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Photo © Chris Farina
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September is almost upon us. This is a very good month for the true boxing fan. There are some fights worth watching, there are also fights we will watch solely because of who is fighting and not for competition value and also there are rematches just in case the wrong guy won the last time around, this time it gives us a chance to find some clarity.
We will watch because we are true boxing fans and maybe it's one of our favorite fighters or maybe we want to see if the layoffs, the upsets, the exposure have changed any of these guys who we look to for our source of entertainment.
Of course the biggest fight being Oscar de la Hoya vs Bernard Hopkins. You also have the return of Kostya Tszyu and Roy Jones and even Riddick Bowe. You also have Cory Spinks, Lamon Brewster, Shane Mosley, Winky Wright. I even have a guy or two thrown into this mix; one to watch is Kofi Jontuah, a Jr. Middleweight fighting in a title eliminator on the Hopkins vs De la Hoya undercard. So I'm excited in more ways than one.
Let's start with the obvious fights that we should be able to pick the winners in, so I really don't have to go into detail about what should happen and why. Roy Jones should win easily unless the effect of being kayoed by Tarver lingers. Cory Spinks should win fairly easy being that Miguel Gonzalez hasn't remotely fought anyone of substance since 1997. This one I will go out on a limb just a little, Winky Wright also defeating Mosley fairly easy. Winky is too big, too strong and his defense is too tight. Mosley has a habit of jumping right back into the fire after a loss. He did it with Vernon Forrest and had back to back loses and I see it no different this time around with Winky Wright. Mosley hasn't looked good in a while, even in the controversial win over De la Hoya and the No Contest with Raul Marquez. You really have to go back to Mosley's days at Lightweight where he was truly dominant. Since those days, other than his first win over De la Hoya, he's done nothing to make you think he can pull off a win over Wright.
Riddick Bowe is fighting Jeff Lally, (23-23-1, 10 KOs).*** If he loses to him, he should never be allowed in a boxing gym again, let alone a ring. Bowe may have been away for a long time and may not be half the fighter he once was but, if he's a third of the fighter he once was, he should be just fine. Who knows, maybe if he's impressive enough he can entice Lewis to come back and get him for having to dig in the trash to get his first Championship Belt.
Kostya Tszyu and Sharmba Mitchell could be a bit more interesting this time around solely because of Kostya's long layoff and Mitchell has been extremely active during Tszyu's hiatus from the ring. I still lean toward Tszyu in this fight because even in his quest to stay active Mitchell hasn't fought anyone near the intensity or punching power of a Kostya Tszyu.
If Tszyu is 100% since his layoff he will be relentless and one quality that Tszyu has that I think goes unnoticed is his ability to cutoff the ring. Talent wise Mitchell is better but if he succumbs to Tszyu's pressure the results will be the same.
Lamon Brewster is still a mystery; he won his title on sheer will, determination and heart. In winning the WBO Heavyweight Championship he took a better beating than Vladimir Klitschko who appeared to have punched himself out in two rounds. The guy he's fighting is even a bigger mystery, and I for one have never heard of him. I guess in Brewster's case we will just have to wait and see.
Kofi Jontuah ... Well let's just root for him because I just happen to work with him.
Hopkins vs De la Hoya, a great fight, hopefully it lives up to the hype. This is a fight in which styles will play a major part in who emerges victorious. Oscar de la Hoya has to fight a close to perfect fight to walk away with his hand raised in victory. He has to re-duplicate the blueprint he gave Hopkins on how to beat Trinidad. This time around Oscar has to do to Hopkins what he did to Trinidad. He can't afford to trade punches, he can't afford to get tired down the stretch. He will have to win with speed of feet and speed of hands. Hopkins is a very hungry fighter who has toiled in obscurity for a very long time and is basking in this moment of time, it doesn't get any better for him. He's bigger, stronger and can fight also. If De la Hoya fights as he did against Felix Sturm he loses, maybe even gets stopped. If he boxes and can maintain it from round one to round twelve, he wins by decision. There is no way if De la Hoya is still standing after twelve rounds -barring there are no knock downs- that he should be out-pointed by Hopkins. It's a very interesting fight, yet I lean a little toward Hopkins more because of his size and at times he can get a little dirty and make the fight extremely ugly.
I like Hopkins but I hope De la Hoya wins because unfortunately my older brother just happens to be in Oscar's corner. If I didn't share that with my readers I wouldn't be Keeping it Real. With that being said... 'It's Fight Time.'
***It has been reported as we went to post with this piece that Bowe's opponent Lally has pulled out of the fight due to an injury. No replacement has been named at this time.
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2004
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By Jeff Mayweather (August 25, 2004) 
