2 title fights scheduled this weekend with one televised on free cable.
On Mar. 21 in Stuttgart, Germany, Ukraine's Vitali Klitschko [36(35)-2(2)-0] will defend his WBC Heavyweight title against Juan Carlos Gomez [44(35)-1(1)-0] of Cuba. While younger brother, Wladimir, and his team is still painstakingly working on finalizing a deal with David Haye for June, Vitali is going to fuilfill his mandatory obligations to the WBC. This is Vitali's second fight since coming out of a close to 4-year hiatus. The skills are still there when he took the belt from Samuel Peter last October but Peter might not be a good gauge in determining boxing skills. Nevertheless, Peter was a titleholder so it's still significant. Gomez, meanwhile, has not fought anyone with significance unless you consider Oliver McCall. After the last few weeks of fast-paced and action-packed bouts, this will be quite sluggish. Hoping for a knockout to at least make it interesting. Anyway, who am I to complain? At least there's a title fight to watch this weekend. ESPN will cover live at 5 pm ET (changed to ESPN Classic at 6 pm ET). Their first live coverage of a heavyweight title fight ever.
According to boxrec.com in a very recent update to its schedule, Mexico's Raul Garcia [25(15)-0(0)-1] will defend his IBF Mini Flyweight title in Guadalajara, Mexico against IBF #1 ranked Ronald Barrera [26(16)-5(0)-1] of Colombia. Not a lot of press on this one. I checked with sports betting sites and this fight is indeed listed. But, boxrec and the betting site's been wrong before. Nevertheless, my opinion is this fight will not change anything in the tally. Garcia already beat Barrera last year via decision in an eliminator to challenge then titleholder Florante Condes. Garcia eventually took the belt from Condes in June and defended it twice both against Jose Luis Varela. Barrera was quite busy last year with 6 bouts and a paltry 4(2)-2 record.
My Prediction:
Vitali will still be too much for a relatively unknown Gomez. I believe he will knock him out in the middle rounds.
Garcia will easily repeat over Barrera by decision or a late KO.
Raul Garcia should give Florante Condes a rematch. Condes was the only person to really push Garcia to the limit, and give him all he could handle. Garcia even tasted the canvas in that fight.
ReplyDeleteToo bad Condes' career has been horribly stagnant since his fight against Garcia.
i agree bro. condes only fought once since then in a 10-rounder that was stopped short on a technical decision.
ReplyDeletecondes absolutely needs a new team. ring magazine even ranks him at #4 ahead of nietes. he deserves a rematch or at least a title shot against the other titleholders.