Saturday 21 July 2007
US Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
commission: Nevada Athletic Commission
promoter: Golden Boy Promotions
television: HBO PPV
12 light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins 47 (32) - 4 (0) - 1
SC Ronald Wright 51 (25) - 3 (0) - 1
12 super featherweight Oscar Larios 59 (37) - 5 (3) - 1
SC Jorge Linares 23 (14) - 0 (0) - 0
~ WBC featherweight title ~
12 lightweight Michael Katsidis 22 (20) - 0 (0) - 0
SC Czar Amonsot 18 (10) - 2 (2) - 1
~ WBO lightweight title ~
10 light welterweight Demetrius Hopkins 26 (10) - 0 (0) - 1
SC Haider Berrio 11 (7) - 2 (0) - 0
8 light heavyweight Librado Andrade 24 (18) - 1 (0) - 0
SC Ted Muller 19 (9) - 11 (3) - 2
8 welterweight Rock Allen 10 (7) - 0 (0) - 0
SC Ramiro Rivera 4 (3) - 4 (4) - 0
0 middleweight Jose Angel Rodriguez 11 (2) - 0 (0) - 0
SC Keenan Collins 12 (8) - 1 (0) - 1
http://www.boxrec.com/schedule.php?country=US&title=&tv=HBOPPV&submit_tv=Go
US Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
commission: Nevada Athletic Commission
promoter: Golden Boy Promotions
television: HBO PPV
12 light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins 47 (32) - 4 (0) - 1
SC Ronald Wright 51 (25) - 3 (0) - 1
12 super featherweight Oscar Larios 59 (37) - 5 (3) - 1
SC Jorge Linares 23 (14) - 0 (0) - 0
~ WBC featherweight title ~
12 lightweight Michael Katsidis 22 (20) - 0 (0) - 0
SC Czar Amonsot 18 (10) - 2 (2) - 1
~ WBO lightweight title ~
10 light welterweight Demetrius Hopkins 26 (10) - 0 (0) - 1
SC Haider Berrio 11 (7) - 2 (0) - 0
8 light heavyweight Librado Andrade 24 (18) - 1 (0) - 0
SC Ted Muller 19 (9) - 11 (3) - 2
8 welterweight Rock Allen 10 (7) - 0 (0) - 0
SC Ramiro Rivera 4 (3) - 4 (4) - 0
0 middleweight Jose Angel Rodriguez 11 (2) - 0 (0) - 0
SC Keenan Collins 12 (8) - 1 (0) - 1
http://www.boxrec.com/schedule.php?country=US&title=&tv=HBOPPV&submit_tv=Go
Here is Graham Houstons pick...he went perfect this week and picked all four super fights correctly last weekend (including both underdogs (Gomez and Williams).
BERNARD HOPKINS vs WINKY WRIGHT
Location:
Mandalay Bay casino resort, LAS VEGAS, July 21
Graham's Odds:
Hopkins +105; Wright -115
Over 11.5 -500; under 11.5 +350
Main Body:
A few years ago the thought of Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright meeting in a pay-per-view main event would not even have been on the boxing radar, but it’s happening. On Saturday, the two veterans with a combined age of 77 — and ring experience of 36 years between them — meet at the Mandalay Bay casino resort in Las Vegas in a 12-rounder made at the catchweight of 170 pounds.
Why, you may ask, is this fight happening?
Really, it is quite simple. Hopkins and Wright have name recognition. Even casual followers of boxing have heard of them. The fight can be marketed: Hopkins, the ageless wonder, Wright, the craftsman with the style that has proved a conundrum to so many good fighters.
There is something else to consider, though: this is a meeting of two of the best fighters in the business.
In this cynical world of ours it is easy to assume that Hopkins is just taking the fight for one last payday — but one thing I do know is that the 42-year-old does not like to lose. Hopkins’s legacy means a lot to him. If the Philadelphia Executioner can beat Wright it will put the seal on a remarkable career — or lead to yet another PPV event. With Hopkins you never can tell what he will do: the promise he made to his ailing mother not to fight past the age of 40 (or was it 41?) seems long forgotten.
