BoxingScene.com's Television Picks of the Week
By Cliff Rold
Flipping through the pages of the cliché standards…ah, yes…time waits for no man.
Last week, this scribe penned a column about how the Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora card was a consumer’s choice special, an example of the sort of card which is there if wanted and ignorable if otherwise. Ultimately, the pesos required for a fight involving the often dull Mora added up to otherwise in this corner.
Doesn’t sound like much was missed. If a replay is available eventually, it will be worth a look if only to confirm what the reports have surmised. Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora was ugly; Shane Mosley didn’t win or lose decisively. The former, the not winning, speaks to the end. The best Shane Mosley would have made easy work of Mora just as the late Vernon Forrest did the second time, the time he showed up prepared. There’s no shame in getting old but, at 38, that’s what Mosley is.
At least there was boxing to watch last week of the not hard to find variety. This week will be tougher for sure, one of the dry weeks reminiscent of a summer in 2010 full of them. Still, there will be fights (if not really much on U.S. TV).
These are the picks of the week.
Pick Fly: #3 Daiki Kameda vs. #9 Takefumi Sakata (Saturday, Japan, ?)
Look east for an intriguing crossroads clash and hope this one ends up somewhere on YouTube. This Kameda (17-2, 11 KO) is less popular, and less talented, than older brother Koki but he’s also the one in the family who still has a strap. He’ll defend his WBA trophy against former titlist Sakata (36-5-2, 17 KO) and much could ride on how much Sakata has left. He’s been one of the stalwarts of the class for years, rivalries with Lorenzo Parra and Roberto Vasquez standing out on his ledger. So too does a two fight run with the man Kameda won his belt from, Denkaosan Kaovichit. Sakata drew with him in 2007 but was shelled in the second round of their rematch in 2008 and has had three softer foes since. Kameda, at 21, should be a stern test for the 30-year old Sakata.
Pick Espanol: #9 Ramon Hirales vs. Manuel Vargas (Saturday, Fox Sports Espanol, 11 PM EST)
Despite getting popped for a drug violation afterwards, the willingness of Manuel Vargas (28-5-1, 13 KO) to leap from his familiar haunts around 105 lbs. to take a beating from Jr. Bantamweight Nonito Donaire in a mismatch was the boxing equivalent of taking one for the team. The reward is a crack at Hirales (13-1-1, 8 KO) for the interim WBO distinction at 108 lbs. Hirales is coming off a minor upset of Johnriel Casimero and should win but the fight will be scrappy. So too should a co-feature around Jr. Lightweight between Humberto Gutierrez (27-2-1, 20 KO) and former Featherweight titlist Cristobal Cruz (39-12-2, 23 KO). It’s a fight fans card and its on TV in the U.S. Good enough for this week.
Back in seven.
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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