On This page I will preview some of the up and coming heavyweight fights of interest and maybe as time goes on I may move on to

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On This page I will preview some of the up and coming heavyweight fights of interest and maybe as time goes on I may move on to predicting some of the big fights outside of the heavyweight division.

If anyone wishes to make there own predictions and Email them to me then i will post them on the site and see how things go, maybe if there is enough interest I will start up a predictions tournament and league table.

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Anyway on with the predictions...

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Fight 4 : Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Saturday March 01st 2003.

John Ruiz V Roy Jones Jr.

So here we go again and another fighter from the lighter weights makes the jump to Heavyweight, a jump that many before have tried and failed, including greats like Billy Conn, Archie Moore and Bob Foster. Jones has already established his place in boxing history and is a former Middleweight, Super Middleweight and current Light Heavyweight Champion. John Ruiz is the little known WBA Champion who has the unenviable task or trying to contain the sper fast, super slick Roy Jones Jr.

Roy Jones Jr.

Roy Jones Jr is already a ring legend, he is a three weight champion who brings into the ring an outstanding 47-1 (38 ko) record, his only loss came via a 9th round disqualification to US Olympian Montell Griffin (then 26-0) Jones however was ahead in a close fight and the dq came as he floored the stubborn Griffin and then hit him while down on the canvas, the loss was reversed five months later by Jones with a one round destruction of Griffin. During his outsatnding ring career Jones has already defeated such fighters as, Bernard Hopkins, Thomas Tate, James Toney, Vinny Pazienza, Mike McCallum, Virgil Hill, ansd Reggie Johnson. He has also had an amazing 22 Championship fights, He now ventures into new territory though and the Heavyweights may be an entireley different story and John Ruiz may well be his biggest and toughest test to date.

John Ruiz Defeats Kirk Johnson.

John Ruiz is the little known WBA Heavyweight champion is probably best known for his 0:19 second loss to David Tua, Ruiz though has rebounded well since that setback and now sports a good 38-4-1 (27 Ko's) record. Ruiz recentley scored a good win over the previously unbeaten Canadien Kirk Johnson and before that had a three fight series with ageing heavyweight legend Evander Holyfield, Ruiz lost, won and drew to Holyfield (in that order) and also in that series proved his toughness.The main intangible in this fight is what happens when Ruiz hits Jones and how Jones reacts to a heavyweight punch, i personally think Jones is too fast and too smart and that Ruiz simply doesnt know enough to beat Jones, i can see Jones boxing on the outside and moving in to unload his combinations on Ruiz then getting out, also Ruiz is too slow of foot to be able to trap Jones. I think Roy will start cautiously and the fight may be close for four or five rounds, once jones gets his confidence however i can see him dominating the second half of the fight and boxing his way to a clear unaanimous decision and becoming the new WBA heavyweight champion of the world.

PREDICTION : Roy Jones Jr WU 12 John Ruiz.

RESULT : Will Appear Here After The Fight.

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Fight 3 : The Pyramid, Memphis, Tennessee.

Saturday February 22nd 2003.

Mike Tyson V Clifford Etienne.

So here we have a very interesting fight as the Tyson show rolls on with yet another comeback, this fight has been overshadowed by the many goings on outside of the ring and the fight has been on, off and on again, we have also seen Tyson sack a trainer, have another walk out on him and the charade with him getting the facial tatoo which has caused him to miss much of his training. After all this though the fight does now go ahead.

Clifford 'The Black Rhino' Etienne In Action.

Clifford Etienne is a potentially very tough opponent for Mike Tyson and he does have some reasonable wins on his record, most noteabley his decision over USA Olymipc representative and former amatuer star Lawrence Clay-Bey, he also has reasonable wins against Tyson clone Cliff Couser, Terrence Lewis and a draw with Frans Botha, the knock on Etienne however is his seven knockdown loss (KO by 8) by Fres Oquendo, this however was the result of a shot to the temple which Etienne seemed stunned early by and he never recover from this shot. He did however take some big shots to the chin against Botha even though he was dropped twice in that fight also. The big risk for Etienne is Tyson starting fast and nailing him early. Clifford MUST survive the first four rounds without damage to have a chance at wining the fight.

Tyson Is Knocked Out Aftera A Crushing Right Hand From Lennox Lewis.

Mike Tyson's preperation for this fight has hardly been ideal, the fight has been off and on and there has been the sacking of trainers, trainers walking out and the now famous tattoo saga. Also Tyson's recent ring performances are severley in question and has the fight with Lewis had lasting effects, a look at Tyson's recent ring record reveals a lot. Since 1990 Tyson has fought just 18 times (hardly very active) and his record in that time is a very mediocre. 12 wins 4 losses and 2 no contests, he has also only won FOUR of his last NINE fights and has been stopped TWICE in this period. Because of this i am going to stick my neck out and say that despite the early risk of a quick Tyson KO, Clifford will survive and win an upset decision after frustrating Tyson with his style and workrate.

PREDICTION : Clifford Etienne WU Mike Tyson.

RESULT : Mike Tyson Ko 1 Clifford Etienne.

So is Tyson back??? The jury is still out and this fight tells us little, Mike Tyson looked destructive in the 49 seconds that this fight lasted but Etienne commited suicide in the ring, i have no idea what he was thinking but trying to trade with Tyson and beat him at his own game was crazy. The last thing a fighter loses is his punch and no matter how far back Tyson has gone he can still hit! However i still think this makes no difference in a rematch with Lewis and he will go pretty much the same way as last time...Probably quicker BUT for now the Mike Tyson keeps on rolling.

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Fight 2 : Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Saturday December 14th 2002.

Evander "Real Deal" Holyfield V Chris Byrd.

