PBC Predictions and Boxing’s Return to Glory
By Travis Fleming
Boxing makes its highly anticipated return to network television on NBC this Saturday, March 7th as a part of Al Haymon’s “Premiere Boxing Champions” series.
This is huge for the sport; Haymon has done a great service to boxing by getting it back in the accessible public eye with regular shows scheduled throughout the year on NBC. So far the first 2 cards have been announced and both cards are sure to deliver.
Haymon has done the right thing with regards to style match ups for these cards. Rather than living by big name recognition, he is using the NBC cards to draw in the casual fans and potential fans by putting together guaranteed action fights featuring elite talent to develop a new following for the fighters he hopes to mold into the stars of his series. Knowing that outside Mayweather/Pacquiao/ Canelo/Cotto the casual fans don’t know the names of most fighters anyways, he has opted to use warriors who rarely disappoint to become the marquee names of his series and to generate a legion of fans who can’t wait to tune in to the next war. The casual fans don’t understand the subtle technicalities of the sweet science, they want brawls and KO’s and that’s clearly what Al’s trying to give them with these match ups.
This Saturday sees Keith “One Time” Thurman vs Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero for Thurman’s WBA Welterweight world championship and Adrien “The Problem” Broner against John Molina. Saturday April 11 has another amazing doubleheader on NBC featuring Danny “Swift” Garcia vs Lamont Peterson and Andy Lee vs Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin for the WBO Middleweight championship of the world. All four of these fights are excellent style match ups which feature a mix of all action brawlers and power punchers. All together these 2 cards showcase 4 world champions and 3 former world champions.
Official predictions:
Keith Thurman vs Robert Guerrero: Keith Thurman UD, 7-5 in rounds.
I’m not confident with this prediction and out of the 4 major PBC fights I feel this is the one with the highest chance for an upset. I feel Guerrero will outhustle Thurman for much of the fight but Thurman will land the more damaging blows, do the cleaner work and come away with a win in his biggest test to date, along with a much needed boost to his resume.
Adrien Broner vs John Molina: Adrien Broner by KO 8.
This is a fight meant to showcase Broner and set him up for a lucrative title fight in the summer but John Molina is no stranger to upsets. He pulled out last second KO’s in fights he was losing to highly touted prospects Henry Lundy and Mickey Bey. He KO’d prospect Dannie Williams in 4 and he gave Lucas Matthysse one of his toughest fights knocking Matthysse down and almost out before succumbing to Matthysse’s assault in 2014’s Fight of the Year. There’s no question Molina can punch but he’s also there to be hit as evidenced by his first round KO loss to former lightweight champ Antonio Demarco. Coincidentally, directly after KO’ing Molina in the first, Demarco would defend his title vs Adrien Broner. Broner beat Demarco post to post until he stopped him with a relentless attack in round 8. I expect him to use similar tactics to beat up and stop Molina. Against Demarco, Broner showed us he’s one of the finest infighters in the game. Molina is a range slugger and will have trouble dealing with Broner’s infighting prowess. Broner has workrate issues but he’s magic when he lets his hands go, expect him to return to old form against a game but overmatched Molina.
Danny Garcia vs Lamont Peterson: Danny Garcia by KO 7.
This fight will be a war until Lamont gets caught. Expect Peterson to come out early digging the body and being the busier fighter while Garcia adjusts and gets his timing down. Peterson will outwork Garcia to take the first couple rounds while Garcia lands the bigger blows. By rounds 4-5 Garcia’s looping right and smashing left hook will find their targets with increasing regularity and Lamont will begin to wilt, from there on it will just be a matter of time until swift lands a good night punch and Lamont either goes to sleep or gets saved by a referee or corner stoppage.
Andy Lee vs Peter Quillin: Peter Quillin by KO 5.
Andy Lee upset Matt Korobov for the WBO Middleweight title vacated by Peter Quillin in December in one of the feel good stories in boxing last year, unfortunately the fairy tale will likely be coming to an end on April 11th. Andy Lee has game changing power which has served him well vs many weaker chinned fighters but against fighters with solid chins such as Brian Vera, Julio Cesar Chavez, JR. and now as I suspect versus Quillin, his power alone doesn’t prove as effective. Chavez, JR and Vera both showed that Lee can be roughed up and hurt by bigger men if they can withstand his power. Quillin is a bigger man, he’s a rough customer and he can take a punch as evidenced by the onslaught he ate from Ndam to win his title. Quillin also possesses power, good workrate and a decent body attack. I see this fight going the way of the Lee versus Chavez, JR. fight with Quillin bullying Lee until he’s got nothing left and a stoppage is forced. I will be cheering for Lee as I don’t like the way Quillin has vacated and ducked the division only to return to fight for his belt when an easier fighter to beat like Lee is in possession of it, but there is no way I see Lee winning this with his low workrate and power reliant style.
2015 could end up being the year that boxing returns to its rightful place among the most popular sports on earth. We could see the level of boxing popularity return to where it was when Mike Tyson ruled as the baddest man on the planet and the whole world tuned in to watch. There are 3 things that could be responsible for this return to glory:
1. The first thing already happened in January when a new power punching American heavyweight captured his first world title in a dominant display. Deontay Wilder brought a heavyweight championship back to America for the first time in a decade and although he is flawed, he is exactly what the casuals want after the long boring domination of the Klitschko brothers. Fans have longed for an American champ and not only that but a heavyweight champ that goes for the kill. At 33-0 with 32 KO’s (the longest KO streak in Heavyweight history), the 6’7″, menacing looking Deontay Wilder fits the bill. Wladimir Klitschko has been a dominant champ but his boring style has turned many fans away from the sport. He’s been so boring at times that his fights rarely get aired in North America. It remains to be seen if Deontay can dethrone Wlad but, in the meantime, he has given the HW division a major spark, gotten it North American TV play and has people genuinely excited about the division for the first time in ages. Heavyweight has always been boxing’s glamour division and they say “As the heavyweights go so does boxing” so if Deontay Wilder can keep winning and somehow dethrone Wlad or keep on top until Klitschko retires then it will do wonders for boxings popularity.
2. The most anticipated fight in boxing history has been signed after 5 years of posturing. Mayweather vs Pacquiao on May 2nd will shatter all previous pay per view records and go down as the richest, most viewed fight in history. Whether it ends up being a good fight is debatable but it’s coming and that alone is enough to give boxing more press and more of a popularity boost than any other single event. Hopefully we’ll see another major blockbuster in Canelo Alvarez vs Miguel Cotto by the end of the year to further add credibility to a sport where many claim the best avoid challenges.
Boxing’s return to free TV. By staying on premium cable networks like HBO and Showtime, boxing really limited its audience and cast aside the average Joe who doesn’t feel like forking out 18 bucks a month to get a fight once every few weeks. By signing on with NBC for multiple shows, boxing will once again reach the casual sports fan at no cost like every other major sport and it will breed a whole new generation of fight fans who don’t need to come from a privileged family that can afford premium cable just to watch boxing on TV.
In conclusion, this is a great time to be a boxing fan! Our sport is about to blow up once again and I urge all of you to spread the word and have everyone you know tune into NBC this Saturday to join in the glorious resurgence! If the fights weren’t enough on their own, the legendary Marv Albert will be returning to boxing to call the action. Strap in fight fans and enjoy the ride.