As for Wright, after so many years of fighting overseas and on big-fight undercards, he seems to me to be at the top of his form and loving the superfight spotlight. A win over Hopkins, and the future could hold major bouts against the likes of Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler at 168 pounds among other financially attractive options.
So there is a lot at stake for these long-serving professionals: each has incentive.
Hopkins, as ever the great salesman, is playing up rather than playing down the age factor. “Do you know,” he said to Wright at the Las Vegas press conference to announce the fight, “that you’re gonna get beaten up by a senior citizen?”
There is, then, a story line here: Hopkins seeking to continue to defy age, Wright moving up in weight, each man looking to add to his legacy.
It was clear to me, observing Hopkins at the Las Vegas conference, that he had made up his mind right away to try to intimidate Wright and get him rattled and a bit unnerved and this continued even at today's weigh-in. This worked last year when Hopkins seemed to have Antonio Tarver beaten mentally, even before a punch was thrown. Wright, a comparative youngster at 35 (but who made his pro debut just two years after Hopkins turned professional), has always been sturdy mentally, though.
Hopkins’s putdowns include the line: “How can I look back at my record and see that I was beaten by a guy named Winky?” Wright shrugs off the mocking manner in which Hopkins addresses him. Winky does not have his opponent’s glibness and is always likely to be outpointed verbally by Hopkins but there seems a quiet certitude about Wright, that of a man who prefers to let his fists do the talking.
Now, with the fight a day away as I write, I still get the sense with Wright that he is very sure in his own mind that he will win. He had the same sort of demeanour prior to the upset victories over Shane Mosley and Felix Trinidad.
The odds have tilted slightly in favour of Wright, but most people see this as basically an even fight. Hopkins is taller and many will assume that he is going to be the bigger, stronger man in the ring, having fought as a light-heavyweight in his last fight when he outclassed Antonio Tarver. Wright, though, came in right on the 170-pound limit at today’s weigh-in, as did Hopkins. Winky walks around at about 185 pounds and his trainer, Dan Birmingham, praises the excellent work of strength coach, Darryl Hudson, who did an outstanding job in ensuring that Wright was a strong 160-pounder for the move up from junior middleweight to meet Trinidad. Birmingham, says that Hopkins will be surprised by Wright’s strength on Saturday, and he could be right.
There is no secret about what Wright will be doing in Saturday’s fight: he will be coming out to set a fast pace and keep the right jab pumping from out of his southpaw stance. Hopkins, who trained under the direction of Freddie Roach in Los Angeles, will be seeking to land the harder shots, looking to hurt Wright and slow him down.
Yet, while Hopkins is an amazing individual, Father Time does have a way of catching up with everyone. I have thought for some time now that Hopkins feels the need to pace himself, picking his moments to fight. I thought this when he outpointed the durable but outclassed Howard Eastman and when he gave away early rounds by husbanding his resources in the two very close fights with Jermain Taylor.
While Hopkins looked tremendous in his easy win over Tarver, I was astonished at the weak effort of the supposedly bigger man. Maybe Hopkins was so much better than Tarver that he made him look like a novice, but another possibility is that Tarver’s weight loss after playing the heavyweight champion in Rocky Balboa had something to do with his lethargy. (Tarver himself has lately gone on record as saying he thinks he was somehow poisoned prior to going into the ring.) Certainly it was not the Tarver who had won two out of three bouts with Roy Jones Jr. and outworked Glen Johnson in their rematch. I have to wonder if too much emphasis is being placed on Hopkins’s mastery of Tarver, as, perhaps, too much was made of Antonio Margarito’s blowout of a Kermit Cintron who has always maintained he just “wasn’t there” that night.
Unlike Tarver, I doubt very much if Wright will let Hopkins coast through the fight and dominate with bursts of punches. I expect Wright to be on top of Hopkins from the first bell, pushing forward confidently. Perhaps Hopkins can take some of that confidence out of him with his well-placed, hurtful punches, but Wright’s defence — gloves up, elbows tucked in — is so sound that even Hopkins might have difficulty penetrating it.
Hopkins, of course, has done very well against southpaws — the wins over Tarver, Robert Allen, Carl Daniels, Joe Lipsey, John David Jackson, Keith Holmes and Syd Vanderpool all spring to mind — but I do not think he has met a southpaw quite like Winky.
