Preview Analysis: Wayne Braithwaite vs. Guillermo Jones.

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In New York City, Labor Day signifies more than just the end of summer. It signifies the commencement of the celebration of West Indian culture. In the annual Labor Day Parade in Brooklyn, New York, every country in the West Indies has a float in the huge Caribbean festival. To say that these floats are big is an understatement. They are huge as well as colorful. Two of the more popular floats to cruise down Eastern Parkway are the Guyanese and Panamanian floats. New York has a large Guyanese population, especially in Brooklyn and in Queens. And who can forget about the large Latino population in New York City. It seems that people forget that Panamanians contribute to that statistic. Don’t believe me, check the census bureau. With such irony surrounding this great weekend of pride, it’s only fitting that the two biggest names in the cruiserweight division square off this Saturday. It seems to me that both the Guyanese and Panamanian ‘floats’ are about to collide head on.

The former W.B.C. cruiserweight champion Wayne “Big Truck” Braithwaite is making his first return since losing the belt to Jean-Marc Mormeck back in April of this year. In a bout that clearly showed that Wayne had to make some serious adjustments, beginning with size and ending with conditioning. As well as everything else in between, such as timing, defense and ring awareness. As we hit the rewind button and turn back the hands of time, we look back at the fight with Mormeck momentarily. “Big Truck” seemed more like a “small tricycle.” Braithwaite weighed in at 188-pounds, Mormeck weighed in 208-pounds. The night of the fight Braithwaite weighed 191-pounds, Mormeck weighed 208-pounds. It wasn’t a coincidence that every time Braithwaite and Mormeck clinched, Braithwaite looked as if he was being outweighed by almost twenty pounds. Wayne was constantly switching from conventional to southpaw and vice versa. In the midst of switching he got caught and paid dearly for it.

Click for larger image © Edwin Gonzalez

Nothing went right for Wayne that night, he couldn’t stay off the ropes and his defense was his great chin. Boxing is supposed to be hitting and not getting hit. And as you saw the fight progress into the later rounds, Mormeck tired out, and Braithwaite had nothing. This fight was up for grabs in the championship rounds and Wayne had nothing. So as we hit the fast forward button, and look ahead to the future, Wayne walks around now at 200-pounds. He no longer has Colin Morgan as his trainer and has hired fellow countryman Lennox Blackmore. Blackmore was Wayne’s original trainer back home in Guyana.

As Braithwaite went back to the drawing board, luckily for him the lack of ‘stars’ in the cruiserweight division allowed him to stay in contention. In a bout that is for the number one spot in the W. B. A. and the I. B. F. Braithwaite stated, “I made the changes that I had to make. I have a new trainer now; you will see a different person than what you saw April 2. No more trash talk, I’ll let my fists do the speaking. The old “Big Truck” is back.” As I have said on many occasions before only time will tell, we just have to wait and see.

Wayne’s opponent is far from being a slouch. Guillermo Jones may not be your typical household name; rest assured that there is a reason why this Panamanian is fighting to become the mandatory to either Mormeck or O’Neil Bell. At thirty-three-years-of age Jones is a five-division veteran. He started out at welterweight, and then progressed to junior middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and now cruiserweight. Jones, nicknamed “El Felino” sports a record of 32-3-2, 25 KO’s. Jones has proven physically well suited to the weight, and he has proven that he can give and take a punch each time he goes up in weight. Of his three losses, I can testify to one.

In the bout against Steve Cunningham which was on the under-card of the night of the cruiserweights (Braithwaite-Mormeck) there was no question Jones was ‘jobbed.’ Cunningham had no rhythm the entire night. Jones capitalized on the mistakes Steven made. In return, he got a split decision loss. One of the judges had him up by four points. If that isn’t weird then I don’t know what is. If he was ever discouraged, he did an excellent job in hiding it from the public. Approximately seven weeks later Jones knocked out former IBF champion Kelvin Davis in four rounds. Oh, and who can forget the controversy heard around the world when he was “robbed of the WBO title when they called his fight with Johnny Nelson a draw?’ Most ringsiders as well as the magazines had Jones wining easily. “El Felino” has earned his stripes to be here. He just didn’t come out of nowhere. If you ask me, I say it’s about time that he finally gets his due. Everyone is going to see why he deserves to be on television more often. The boy can fight and you can bet your bottom dollar that he is coming to fight.

This fight is going to come down to who can dictate the tempo of the fight. Look for Jones to try to set the tone by trying to overpower Braithwaite by smothering him, thus taking away his reach. You can expect Wayne to try to box in the middle of the ring using his 1-2 combination followed by a patented body assault. Lennox Blackmore is known to teach his fighter’s to counter, so expect to see Braithwaite counter on the inside with some uppercuts. This is a very interesting fight that might go either way.

I am picking Wayne Braithwaite to win via a unanimous decision. I say eight rounds to four. 116-112 or 116-111. I think Wayne’s boxing skills will be too much for Guillermo to handle. And if he has to chase Braithwaite around to get to him then the better it is for “Big Truck” and Jones’ chances of winning diminish. I believe Wayne when he says he has made the changes he had to make. So with Mormeck lurking behind the scenes “Big Truck” cruises to victory. This is the perfect tune up for Jean-Marc Mormeck; we are all eager to see the rematch.

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Luckily, there is a day of grace between the fight and the parade. So hopefully, there will be ample time for each party to bury the hatchet and put their differences to the side. Who knows maybe they will go to the parade together. But for now I say let’s fight! Enjoy.

Contact Edwin Gonzalez at prpapa427@aol.com