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THE PURPOSE: I don't think any one fight can be made in boxing today, that alone, is worth the price of a PPV. Unless of course, they can conjure up Dempsey vs Marciano or Joe Louis, but until that day comes, I want some quantity to go along with quality!
I say, if they want us to shell out 30, 40 sometimes 50 bucks per PPV, they should give us some bang for our buck! The card should be solid from top to bottom! Or at least it should be so top heavy with excellent fights that they can get away with a showcase fight to kick off the festivities, but these 2 or 3 showcase fights and 1 decent to mega main event PPV's are for the birds! (My apologies to any of the birds I may have offended with that statement.)
SO HERE'S MY SYSTEM:
I preview and rate every fight that is scheduled to be televised on a PPV Boxing Card, and try to determine whether that card is worth purchasing or not based on my point system below.
Please note that at the end of each preview, I will mention what weight class the bout is being fought at and where each fighter ranks within that weight class. This is done by using "The Ring" ratings.
HERE'S HOW STEVE'S PPV CRITERIA WORKS!
POINTS:
6 = MEGA MATCHUP
5 = Excellent Matchup
4 = Good Matchup
3 = Decent Matchup
2 = OK Matchup
1 = Bad Matchup
If a fight is scheduled to be televised on the card, it gets at least 1 point. This helps to reward quantity.
POINT SYSTEM:
14 or higher = GET IT!
13 = If you can find someone to split it with you, GET IT!
12 = If you can find someone to split it with you, CONSIDER getting it.
11 = If you can find a place that is showing it, or get enough people over to split it with you, so that you are not paying more than 10 dollars for the card, CONSIDER it.
10 or under = Save your money and sleep well at night knowing you didn't get ripped off!
AND AWAY WE GO!
OCTOBER 1st, PPV PRICE: 49.95
ANTONIO TARVER (23-3 18 KO's) VS ROY JONES (49-3 38 KO's) III: Rubber match! Jones won a close decision over Tarver in their first meeting, that many folks thought Tarver won, and Tarver blew Jones away in 2 rounds in the rematch. Jones will certainly give it everything he has in the rubber match, the question is, what does he have left? It sure didn't look like he had anything left when he was bombed out by Glen Johnson a year ago. Most agree he'll be better in the rubbermatch than he was in his two KO losses last year, but by how much? Jones has already made an arm injury he suffered in training public, which smells faintly of a possible built in excuse if he fails. Not a good sign for Jones either way.
Tarver on the other hand seems to be at his prime. He has officially avenged all 3 of his losses and is fighting great right now. And for what it is worth, he sounds like he is taking Roy Jones Jr very seriously, as he should. It all depends on what Jones has left. If the same Jones who fought Glen Johnson last year shows up, Tarver will blast Jones away again. If Jones can regain his focus and somehow recapture his once cat-like reflexes, we could have toss up here.
* Antonio Tarver is the Light Heavyweight Champion Of The World(175lbs) - Roy Jones Jr is not rated at Light Heavyweight(175lbs)*
SCORE = 4
ALMAZBEK "KID DIAMOND" RAIYMKULOV (20-0-1 12 KO's) VS NATE CAMPBELL (26-4-1 22 KO's): Kid Diamond takes step back in competition after a draw against tough Joel Casamayor. Actually, it's so much of a step back that it's practically a showcase for him. Campbell lost to Joel Casamayor back in 2003, but he was fighting better back then. Since 2004, he has suffered 2 KO losses to recent Marco Antonio Barrera victim Robbie Peden and in his last outing dropped a decision to Francisco Lorenzo. Now Campbell moves up to Lightweight where he faces a Kid Diamond who is bigger and has more pop in his punches than Robbie Peden. It's hard to imagine Nate Campbell making it the distance here. Even more so, it's hard to imagine Nate Campbell being very competitive in this bout. Still, Campbell does have some power, so he has a punchers chance. But it looks like that's most likely his only chance.
*Kid Diamond is rated #7 at Lightweight(135lbs) - Nate Campbell is not rated *
SCORE = 2
VINNY MADDALONE (25-2 18 KO's) VS BRIAN MINTO (20-1 11 KO's): This is a rematch of a back and forth brawl featured on ESPN2 in 2004 which resulted in a 10th round KO in a scheduled 10 rounder for Minto, who was behind on all 3 scorecards at the time. Neither
fighter is very skillful. You won't be seeing either of them against any top heavyweights, unless that fighter is looking for an easy showcase fight. However, they do match up well against each other and this is likely to turn into another competitive back and forth fight....in a tough-man contest kind of way.
* Neither fighter is rated at Heavyweight *
SCORE = 3
ANDRE WARD (5-0 3 KO's) VS GLENN LaPLANTE (9-2-1 6 KO's): Ward is the young olympian middleweight, who has looked good so far against weak as a cracker competition. This is a pure showcase fight. LaPlante's best win was probably against Brian Chiary who was sporting an 8-5-1 record at the time. Don't expect anything interesting in this one.
*Neither fighter is rated at Middleweight*
SCORE = 1
FINAL SCORE = 10
SUMMARY: 49.95??? Not the right card and certainly, not the right night!
STRIKE ONE: While the Tarver/Jones rubber match holds some intrigue, the undercard is quite weak. For a whopping 49.95 price tag, we all certainly deserve more bang for our buck!
STRIKE TWO: Feel like watching some boxing on October 1st without having to flip the 49.95 bill? This PPV is going head to head with a free Showtime double header of James Toney vs Dominick Guinn & Chris Byrd vs DaVarryl Williamson. While neither matchup is anything
great....they are FREE.
STRIKE THREE: One week from October 1st, on October 8th is another PPV Boxing card which happens to be MUCH better than this card all the way around! If you can only afford to get one PPV Card in October, I would STRONGLY recommend that you pass on the October 1st card and save your money for that October 8th Castillo/Corrales rematch PPV card.
YER OUT!
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2005
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By Steve Hudgins (October 1, 2005)
