The Yunier Dorticos vs. Dmitry Kudryashov & Joseph Parker vs. Hughie Fury standout in a busy boxing weekend that includes cards on ESPN, HBO, YouTube, and a variety of available (legal) streams.
Let’s begin this preview and predictions piece with another installment of the Top Rank on ESPN series. The televised tripleheader opens up with Micheal Conlan and is headlined by Oscar Valdez’s making a mandatory defense of his 126 pound WBO belt. Let’s hope the main event is at least entertaining style-wise and that Conlan puts on show. The best matchup on paper is Gilberto Ramirez (35-0) vs. Jessie Hart (22-0) in the co-feature.
Ramirez fought against a non-de script opponent in April after missing a full year due to injury. Beyond these guys undefeated records there’s definitely some unknowns. It’s hard to tell just how good either is based off lack of quality resumes. Jessie Hart has looked pretty decent on the way up but did struggle at times against lesser opponents. Top Rank built up Gilberto slowly but surely grooming him for the right moment. That moment was an opportunity to challenge Arthur Abraham for a WBO super middleweight title in 2016. Ramirez answered the bell decisively coming through with his best performance as a pro. Now the only question is just how much does that win mean in the grand scheme of things because Abraham was so far past his prime.
My Official Prediction is Gilberto Ramirez by Unanimous Decision.
This Saturday night Jorge Linares faces Luke Campbell on HBO stateside. Linares v Campbell is a fight that could produce some good action and might be competitive for the first say 3 or 4 rounds. Campbell is an average professional fighter with offensive skills he picked up in the amateurs as a 2012 Gold Medalist. Linares is coming off back to back impressive performances by outclassing Anthony Crolla in the Manchester, England.
Both boxers are on a nice winning streak since their last losses but besides Crolla, the victories came against pedestrian type opposition. Unless Luke can find a way to land enough punches causing a cut I just don’t see Linares getting beat. All three losses for Jorge came via stoppage which should be at least mentioned.
My Official Prediction is Jorge Linares by late stoppage.
On Saturday afternoon available for an affordable charge YouTube stream, Joseph Parker defends his WBO heavyweight strap versus unbeaten Hughie Fury in the U.K. Parker is universally known as the weakest champion amongst the heavies. That said the New Zealand native does come to fight and is almost guaranteed to rage forward and let loose some leather.
The problem for Parker, Fury is fully capable of keeping his distance and doing enough on the outside to get his hand raised. Parker loves to mix it up something that almost got him beat in his spirited bout with Andy Ruiz Jr. This scribe (hack) actual thinks he probably lost to Carlos Takum in fight he looked tired in and got hit way too much. Parker may have tightened up his defense and if so he will come out victorious. I’m banking the outside work and measured offense of Hughie Fury will be too much for Joseph to handle. As a fan I really hope Hughie doesn’t leave his weapons in the holster and that bullets will fly with these two big guys.
My Official Prediction is Hughie Fury via Majority Decision.
Finally we’ve arrived at the best style-matchup of the weekend, and quite possibly for the whole World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight division tournament. Yunier Dorticos and Dmitry Kudryashov do battle in their quarter-final dual. Just one quick boxrec.com search will make you aware of the potential for fireworks. Dorticos 21-0 with 20 coming via knockout, is always ready for a brawl just ask Youri Kalenga, whom he went toe-to-toe with in one of the best fights of 2016.
Dmitry Kudryashov goes by the nickname of ‘The Russian Hammer’, a fitting name considering he has won all but one of his fights by you guessed it, KO. However, the only fight that he lost came on a second round stoppage by the fists of Olanrewaja Durodola. Dmitry did manage to revenge that loss, returning the knockout favor in the 5th round his last outing.
For all the KO talk, Dorticos is clearly the more tactical overall and a sharper puncher. Let us not forget when a fighter is not fully warmed up they become susceptible in the early goings, if that doesn’t happen I expect Dorticos to finish the job but not without some bombs being dropped and plenty of eye-popping action.
My Official Prediction is Yunier Dorticos via mid-round stoppage.
Written by Chris Carlson Host/Producer of The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast Available on Apple Podcast (ITunes), Player.FM, Stitcher, Tunein, www.blogtalkradio.com/ropeadoperadio & More! Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio
