May 29 HBO
Antonio Cermeno vs. Fred Norwood
This is a much awaited rematch against two exciting fighting styles. Fred beat Antonio by
unanimous decision last Apr 98. Antonio owns big wins over Angel Chacon, Jose Rojas and
most recently (last Feb) against Eddie Saenz. Freddie has wins over Luis Mendoza, Koji
Matsumoto and most importantly . . . a win over Antonio =)
About %80 of the time, rematches end the same way they did the first time around. The only
difference this time is . . . Antonio is the WBA Featherweight Champ. Hmmmm...
I believe Freddy will go in and bang this guy for 12 rounds. Antonio has been stopped
before, but Freddie will not do it this time around.
Norwood by Decision
Felix Trinidad vs. Hugo Pineda
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 Yorry 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)
Only one welter has a chance against this powerhouse, that's Oscar. (I'll reserve comment
on that bout later) But how about Hugo? he's a Colombian fighter who won the WBA Latin
American junior welterweight title in March '94 with a twelve round decision over Jose
Barboza. He was virtually an unknown until Jan 96 when he was given the opportunity
to fight for Kostya Tszyu's IBF junior welterweight title. Although he was TKO'd in the
11th, he managed to drop Kostya in the first round and was penalized twice for low blows.
Since then, he's banged out 9 straight wins and in Jan 98, he beat Roger Flores to get his
current #2 ranking in the IBF. last April he scored an 8th round stoppage against a
nobody.
Tito (Felix) is a seasoned boxer with TONS of world experience. Hugo has fought mainly in
South America, and when given the opportunity to rise above, he didn't perform at a
championship level. Tito will stop him quick with that vicious left hook in the mid
rounds.
Trinidad inside 8
