Weekend of Boxing From Around the Globe

By Crafty Stan

TYSON FURY V JOHN MCDERMOTT



British Heavyweight Title Eliminator. Brentwood, UK. Friday 25th June 2010 22:30 BST

These two fighters were involved in an absolute war last year in what was surely one of the British fights of the year but unfortunately the contest was marred with controversy in terms of the scoring of referee Terry O'Connor who ruled in favour of Tyson Fury 98-92. Now I don't believe Fury winning was necessarily a robbery but I do believe that a scorecard of that margin was a complete farce. I had it as 96-94 to John McDermott as I felt he pressed for most of the fight, landed cleanly more often and deserved to edge a decision but I wouldn't have complained at a slight Fury win.

Fury was ill prepared for McDermott. He referred to him as 'McMuffin' at the original fight presser and was made to eat his words somewhat as a hungry and determined McDermott gave him a really tough nice at the office. I am not sure I will see McDermott fight as well again as he did that night.

The 12 Round format will probably play a little more into McDermott's hands as he has the experience of going the distance more often and has more big fight experience although he did himself seem fatigued with the ten round distance first time out, like Fury. The experience of the first fight plays far more into Fury's hands in my opinion because he seemed very green and lacked ring craft so it will have been a big learning curve for him whereas 'Big John' has seen it all before and will not likely have learnt anything from the experience.

In terms of power in the ring, Fury holds all the aces and he is the more likely of the two to gain a knockout in this contest if there is to be one. McDermott is a wily veteran though and is tough as nails so a stoppage would be a serious effort though and it may be a wiser ploy to use his physical advantages (Fury being 6 ft 9 to McDermott 6 foot 3) to pick up points in the early rounds to give himself a cushion in case of a late rally from Big John.

With youth on his side and lessons learnt first time around I go for Fury to take a hard earned points victory. He looks the leaner and more talented of the two and is likely to progress the further out of the two in the grand scheme of things. McDermott has probably reached his ceiling.

RECOMMENDATION - 2 Points on Fury by Decision/Technical Decision @ 2.87 (Stan James)


JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ JR V JOHN DUDDY



WBC Middleweight Title Eliminator. San Antonio, Texas, US. Saturday 26th June 03:00 BST

In what has been a much hyped career to date tough Irishman John Duddy goes into what will be a massively hostile crowd, with the support completely in favour of his opponent. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr has managed to get himself up to a decent level without really doing a whole hell of a lot in his career to date in that his record seems completely padded and filled with absolute fodder. It is clear that the great Chavez fighting name has its clear advantages here.

My problem here for Duddy is that I cannot see him possessing the power to knock out a granite chinned Chavez, and in all likelihood the atmosphere in the arena will hamper the judges in their decision making so I'm struggling to see where he wins this fight. This is despite the fact that I see them as being fairly evenly matched.

John Duddy has never been knocked down in his career so I find it hard to see that Chavez will have enough here to set a precedent, so in all likelihood we are going to go to the scorecards. Taking the setting into consideration and edge in experience I lean towards Chavez getting the nod on points. Duddy will come forward relentlessly but will get tagged on the way in so Chavez will more than likely take any close rounds. I make this in the region of an even money shout so the 2.25 available appeals.

RECOMMENDATION - 2 points on Chavez by Points @ 2.25 (William Hill)

Have a fun and profitable weekend fight fans.

Crafty Stan