BoxingScene.com's Television Picks of the Week
by Cliff Rold
And the tournament closes.
The last time Showtime did a Super Middleweight tournament, it ended in a draw. Pray for anything but this weekend.
While there will be other dates before the boxing calendar closes for 2011, this is the climax of a rollercoaster year. The whispers are strong that the winner of the Super Six will also be the Fighter of the Year. A great fight would help the cause.
U.S. fans will find one other turn of the dial as well.
These are the picks of the week.
Pick It: #1 Carl Froch vs. #2 Andre Ward (Saturday, Showtime, 9 PM EST/PST)
The winner will emerge with two belts and claims to the lineal crown left vacant since Joe Calzaghe left the division in 2008. They will get a shiny silver trophy. As noted, they’ll probably be heaped with end-of year accolades. Those things are all awesome elements of this fight. The lights of Atlantic City will shine just a little brighter for one man when it’s done and the location lends to the air of a big fight as well. Without these elements, given the road each has traveled, Carl Froch (28-1, 20 KO) versus Andre Ward (24-0, 13 KO) would still be drool worthy. It’s just a good fight. It doesn’t come with the promise of mayhem Cotto-Margarito II did a couple of weeks ago, but boxing is diverse enough to allow for many types of fights. Can Ward get inside consistently and take away Froch’s timing? Can Froch’s height and reach allow him to time Ward? Will Ward move and box more than has been the case in the tournament? Could we get a war we don’t see coming as was the case last weekend in Peterson-Khan? Questions abound and are worth the asking. Thankfully, answers are coming. The tournament has had its share of delays and setbacks and the two men in the final earn kudos for making it to scratch every time. They also deserve kudos for emerging as the leaders of a packed and talented division. When it’s over, let’s hope there are calls for a rematch…and remember the excellent Lucian Bute waits in the wings. Two years in the making, the Super Six final is the obvious pick of the week.
Pick Espanol: Roberto Marroquin vs. Carlos Valcarcel (Saturday, Fox Deportes, 10 PM EST/PST)
Compared to the above, this might seem like small potatoes. It might be. However, if Froch-Ward delights, or doesn’t, this is likely to provide nice closing action for a Saturday fight night. Marroquin (20-1, 14 KO) is once removed from his lone loss, a split decision with scores all over the place. Valcarcel (12-3-4, 5 KO) nearly pulled off the upset of undefeated Jayson Velez his last time out and has been stopped only once. Thackerville, Oklahoma isn’t the first town in the Sooner state that usually pops to mind but Saturday it’s a fight town and that’s good enough.
Back in seven.
For BoxingScene’s latest full divisional ratings, log on to: https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/view.php?pg=boxing-ratings
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