The meeting is billed as Coming to Fight and I think it will be a fight, too, not the chess match that some fear. I doubt if it will be dramatic but I do think it will be engrossing and entertaining.
As to the winner, I will go with Wright. Hopkins can never be underestimated but I think that to beat Wright he has to be able to fight hard and keep firing shots in a consistent manner, in every round, and I just do not think he can produce the activity level he will need at the age of 42. Hopkins’s spurts and hard single shots with the right hand are likely to keep rounds close, but when he looks to take some time off, as I believe he will, is when Wright can go to work with the jabs and the busy punching for which he is well known. I believe that when Hopkins seeks to rest, Wright will keep pushing on, and I think that this is what will win the fight for Winky, on points.
HOUSTON PICK: Winky Wright
BERNARD HOPKINS vs WINKY WRIGHT
Location:
Mandalay Bay casino resort, LAS VEGAS, July 21
Graham's Odds:
Hopkins +105; Wright -115
Over 11.5 -500; under 11.5 +350
Main Body:
A few years ago the thought of Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright meeting in a pay-per-view main event would not even have been on the boxing radar, but it’s happening. On Saturday, the two veterans with a combined age of 77 — and ring experience of 36 years between them — meet at the Mandalay Bay casino resort in Las Vegas in a 12-rounder made at the catchweight of 170 pounds.
Why, you may ask, is this fight happening?
Really, it is quite simple. Hopkins and Wright have name recognition. Even casual followers of boxing have heard of them. The fight can be marketed: Hopkins, the ageless wonder, Wright, the craftsman with the style that has proved a conundrum to so many good fighters.
There is something else to consider, though: this is a meeting of two of the best fighters in the business.
In this cynical world of ours it is easy to assume that Hopkins is just taking the fight for one last payday — but one thing I do know is that the 42-year-old does not like to lose. Hopkins’s legacy means a lot to him. If the Philadelphia Executioner can beat Wright it will put the seal on a remarkable career — or lead to yet another PPV event. With Hopkins you never can tell what he will do: the promise he made to his ailing mother not to fight past the age of 40 (or was it 41?) seems long forgotten.
As for Wright, after so many years of fighting overseas and on big-fight undercards, he seems to me to be at the top of his form and loving the superfight spotlight. A win over Hopkins, and the future could hold major bouts against the likes of Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler at 168 pounds among other financially attractive options.
So there is a lot at stake for these long-serving professionals: each has incentive.
Hopkins, as ever the great salesman, is playing up rather than playing down the age factor. “Do you know,” he said to Wright at the Las Vegas press conference to announce the fight, “that you’re gonna get beaten up by a senior citizen?”
There is, then, a story line here: Hopkins seeking to continue to defy age, Wright moving up in weight, each man looking to add to his legacy.
It was clear to me, observing Hopkins at the Las Vegas conference, that he had made up his mind right away to try to intimidate Wright and get him rattled and a bit unnerved and this continued even at today's weigh-in. This worked last year when Hopkins seemed to have Antonio Tarver beaten mentally, even before a punch was thrown. Wright, a comparative youngster at 35 (but who made his pro debut just two years after Hopkins turned professional), has always been sturdy mentally, though.
Hopkins’s putdowns include the line: “How can I look back at my record and see that I was beaten by a guy named Winky?” Wright shrugs off the mocking manner in which Hopkins addresses him. Winky does not have his opponent’s glibness and is always likely to be outpointed verbally by Hopkins but there seems a quiet certitude about Wright, that of a man who prefers to let his fists do the talking.
Now, with the fight a day away as I write, I still get the sense with Wright that he is very sure in his own mind that he will win. He had the same sort of demeanour prior to the upset victories over Shane Mosley and Felix Trinidad.
The odds have tilted slightly in favour of Wright, but most people see this as basically an even fight. Hopkins is taller and many will assume that he is going to be the bigger, stronger man in the ring, having fought as a light-heavyweight in his last fight when he outclassed Antonio Tarver. Wright, though, came in right on the 170-pound limit at today’s weigh-in, as did Hopkins. Winky walks around at about 185 pounds and his trainer, Dan Birmingham, praises the excellent work of strength coach, Darryl Hudson, who did an outstanding job in ensuring that Wright was a strong 160-pounder for the move up from junior middleweight to meet Trinidad. Birmingham, says that Hopkins will be surprised by Wright’s strength on Saturday, and he could be right.
