PAST PREDICTIONS ________________________________________________________________________________ Antonio Tarver (24-3) vs Bernard Hopkins (46-4-1) June 10 - Atlantic City PPV In what looks like boxing’s equivalent of a “Senior Tour,” Tarver and Hopkins will most likely engage in what Teddy Atlas calls the silent contract.  “I won’t hurt you too bad, you won’t hurt me too bad.”   Look for them to take it easy on each other, and dance to a 12 round decision, with the winner being the bigger man Tarver, only because he will be able to push Hopkins around the ring in the clinch with his superior size and strength, giving the illusion of victory.  Neither man takes any chances and neither man needs to. Prediction: Tarver by unanimous decision.   Result: Hopkins by decision ______________________________________________________________________________ Miguel Cotto (26-0) vs. Paul Malignaggi (21-0) June 10 - New York PPV Styles make fights.  One of the oldest adages in boxing.  Who’s style will prevail?  The boxer Malignaggi has a very effective style which he has used to his advantage against an assorted collection of tomato cans and no hopers.  Cotto has the more patient, stalking style he uses to systematically break down opponents.  Whoever is more effective in imposing their style of fight on the other will win.  The guess here is that Cotto will make it through some awkward, embarrassing early rounds in which he is seemingly outboxed, but works the body of Malignaggi, and stop Malignaggi late in the fight. Prediction: Cotto TKO 10 Result: Cotto by decision ______________________________________________________________________________ Jermain Taylor (25-0) vs. Winky Wright (50-3) June 17 HBO Taylor is bringing in guru Emanual Steward as his sole trainer for this one.  Wright is probably seeing this as just another fight in his long career.  Taylor will have to mix it up a little more against Wright than he has in the past.  A simple one-two will not get it done against Winky, who has more left in the tank than the 41 year old Bernard Hopkins.  The Eight Count Crew does not think that a month and a half with Steward is enough time for Taylor to learn all he needs to beat a cagey southpaw veteran like Wright. Prediction: Wright by close unanimous decision. Result: Taylor by decision ______________________________________________________________________________ Manny Pacquiao (41-3-2) vs. Oscar Larios (56-4-1) July 2 Give credit to Manny Pacquiao.  While other fighters avoid serious competition this guy runs to it.   Larios is supposed to be a tune-up fight for Manny. Not many fighters would take on a Larios as a stay busy fight, but that’s why we love Pacquiao.  That said, Manny has too much fire power for the skilled Larios to handle.  Couple that with this fight being a home showing for Pacquiao, and we are looking at a dominant fight by Manny. Prediction: Pacquiao by mid round stoppage.   Result: Pacquaio by decision ________________________________________________________________________________ Roman Karmazin vs. Cory Spinks July 2 Showtime Spinks is making his step up to the junior middleweight division after a year and a half out of the game.  What exactly he and Don King are thinking about taking on a tall rangy guy like Karmazin in their first fight back is a mystery to me.  Karmazin will likely show little regard for the punching power of Spinks, and punish him throughout the course of the fight. Prediction: Karmazin by wide unanimous decision.   Result: Spinks by Majority Decision ________________________________________________________________________________ Jose Luis Castillo (54-7-1) vs. Diego Corrales (40-3) June 3 Showtime Castillo and Corrales III may be a bit unnecessary at this point.  I am of the opinion that Castillo proved himself the superior fighter in the first fight, only to have some slick business by Corrales snatch the fight from him.  The clear, decisive knockout in the second fight cemented this opinion for me.  The fight will last a little longer than the second fight (four rounds), as Corrales will probably attempt a little bit of boxing rather than the face first style he is known for.  After a few rounds of this Corrales will revert back to the fighter we all know and love, only to be stopped by Castillo brutally. Prediction: Castillo KO 8 Result: N/A ________________________________________________________________________________ Marco Antonio Barrera (61-4) vs. Rocky Juarez (25-1) May 20 HBO This fight takes the place for Barrera of his scheduled clash with Jesus Chavez, who pulled out with an injury.  On paper this looks like an easier challenge for Barrera than Chavez would have.  Juarez is still fairly green in his career, and not quite as polished as Chavez is at this time. But when you dig a little deeper, some thing seem to be to the advantage of the young Juarez.   Barrera has rebounded well since his loss to Manny Pacquaio, but he is well on the other side of 50 professional fights, many of them being wars.  Also the legendary Barrera is the naturally smaller of the two, and Juarez can punch a little, especially with the left hook.  Call me Teddy Atlas, ‘cause I’m going out on a limb here. PREDICTION:  Juarez be close Split Decision RESULT: Barrera by close Split Decision ________________________________________________________________________________ Ricky Hatton (40-0) vs. Luis Collazo (26-1) May 13 HBO Hatton moves up to 147 for this fight.  After making his mark and doing serious damage at 140 including the stoppage of longtime 140-pound king and Top 5 Pound For Pound guy  Kostya Tszyu, Hatton looks to take Collazo's WBA belt and looks toward bigger fights.   Collazo to his credit sports a stoppage win over aged former champion Miguel Angel Gonzalez and a 12 fight winning streak dating back to 2002. But this is Hatton's coming out party for the American audience.  He's on a 40 fight roll and should make short work of the light hitting Collazo.   PREDICTION: Hatton by mid-round KO RESULT: Hatton by close decision ________________________________________________________________________________ Oscar De La Hoya (37-4) vs. Ricardo Mayorga (28-5-1) May 6 PPV Oscar is a first rate business man and a pretty good fighter to boot and now at least for the sake of promoting a fight he's saying that Mayorga is "under his skin" and "will pay dearly".  Mayorga on the other hand is known for his raw aggression and willingness to slug it out even with a sworn killer like Felix Trinidad, and we all know what happened there.   Oscar has an excellent chin and besides will probably not be drawn into the war that Mayorga craves. Mayorga's only hope is to win by stoppage or to seriously hurt Oscar, something no one (besides Bernard Hopkins, and that was by body shot) has been able to really do in the past. Expect Oscar to exploit the massive holes in Mayorga's style and brutalize the Nicaraguan fighter over the distance.   PREDICTION: De la Hoya by unanimous decision RESULT: De la Hoya by 6th Round stoppage ________________________________________________________________________________ Acelino Freitas (37-1) vs. Zahir Raheem (27-1) April 29 HBO At one time this fight would have been regarded as a classic boxer-puncher match, with Raheem playing the matador and Freitas playing the bull.  Time has changed Freitas though, who becomes more and more a “boxer” every time he fights.  Raheem took full advantage of his first major fight of his career by out-pointing the legendary Erik Morales over 12 rounds. Judging by recent form, Raheem is on the rise while, Freitas appears to have lost some desire in his career.  Look for the fighter on the rise to win a rather easy decision. PREDICTION:  Raheem by Unanimous Decision RESULT: Frietas by Split Decision ________________________________________________________________________________ Chris Byrd (39-2-1) vs. Wladimir Klitschko (45-3) April 22 HBO When these two squared off on October 14, 2000 it was all Byrd could do to escape the ring in one piece. Stylistically, not much has changed with the two fighters but Byrd may have lost a step and Wladimir has been exposed on more than one occasion for his lack of stamina and relatively weak chin.   If Byrd can somehow get inside and frustrate his bigger opponent he may be able to pull off a miracle.  But if Wladimir can do what he did in their first meeting he should do serious damage to Byrd with his size, jab and power.   PREDICTION: Klitschko by late KO RESULT: Klitschko by TKO Round 7 ________________________________________________________________________________