General

Round by Round: Weekly Boxing Notes

Apr 3, 2009, 6:30 PM UTC

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â†µHolt/Bradley Is for ... Some of the Marbles
â†µIt’s not a premiere event by any means, but tomorrow’s junior welterweight unification bout between Timothy Bradley and Kendall Holt (Showtime, 10:45 p.m. EST) is a highly compelling affair and wrought with consequences for potentially big future fights.â†µâ†µThe question mark here is Bradley, the WBC champ at 140, known as “Desert Storm” due to his upbringing in Palm Springs, California. An undefeated 25-year-old with an alphabet strap around his waist, Bradley still suffers from the disease that plagues all young up-and-comers trying to get the legit respect of the boxing world’s notoriously skeptical cognoscenti. â†µ

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â†µIt’s a condition commonly referred to as “heneverfoughtnobodyatitis.” And granted, one can’t argue with the fact that Bradley does not have a single A-list scalp on his belt. The only name fighter on his record is Junior Witter, the aging British champ from whom he took the WBC title last May on a tight split decision victory. In September of last year, he defended that title with a UD over Edner Cherry, a game fighter from the Bahamas who is far from a pushover, but who’s lost to all of the quality opponents on his record (except for a way over the hill Stevie Johnston) and who’s fought the majority of his career as a lightweight.â†µ

â†µâ†µIn short, Kendall Holt will be the step-up moment for Timothy Bradley, and what a step-up it is, a fight that will find the winner leaving the ring with two junior welterweight titles and the potential to fight either the winner (or loser) of the May 2nd Manny Pacquiao/Ricky Hatton fight, or to possibly face rapidly rising star Victor Ortiz at the end of the year in what likely would be an HBO-headlining, three-belt unification affair (Ortiz will face WBA champ Andreas Kotelnik this summer).â†µ

â†µâ†µHolt is much more of a known quantity than his opponent to fight fans despite the fact that he’s only two years older than Bradley. He fought two high-profile fights with Ricardo Torres in the last two years, a controversy-filled TKO loss in ‘07, and then a don’t-blink, one-round, 60-seconds-of-fury KO victory last July. â†µ

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â†µâ†µAfter that thrilling knockout (aided by a massive, accidental headbutt), Holt defended the WBO belt that he took from Torres against Demetrius Hopkins last December (after Torres pulled out of a trilogy bout due to illness) and prevailed in a hard-fought split decision. Among the boxing media, Holt’s status is an unwavering B+, the grade of a guy with both speed and skill who can probably give anyone in his weight class a run for his money but nevertheless has numerous holes in his game and looks like he always will be vulnerable to big punchers. â†µ

â†µâ†µBecause of Bradley’s unknown status, a win for Holt tomorrow, no matter how convincing, is unlikely to increase his Q factor in the boxing universe in the way that a win for Bradley would. But a win for Holt definitely would put him in line for the biggest payday of his career against an A-list name, which makes the stakes enormous for both men tomorrow night. In fact, the biggest obstacle for both Holt and Bradley probably will be the temptation to look past the fighter in front of him to the promise of the marquee fighters to come.â†µ
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â†µâ†µOh That Klitschko/Haye Might Live Up to Its Hype
â†µThe negotiations were endless, and the trash talk momentous, but at last it appears that a Wladimir Klitschko/David Haye fight is on an inalterable course for June 20th at an as yet unspecified location. Germany seems to be the likely host nation right now, making it a probable home-court fight for Klitschko.â†µ

â†µâ†µApparently, the main provision for Haye in the contract is a tag-team Klitschko Brothers rematch clause. If Haye beats Wlad in June, his next fight either must be a rematch with Wlad or a fight with Wlad’s brother, current WBC heavyweight champ, Vitali Klitschko. And should he win that fight, his next fight must be with the Klitschko brother that he didn’t fight in the second bout. In other words, provided that he keeps winning, it’s back-to-back-to-back Klitschkos for David Haye. Talk about the Malachi Crunch. â†µ

â†µâ†µIn terms of his own self-confidence and epic stream of bombastic blather, Haye certainly seems prepared for a steady diet of Klitschko meat. His latest gem came concerning Wlad’s punishing and accurate left jab. “I am going to rip that Klitschko jab up,” Haye told the Scottish newspaper, The Daily Record, “and shove it up his ass.”â†µ

â†µâ†µWord and word. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again -- I’m already in love with The Hayemaker just for making such a spectacle of himself and bringing some real buzz back to the big boys. I only hope he can deliver the goods come fight night. It certainly will be must-see TV either way.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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