For the fight folk out there, there was great action over the weekend in both boxing and the UFC. I most definitely thought the main event cards were setup to be quick disposals for the favored fighters involved, WRONG!!!
In boxing, 140lb title holder Devon Alexander (21-0) kept his titles and unbeaten record intact with a unanimous decision over Andriy Kotelnik (31-4-1). What was supposed to be a fight where Alexander could display his speed and superior boxing ability to setup a fight with Timothy Bradley (overrated in my opinion) or Amir Kahn, turned into a back and forth affair in which Kotelnik was giving Alexander all he can handle. Kotelnik is a former belt holder, so it's not surprising that Kotelnik was able to hold is own. It's more how it happened that made the fight great. The slower Kotelnik just stayed around the pocket and when Alexander lunged in for the jab/straight/hook combos, he was left with some bruising shots for his trouble. It came down to the busier boxer vs the make your shot count fighter. All 3 judges scored the bout 116-112, and unofficial score legend Harold Ledderman had it 117-111. In the post fight interview, Alexander held up a shirt that said, "Bradley U Next". Bad grammar aside, Timothy Bradley should be next for Devon Alexander, which should turn out to be quite good style wise. I think Alexander would win based on the precision of punches. Devon has straight controlled shots, where Bradley throws looping shots, but that is a discussion for another time.
If anyone cares, Tavoris Cloud took a decision over Jedi war vet Glen Johnson. This should setup a fight with Light Heavyweight kingpin Chad Dawson, assuming he beats Jean Pascal next week. The Light Heavyweight division is becoming a snoozer, but I will keep the updates coming, someone has to...
The UFC main event between Middleweight Champ and P4P best Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen. Sonnen has been trash talking for months, saying he was going to bring it to Silva like no other... He is going to be the one to retire Silva... He damn near did just that. I didn't actually get to see the fight, but correspondent Los Santiago Especero, relayed that Sonnen was giving Silva quite the beat down. From what I read, that seemed to be the case. Of course, Anderson was giving out a beating of his own, but if you were scoring at home, you'd have to give Sonnen a round or 2. There were knee buckling strikes to the face, wrestling take downs with more face pounding and devastating kicks being thrown and landed by both fighters. In the end Anderson Silva didn't let the judges have any say in the matter, since he made Sonnen submit in the 5th round. On the whole, helluva fight, one I wish I could have seen.
Looks like the UFC gets the nod this time, due to the submission win for Anderson Silva. That's 2-0 for the UFC, by my count, but I think boxing will come back strong. Chad Dawson should put on a better show than Randy Couture v James Toney.
[Update, 1:09PM]: As Los That Sports Blog's faithful on-site correspondent, I would be remiss if I did not ammend a few points of our trusty (albeit Silva-biased) editor's analysis. While Silva did come out strong in each of the rounds, landing some solid strikes and hoping to overwhelm Sonnen's will in the process, Sonnen took what he had to offer and put him on the deck each time. Silva was clearly losing the fight as he was dominated by the crafty wrestler on the ground. He did manage to get in some nice elbow shots at close range, but the undefeated record was definitely in jeopardy. If not for a momentary lapse by Sonnen and a quick tapout call by the ref, we'd be talking about one of, if not THE biggest upset in MMA. I personally love Silva's game, but some weaknesses have definitely been exposed.
ReplyDelete- Santiago Especero....OUT!