Cuauhtemoc1520's take on this weekend 8/16/2014

After last weekends card, it was nice to actually watch some well matched fights. Dirrell vs Bika Started out as some of the same as the last fight, but this time Dirrell fought smarter, countered and outboxed Bika. Bika is so wild, he's so strong and brawls in such an wakward way that he can make anyone look bad but Dirrell adjusted very well. Dirrell is a talented boxer and I'm glad to see him back in the ring from all his outside the ring issues. At 168, there's a ton of fights and challenges for him. Great adjustment from the first fight, I just think style wise, these two don't make for a good fight. Figueroa vs Estrada I really enjoyed this fight, and both men were in a tough fight. Estrada is a big puncher, with a good chin and I thought was out landing and out boxing Figueroa early on. Figueroa is a volume puncher, but he also is very awkward because he switches stances so much. That also leaves him open for shots, which we saw but his chin is amazing at 135. I understand why they put Figueroa on tv so much, he's so exciting to watch and never disappoints. He's a better boxer than people give him credit for, and I think he uses his offense as a bit of a defense at times. He wants to overwhelm you and did that late in the fight vs Estrada. I would like to see him move his head more, and be more fundamental in just keeping his hands up. He's developed some bad habits a long the way, and one of them is dropping his hands on the inside just trying to roll the punches off his shoulders which he doesn't do a good job of most of the time. He said he's moving to 140 and that should be an even more exciting weight for him. Let's see how he carries the weight, he is a big 135 and shouldn't have a problem. Big punchers at 140 and some really exciting fights to be made. Porter vs Brook I was very impressed with Brook in this fight. Porter is such a difficult style because of his movement and aggression. He's sloppy at times, but makes up for it with his speed and pressure. I thought Brook's corner did a great job in game planning for Porter and used the jab to neutralize Porters aggression. The jab was used perfectly coming in, and at the end of combinations for Brook. I also think a telling moment in the fight was when he hit Porter with a nice 1-2 at the end of rd 1 and that changed the fight. Malignaggi wasn't able to gain the respect of Porter because he has no power, Brook I believe at the end of that first round got that respect. Porter fought aggressively as well, but wasn't really effective in his aggression. He never landed anything big, but he was also held a lot. My take on holding is that it's part of boxing, but too much of it shouldn't be allowed. I thought the ref allowed Brook to hold a little too much, but I can't blame him for doing it if the ref allows it. Mayweather has made a career of doing the same thing to aggressive fighters, and it's up to the ref to regulate how much a fighter holds. Brooks short right hand on the inside was a thing of beauty as well. He was using this short, chopping right hand inside, either as and uppercut or short hand and was just money with it. That also changed the way Porter was fighting, and stopped him from countering with another shot. Porter also leaps in, and I thought that Brook was going to hurt Porter with something big throughout the fight, but to Porters credit, he took some good shots. Very impressed with Brook's ability to fight that style of fighter and keep his composure and game plan. We know he can box from the outside and now showed his ability to neutralize even a strong, aggressive fighter like Porter.