By Cliff Rold
So Kelly Pavlik is still the Middleweight champ, Miguel Cotto still hasn’t found a vacant alphabelt he can’t win, and Breidis Prescott takes a bite like a champ.
The things a week can teach us.
What will we learn this week? The lesson plan takes Boxing fans all over the scale with World Champions and elite level veterans mixed in with younger men. Two of the young guys even have a chance to win. In just shy of 24 hours, those young men will have a chance to do more than that.
They’ll have chance to declare themselves the kings of entire weight classes.
These are picks of the week.
Pick Juan: Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz (HBO, Saturday, 10 PM EST/7 PM PST)
If looking to pick the victor, betting on Juan is a sure thing, but which Juan will pay off? The 35-year old Marquez (49-4-1, 36 KO) is a likely Hall of Famer who gave Manny Pacquiao the toughest fights of his career. With Nate Campbell out of the division, he also stands both lineally and indisputably as the Lightweight Champion of the World, but at 35 he may also stand on the brink. Across the ring from him will be something he hasn’t seen yet: a younger, stronger, and bigger man. Spending most of his career at featherweight, Marquez’s foil will be 25-year old former multi-belt titlist Diaz (34-1, 17 KO). Diaz is a volume puncher who, while lacking for single shot power, has forced surrender in more experienced veterans like Acelino Freitas and Julio Diaz. He’s also shown he can handle a young, power-punching tiger in Michael Katsidis last fall. In between those victories, Diaz also showed vulnerability in being outworked by Campbell in the roughest go of his professional stay. The best fans can ask for going into a World title fight is a sense of uncertainty. They’ll have that on Saturday night and they might also have a classic.
Pick Late Night: Tomasz Adamek-Johnathon Banks (Showtime, Friday, 11 PM EST/PST)
The odds won’t be quite as close in Friday night’s ShoBox main event, but it still carries the hint of the unknown and a fight which could end up being one of the series best ever. We know the Adamek Polish faithful in New Jersey will be rocking, still on the high of watching the 32-year old Adamek (36-1, 24 KO) capture the Ring Magazine and IBF titles at Cruiserweight in December. He’s earned his accolades, winning three of the best fights of the decade at any weight, twice over Paul Briggs at Light Heavyweight and of course in his last outing, an all-time Cruiserweight classic with Steve Cunningham. His challenger, the 26-year old Banks (20-0, 14 KO), has been well regarded among rising names in the sport but is still unknown. This is a trial by fire with one fun twist. Banks is an Emanuel Steward (managed) charge of classic variety, a Kronk fighter from Detroit and not a star in need of a tune-up. Kronk has always had its magic. It will be fun to see if it is still the case.
Pick A Road Warrior: Glen Johnson-Daniel Judah II (ESPN2, Friday 9 PM EST/6 PM PST)
Much is written about the unlucky travels over the years of the 40-year old former Light Heavyweight champion Johnson (48-12-2, 33 KO). One of the pivotal bits of unluck was a 2003 draw with the 31-year old “brother of Zab” Judah (23-3-3, 10 KO). Coming on the heels of a widely seen and argued loss to Julio Gonzalez, the draw with Judah shot Johnson’s stock through the roof and set him on a path towards Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver. He gets a chance at revenge, air time, and maintained relevance on Friday. It’s not a bad way to start the weekend.
Back in seven.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
