Friday Night Fights 7/15 Recap

Pawel Wolak (29-1-1, 19 KO) Delvin Rodriguez (25-5-3, 14 KO)

In the easily the best fight of the Friday Night Fight broadcast this year and arguably of the whole year, Wolak and Rodriguez reminds us of why we love boxing. Wolak and Rodriguez fought 10 hard fought, with an exclamation point for round 9, and hard to score rounds before settling on a majority draw. This fight had the crowd screaming for both fighters.

For those of you who like gruesome boxing injuries, look no further. While Erislandy Lara's head last weekend was bulging and a nasty sight, it didn't come close to the size and the affect that is had on him as Wolak's eye.

Rodriguez had an opening for a right uppercut through most of the fight with Wolak coming in and yet chose to do most of his work with his straight right hand (his money punch) as evidenced by Wolak's eye. Wolak's gameplan was very straight forward, by that, I mean it was very straight forward. He tried to maul Delvin and paid the price on numerous occasions.

Credit is due to Rodriguez for being able to stick to try to fight tall and continue to force the shorter, pressure fighter, to come towards you and implement the game plan of punching off the back foot. There were questions coming into the fight for Rodriguez's career. He is now 2-3-1 in his last 6 fights but I think he has answered some of the answers from the critics that are calling for his retirement.

Wolak, who is never in a dull fight, will surely be in another good matchup later on this year. While I'm sure us boxing junkies would love a rematch and there are rumors that it will land on the Margarito V Cotto II card, making that card an absolute MUST BUY.

If you didn't watch this fight, it is still available via streaming replay on ESPN3.com. Free, streaming, good fight, what other reasons do you need to waste 40 minutes to be entertained.


Brian Viloria (29-3, 16 KOs) UD Julio Miranda (28-4, 16 KOs) for WBO Miranda's flyweight belt.

Judges Robert Hoyle (98-91) Ruben Garcia (96-93) and Tamotsu Tomihara (97-93) favored Viloria.

In Miranda's fourth defense, he was blitzed by Viloria in the opening bell and was out punched and out worked through the entire fight. Viloria showed great body punching ability, a very good jab and worked through a cut that opened up on his eye in the eighth round.

"Pingo" Miranda had trouble making the 112 weight limit and had to sweat off two pounds. It was a tough fight and both the champion and the challenger seemed to enjoy the brutality of it. Miranda had a pretty clear elbow and low blow that wasn't called by referee Joe Cortez in the 6th round that was answered by a rally by Viloria.

The newly crowned champion was also fighting on home turf in Hawaii and Miranda, who is likely not going to get a rematch, would be wise to fight somewhere more neutral. The most interesting part of the fight? When the scores were read. How did the judges miss two rounds of action? Did they decide that 10 rounds was enough?

There are interested fights for the entire flyweight division to be made and it is nice to see Viloria, yet another action fighter, to be in the mix as well.

Things I think I think - 7/12/11

Kelly Pavlik needs to stay out of trouble. Brother's pulling each other through windows isn't a good look.

While the Paul Williams v Erislandy Lara was a bad decision, it wasn't as lopsided as people think.

Ridiculous for Max Kellerman to ask William's corner in the MIDDLE OF THE FIGHT whether Williams should retire.

On that note: David Haye should retire.

While Brandon Rios has a great style, he would get absolutely destroyed by Manny. Forget about that fight.

Who says you need a fight to long for action? Rios Antillon had more firepower than several fights combined.

On December 3rd, win or lose, Miguel Cotto will get revenge.

Thanks for the good career Ricky Hatton.

I feel bad for Kermit Cintron.

Rico Ramos doesn't look nearly as good as he should.

Someone please make Lucas Matthyse V Marcos Maidana fight. They fought once in the amateurs (Maidana won).

Tito Ortiz has 9 lives.

The UFC likes the bad guys good guys story line. Stamm V Sonnen had to be made.

Still dissapointed that Sonnen wasn't banned permanently.

The rumored Carlos Condit vs. B.J. Penn should be a very good fight.

I thought that John Howard was going to have a better UFC career than this. Wonder where he will end up.

AMIR KHAN V ZAB JUDAH! Which boxing fan isn't excited for this fight?

Wladimir Klitschko vs David Haye Preview

For boxing junkies the heavyweight division's recent decline has been just a minor setback with the increase in talent at the lower weight classes (namely welterweight, jr. welterweight, lightweight etc.). However, for the mainstream media the question always remained: "When is the heavyweight division in boxing coming back?"

Well, ladies and gentlemen here is your big heavyweight fight. Reigning WBO, IBF and IBO champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KOs) takes on current WBA champion England'sDavid Haye (25-1, 23 KOs).

Interestingly the Klitschko brothers seemed very unhappy yesterday at the weigh-in when they were subjected to boos by Haye supporters. There were loud chants of "Your just a sh*t Ivan Drago" heard from the crowd as well.

While the 200+ Haye supporters have spoken clearly, it's hard for to see David Haye's disdain for his current opponent as genuine. Haye's verbal jabs have been strategic, his goal was to get under Wladimir's skin to try to force him to slug it out come fight night.

However, I think with Emanuel Steward in the corner, there will be little strategic change. Wladimir is the bigger man (Klitschko weighed 242 pounds, 29½ pounds more than the 212½-pound Haye), with the better jab and should be able to maintain distance correctly.

Klitschko also is taller (6-foot-6½) would have a significant height advantage over Haye (6-3) not to mention the reach. Haye's advantage is with speed. Haye will be able to jump in and out around Klitschko's jab and attack with his hooks.

The most intriguing part of this fight? Two highly skilled heavyweights with questionable chins. This is what America wants, heavyweights that will hurt each other. It is almost promised that it will happen in this fight.

It isn't likely that Haye is going to win a decision because of his fighting style also they are fighting in Cologne, Germany. Just ask Mathew Macklin whether winning a decision there is possible.