There is no secret about what Wright will be doing in Saturday’s fight: he will be coming out to set a fast pace and keep the right jab pumping from out of his southpaw stance. Hopkins, who trained under the direction of Freddie Roach in Los Angeles, will be seeking to land the harder shots, looking to hurt Wright and slow him down.
Yet, while Hopkins is an amazing individual, Father Time does have a way of catching up with everyone. I have thought for some time now that Hopkins feels the need to pace himself, picking his moments to fight. I thought this when he outpointed the durable but outclassed Howard Eastman and when he gave away early rounds by husbanding his resources in the two very close fights with Jermain Taylor.
While Hopkins looked tremendous in his easy win over Tarver, I was astonished at the weak effort of the supposedly bigger man. Maybe Hopkins was so much better than Tarver that he made him look like a novice, but another possibility is that Tarver’s weight loss after playing the heavyweight champion in Rocky Balboa had something to do with his lethargy. (Tarver himself has lately gone on record as saying he thinks he was somehow poisoned prior to going into the ring.) Certainly it was not the Tarver who had won two out of three bouts with Roy Jones Jr. and outworked Glen Johnson in their rematch. I have to wonder if too much emphasis is being placed on Hopkins’s mastery of Tarver, as, perhaps, too much was made of Antonio Margarito’s blowout of a Kermit Cintron who has always maintained he just “wasn’t there” that night.
Unlike Tarver, I doubt very much if Wright will let Hopkins coast through the fight and dominate with bursts of punches. I expect Wright to be on top of Hopkins from the first bell, pushing forward confidently. Perhaps Hopkins can take some of that confidence out of him with his well-placed, hurtful punches, but Wright’s defence — gloves up, elbows tucked in — is so sound that even Hopkins might have difficulty penetrating it.
Hopkins, of course, has done very well against southpaws — the wins over Tarver, Robert Allen, Carl Daniels, Joe Lipsey, John David Jackson, Keith Holmes and Syd Vanderpool all spring to mind — but I do not think he has met a southpaw quite like Winky.
The meeting is billed as Coming to Fight and I think it will be a fight, too, not the chess match that some fear. I doubt if it will be dramatic but I do think it will be engrossing and entertaining.
As to the winner, I will go with Wright. Hopkins can never be underestimated but I think that to beat Wright he has to be able to fight hard and keep firing shots in a consistent manner, in every round, and I just do not think he can produce the activity level he will need at the age of 42. Hopkins’s spurts and hard single shots with the right hand are likely to keep rounds close, but when he looks to take some time off, as I believe he will, is when Wright can go to work with the jabs and the busy punching for which he is well known. I believe that when Hopkins seeks to rest, Wright will keep pushing on, and I think that this is what will win the fight for Winky, on points.
HOUSTON PICK: Winky Wright
Here is Graham Houston pick for the undercard fight:
JORGE LINARES vs OSCAR LARIOS
<LABEL>Setting:</LABEL>
Mandalay Bay casino resort, LAS VEGAS, July 21
<LABEL>Fight Image:</LABEL>
<LABEL>Photo Caption:</LABEL>
LINARES: the new Golden Boy? / Photo: Teiken Productions
<LABEL>Odds (Line 1):</LABEL>
Linares -200; Larios +160
<LABEL>Odds (Line 2):</LABEL>
Over 10.5 -135; under 10.5 +125
<LABEL>Main Body:</LABEL>
One of boxing’s best-kept secrets, at least as far as America is concerned, makes his U.S. debut on the Hopkins-Wright show on Saturday when unbeaten Jorge Linares, a Venezuelan living in Japan, faces his first big-time test against Mexico’s battle-hardened Oscar Larios. The 12-rounder is for the vacant WBC interim featherweight title.
