Lightweight Tournament!! Let's Talk

[C-Lo]

It's finalized! There is going to be a Card held in Texas on April 4th called "Lightweight Lightning." It is going to be an HBO Pay-Per-View event.

The fights include:

Edwin Valero-Antonio Pitalua (for the interim WBC lightweight title)
Michael Katsidis-Jesus Chavez
Jorge Barrios-Carlos Hernandez
Joel Casamayor-Julio Diaz

Once the winners are determined, they will be paired up again for semi-final fights, and so on until there is one fighter left.

Eventually, the plans are to get the winner of the Juan Manuel Marquez vs Juan Diaz involved in the action at some point.

[kingfrnk]

I read about this last night, Im excited that its in Texas ima try to go.

[killersheep]

I guarantee at least two of these fights don't happen. If it does go off correctly that would be great.

[Lance Uppercut]

Dan Rafael reported that if Edwin Valero wins, he is not obligated to continue the tournament and very well may opt for a different fight, since he is a Top Rank fighter.

otherwise, it is a neat PPV concept.

[JonnyFolds]

Why the hell would we pay to see a all these guys fight?

Casamayor - finito, well past his best
Katsidis - needs to get a Win b4 PPV
Jesus Chavez - knee injury will come up again for sure, he 37 and well past prime, too
Barrios - can't win against top level opposition past 6 years
Pitatua - well past prime. how he got that KO last fall I will never know.
Hernandez - same story, too old, too late
Diaz - can't nearly dish out the punishment he can take


So the average age of the fighters is... 33.25... that is rather high imo. I don't see everything working out for all these fighters to be on this card, but I may just have to give in. At least these guys don't quit!

[Violent Demise]

Casamayor beats all them fools

[CutMeMick]

Here's how I see it...

Edwin Valero-Antonio Pitalua = Valero
Michael Katsidis-Jesus Chavez = Kats
Jorge Barrios-Carlos Hernandez = Barrios
Joel Casamayor-Julio Diaz = Casa

Valero - Casa = Valero
Kats - Barrios = Kats

Valero - Kats = Valero

Valero - JMM = JMM

[CutMeMick]

Bump.

[CutMeMick]

Here's how I see it...

Edwin Valero-Antonio Pitalua = Valero
Michael Katsidis-Jesus Chavez = Kats
Jorge Barrios-Carlos Hernandez = Barrios
Joel Casamayor-Julio Diaz = Casa

Valero - Casa = Valero
Kats - Barrios = Kats

Valero - Kats = Valero

Valero - JMM = JMM

Making the changes to my picks in fights that fell through.

Valero
Kats
Escobedo
Diaz

[:::PSL:::]

Here's how I see it...

Edwin Valero-Antonio Pitalua = Valero
Michael Katsidis-Jesus Chavez = Kats
Jorge Barrios-Carlos Hernandez = Barrios
Joel Casamayor-Julio Diaz = Casa

Valero - Casa = Valero
Kats - Barrios = Kats

Valero - Kats = Valero

Valero - JMM = JMM

Making the changes to my picks in fights that fell through.

Valero
Kats
Escobedo
Diaz

You're 0-1 so far.

[:::PSL:::]

Escobedo is getting bullied. And Hernandez got floored.

Crap!

[:::PSL:::]

He got KD again in 2nd round

[OumaFan]

I've gotta plead ignorance on Pitalau, I don't know if I've ever even seen the guy fight, he's probably fought on some of those Spanish networks that I don't get.

Just by going on boxrec which is buggy as hell so I didn't even seen the bottom half of his record he's got stoppage wins over Santa Cruz, Soto Karrass, loss to Grigorian, and with 40 KO's in 46 fights he must have a fairly serious dig and its not like Valero's impossible to hit.

What's his style like if anybody knows, is he fast, defense any good?

I don't really like Valero. Basically I'm just trying to see if I should get my hopes up.

The title question is a bit silly, of course he could beat Valero, is it remotely likely is more like it?

[holmcall]

Yes, he can pop. But he must come in with straight shots bewteen Valero's wide stuff. Like JML did with Ponce de leon. That's his best and likely only shot. And he needs to do it early. This one has the potential to be another Meza-Garza. Do not blink or go to the reefer.

[holmcall]

Antonio Pitalua, a Colombian who lives in and does all of his fighting out of Mexico City has a record of 46 (KO 40)-3 and a lofty KO percentage of 81.63. Twenty-nine of his stoppage wins have come in three rounds or less. He has stopped his last fourteen opponents in a row including the highly regarded Jose Armando Santa Cruz. He is 38 years old and won the interim version of the WBC lightweight title with an impressive sixth round upset win over the much younger Santa Cruz.

In 2001, he lost a SD to tough Arnulfo “Chico” Castillo, 33-1-3 coming in, and in 2000, he dropped a close twelve round decision in Germany to Artur Grigorian, 30-0 at the time. At stake was the WBO lightweight title. One of his early victories came against Cosme Rivera who gave Andre Berto all he could handle. Another came against Saul “Baby” Duran, but mostly his opposition has been less than stellar. Still, an 82% KO percentage is nothing to sneeze at. Make no mistake, Pitalua can throw bricks

He was stopped by Jesus Rodriquez back in 1995 in a fight for the WBC Continental Americas lightweight title, but that was 13 years ago. Neither fighter will add many rounds to his record in this one; bet on it!