An interesting match on Saturday sees a 40 year old Evander Holyfield try to yet again regain a portion of the heavyweight crown. Winning the IBF crown against Byrd would make Holyfield a five time champion. Holyfied is coming off a good eight round technical desision win over Hasim Rahman in June, the fight was stopped due to a horrendous swelling on Rahman's head (see pic below). Rahman claimed the swelling was due to Holyfied butting him, that said however Rahman was fighting Holyfield's fight and Evander looked well in command and in the fight Evander proved he can still be competative agaist the divisions younger men.

The Awful Swelling To Hasim Rahman's Head That Caused The Stoppage Against Evander Holyfield.

Chris Byrd's last fight was a third round knockout of journeyman Jeff Pegues which doesn't really mean a lot, his previous fight however was one of the biggest wins of his career when he outscored the very dangerous David Tua over twelve rounds, other notable fights for Byrd are against both the Klitschko brothers, Chris beat Vitali when he quit in his corner after nine rounds with a shoulder injury and he was later outscored by Wladimar over twelve rounds, Chris also has some reasonablewins against the likes of Maurice Harris, Eliecer Castillo, Phil Jackson and Bert Cooper and has proven he can fight, his only other defeat came against Ike Ibeabuchi.

This fight really comes down to how much Evander Holyfield still has left, Evander has proven time and time again that he can overcome the odds and win the fights he isn't supposed to. Evander has also fought just about everyone in the division over the last 14 years and has proved what a warrior he is. Saturdays fight with Byrd however is going to be very very difficult for Evander to win, Byrd is a tricky southpaw with fast hands who doesn't like getting involved in wars and fiddles his way through many fights. He is in some ways a modern version of 70s spoiler Jimmy Young and frustrates his opponents in a similar way. I really would like see Evander beat Byrd and then retire as the IBF champion and it would be a fitting end to a great career if he could do that. However i think that at this age Evander will be too slow to land anything worthwhile on Byrd and that Chris will box his way to a dull desicion victory.

PREDICTION : Chris Byrd WU12 Evander Holyfield.

RESULT : Chris Byrd WU12 Evander Holyfield

Well a pretty predictable outcome to this fight, although a slightly more entertaining fight than i had expected from Byrd. Maybe its now time for Evander to finally call it a day on a great career. Its not that Evander is no longer competative its simply that he is now getting beaten and struggling with fighters that a few years ago he would have beaten. Evander did put up a good effort and did land some reasonable punches on Byrd, but he simply didn't land enough, a good fight but it was Byrd's night and with Lewis beating Tyson convincingly earlier in the year and Evander losing this fight to Byrd and with Lennox himself edging closer to the end of his own career maybe now the division is changing and is in transition and its maybe now time for fighters like the Klitschko brothers and Chris Byrd to step out of the shadows and into the limelight and start a new era in the Heavyweight division.

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FIGHT 1 : Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.

December 7th 2002.

Wladimir 'Steelhammer" Klitschko V Jameel "Big Time" McCline.

To be honest I haven't had much opportunity to see a lot of Jameel McCline, I have however seen plenty of both the Klitschko brothers. I had seen both the Klitschko brothers bowling over the usual diet of stiffs, has beens and never were's in there early career fights and to be honest i wasn't overly impressed with what i saw, yes they were physically impresive but they were also slow, predictable and lacked movement. Consequentley I was not surprised when both brothers were beaten (Wladimir by Ross Purrity and Vitali by Chris Byrd). I was however very impressed by the way both brothers came back from those defeats and how they have progressed in the last couple of years. Wladimir has looked good in beating some decent opposition, the likes of, Monte Barrett KO7, Derrick Jefferson KO2, Charlie Shufford KO6, Frans Botha KO8 and most recently Ray Mercer KO6. None of these heavies were really genuine top 10 contenders, but all were reasonable fighters and all were beaten with ease. To my mind Wladimir Klitschko has improved 100%.

Onto Jameel McCline, Like i said i haven't had the pleasure of seeing a great deal of McCline as his fights have not had much TV coverage here in the UK. The latest fight with Shannon Briggs was shown and i was quite impressed without being bowled over by what i saw, McCline showed good poise and a good jab but for me never really let his hands go enough, i have also seen the "brief" encounter with Michael Grant. McCline looks physically impressive and has a good jab and seems to have reasonable power, what is worrying though is a first round KO loss in his second pro fight to Gary Bell, if Bell's power can do this then what can Klitschko's do?

For me this is a fight that has probably come a couple of fights too early for McCline, I feel Klitschko just has a little too much experience for McCline right now and I think he will sense there is a genuine threat from McCline and will box accordingly, I think Klitschko will use his long jab and box on the outside while using his right hand behind to dishearten Jameel if he comes too close, if McCline does actually open up with his big punches and let his hands "go" then i think he can cause Klitschko some real problems and has a chance of causing an upset. This however is unlikley and i think Wladimir will box his way to a comfortable points win, this fight should go some way to telling us how ready Klitschko is to challenge Lennox Lewis.

PREDICTION : Wladimir Klitschko WU 12 Jameel McCline.

RESULT : Klitschko Ko 10 Jameel McCline.

Well a reasonable start with the predictions, I wasn't too far off the mark with the way I thought that Vladimir would fight and as I thought he got behind the jab and was pretty respectful of McCline. As for McCline he too was pretty much what I expected and I still have the same critisism of him that i had following the Briggs fight, he simply doesn't throw enough punches or let his hands go enough.

As for the result, I did think that McCline would probably hear the final bell and allthough it wasn't an outstanding performance by Klitschko I give him credit for stopping a pretty reasonable opponent in McCline. All in All, Another pretty good win for Klitschko as he maybe heads towards a clash with Lennox Lewis.

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