Linares turned professional in Japan at the age of 17 after reportedly having won more than 100 amateur bouts in Venezuela, and he is still only 21. He is billed as the Golden Boy, and appropriately is promoted in America by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
The Japanese boxing authority Joe Koizumi has predicted that Linares will be a sensation in the States. Linares apparently boxed well with Manny Pacquiao in the gym in Los Angeles on an American visit. In Japan he is in the same stable as heavy-hitting fellow-Venezuelan Edwin Valero, who is unable to box in America due to a brain-scan issue. Linares has learned to speak Japanese fluently and is very popular in that country.
Linares is going in at the deep end in his American debut against Larios. The former 122-pound champion from Guadalajara is a veteran of 65 fights and has had a lot of title bouts. In the last six years Larios’s only losses have been against Israel Vazquez and Manny Pacquiao, but although only 30 he has been boxing professionally since he was a 17-year-old.
I thought I saw signs of decline when Larios was stopped in three rounds by Israel Vazquez in their rubber match in December 2005. Although Larios was stopped due to a cut over the eye in the third round he had been dropped in the first round and he was getting hit by hard, clean punches — more than I can remember him getting hit before.
When Larios went the full 12 rounds with Pacquiao last year I was surprised because, based on Larios’s fight with Vazquez, I doubted very much that he would be able to go more than about eight rounds. He even had Pacquiao a bit shaken up from a left hook in the third round. I do think, though, that Pacquiao was boxing at maybe 70 per cent of his best form that night. It was a homecoming fight against an opponent he was expected to dominate and there was not the usual fire and intensity from the Pacman. Still, he had Larios down twice and the Mexican fighter was cut over and under the left eye. Since then Larios has won three fights against outclassed opposition.
My suspicion is that Larios is starting to wear down a bit, but he is still by far the toughest opponent that Linares will have faced.
I have seen a few of Linares’s fights. He is a handsome, wide-shouldered young man, well-balanced, stylish, the punches thrown with good form, including a nice double left hook to body and head. In two of the fights that I saw on tape he flattened the other man with a big right hand — one-punch endings. He has good hand speed and he moves well, quick to slide away from attacks and change position so he can counter attack. From what I have seen of Linares, he looks like a fighter with star quality.
Not all of Linares’s fights have been one-sided, either, which I think is a good thing. He has had a couple of tough fights in which he has had to dig down and overcome pressure, as when he outpointed the loose-limbed Panamanian Renan Acosta and tough Thai veteran Saohin Srithai Condo. After 23 wins in a row, he is showing the poise and maturity that suggests he is ready to meet the world’s best at 126 pounds.
Larios has always been a high-energy boxer-fighter, and he will no doubt be trying to overwhelm Linares with his high-volume punch output, but I think that the latest Golden Boy can slow down the veteran with body punches and start to take over the fight by the middle rounds. Linares will have to fight, but I think his youth, speed and talent will see him through, most likely on points although I see a chance of a late stoppage, especially if Larios suffers cuts.
HOUSTON PICK: Jorge Linares
JORGE LINARES vs OSCAR LARIOS
<LABEL>Setting:</LABEL>
Mandalay Bay casino resort, LAS VEGAS, July 21
<LABEL>Fight Image:</LABEL>
<LABEL>Photo Caption:</LABEL>
LINARES: the new Golden Boy? / Photo: Teiken Productions
<LABEL>Odds (Line 1):</LABEL>
Linares -200; Larios +160
<LABEL>Odds (Line 2):</LABEL>
Over 10.5 -135; under 10.5 +125
<LABEL>Main Body:</LABEL>
One of boxing’s best-kept secrets, at least as far as America is concerned, makes his U.S. debut on the Hopkins-Wright show on Saturday when unbeaten Jorge Linares, a Venezuelan living in Japan, faces his first big-time test against Mexico’s battle-hardened Oscar Larios. The 12-rounder is for the vacant WBC interim featherweight title.
Linares turned professional in Japan at the age of 17 after reportedly having won more than 100 amateur bouts in Venezuela, and he is still only 21. He is billed as the Golden Boy, and appropriately is promoted in America by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
The Japanese boxing authority Joe Koizumi has predicted that Linares will be a sensation in the States. Linares apparently boxed well with Manny Pacquiao in the gym in Los Angeles on an American visit. In Japan he is in the same stable as heavy-hitting fellow-Venezuelan Edwin Valero, who is unable to box in America due to a brain-scan issue. Linares has learned to speak Japanese fluently and is very popular in that country.
