By: William Holmes
It’s common for Showtime or HBO to feature just one world title fight on their world championship boxing telecasts. However, on Saturday, October 20th, 2012 Golden Boy Promotions debuts championship boxing at the just opened Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, with not one, not two, but four world championship fights to be broadcast on Showtime’s Championship Boxing.
This is an incredibly deep card for a non PPV event, and the following is a preview of all four world title fights.
Randall Bailey (43-7) vs. Devon Alexander (23-1); IBF Welterweight Title
Very few boxing analysts picked Randall Bailey to defeat Mike Jones on the Pacquiao vs. Bradley under-card in Las Vegas in June of this year. But Bailey pulled off a major upset when he knocked out Jones in the 11th round, and he now finds himself defending the IBF Welterweight Title against the heralded Devon Alexander.
Bailey is 38-years-old, but as showed in his victory over Mike Jones, he has incredible KO power. 37 of his 43 victories have come by KO or TKO. He is a former two time junior welterweight champion and has fought some formidable competition in his career. His losses have come against Juan Urango, Miguel Cotto, Ishe Smith, and DeMarcus Corley. He’s been boxing since 1996 and has gone 4-0-1 in his last five fights.
Bailey’s last win was an impressive one, but he was behind on the scorecards before he tagged Jones with his feared right hand.
Devon Alexander is another former junior welterweight titlist, and he is considerably younger than Randall Bailey. Alexander had a glittering amateur career and compiled a record of 300-10. He’s a more technical boxer than Bailey and shows much better movement in the ring.
Alexander has faced and defeated tougher competition than Randall Bailey. He’s defeated the likes of Junior Witter, Juan Urango, Andriy Koetlnyk, and Marcos Maidana. His only loss came against Timothy Bradley in January of 2011. He defeated Lucas Matthysse in a bout that many saw Matthysse as the winner.
Randall Bailey was a feel-good story in his last victory, but the joy ride will end for him on Saturday night. Alexander won’t make the same mistake that Mike Jones made, and he should be able to coast to a decision victory.
Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (27-0) vs. Peter Quillin (27-0); WBO Middleweight Title
On paper this bout looks to be the most evenly matched fight of the night.
“Kid Chocolate”, as Peter Quillin likes to go by, has been receiving a lot of hype in the middleweight division and is reaching his prime in his boxing career. Quillin was last seen fighting Winky Wright at the Home Depot Center in California and was able to defeat the crafty veteran by a unanimous decision.
Quillin also has exceptional power in his hands. 20 of his 27 victories have come by way of KO or TKO. He was also able to stop five of his last six opponents, including TKO victories over Craig McEwan and Jesse Brinkley.
N’Dam N’Jikam is the current WBO World Middleweight Champion and is a French-Cameroonian boxer. He competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics.
17 of his 27 victories have come by way of KO or TKO, but his last three fights were won by decision. He defeated Avtandil Khurtsidze to win the WBO middleweight title. Even though he is the middleweight champion, he has not faced the “big name” opponents to get him recognized in the United States. His last victory was a decision victory over an undefeated Max Bursak in his native France.
The biggest red flag on N’Dam N’Jikam’s record is the fact that he has never fought outside of Europe and has never fought on US television. Quillin will be a big test for him, and it’s a test that I don’t expect him to pass.
Paulie Malignaggi (31-4) vs. Pablo Cesar Cano (25-1); WBA Welterweight Title
Paulie Malignaggi resurrected his seemingly dead career with a shocking and unexpected 9th round TKO over former WBA Welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko in April of this year.
What made it even more impressive was that Malignaggi was able to stop a current world champion. He only has seven KOs or TKOs on his record and he is not known for his power.
Malignaggi fought most of his career as a junior welterweight, and he left the division after a 11th round TKO loss to Amir Khan in May of 2010. The move up in weight was good for Malignaggi as he has been undefeated since the jump and is the current WBA World Champion.
This will be the first fight in the welterweight division for Pablo Cesar Cano. He’s fought most of his career as a junior welterweight and actually won the interim WBA World Light Welterweight Title.
However, his record is paper thin and he’s a big underdog against Malignaggi in Malignaggi’s home town. The only time Cano fought someone of note was in September of 2011, when Erik Morales defeated him by a 10th round TKO.
Malignaggi will likely win another decision on Saturday night. If Ricky Hatton is successful in his return fight in November, a rematch between the two may be in the works.
Danny Garcia (24-0) vs. Erik Morales (52-8); WBC/WBA Junior Welterweight Title
Erik Morales is a legend and he will definitely be in the Hall of Fame one day. However, Morales does not deserve a rematch for a world title belt.
This is a rematch of their March 2012 fight at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas, that Garcia clearly won with scores of 117-110, 116-112, and 118-109. Morales is actually 1-2 in his last three fights. He also lost by majority decision to Marcos Maidana in April of 2009 in his first real test in the junior welterweight division.
Let’s be honest, Morales is getting this title shot on name only. He’s 36-years-old, and he is 4-6 in his last 10 fights. Granted, he used to dominate the super bantamweight, featherweight, and super featherweight divisions, but he has done nothing recently to deserve a second shot at a junior welterweight title.
Danny Garcia, however, has been on fire. He was a 2006 U.S. national champion as an amateur and has yet to taste defeat as a professional. He has 15 KO or TKO’s out of his 24 victories, but he really showed his power in his defeat of favored Amir Khan in July of this year. He was able to withstand the pressure applied by Khan and take his best shots and knock him down three times before scoring the TKO victory.
Garcia also had little problem defeating Erik Morales even when Morales failed to make weight, and he’s also defeated the likes of Kendall Holt, Nate Campbell, and Mike Arnaoutis.
Garcia should have no problems defeating Morales again. A fight against Zab Judah in Brooklyn would have been a better choice and a tougher opponent.
