Showtime Quick Picks

Rances Barthelemy vs. Fernando Saucedo: When a Showtime card is headlined by a fight between Rances Barthelemy (20-0, 12 KO) and Fernando Saucedo (52-5-3, 8 KO) you know it isn't going to have fans very excited.  Not that either fighter is bad, in fact Barthelemy is a top five junior lightweight.  However this card is one that you would expect to see on ShoBox: The New Generation not regular Showtime which is the reason it is getting the quick pick treatment instead of a full fight preview.  Barthelemy and Saucedo will do battle for 12 rounds in the junior lightweight division for Barthelemy's IBF title.  Barthelemy is a very talented Cuban fighter who fights out of the orthodox stance.  He has a good jab and likes to shoot it from his hip  He also moves around the ring well and can fight in the center of the ring or on the ropes.  Barthelemy style is that of a boxer puncher and he has good power on his left hook and overhand right.  Defensively Barthelemy is also good and an impressive win tonight could earn him a shot at another junior lightweight title holder.  As for Saucedo he too is a good defensive fighter and has never been knocked out.  However Saucedo also has absolutely no power which is obvious by him only scoring eight knockouts in fifty-two wins.  Saucedo has a good jab and its a punch he likes to throw a lot of.  Saucedo's hand speed is very good and he throws a lightning fast left hook and overhand right but the problem is that there is no power behind those punches.  While Saucedo is slick and could make it a tough night for Barthelemy he doesn't have enough power to earn the Cuban's respect.  Barthelemy won't score the knockout tonight but he will win convincingly by the way of unanimous decision.  

 
Vanes Martirosyan vs. Willie Nelson: The most intriguing fight of the night features two fighters whose careers seems to be stuck in neutral.  They are Vanes Martirosyan (34-1-1, 21 KO) and Willie Nelson (23-1-1, 13 KO).  The two fighters are scheduled to go 10 rounds in the junior middleweight division and both need a win.  Martirosyan is a talented fighter who seems to be plagued by a lack of excitement and scoring draws and losses at the most inopportune times like when he fought Erislandy Lara and Demetrius Andrade.  Martirosyan is an orthodox fighter with a good jab and good ring movement.  Along with that he also throws a solid overhand right and while he does have a left hook it isn't all that impressive even though it was the punch he dropped Andrade with.  Martirosyan is a good defensive fighter and while a big puncher can drop him he has never been stopped in the ring.  As for Nelson it seems like he has been a prospect for a long time now and it is also criminal that he doesn't use a Willie Nelson song title as his nickname.  The problem for Nelson is that he is being brought along very slowly and still hasn't taken that next step up in competition.  Nelson is a lanky fighter with a very long reach which gives him a good jab and straight right hand.  However also because of his long reach his left hook comes in very long and he tends to get smothered on the inside.  Defensively Nelson is solid but he has been dropped a handful of times although he has never been stopped.  This fight should resemble a chess match more than a war and while it may not be very exciting for casual fans it will showcase the sweet science.  This is a toss up fight but one that Martirosyan should win via split decision.


Chad Dawson vs. Tommy Karpency: It was only two years ago that Chad Dawson (32-3, 18 KO) was the lineal light heavyweight champion of the world.  Then things took a terrible turn for his career when he came down in weight to fight Andre Ward who is the number one super middleweight in the sport.  Ward absolutely dominated Dawson before ultimately stopping him in the 10th round.  Next Dawson faced off against slugger Adonis Stevenson who brutally knocked Dawson out in the very first round taking his status as lineal light heavyweight champion with him.  Following that loss Dawson took a year off before stepping back in the ring and scoring a 1st round knockout of journeyman George Blades.  Now Dawson will go 10 rounds in the light heavyweight division against another journeyman Tommy Karpency (23-4-1, 14 KO) who is a fighter who has lost all of his step up fights.  Karpency has lost to Karo Murat, Nathan Cleverly, and Andrzej Fonfara and should have his hands full against Dawson.  While Dawson is nowhere near the fighter he once was and probably never will be he should still handle a fighter like Karpency easily.  Dawson still has a good jab from the southpaw stance and he still doesn't open up much offensively instead he chooses his spots to attack.  As for Karpency who is great at anything.  He is a southpaw with a decent jab and nice straight left hand but he isn't ready for a fighter like Dawson who will win this fight on the scorecards by a wide margin by the way of unanimous decision.