CBS Quick Picks

Anthony Dirrell vs. Marco Antonio Rubio: It isn't often that boxing heads get to enjoy their favorite sport on Sunday but this week they can do just that.  CBS will air another PBC card, this one headlined by Anthony Dirrell (27-1-1, 22 KO) taking on Marco Antonio Rubio (59-7-1, 51 KO).  The two fighters are scheduled to go 10 rounds in the super middleweight division and both are coming off losses.  Dirrell who last fight resulted in the first loss of his career was outpointed by Badou Jack in a very close fight.  Meanwhile, Rubio who is a true veteran turned in a horrible performance against the devastating Gennady Golovkin.  This fight is really about Dirrell getting back in the mix near the top of the super middleweight division while Rubio will simply be looking to continue his career a bit longer.  Dirrell is an orthodox fighter with a pretty good jab that he will follow up with a strong right hand.  This fight will be an important one for the talented Dirrell because he has gone 1-1-1 in his past three fights and back-to-back losses can really hurt a fighter who doesn't have a very well established fan base.  Rubio is also an orthodox fighter and he has a ton of power.  Rubio likes to fight with his lead hand low and will often go to the body with his left and then bring a powerful right hand behind it upstairs.  However, Rubio has never had very fast hands and against Golovkin he looked like a shot fighter, although to be fair Golovkin has made many opponents look bad.  The smart thing for Dirrell to do in this fight is play it safe.  Rubio is a serious puncher so Dirrell won't want to trade heavy leather.  Instead look for Dirrell to use his youth and quickness to stay on the outside where he can stick and move in an attempt to outbox Rubio.  For his part Rubio will probably look to get in close and rough things up but if the same Rubio who fought Golovkin comes into the ring on Sunday expect Dirrell to have an easy time.  Rubio can punch and he definitely has a punchers chance in this fight.  Dirrell, though is a smart fighter and should be able to stick and move all night on his way to a unanimous decision win.


Jamie McDonnell vs. Tomoki Kameda: Sunday afternoon's co-feature will be a rematch of a May, 2015 fight between Jamie McDonnell (26-2-1, 12 KO) and Tomoki Kameda (31-1, 19 KO).  This fight is scheduled to go 12 rounds and McDonnell's "regular" WBA bantamweight title will be on the line.  Their first fight is a fringe Fight of the Year candidate and ended with McDonnell getting the unanimous decision victory by a score of 114-113 on all three judges scorecards.  McDonnell is an orthodox fighter who loves to work his jab, and the reason is because he has a very good one.  McDonnell will pump that jab all night and likes to stay on the outside where he can land his straight right hand.  When he is forced in close McDonnell will use his left hook and does a pretty good job of landing uppercuts but he is clearly better when he is able to stay on the outside.  Kameda is like many Japanese fighters who have journeyed over to the States in that he is very aggressive and doesn't seem to mind eating two punches to land one of his own.  Kameda's defense will not be confused as good but he shows a lot of heart in the ring and never stops coming forward.  The Japanese fighter has a solid left hook and a quick right hand that snapped McDonnell's head back numerous times in their first fight.  In that first fight Kameda was landing the heavier leather but it was McDonnell who was throwing more punches and his punches were much more accurate.  The problem for Kameda was that he didn't use his jab much at all and McDonnell was continuously able to pick him off with his own jab on his way in.  If Kameda can slip McDonnell's jab, get inside and land power punches he should be able to win the fight and could even stop McDonnell.  However, McDonnell won the first fight on not much more than his jab, accuracy, and movement and he will be able to do the same on Sunday afternoon for another razor close win, this time by the way of split decision.