THREE CARDS BEING DEALT OUT, ONLY ONE SEEMS LEGIT
Premiere Boxing Champions
Las Vegas, NV- Boxing’s hot summer schedule continues to heat up! All the action begins this Friday with another installment of Al Haymon’s highly successful time share series “Premier Boxing Champions” on SPIKE TV. The main event will feature Cuba’s WBA jr. middleweight (154) strap carrier Erislandy Lara (20-2-2, 12 KOs) pitted against former two time world title challenger Delvin Rodriquez (28-7-4, 16 KOS). Coverage from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois begins at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT.
SOME THINK LARA’S LOSSES WERE SHAKY
Erislandy Lara has impressive wins over some very solid names in the business, however in his two biggest fights against Paul Williams (L UD 12), Canelo Alvarez (L MD 12); Lara fell victim to what many ringside experts felt to be unfair scoring. After his disappointment to Canelo, Erislandy went on to win his first championship against vapid and harmless pug Ishe Smith (W UD 12). With the exception of his war with Alfredo Angulo (W TKO 10), Lara’s defense minded feather fisted style isn’t very TV friendly, hence why he lacks any “household name” notability.
D ROD IN TWILIGHT OF PAINFUL CAREER
Simply put, Delvin Rodriquez has taken some beatings over the years and it has really begun to show. Delvin is a very tough spirited, gritty fighter with a decent rudimental skill set. However all those attributes don’t fare well against world class opposition if a fighter appears to be as “shot” as Rodriquez appears to be.
SIG’s PICK: The last paragraph says it all. I expect a boring and dominent performance from Lara in 12 round snoozer.
SATURDAY’S SHOWS SEEM MUCH BETTER!
HBO and SHOWTIME will go head to head on Saturday night with some important match ups. In what seems to be the norm of late, HBO has the better show, so let’s start there!
JOHNNY SIG’s FIGHT OF THE WEEKEND
Nicolas Walters (25-0, 21 KOs) v Miguel Marriaga (20-0, 18 KOs), 12 rounds for Walters WBA 126 lb. title in the Theater at Madison square Garden in New York, NY. Coverage begins Saturday at 10 PM ET/7 PM ET on HBO.
This is what Walters Does
WALTERS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE “SPECIAL”
Highly entertaining Jamaican slugger Nicolas ‘Axe Man’ Walters has knocked out 9 of his last 10 featherweight (126) challengers. That impressive streak was highlighted by destroying two seasoned former belt holders in Nonito Donaire (W TKO 6) and Vic Darchinyan (W KO 5). Walters’s style is a hybrid of sound defensive ability mixed with a fury of assault. Be on the lookout for this kid, he is very nasty.
CHALLENGER AIN’T NO BE-ACH
Like his counterpart, Miguel “Scorpion” Marriaga has also turns the lights out of 9 of his last 10 adversaries. Albeit Miguel has not faced the level of world class talent that Walters has, however Marriaga holds a win over Walters in the amateurs and is a very fundamentally sound fighter with some heavy hands.
SIG’s Pick: In my opinion, this is the fight of the weekend. Expect some early competitive fireworks followed by a mid round stoppage (somewhere around 7) in favor of the star on the rise Nicolas Walters.
SHOWTIME FEATURES OTHER HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP
In what appears to be a showcase type fight designed by the “suits” at Showtime to display Deontay Wilder‘s (33-0, 32 KOs) extreme punching power, Wilder’s first attempted defense of his WBC trophy will be against tomato can Eric Molina (23-2, 17 KOs) in a schedule 12 or less rounds of mismatch boxing. The show begins from Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, at 9 PM ET/ 6 PM PT on Showtime.
SIG’s PICK: Give me a break. Watch the HBO card live and tape this one instead.
John Signorella
SIGNORELLA PREVIEWS SPIKE, HBO, SHOWTIME CARDS