Boxing in December, A Month To Remember?

Steve Waters takes a look at some of the bigger fights in the final month of 2014 and makes his picks.

 

Gabriel Rosado vs. David Lemieux

TV – HBO Boxing

Venue – Barclays Center NYC, New York

 

Having not won a fight since 2012, Philly fighter Gabriel Rosado (21-8, 13KOs) will be looking to end his poor run against hard hitting Canadian David Lemieux (32-2, 30KOs) at the Barclays Center on the first weekend of December.  Despite having an extremely high knockout percentage (88%) the Montreal fighter was stopped by limited Marco Antonio Rubio, which indicates to me that his record maybe somewhat padded.  Rosado has a lot of heart and is a rare breed of fighter willing to fight anybody, unfortunately he seems to lose when he is up against any decent competition so this is a really hard one to call, it should be a good tear up though.

 

Pick – I’m going with Rosado to win a close points decision, he has a lot of heart and this really is a must win for him.

 

Jean Pascal vs. Roberto Feliciano Bolonti

TV – PPV iN Demand, DirecTV, DISH $24.95

Venue – Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

 

Light-Heavyweight contender Jean Pascal (29-2, 17KOs) takes part in only his second fight of 2014 against the Argentinian Roberto Feliciano Bolonti (35-3, 24KOs), a guy who lost his last fight against German Juergen Braehmer, he also lost to Tony Bellew earlier in his career and looking at his record this is by far his toughest challenge to-date.  Don’t expect an upset in Canada.

 

Pick – Home-fighter Pascal to win via a large points margin.

 

Ishe Smith vs. Erislandy Lara

TV – Showtime

Venue – Illusions Theater, San Antonio, Texas

 

Cuban Erislandy Lara (19-2, 12KOs) returns to the ring for the first time since losing on points to Canelo Alvarez in July to face Ishe Smith (26-6, 12KOs) in a fight where he not only has to win but also look good in doing so to get himself back into contention with the biggest and best the Light-Middleweight division has to offer because although he lost a close decision to Canelo, his performance didn’t exactly excite, expect him to be more aggressive against Smith.

 

Pick – I’m taking Lara to win comfortably on points

 

Timothy Bradley vs. Diego Gabriel Chaves

TV – HBO

Venue – Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada

 

HBO are taking a risk by giving Diego Chaves (23-2, 19KOs) another chance on American TV after his disgracefully negative previous performance where he was disqualified against Brandon Rios. The Argentine is going up against Timothy Bradley (31-1, 12KOs) who is also coming off a loss, his only (official) one back in April against Manny Pacquiao.  Bradley will hope to put on a good performance in this comeback fight but that might be easier said than done against Chaves’s spoiler tactics.  However he should be slick enough to get the job done.

 

Pick – I fully expect Bradley on points in a messy fight.

 

Amir Khan vs. Devon Alexander

TV – Showtime

Venue – MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada

 

British fighter Amir Khan (29-3, 19KOs) somehow believes he is entitled to a mega pay-day fight against Floyd Mayweather next year.  If that is the case he is taking a huge risk taking on Devon Alexander (26-2, 14KOs) who has only lost to elite competition (Shawn Porter and Timothy Bradley).  Whatever the outcome the referee is going to have a very busy night as these two both love to hold and clinch.

 

Pick – Brit Amir Khan to win on points in an ugly hold-fest. 

 

Adonis Stevenson vs. Dmitry Sukhotsky

TV –  Showtime

Venue – Colisee de Quebec, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

 

“Superman” Adonis Stevenson (24-1, 20KOs) will be hoping to look much better in what should be just a stay-busy fight with Russian Dmitry Sukhotsky (22-2, 16KOs) in Quebec City on a Friday night.  Hopefully this will set up a 2015 fight with Sergey Kovalev, that’s one fight we would all love to see.

 

Pick – This should be fairly straight-forward, Stevenson to win by KO in the later rounds

 

Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Hisashi Amagasa

TV – TBA

Venue – Ota-City General Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan

 

Undefeated 34-year-old Super-Bantamweight champ Guillermo Rigondeaux (14-0, 9KOs) is involved in only his second fight of 2014, on New Years eve in Japan against home fighter Hisashi Amagasa (28-4, 19KOs).  In his previous bout Rigondeaux, somewhat controversially won via a first round KO and as always will be expected to win again and hopefully move onto bigger and better fights in 2015.

 

Pick – I’m going with the Cuban, Rigondeaux on points, winning virtually every round.  

 

Last months picks 5-2