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| I'm picking Povetkin on points |
Povetkin has to be given the edge as he's the natural heavyweight with all the amateur skills having won Gold at the 2004 Olympics. He's still a work in progress, but has come along well in his last two fights, beating Chagaev on points and stopping poor Yank Cedric Boswell in eight last time out. I was impressed with his controlled style in that fight and technically he's very sound, which is going to give Huck big problems.
Huck hasn't lost since December 2007 when Steve Cunningham stopped him in the final round of their world title clash, but since then he's been very dominant at the lighter weight. He's been fed a lot of bad opponents in his last few bouts, and the only time he was tested he had the judges thank, escaping with a SD win over Denis Lebedev in December 2010. Povetkin only has an inch over him in terms of height and that suggests he should be able to compete in this heavyweight by using some movement and his added ring craft, but he did weight in 20lbs lighter in the weigh in and that firmly puts the ball in Povetkin's court.
Povetkin to win on points @ 2.5 with Stan James
Nathan Cleverly v Tommy Karpency - WBO Light Heavyweight Title
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| Cleverly looked great at the weigh in |
Big weekend of Welsh sport and tonight in Cardiff Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 11 KO's) takes centre stage as he makes the third defence of his WBO light heavyweight title against unknown American Tommy Karpency (21-2, 14 KO's).
Cleverly battled to a majority decision over Tony Bellew in his last fight in October and had to show the determination of a champion to get through a really hard fight in Liverpool. His all action style is great to watch and I think the fact he came in at 174lbs for this fight suggests he's in fantastic shape and ready to go. It's the lightest weight he's come in since a great 10th round stoppage over Karo Murat in September 2010 and that's worrying for the American.
Sometimes we do underestimate these unknowns that come over and what I've gathered about Karpency is he's a tough counter punching southpaw, who's never been stopped. The only real name on his record is Murat, who he gave a good fight in May 2010, losing on all three judges scorecards in Germany. The problem I have is that this guy has done nothing to earn a title shot, he's never even won one of these small WBO belts, losing to Murat in a challenge for the WBO Inter-Continental, which is probably the sick way he's got this shot. The fact he's never been stopped suggests he's got fighting heart and he can take a shot, but he's also been out of the ring for over a year and for me everything seems to be against him.
Cleverly needs a big statement tonight and really anything less than a stoppage will be slightly disappointing, it's what everyone's expecting.
Cleverly battled to a majority decision over Tony Bellew in his last fight in October and had to show the determination of a champion to get through a really hard fight in Liverpool. His all action style is great to watch and I think the fact he came in at 174lbs for this fight suggests he's in fantastic shape and ready to go. It's the lightest weight he's come in since a great 10th round stoppage over Karo Murat in September 2010 and that's worrying for the American.
Sometimes we do underestimate these unknowns that come over and what I've gathered about Karpency is he's a tough counter punching southpaw, who's never been stopped. The only real name on his record is Murat, who he gave a good fight in May 2010, losing on all three judges scorecards in Germany. The problem I have is that this guy has done nothing to earn a title shot, he's never even won one of these small WBO belts, losing to Murat in a challenge for the WBO Inter-Continental, which is probably the sick way he's got this shot. The fact he's never been stopped suggests he's got fighting heart and he can take a shot, but he's also been out of the ring for over a year and for me everything seems to be against him.
Cleverly needs a big statement tonight and really anything less than a stoppage will be slightly disappointing, it's what everyone's expecting.
Cleverly to win by stoppage @ 1.53 with Ladbrokes
Dennis Shafikov v Lee McAllister - European Light Welterweight Title
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| McAllister and Shafikov at the weigh in |
Lee McAllister (34-2, 9 KO's) has a big chance in his hometown of Aberdeen tonight as he challenges Russian champion Dennis Shafikov (27-0, 16 KO's) for the European light welterweight title.
McAllister is a former WBU and Commonwealth champion at lightweight, and has recently won the Commonwealth and IBO International title at this weight, but for me this is too much of a step up in class. He looks comfortable at this weight and his power does seem to be improving, but looking at his last four or five fights he hasn't really been tested. The key to this fight I think is his loss to John Murray in January 2009, where he was stopped in eight by the powerfully built Manchester man. Shafikov looks a similar, but he also has three fights more experience than Murray had at that time.
The Russian looks like a real warrior and comes into this on the back of winning the title against experienced, but shot Italian Giuseppe Lauri with an 8th round retirement, where he was considerably the stronger fighter. The only time he's really stepped up in class he could only draw on his own patch with then 20-0 Italian Brunet Zamora, who does travel well. However the fact he's coming over to Scotland suggests he really fancies this one. There's been plenty of notice for both and I expect Shafikov to be at his best, which is bad news for McAllister.
McAllister is a former WBU and Commonwealth champion at lightweight, and has recently won the Commonwealth and IBO International title at this weight, but for me this is too much of a step up in class. He looks comfortable at this weight and his power does seem to be improving, but looking at his last four or five fights he hasn't really been tested. The key to this fight I think is his loss to John Murray in January 2009, where he was stopped in eight by the powerfully built Manchester man. Shafikov looks a similar, but he also has three fights more experience than Murray had at that time.
