Who's Hot, Who's Not; Mid July Edition

By Dr. Peter Edwards

 

Zab Judah - Finally he decides to step up his level of competition. The leading candidate to face Judah on September 3rd is former junior middleweight champion Sharmba Mitchell. Mitchell is trying to get his career back on track after suffering the worst loss of his career when he was virtually destroyed by Kostya Tszyu in a very anticipated 2004 rematch. Judah is at most successful point of his career as the undisputed welterweight champion. Mitchell will be a heavy underdog in this fight, but the bout has taken years to put together. These two fighters have disliked eachother for several years, constant name calling and bickering at press conferences. The bad feelings started after the first meeting between Mitchell and Tszyu. Judah ridiculed Mitchell for quitting on his stool due to an existing knee injury that was aggravated during the bout. Zab would often mimic Mitchell's facial expressions of pain in media interviews. The animosity between the two fighters will make for an interesting bout.

 

Mike Tyson - The man, the myth and the legend, has finally decided to hang up the gloves for good. It's about time and long overdue. Years of inactivity and improper training habits finally took their toll on the man once known as "the baddest man on the planet". There were whispers of a third meeting with Evander Holyfield, let's hope that neither fighter decides to make that fight a reality.

 

Bernard Hopkins - A little over a week away from meeting the middleweight heir apparent, Jermain Taylor, and Hopkins is ready to go out like a true champion. Some may say that Hopkins is taking on the kid because of Taylor's lack of experience, but this is a very dangerous fight for Bernard. Over the years, Hopkins has lost several steps and let's be honest here, he is not even the same fighter that beat Felix Trinidad in 2001. Taylor is faster, younger, possibly bigger and stronger, but Hopkins has experience and ring generalship on his side. Hopkins has been boasting to the media about taking the fight to kid, rather then waiting for the kid to the fight to him. A brawl may benefit both men, Taylor's chin is untested and Hopkins' stamina is not the same as it once was. Regardless of the fight strategy, this should be one exciting event.

 

 

Oscar De La Hoya - I had a few writers call me up tonight and tell me that Oscar is seriously considering a second meeting with Felix Trinidad. While the fight is intriguing and may spell big pay per view dollars, it is also what is wrong with the current state of the sport. Boxing has barely enough new faces to throw around and the networks are trying to desperately hold on to their old warriors. Both of these men need to stay away from the ring and let some of the younger guys try and come up. It was a very boring match when they first met, there is no reason to see a boring match again.

 

Vitali Klitschko - The guy is barely on the minds of boxing fans and he wants to make his return by facing someone that has not earned a shot at the title? There have been talks of Oleg Maskaev, Kevin McBride and Calvin Brock. Both Maskaev and McBride do not even deserve to be in the same ring as the heavyweight champion, that is until they earn their shot. Beating an old Mike Tyson does not earn you a shot at the title, Danny Williams learned that the hard way. Maskaev is ranked number 4 by the WBC, how in the world he reached that ranking is beyond me. Brock is still too green and has not been built up enough to challenge for a title. In his last bout, he was seriously hurt by Jameel McCline and McCline was too tired to close the show. To his credit, he came off the deck to win the final portion of the fight and took the fight to Jameel until the very end. Brock needs a few more decent fights before challenging Klitschko. Vitali should not even have any of these fighters on his mind, what he should be thinking about is facing the winner of the upcoming Hasim Rahman vs. Monte Barrett showdown.

 

Chris Byrd - When will this guy stop pricing himself out for fights? You talk about a guy who is worth more in his own mind then anywhere else. He would rather sit on the sidelines and hold out for multi million dollar paydays then represent himself like a real champion. The amount of money Byrd wants, is ridiculous when you consider his market appeal. There are many fights out there for him, Byrd seems to reluctant to take any of them. A potential rematch with Wladimir Klitschko fell apart after Byrd refused to fight in Germany and the fight could not be made in the United States due to the amount of money Byrd was demanding. He could of gotten those dollars if the bout was staged overseas, but Byrd refused to go overseas. The only champion out there screaming to fight anyone at anytime is WBA champion John Ruiz. I'm starting to think that maybe Johnny Boy is getting too much heat from the fans when they should be directing their heavyweight division displeasure towards Chris Byrd and Vitali Klistchko.