Linares is going in at the deep end in his American debut against Larios. The former 122-pound champion from Guadalajara is a veteran of 65 fights and has had a lot of title bouts. In the last six years Larios’s only losses have been against Israel Vazquez and Manny Pacquiao, but although only 30 he has been boxing professionally since he was a 17-year-old.
I thought I saw signs of decline when Larios was stopped in three rounds by Israel Vazquez in their rubber match in December 2005. Although Larios was stopped due to a cut over the eye in the third round he had been dropped in the first round and he was getting hit by hard, clean punches — more than I can remember him getting hit before.
When Larios went the full 12 rounds with Pacquiao last year I was surprised because, based on Larios’s fight with Vazquez, I doubted very much that he would be able to go more than about eight rounds. He even had Pacquiao a bit shaken up from a left hook in the third round. I do think, though, that Pacquiao was boxing at maybe 70 per cent of his best form that night. It was a homecoming fight against an opponent he was expected to dominate and there was not the usual fire and intensity from the Pacman. Still, he had Larios down twice and the Mexican fighter was cut over and under the left eye. Since then Larios has won three fights against outclassed opposition.
My suspicion is that Larios is starting to wear down a bit, but he is still by far the toughest opponent that Linares will have faced.
I have seen a few of Linares’s fights. He is a handsome, wide-shouldered young man, well-balanced, stylish, the punches thrown with good form, including a nice double left hook to body and head. In two of the fights that I saw on tape he flattened the other man with a big right hand — one-punch endings. He has good hand speed and he moves well, quick to slide away from attacks and change position so he can counter attack. From what I have seen of Linares, he looks like a fighter with star quality.
Not all of Linares’s fights have been one-sided, either, which I think is a good thing. He has had a couple of tough fights in which he has had to dig down and overcome pressure, as when he outpointed the loose-limbed Panamanian Renan Acosta and tough Thai veteran Saohin Srithai Condo. After 23 wins in a row, he is showing the poise and maturity that suggests he is ready to meet the world’s best at 126 pounds.
Larios has always been a high-energy boxer-fighter, and he will no doubt be trying to overwhelm Linares with his high-volume punch output, but I think that the latest Golden Boy can slow down the veteran with body punches and start to take over the fight by the middle rounds. Linares will have to fight, but I think his youth, speed and talent will see him through, most likely on points although I see a chance of a late stoppage, especially if Larios suffers cuts.
HOUSTON PICK: Jorge Linares
By Covers.com staff
Big-name fights draw big-name bettors.
According to boxing linesmaker Joey Oddessa, late money is moving the odds for tonight’s fight between Ronald “Winky” Wright and Bernard Hopkins.
“The faces (high-profile gamblers) are moving the line up a bit and people will chase them,” says Oddessa.
Sportsbooks have seen sharp action on Hopkins, bumping the 42-year-old from +120 to +110 as of early Saturday night. Wright is currently a -140 favorite despite jumping up from 160 pounds to 170 pounds to face Hopkins at light heavyweight.
Wright A Rare Favorite
<!--text here-->Bettors don't care that Wright has jumped up to 170 pounds. The public made him a rare fave when he fights Hopkins. Storyhttp://www.covers.com/articles/articles.aspx?theArt=144670
<!--end text-->
Most books opened with this fight set as a pick but public money slowly came in on Wright over the past few months.
“It’s not supposed to (move anymore),” Oddessa says of the current line. “There is pretty good two-way action on this right now. Anyone who bets Winky at this price knows something which is rare in a fight this big.”
Besides the money on Hopkins, boxing bettors are wagering heavy on the final outcome of this evening’s 12-round bout. Oddessa says most books are taking a lot of action on Wright by knockout (+1000) and a draw decision (+1000).
“Wright has never been known as a puncher, so it's unlikely that he will pose a knockout threat to Hopkins,” Oddessa told Covers.com earlier this week.
Fight fans can watch the action live on HBO Pay Per View tonight from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The broadcast begins at 9:00 p.m. ET.