The Russian looks like a real warrior and comes into this on the back of winning the title against experienced, but shot Italian Giuseppe Lauri with an 8th round retirement, where he was considerably the stronger fighter. The only time he's really stepped up in class he could only draw on his own patch with then 20-0 Italian Brunet Zamora, who does travel well. However the fact he's coming over to Scotland suggests he really fancies this one. There's been plenty of notice for both and I expect Shafikov to be at his best, which is bad news for McAllister.
Shafikov to win by stoppage @ 3.0 with Boylesports
Adrien Broner v Eloy Perez - WBO Super Featherweight Title
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| Broner talking the talk as usual |
Two unbeaten fighters meet in what looks like a great WBO super featherweight title fight tonight with champion Adrien Broner (22-0, 18 KO's) making his first defence v Eloy Perez (23-0-2, 7 KO's).
Broner is being hottly tipped as the new Floyd Mayweather
Perez is a fighter I really rate and he certainly deserves his shot here as he's come through the right way, making five defences of the WBO NABO title, so he's picked up the right kind of experience. Boxrec have him at #6 in the world and he's certainly one of the best contenders out in this average division. I watched his last fight with Ira Terry and was really impressed by his controlled, thinking, mature style, he doesn't do anything rash and throws with real venom, despite having a pretty low KO%. He's stopped his last two and those have been against decent fighters, so I think he's in form.
Perez physically is able to cope with Broner I think and although you would expect him to be big odds anyway, I think he's going to win a world title sometime in his career, it's a hard ask tonight, but he might just do it.
Broner is being hottly tipped as the new Floyd Mayweather
Perez is a fighter I really rate and he certainly deserves his shot here as he's come through the right way, making five defences of the WBO NABO title, so he's picked up the right kind of experience. Boxrec have him at #6 in the world and he's certainly one of the best contenders out in this average division. I watched his last fight with Ira Terry and was really impressed by his controlled, thinking, mature style, he doesn't do anything rash and throws with real venom, despite having a pretty low KO%. He's stopped his last two and those have been against decent fighters, so I think he's in form.
Perez physically is able to cope with Broner I think and although you would expect him to be big odds anyway, I think he's going to win a world title sometime in his career, it's a hard ask tonight, but he might just do it.
Perez to win @ 6.0 with SportingBet
Devon Alexander v Marcos Maidana - 10 round Welterweight Contest
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| Expect a great fight tonight in St Louis |
Cracking fight here as two guys who won world titles at 140lbs, step up to 147 for a big ding dong in St Louis. Alexander (22-1, 13 KO's) takes on Maidana (31-2, 28 KO's) in a 10 rounder.
The worry a lot of people have here is that Alexander is going to get a controversial decision, and already the rumour mill is alive with news that the fight was brought down from 12 to 10 rounds because he'll struggle late on and get stopped. It's something he's been very suspect of, and was lucky to scrap a split decision over another Argentine in Lucas Matthysse last time out. I watched that fight this week and I think the Argentine nicked it as he secured a knockdown and was busier, especially in the later rounds. He hasn't really fired since beating Urango in eight, securing dodgy decisions over Kotelnik and Matthysse, but also struggling to get going in that big fight with Bradley.
Maidana on the other hand has come on really well from the Khan fight, outworking Morales for a 12 round points win, and wining a homecoming in four last time out, destroying a poor Spaniard called Petr Petrov. He's above Alexander in the rankings and I think moving up to 147 is going to suit him even more because he'll strengthening, and not cutting too much weight. I think his all action and come forward style is going to be too much for Alexander. The St Louis man will take some punishment early on and he'll feel that by the later rounds. If it goes to points I think Alexander has hit, but I really fancy Maidana to get the stoppage in one of the last three rounds.
The worry a lot of people have here is that Alexander is going to get a controversial decision, and already the rumour mill is alive with news that the fight was brought down from 12 to 10 rounds because he'll struggle late on and get stopped. It's something he's been very suspect of, and was lucky to scrap a split decision over another Argentine in Lucas Matthysse last time out. I watched that fight this week and I think the Argentine nicked it as he secured a knockdown and was busier, especially in the later rounds. He hasn't really fired since beating Urango in eight, securing dodgy decisions over Kotelnik and Matthysse, but also struggling to get going in that big fight with Bradley.
Maidana on the other hand has come on really well from the Khan fight, outworking Morales for a 12 round points win, and wining a homecoming in four last time out, destroying a poor Spaniard called Petr Petrov. He's above Alexander in the rankings and I think moving up to 147 is going to suit him even more because he'll strengthening, and not cutting too much weight. I think his all action and come forward style is going to be too much for Alexander. The St Louis man will take some punishment early on and he'll feel that by the later rounds. If it goes to points I think Alexander has hit, but I really fancy Maidana to get the stoppage in one of the last three rounds.
Maidana to win @ 2.5 with Totesport
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