It's a cruiserweight weekend as well as the David Haye scrap tourney (sort of). Two 200-lb. titleholders will be defending their titles for the first time. The same titles that Haye relinquished when he moved up to the heavyweight division.
First up on May 16 in Rome, Italy, Giacobbe Fragomeni [26(10)-1(1)-0] of Italy will defend his WBC Cruiserweight title against Poland's Krzysztof Wlodarczyk [41(31)-2(0)-0]. Fragomeni won what was a vacant title against Rudolf Kraj after Haye, as I mentioned, relinquished it. Fragomeni's only loss, incidentally, was against David Haye in an action-packed slugfest in '06 for the European title. The Italian kept moving forward in a Tyson-like manner but without the power. He was able to cut Haye above the left eyebrow with 2 good rights in the sixth. Unfortunately, Haye with blood flowing down his left brow stepped up his offense in the ninth and stopped Fragomeni under a salvo of heavy blows. Fragomeni is closing in to the end of his career so this is a great opportunity to cap his career defending a world title in front of his home crowd. That said, it's tough to bet against him. Wlodarczyk, on the other hand, is 12 years younger yet has more fights but not necessarily tougher fights. It's going to be difficult against the consistently attacking Fragomeni and his patience and skills against that type of pressure is one of the keys in winning this fight. Wlodarczyk's bread and butter is his right hook. This will be a problem for Fragomeni because based on his last fight against Kraj, the Italian is susceptible to right hooks. Wlodarczyk's last loss was against former titleholder Steve Cunningham on a majority decision. It was a rematch from a vacant IBF title fight where the Polish won via split. This is tough to call. Fragomeni's got home court, tough chin and a judge-friendly style to his advantage. Wlodarczyk's edge is his age, skills and power as well as the right hook to take Fragomeni out.
Also on May 16 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, another titleholder defending at home. Argentina's Victor Emilio Ramirez [14(12)-1(0)-0] will defend his WBO Cruiserweight title against Ali Ismailov [15(11)-1(1)-1] of the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. As I mentioned, this title was also held then relinquished by David Haye. Ramirez won the interim title against Alexander Alexeev last January and was declared the full titleholder after Haye moved up. This fight was already twice postponed. First was because of television coverage issues. Then, after it was rescheduled to Apr 11, Ramirez was injured during training which prompted the second postponement. I'm not very familiar with both boxers specially Ismailov. I don't remember seeing them even on streaming videos. I can only go to what I read about them which is not much either. So this will be a crapshoot as far as my prediction is concern. I might get my fourth prediction setback on this one.
There are no TV coverage in the US. Hopefully, someone will be kind enough to stream from Rome and Buenos Aires. Please leave me a comment if you got something set up.
My Predictions:
I see Wlodarczyk stopping Fragomeni with his right hook in the late rounds.
If in doubt, I pick the defending champ and the homecourt edge. Ramirez by late stoppage.
First up on May 16 in Rome, Italy, Giacobbe Fragomeni [26(10)-1(1)-0] of Italy will defend his WBC Cruiserweight title against Poland's Krzysztof Wlodarczyk [41(31)-2(0)-0]. Fragomeni won what was a vacant title against Rudolf Kraj after Haye, as I mentioned, relinquished it. Fragomeni's only loss, incidentally, was against David Haye in an action-packed slugfest in '06 for the European title. The Italian kept moving forward in a Tyson-like manner but without the power. He was able to cut Haye above the left eyebrow with 2 good rights in the sixth. Unfortunately, Haye with blood flowing down his left brow stepped up his offense in the ninth and stopped Fragomeni under a salvo of heavy blows. Fragomeni is closing in to the end of his career so this is a great opportunity to cap his career defending a world title in front of his home crowd. That said, it's tough to bet against him. Wlodarczyk, on the other hand, is 12 years younger yet has more fights but not necessarily tougher fights. It's going to be difficult against the consistently attacking Fragomeni and his patience and skills against that type of pressure is one of the keys in winning this fight. Wlodarczyk's bread and butter is his right hook. This will be a problem for Fragomeni because based on his last fight against Kraj, the Italian is susceptible to right hooks. Wlodarczyk's last loss was against former titleholder Steve Cunningham on a majority decision. It was a rematch from a vacant IBF title fight where the Polish won via split. This is tough to call. Fragomeni's got home court, tough chin and a judge-friendly style to his advantage. Wlodarczyk's edge is his age, skills and power as well as the right hook to take Fragomeni out.
Also on May 16 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, another titleholder defending at home. Argentina's Victor Emilio Ramirez [14(12)-1(0)-0] will defend his WBO Cruiserweight title against Ali Ismailov [15(11)-1(1)-1] of the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. As I mentioned, this title was also held then relinquished by David Haye. Ramirez won the interim title against Alexander Alexeev last January and was declared the full titleholder after Haye moved up. This fight was already twice postponed. First was because of television coverage issues. Then, after it was rescheduled to Apr 11, Ramirez was injured during training which prompted the second postponement. I'm not very familiar with both boxers specially Ismailov. I don't remember seeing them even on streaming videos. I can only go to what I read about them which is not much either. So this will be a crapshoot as far as my prediction is concern. I might get my fourth prediction setback on this one.
There are no TV coverage in the US. Hopefully, someone will be kind enough to stream from Rome and Buenos Aires. Please leave me a comment if you got something set up.
My Predictions:
I see Wlodarczyk stopping Fragomeni with his right hook in the late rounds.
If in doubt, I pick the defending champ and the homecourt edge. Ramirez by late stoppage.
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