Boxing: Friday Night Fights

[H2O Man]

Tonight starts the ESPN season of Friday Night Fights. The main event is a IBF featherweight title bout featuring Valdemir Pereira vs Fahproakob Rakkiatgym. The card starts at 8pm est.

At 11, Showbox is on. It features a super flyweight division match between Kahren Harutyunyan vs Nonito Donaire.

Tomorrow night on PPV is Manny Pacquuiao's return match with Erik Morales.

Good fights for boxing fans!

[dr.zoidberg]

1. ESPN's show was fun.

Teddy Reid was being a prick, which I found to be hilarious. I also found Candelo's reaction to a low blow that he received from Reid to be really funny. I was surprised that it was a draw. I had Candelo winning the fight. Sure, it was close because Reid came on strong in the second half of the fight, but it was still a win for Candelo.

The main event was all Pereira from star to finish. Rakkiatgym was never in the fight, at all. His performance might have been affected by travel, which I can certainly buy. Even so, that does not excuse the fact that Rakkiatgym hardly threw many punches in the fight. You can't win if you don't throw punches.

Friday Night fights has Kassim Ouma on next week, so that will be a fun fight. I don't know anything about his opponent though.

[H2O Man]

2. Yep.

I didn't think Reid earned a draw, without the points being taken away for fouls. He was the definition of an old fighter: he could see openings and not land punches, and saw punches coming but couldn't get out of the way. He was a sore sport. It was interesting to hear he had been threatening to retire, and pull out of the fight.

Rakkiatgym gets hit too much, and is far too "brave," for a guy who was knocked out for an extended period not long ago. He had a good last round, but I wonder about his future.

If Ouma becomes disciplined, he'll be back on top soon. Judah versus Mayweather is interesting. I know Zab is confident, apparently based on sparring his friend in the past. But his chin is suspect, and Mayweather hits fast and hard.

[dr.zoidberg]

3. Unbelievable!

Manny Pacquiao just KO'd Erik Morales! That was certainly an unexpected result in what was expected to be a good fight and, apparently, it delivered. I can't wait to see it on HBO next Saturday!

[Stephist]

4. I shelled out the $ to see it

normally I wait a week too but I knew it would be a great fight tonight. I feel so bad for Manny Stewart. He had to correctly tell the difference between Nunez and Castillo the whole fight for the TV crowd because Lampley couldn't, and Merchant was well Merchant. At one point during the opening fight which was a dog Merchant says I was gone for three rounds doing interviews... I didn't even notice he was gone. :lol

The Nunez/Castillo fight and the main event were worth the money for sure.
Great weekend for Boxing all the way around. ESPN and Showtime had good fights and the PPV was great.

[H2O Man]

5. Morales has had

a long career. He has been in a lot of tough fights. I had heard some people mentioning that he had an advantage, because he was a naturally bigger man, and in a sense, he wasn't moving up in weight to fight a bigger, younger guy. But Pacquiao is growing, and apparently Morales had trouble making weight. Erik has fought too long, and Manny is the last type of guy to grow old in the ring against.

[H2O Man]

6. Happy birthday

to Big George.