Sep 17 - ESPN2 6:00
Lamon Brewster vs. Quinn Navarre
Lamon is a maturing Heavy getting ready for prime time. He sports a 21-0 record with 19
KO's. Sounds pretty impressive, but these wins came at the hands of limited and unknown
opposition. The L.A. native is well known locally, and is looking at making a name for
himself when he steps up to the veteran Navarre. Quinn is a club fighter who has never
rose to the championship level, with the exception of one bout in which he CLEARLY beat
the coming back Larry Holmes (Apr 96) but was robbed of the decision. Since then, he's
been stopped by James Thunder, Buster Douglas and most recently, Andrew Golota last June.
Did I mention he was stopped also by Lamon Brewster. Enough said . . .
Lamon inside 8
Sep 18 -
TVKO/PPV 6:00
Vassiliy Jirov vs. Dale Brown
This is Jirov's first defense of his IBF Cruiser title since stopping the veteran Arthur
Williams last June (as predicted). As stated then,
Jirov's a heavy handed southpaw who sports an impressive 20-0 record with 19 KO's!! Dale
is the current NABF Cruiser champ, and will be a formidable foe for Jirov, but like Arthur
Williams, the Canadian will lose against the former Olympic gold medalist inside the
distance.
Jirov inside 6
Eric Morel vs. Miguel Granados
Eric will continue his campaign for a real world title. Eric is the current IBA
continentals 115 lb title holder, a "fringe" title he won last Oct with a
unanimous decision against Victor Burgos. I object against a rising star like Eric taking
on weak opponents, but his activity is admirable. He KO'd the much heralded KO artist
Francisco Espitia last Aug (as predicted) and I suspect
he is choosing his bouts carefully for a big payday. Eric will steam roll the unknown
Miguel in a hurry.
Morel inside 4
Felix Trinidad vs. Oscar De La Hoya
This is dubbed the fight of the Millennium, with good reason. This is a bout that many
have waited to come to fruition for a couple of years now, and this will prove once and
for all who the superior Welter is. Unfortunately, I dig on both these guys. . . .
Felix is without doubt one of the BEST welters in the world. He's another one of those
MANY boxers that I've followed since early in his career. Since I first saw this
"upstart" back in June of 93 stop Maurice Blocker to win his first title .
. . I was intrigued. He defended his title a couple times, then beat Hector Comacho
soundly in Jan of 94. I liked that. Then, he went to defend his title against a formidable
foe Yory Boy Campas (who at the time had a 56-0 record with 50 knockouts). After getting
off the canvas in the 2nd round, he went on in the 4th round to stop Yory Boy . .
now I was SOLD. Since then, he has stoppages over Oba Carr, Rodney Moore, Freddie
Pendleton and Kevin Lueshing. (he got off the canvas in EVERY one of those stoppages).
Impressive, but that can be a problem.
Oscar in my opinion IS THE BEST welter out there. He cleaned up the light weight division,
and faced the best of the best. He stopped former world champions Rafael Rueles,
Genaro Hernandez, Jesse James Leija and Julio Cesar Chavez twice. He stopped David Kamau,
Wilfredo Rivera and Patrick Charpentier. This year he went the distance, knocked down and
beat the 3rd best welter Ike Quartey and stopped Oba Carr this past May. Oscar has been in
MANY hyped up MAJOR do or die fights against formidable opposition, and has performed.
Felix hasn't been in this situation . . . EVER.
Oscar went on to decision Pernell Whitaker when Pernell was on top of his
game.
Felix decisioned Pernell after Pernell was suspended for cocaine use and was off a 16
month layoff!! A fight in which he should of stopped the former pound for pound king.
Felix fought Oba Carr early in Oba's career (Dec 94) and KO'd him in 8.
Oscar fought a well seasoned Oba who was fresh off an impressive win against Frankie
Randall and Oscar KO'd him in 11 (May 99).
Since Oba Carr (Dec 94), the only formidable opposition Felix has faced
has been Rodney Moore (KO 4 Feb 96), Freddie Pendleton (KO 5 May 96), Kevin Lueshing (KO 3
Jan 97), and an off the wagon and bloated Pernell Whitaker (Decision Feb 99).
In the same time frame, Oscar faced and annihilated the aforementioned.
Oscar has a tendency to start fast, Felix starts slow. Both have questionable chins, at
least that was the belief until I saw Oscar survive major bombs from the Ikester. Oscar
fights orthodox, but is naturally left handed. Both have KO power in either hand.
Oscar has the advantage in ring smarts and adaptability. He's never the same fighter and
adapts to his foe's style, using his foe's weakness' to defeat them.
Oscar and Felix . . most definitely the ODDS couple, for most betting lines have
them even. So who's gonna win . . .
Felix is running his mouth how he's going to KO Oscar.
Talk is cheap . . . . only because supply exceeds demand.
I see a chess match in the making. Both will be tentative early, but I see Oscar
establishing his jab and body work early, countering well and staying clear of Felix's
left hooks and over hand rights. I see Oscar executing top flight boxing, than taking
Felix out in the mid to late rounds.
De La Hoya inside 10
In Retrospect:
Lamon Brewster vs. Quinn Navarre
Faster than expected. Oh my . . Keep an eye on Brewster! He convincingly STOPPED
Navarre!! It took Golota 6 rounds to take out Quinn, and Lamon does this . . . I'll
watch this up and coming banger from L.A.!
Vassiliy Jirov vs. Dale Brown
As expected. Jirov had a little trouble figuring out the Brown puzzle. He knocked him down
in the 5th round then stopped him in the 10th round with a viscous left hook to the body.
This makes two in a row. In his bout with Aurthur Williams, he stopped him with a big body
shot also in the 7th round. Keep an eye on this cruiser weight.
Also, I stand corrected. His record is now 22-0 with 20 KO's.
Eric Morel vs. Miguel Granados
As expected. Eric Morel did what he does best, box. . . box . . . box. He bruised his
knuckles when he knocked Miguel down in the 2nd round, and bruised his other hand 2 rounds
later. Even with two damaged hands, he beat a game Miguel hands down. Eric continues to be
a leading super fly weight. I'll keep an eye on the little banger.
Felix Trinidad vs. Oscar De La Hoya
This most anticipated match happened as expected . . .sort of. Although Oscar in
my opinion won the fight (and in the opinion of most!), his complacency led to his demise.
As expected, they both opened tentatively. Oscar showed text book boxing, and used
superior foot movement to keep the confused Trinidad off balance. To everyone's surprise,
he landed right hand bombs and well executed combinations. Felix landed few and sparse
combinations, and spent the entire match looking for the big show stopper that never came.
I had Oscar beginning the 10th round with 7 in the bank, and he felt he had scored well
early and could coast to an easy decision. That wasn't the case at all he would later
discover. The rest is history.
I have to admit, this is the first match I can recall that went the distance and the
victor not only had a lower connect percentage, but had a lower punch output, landed less
and threw less jabs. Hmmm . . . is Don King near by??
In my opinion, De la Hoya was ROBBED!
Rematch talk is in the air, and being the intelligent fighter the Golden Boy is, he now
has ring experience and tape to work with. In the event of a rematch, like he did with
Julio Cesar Chavez, he will stop Tito with extreme prejudice. Here are some facts for your
perusal.
House of Boxing Online Scoring:
