? Marquez V?

read more