To try something new here at “the Oracle” we would like to do our version of monthly pound for pound Rankings, Fight reviews for some bouts we may not have touched on and Fight previews for some much anticipated upcoming bouts. We know that many other sites have their versions of P4P rankings, they have theirs….. we now have ours.

 

March 2011 fight reviews

     When we last put ink to paper (or finger to keyboard) it was Vitali Klitschko`s one round KO (lmao) of Odlanier Solis. No need to refresh your memories of that disaster. One week earlier it was WBC Middleweight Champ Sergio Martinez` Eighth round TKO title defense vs Sergiy Dzinzurik (37-1 23 KOs) at Foxwoods resort and casino in Mashantucket Connecticut. Martinez (46-2 26 KOs) dazzled us by outjabbing the jabber, knocking Dzinzurik down Five times, when Dzinzurik was never on the canvas before in his career. Also, knocking him out after Martinez suffered a bad cut above his left eye. Maravilla stepped on the gas when he needed to and his engine responded with another outstanding performance. Following the bout in his post fight interviews with Max Kellerman, Martinez stated it was important to him to be recognized as the No.1 P4P fighter in the world. He welcomed a future match up with current pound for pound kings Manny Pacquiao and/or Floyd Mayweather. Lets face it, Pacquiao is probably never going to fight above 147 lbs again and Mrs. Mayweather wont face slick, power punching southpaws in her own division, let alone one or two divisions north. Martinez should set his sites on WBA Super World Middleweight Champ Felix Sturm to unify titles at 160 lbs and then head up to Super middleweight and take on some of the leftovers from the Super Six tournament. There are slim pickin’s in the Junior Middleweight and Middleweight divisions, So assuming Sergio clears out Sturm, He would have no choice but to move up if he wants any future competitive fights.

 

     A few hours after the Klitschko fiasco in Germany, Lucian Bute (28-0 23 KOs) defended his 168 lb IBF title vs Brian Magee (34-4 24 KOs) at the Bell Centre in Montreal Canada. With an unbelievable display of short left-hand body uppercuts and a final left uppercut to the chin in round 10, Lucian Bute polished off Magee and successfully defended his Super Middleweight title in fabulous form. Bute dropped Magee 4 times (only 3 were ruled knockdowns) the last being a short left uppercut to the jaw that dropped Magee for good. As Mikkel Kessler sat and did play by play for Showtime and stated his case to take on Bute next, Lucian admitted to be looking forward to the winner of Showtime`s Super Six tournament as his next opponent. With a few bouts still scheduled in the Super Six, Bute will have to wait for a winner to emerge and may in fact have to face off with Kessler just to stay fresh before facing the winner of Showtime`s tournament. Kessler-Bute would be a fantastic fight and something for all fight fans to look forward to.

 

     In the Featherweight division there are really only two household names. Juan Manuel Lopez of Puerto Rico and Yuriorkis Gamboa from Cuba. Gamboa (20-0 16 KOs) took on Jorge Solis (40-3 29 KOs, famous for facing and losing to Pacquiao back in April of 2007) and made short work of him in Atlantic City`s Boardwalk Hall. Yuri sent Solis down 5 times in 5 rounds to retain his WBA belt and claim the vacant IBF featherweight title as well. After the bout, Juan Manuel Lopez (30-0 27 KOs) joined Gamboa in the ring for post fight interviews to talk about a possible Lopez-Gamboa match up should Lopez win his next bout vs Orlando Salido. Salido lost a 12 round unanimous decision to Gamboa and will definitely be a measuring stick for Lopez in the April 16 bout to take place in Puerto Rico. Most boxing fans that pay attention to the 126 lb division look forward to a Lopez - Gamboa brawl and also look forward to Nonito Donaire possibly moving up in weight to challenge either one of these great Featherweight champions.

 

April 2011 fight previews

     On April 2, Jr Flyweight WBO, WBA and Ring title holder Giovani Segura (26-1 22 KOs) takes on Ivan Calderon (34-1-1 6 KOs) in Mexico on Integrated Sports PPV. Segura and Calderon tangled back in August of 2010 in Puerto Rico and Segura stopped Calderon in round 8. Calderon will be looking for revenge in the rematch, which could possibly set up a trilogy between the two pugs. Also in action on the same night, Number 2 ranked Cruiserweight Marco Huck (31-1 23 KOs) will be defending his WBO title against undefeated Ran Nakash (25-0 18 KOs) in Germany. Huck is looking to make this his sixth successful WBO title defense.

 

     On  April 8 at the Bell Centre in Montreal Canada, in A WBC title eliminator bout, undefeated Middleweight David Lemieux (25-0 24 KOs) steps into the ring vs Marco Antonio Rubio (49-5 42 KOs) on ESPN`s Friday Night Fights. A win for Lemieux will be a step closer to a date with Middleweight Champ Sergio Martinez. One day later on HBO PPV, Ring legend Erik “El Terrible” Morales (51-6 35 KOs) continues his comeback and takes a crack at one the hardest punchers in the sport in Marcos Maidana (29-2 27 KOs) from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. I`m sure this will be an action packed bout as both Maidana and Morales will be looking for a win in spectacular fashion.

 

     April 16 is a busy night all over the Boxing globe. First, in Foxwoods resort and casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, WBC welterweight champ Andre Berto (27-0 21 KOs) lays his title on the line vs Golden Boy product “Vicious” Victor Ortiz (28-2 22KOs). I may be making the trek up to Connecticut to cover this fight live, so I`m sure I will have plenty to say once this one is in the books. On the other side of the pond in Manchester, United kingdom, WBA junior welterweight champ Amir “King” Khan (24-1 17 Ko) sets his sights on unbeaten challenger Paul McCloskey (22-0 12 Ko). This seems more like a tune up fight for Khan since he has already worked out a deal to fight WBO and WBC light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (27-0 11KOs) on July 23. Both bouts will be televised on HBO as a doubleheader. On Showtime (get that DVR ready) featherweight superstar Juan Manuel Lopez (30-0 27 KOs) faces off with Orlando Salido (34-11 22 KOs) for Lopez` WBO featherweight belt. As we mentioned earlier, Lopez would set himself up for a blockbuster bout vs Yuri Gamboa should he get past Salido unscathed.

 

     April 23 has us down in the Batamweight division with the division`s tournament title match between Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares. Agbeko (28-2 22 KOs) lays his IBF title on the line while Mares (21-0 13 KOs) puts up his WBC Silver batamweight strap. The winner is sure to get a lot of attention from Nonito Donaire as he awaits the tournament champion and the opportunity to unify all of the bantamweight titles. In the Third place bout for the tournament, former division champ Vic Darchinian (35-3 27 KOs) faces Yhonny Perez (20-1 14 KOs) for bragging rights.

 

That’s it for April`s upcoming bouts, stop by the site all April for breakdowns and analysis of each previewed fight.

 

 

 

March final Pound for Pound Rankings

 

1.     Manny Pacquiao - Welterweight

2.     Sergio Martinez - Middleweight

3.     Nonito Donaire - Bantamweight

4.     Vitali Klitschko - Heavyweight

5.     Juan Manuel Marquez - Lightweight

6.     Juan Manuel Lopez - Featherweight

7.     Bernard Hopkins - Light Heavyweight

8.     Lucian bute - Super Middleweight

9.     Yuriorkis Gamboa - Featherweight

10.   Andre Ward - Super Middleweight

 

(Floyd Mayweather Jr. was left off the list due to inactivity.)

    

 

Joey Santana can be reached at theboxingkidd@verizon.net