Nov 5 - ESPN2 at 6:00
Vinny Pazienza vs. Dana Rosenblatt
I have to admit I'm some what of a Pazmanian Devil fan. When behind on ALL scorecards
through three rounds in their first meeting, and bloodied from a first round knockdown,
Vinny drops a huge right hand and drops Dana in round 4. Dana takes the 8 count and Paz
resembles Taz in his unleashing of combinations that has Tony Orlando wave a halt to the
fight in the forth round in Aug 96. This is Dana's only blemish on his record, and he
expects to redeem himself in the rematch. Won't happen.
Vinny was the first to expose Dana has a soft chin. Nobody has until then, or since. Vinny
has the psychological advantage, and the fact Vinny has nothing but hatred and contempt
for Dana, only adds fuel to the fire.
Since Dana's loss to Vinny, he had an impressive points win to Glenwood Brown in Jan of
97, and an even more impressive nod to Terry Norris in Sep 98.
Vinny too went the distance to beat Glenwood Brown in Jul 98, had a VERY impressive win
against Joseph Kiwanuka this past Apr (as
predicted) and in his last outing, went the distance with Estaban Cervantes for the
win (as predicted).
Vinny needs to get inside and rough up Dana. Get him out of his stick and move game plan
and trade bombs with him. Vinny has a good punch and great chin. His one loss by stoppage
was at the hands of Roy Jones Jr. A fight he begged to continue.
It is reported Paz went to Vegas and dropped a $100,000 bet on himself. Hmmm.
Vinny will drop bombs and stop Dana inside 6 heats.
Pazienza inside 6
Nov 6 - HBO at 11:00
Hasim Rahman vs. Oleg Maskaev
This should prove to be a fight of attrition, and I suspect will be the the card to see
this week-end. Both these guys have KO power. They both are David Tua KO victims.
Who to choose? Hasim of course.
Not just because Oleg's a ruskie, but Hasim has had the tougher opposition and has done
more rounds. His only loss was, as mentioned, to David Tua last Dec. He simply ran out of
gas in the later rounds and you can't do that against Tua. Hasim vows that will never
happen again. Both of Oleg's losses were by stoppage. Tua in the 11th Apr 97, and Oliver
McCall in the first round in Feb 96.
Oleg does own impressive wins over former contenders Alex Stewart and Booker Word,
although both were WAY past there respective primes.
Hasim's last outing was a 5th round stoppage of Michael Rush (as predicted) this past Mar. Oleg's last outing was a 2
round stoppage of Shane Sutcliffe. The same loser David Tua stopped 2 weeks ago.
This will be a war from start to finish. If we see the finish. I suspect we will. I see
Hasim starting fast to establish dominance, then pacing himself for 10 rounds and getting
the nod.
Rahman by Decision
Maurice Harris vs. Derrick Jefferson
Remember Maurice? He's the boy who was the late replacement for Hasim Rahman who had a rib
injury and had to pull out of the Jeremy Williams fight. Maurice stepped up to the plate,
weathered the early bombs of Jeremy, then had the much acclaimed KO artist almost out by
the 10th round! He took the win from Jeremy and any credibility Jeremy had. Maurice is a
giant killer. He has wins over ranked and seasoned opponents like David Izon, Jimmy
Thunder and Jeremy last June. All renowned KO artists! He is currently training with
Lennox Lewis in the Poconos. Once again he plays the familiar part of "replacement
fighter" for Lance Whittaker.
Derrick is unbeaten and will step up in competition against Maurice. His only noted
opponent was an impressive 4 round KO of former contender Melvin Foster this past Sep.
Derrick has the size and reach advantage, but Maurice has good inside skills and can take
some major bombs! Don't let the 16-9-2 record of Maurice fool you. His last bout against
Jeremy was a coming out party. Maurice is almost ready for prime time.
A convincing win would only increase his marketability. Expect just that!
Harris by Decision
In Retrospect:
Vinny Pazienza vs. Dana Rosenblatt
Somewhat as expected. I did expect Vinny to bum rush Dana, but I didn't expect Dana to
survive . . . let alone win via split decision!
True to form Vinny fought as I expected. Trying to brawl and land the big bomb from the
outside, Vinny all but abandoned any boxing skills and tried to turn this into a slugfest.
Dana survived Vinny's left hook in the third round which resulted in a momentary
knockdown. Both men suffered cuts over the right eye and Dana also had a cut over his
left. Dana kept Vinny at bay with the jab and effectively boxed the Pazmanian Devil to a
split decision. Good job Dana for putting your personal demons aside and facing the Devil
head on!
Hasim Rahman vs. Oleg Maskaev
Almost as expected. Except the HUGE KO by Oleg!! Behind on ALL scorecards, Hasim walks
into an overhand right that has him in trouble early in 8th. He tries to hold on, takes
more damage, then walks into a text book right hand that has him doing a nose dive out of
the ropes, and head first onto the floor. To make things worse, where he fell through the
ropes, there as a computer, and when he brushed passed it, it fell on his bean bag!
Really!!!! I watched the tape in slo-mo, and the computer made contact with the Rocks
sack! Ouch! This really sucked, because up to this time Hasim was clearly winning the
match and was to be my saving grace for an otherwise disastrous week-end of picks. Oh well
. . .
I also noticed that both these guy's looked soooo slow! both were telegraphing there shots
and both look to be slow and lethargic. Neither men would fare well against some of these
faster guy's. Well, that remains to be seen.
Maurice Harris vs. Derrick Jefferson
Oh my. Not as expected, but what a remarkable performance by the previously unknown
Jefferson. He for the most part was in control most the match. Harris fought as I had
expected. I figured he would be taking damage for the first 4 to 5 rounds then start
turning up the heat. Maurice did prove he can weather some storms, because he was taking
those ugly left hooks, until he leaned into one! I believed just before the KO shot,
Harris had Jefferson hurt. Hell, Derrick was breathing heavy after round 1, and by the
third, had his mouth wide open sucking air! The best round was round 2 when Harris got
knocked down twice, then went on to knock down Jefferson. What a great fight this turned
out to be. Harris landed a shot in round 6 that seemed to of hurt Derrick, who sort of
staggered back. Harris in hot pursuit to land the right, left his head open and
leaned into a perfectly executed left hook that had Maurice on the canvas wide eyed and
out! This style I call trap fighting. Jefferson set the trap, and Harris willingly stepped
right in. He was timing that left hook throughout the night, and a little stagger had the
hook set for Harris.
It was discovered during the fight that Jefferson owns wins over both Michael Grant and
Lawrence Cley-bey in the amateurs. How interesting. I'll keep an eye on this deceptive
pugilist.
