Three title fights in three continents this weekend from the lightest to the heaviest division.
First up on May 29 in Phuket, Thailand, Oleydong Sithsamerchai [30(12)-0(0)-0] of Thailand will defend his WBC Strawweight title against former IBF titleholder, Muhammad Rachman [62(31)-7(0)-5] of Indonesia. Sithsamerchai is fresh from a tune-up fight last March against a nobody, while Rahman just recently lost to Milan Melindo. Why he got another title shot is quite ridiculous in my opinion. I guess if you price yourself just right then you can easily take part of voluntary defenses. Even with that said, Sithsamerchai does not have power so Rahman with his experience has a decent shot of outpointing the Thai.
Then on May 30 in Helsinki, Finland, Russia's Nikolay Valuev [50(34)-1(0)-0] and Uzbekistan's Ruslan Chagaev [25(17)-0(0)-1] will finally settle once and for all the WBA Heavyweight title. Chagaev was scheduled to defend his title against Valuev last year but after several postponements, it was eventually cancelled because of injuries. Chagaev was relegated to champion-in-recess and Valuev met John Ruiz for the vacated title. Valuev won a boring fight and defended later against Evander Holyfield. Chagaev came back early this year and as planned will finally settle the score with Valuev. Valuev's only setback is against Chagaev on a close majority decision and I expect the same in this fight.
Also on May 30 in Hollywood, FL, Andre Berto [24(19)-0(0)-0] of the US will defend his WBC Welterweight title against the current IBF Junior Welterweight titleholder Juan Urango [21(16)-1(0)-1] of Colombia. After a couple of weeks of no televised title fights, finally we have one with HBO covering starting at 9:45 pm ET. After Berto's last fight against Luis Collazo, I now doubt his skills as compared against the other welterweight champs but admired his heart. If he did not dig deep in the last round, he would've lost to Collazo. Urango, like Collazo, is a southpaw so he might present the same problems for Berto and probably more since Berto has more power. One thing going for Berto is that Urango is a natural 140-pounder.
My Predictions:
Sithsamerchai by decision.
Chagaev also by decision.
Berto by late stoppage.
First up on May 29 in Phuket, Thailand, Oleydong Sithsamerchai [30(12)-0(0)-0] of Thailand will defend his WBC Strawweight title against former IBF titleholder, Muhammad Rachman [62(31)-7(0)-5] of Indonesia. Sithsamerchai is fresh from a tune-up fight last March against a nobody, while Rahman just recently lost to Milan Melindo. Why he got another title shot is quite ridiculous in my opinion. I guess if you price yourself just right then you can easily take part of voluntary defenses. Even with that said, Sithsamerchai does not have power so Rahman with his experience has a decent shot of outpointing the Thai.
Then on May 30 in Helsinki, Finland, Russia's Nikolay Valuev [50(34)-1(0)-0] and Uzbekistan's Ruslan Chagaev [25(17)-0(0)-1] will finally settle once and for all the WBA Heavyweight title. Chagaev was scheduled to defend his title against Valuev last year but after several postponements, it was eventually cancelled because of injuries. Chagaev was relegated to champion-in-recess and Valuev met John Ruiz for the vacated title. Valuev won a boring fight and defended later against Evander Holyfield. Chagaev came back early this year and as planned will finally settle the score with Valuev. Valuev's only setback is against Chagaev on a close majority decision and I expect the same in this fight.
Also on May 30 in Hollywood, FL, Andre Berto [24(19)-0(0)-0] of the US will defend his WBC Welterweight title against the current IBF Junior Welterweight titleholder Juan Urango [21(16)-1(0)-1] of Colombia. After a couple of weeks of no televised title fights, finally we have one with HBO covering starting at 9:45 pm ET. After Berto's last fight against Luis Collazo, I now doubt his skills as compared against the other welterweight champs but admired his heart. If he did not dig deep in the last round, he would've lost to Collazo. Urango, like Collazo, is a southpaw so he might present the same problems for Berto and probably more since Berto has more power. One thing going for Berto is that Urango is a natural 140-pounder.
My Predictions:
Sithsamerchai by decision.
Chagaev also by decision.
Berto by late stoppage.
No comments:
Post a Comment