Weekend Wrap-Up April 10, 2010
by Mike Hanson
I thought about changing the color of my type to yellow in honor of David Haye but decided against it at the last minute. I talk a good game but then don’t follow through, just like the WBA Chump.
This past weekend wasn’t a great boxing weekend but it was a good calm before the storm. We had an HBO card that was entertaining enough. Andre Berto came back from his family loss in Haiti and performed pretty well. Carlos Quintana can make most fights look sloppy and this was no exception. Berto looked confused the first couple of rounds and then started putting together his punches around the third round. He had Quintana hurt numerous occasions before closing out the show in the 8th. Berto appeared to have hurt his left bicep during the fight. I really can’t predict how Andre would do against the top Welterweights out there right now. He has the speed and combinations to cause anyone problems but there is just something about him that seems off.
On the undercard, Celestino Caballero stepped up to Featherweight and looked impressive in dominating Daud Yordan. The problem with Caballero is that he seems to be a smaller version of Paul Williams. He throws a lot of punches which are mostly pitty-pat shots but it is enough to throw off the rhythm of his opponent. A lot of “experts” have him on their P4P list but I just don’t see it. I need to see him against top fighters and not the Molitor’s and Yordan’s of the world. At 33 he should have been fighting a better quality of opponents by this point. If his next fight isn’t against Chris John, Juan Manuel Lopez or Yoriorkis Gamboa then it is a wasted fight.
ESPN Friday Night Fights (which aired on Saturday) was fairly uneventful. A protected prospect in Orlando Lora got exposed by David Estrada. This should serve as a warning for any promoter thinking Estrada would be a good stepping stone for an untested prospect. Estrada is a tough out for the top fighters at Welterweight or Junior Middleweight, let alone an untested fighter. Lora’s corner did the right thing and saved him for another day after the 8th round.
The biggest news on FNF was that evidently David Haye and BJ Flores are an item. Seems whenever Brian Kenny asked Flores about David Haye, Flores started the answer with “we”. In this writers opinion, they absolutely deserve each other and I wish them the best.
Starting tomorrow the TB Predicts blog will feature the weekend preview in addition to the fight predictions. Look for it here at The Boxing Magazine
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