Preview Analysis: Cotto-Abdulaev vs. Tyson-McBride.

June 11, remember that date. Two big bills in two major U.S. cities on the same night at the same time. One, in the political capital of the U.S., is relying on the names of two great ex heavyweight champions to bring the fans in while the other bill, in Madison Square Garden, chooses to rely on some great match-ups, although none of the headliners comes from the U.S. itself. Here are the fights, and the fighters scheduled so far for the two bills.

Washington, District Of Columbia.

Heavyweight: Mike Tyson vs. Kevin McBride. Super middleweight: Laila Ali vs. Erin Toughill. Welterweight: Sharmba Mitchell vs. Chris Smith. Light welterweight: Nick Casal against some poor fool. Flyweight: Hussein Hussein vs. Isidro Perez.

OK, so the first two bouts ain’t everyone’s cup of tea, but kudos to Mitchell for choosing a tough first opponent at welterweight. Smith should provide a good gauge for Sharmba after his devastating loss to Kostya and you can expect a unanimous decision for Mitchell if he is still at even eighty-percent of where he was a year ago.

Hussein vs. Sid Perez is a strange fight. Perez was pretty good fifteen-years-ago but is now in his forties, and has not fought for eight years. How did this one pass? Hussein needed a gimme after his war with Jorge Arce but this is stretching it a bit.

Nick Casal is yet another addition to the burgeoning light welterweight ranks, bringing a record of ten wins and ten knockouts. He hails from Niagara Falls, New York, born the day after Tyson scored his fifteenth KO, December 28 1985.

Ali vs. Toughill is another bout in the showcase named ALI. Erin has a 6-1 record with a no contest against Jacqui Frazier. No contest pretty much sums up this bout! The only fight out there for Ali is Anne Wolfe, but seeing as Ali’s manager is also her husband, I do not think we will be seeing her pretty face dodging those destructive fists very soon.

The main event shows Tyson fighting a man once stopped by Louis Monaco, Axel Schulz, Michael Murray and DaVarryl Williamson. Between them, Monaco and Murray have fifty-five losses. Nuff said. Now onto the real fights of the night.

Madison Square Garden, New York, New York.

Light welterweight: Miguel Angel Cotto vs. Mohamad Abdulaev. Lightweight: Joel Casamayor vs. Almazbek Raiymkulov. Middleweight: John Duddy vs. Victor Lares. Light welterweight: Arturo Morales vs. Henry Bruseles. And in other action, super bantamweight Juan Manuel Lopez, heavyweight Victor Bisbal and middleweight Kelly Pavlik will all appear in fights against opponents as yet undetermined.

This is THE bill. Cotto-Abdulaev has the potential to be a great, great match-up. I rate the Uzbek’s chances highly (which is a kiss of death, straight off), although do not read too much into Abdulaev’s amateur victory over Cotto, as the last guy using that one (Kelson Pinto) was sent back to Brazil with a loss and hasn’t been heard of since. Still only twenty-four, Cotto is still considered the heir apparent to Tszyu by many and needs a good win to re-establish himself after the shakiest moments of his career so far against DeMarcus Corley last time out. Let’s hope he is concentrating fully on this bout and not the Puerto Rico Parade the next day.

Casamayor is in another tough bout against another very good prospect. Has he now become a stepping-stone for the title? This fight will show us, as “Kid Diamond” is very much a live prospect and was extremely impressive against fellow unbeaten contender Koba Gogoladze last time out. A tough one to pick.

Duddy is an Irish middleweight and has nine knockouts in as many fights, seven in the first round. His opponent has a 10-1 record and wants to be a champion himself. A good outing and a brave choice by both managers.

Juan Manuel Lopez and Victor Bisbal are fine Puerto Rican prospects with a 3-0 (three straightfirst round knockouts) and 2-0 records respectively.

Arturo Morales is a Mexican prospect taking a step up in class against recent Floyd Mayweather Jr. victim Bruseles, who is looking to force his way back into the crowded light welterweight scene.

Rounding up the show is Ohio’s Pavlik who is starting to make some waves in the middleweight division. Whether his six-foot-three-inch frame will stay there is another matter but at just twenty-three, he has plenty of time to develop into a good-sized light heavyweight. His last bout saw a two round blow out of the normally durable Dorian Beaupierre, who drew twice with recent Jermain Taylor victim, Daniel Edouard.

You can expect a full house in the Mecca, especially with all the Puerto Rican prospects on the bill. Here in the U.S. we have a choice as to which fight card to watch. Anyone guessing which channel I will be watching?

Rupert Wricklemarsh can be reached at taansend@yahoo.com