The most awaited match in women’s MMA may be getting fast tracked.

Wait is Over?

Current Invicta FC and former Strikeforce Featherweight champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino has reportedly said she is “confident” to make 135 pounds by December, thus setting up a possible showdown between her and UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. The bout has been in discussion over the last couple of years where Rousey has dominated the scene like no one before. But since day one, weight has been the main road block in this fight.

While Rousey started her career as a featherweight, her move to the UFC made her fight at her current 135 pound weight class which was what the UFC had (and still has). In fact, the two were already headed for a collision course when Ronda made the jump to the more lucrative promotion. Justino meanwhile continued to fight at featherweight and when Strikeforce merged with the UFC, she moved to the All-women Invicta FC where she has been just as dominant.

In the past, Justino had expressed doubts of making 135, but the addition of nutritionist George Lockhart has changed the entire picture. Justino weighed 144.6 prior to a July title defense and may have been much lighter on fight night. The addition of a nutritionist was made by Cyborg’s team after the UFC insisted that a Rousey-Justino bout will never be discussed unless the weight is at 135 which is the weight class that the UFC has.

The Last Challenge

Cyborg Justino gained status as legend killer when she retired pioneer Gina Carano with a one round destruction in 2009. Like Rousey, she has been destructive: 14-1-1 with 12 KOs and 1 submission. Carano was the face of women’s MMA and was embarking on a successful acting career when she ran into Justino. Rousey is on a similar path as Carano but if Justino is thinking that Rousey is another Gina Carano, she may be mistaken.

Ronda Rousey has been the most dominant force in MMA – male or female – and her destructive reign has been compared to that of Mike Tyson’s in boxing. Rousey’s total 12 MMA bouts have lasted the equivalent of a five round bout with none of her opponents going the distance and only one going past round one. Rousey’s last three title defenses have gone a total of sixty four seconds only and with the rate that she is improving her striking game, it doesn’t look as if there is someone who can stop her.

Justino, though, is seen as the last challenge for Ronda Rousey, who has cleaned up her weight class in two years and beating her opponents in decisive fashion. While the fight was only a dream fight a couple of years ago, it has become a necessity for the sport and Justino is the one put on the spotlight right now. Justino has even gone on record to say that if Rousey is “busy” in December, she is willing to wait for April although she already committed to making weight for a December fight at the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

Who Takes This?

Although the fight hasn’t been finalized yet, the betting lines for this hypothetical dream bout have already opened. As expected, Rousey was a -311 at Bestfightodds and Justino at +269. Rousey is a force we’ve never seen before and from an armbar specialist, she has developed a very good striking game. In her last bout against the supposedly solid striker Bethe Correia, Rousey put her Brazilian nemesis to sleep with a single punch. She never attempted to put Correia to the mat and submit her, instead she stood in the pocket and traded with her. The same thing probably can’t be said against the much bigger Cyborg Justino, though.

But once Rousey puts her to the mat, and with her Olympic Judo background she can, that’s where the dominance will start to show. Justino is a jiu jitsu brown belt but her grappling isn’t as good as Rousey’s. On the other hand, Rousey’s submission wins have come via her signature armbar. The question is if Cyborg can take that.

Zab Judah hasn’t fought since December of 2013, but he isn’t retired yet. In fact, he’s eyeing a September return.

Doing a Paulie

Perhaps taking a page from fellow Brooklyn boxer Paulie Malignaggi who returned after a long layoff, but unsuccessfully, last week against Danny Garcia, Judah announced on Monday that he has signed with promoter Greg Cohen and is determined to return this September in one of Cohen’s CBS televised fight cards. According to Judah, he has never contemplated about retirement and he believes that things will be great again if he puts 110% effort to it.

Coincidentally, Judah’s last fight was against Malignaggi in a battle of Brooklyn boxers. Malignaggi beat Judah by unanimous decision, giving him his first back to back defeats since 2006 when he dropped two consecutive bouts to Carlos Baldomir and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Prior to his loss against Malignaggi, Judah lost a competitive bout against Danny Garcia, who beat Malignaggi last weekend.

New York’s Finest

Judah is one of New York’s finest boxing products, having won five major world titles in two weight classes. Judah was also the former undisputed welterweight champion of the world after knocking out Cory Spinks in 2005. Judah also holds notable victories over Micky Ward, Junior Witter, DeMarcus Corley, Lucas Matthysse and Vernon Paris.  He’s also fought the likes of Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey and Amir Khan although he lost those fights.

Although Judah hasn’t fought in over a year, he has been training. In fact, Judah was one of Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s chief sparring mates in the latter’s preparations against Manny Pacquiao last May. In fact, it was during the Mayweather camp where Judah felt that he still had a lot left in his gas tank. After sparring with the best pound for pound fighter in the planet, Judah believes that he still has the ability to compete at the highest level.

Picking a Date

Judah said that he will be fighting at 140 but is still looking for an opponent as two choices have already backed out. He adds that he picked September for his return since he will be celebrating his 19th anniversary as a pro boxer on September 20th. Despite the long mileage, Judah says he still has the quickness and reflexes to compete with the best. He points out that at 37, he is younger than Floyd Mayweather Jr. But the question is if he as good as Money May?

Judah left the Mayweather camp in top form and with a renewed passion to win another world title before hanging up his gloves. He said that he wasn’t on top of his game when he lost to Malignaggi in 2013. But after the Mayweather camp, he is determined to go out in a blaze of glory.

UFC light heavyweights Glover Texeira and Ovince St. Preux collide in the main event of UFC Fight Night 73 this coming Augus 8th at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

Fireworks Expected

Considered as two of the hardest hitting punchers at 205 pounds, Texeira and St. Preux are expected to light up the event. St. Preux is coming off back to back first round knockout wins over former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Patrick Cummings. Overall, St. Preux has won seven of his last eight bouts including six by stoppage. His only loss during this winning run has been a five round UD defeat at the hands of Ryan Bader at the main event of UFC Fight Night 47.

On the other hand, Texeira is coming off back to back losses for the first time in his career. After losing to Jon Jones at UFC 172 in his first ever world title shot, Texeira was outmaneuvered by Phil Davis is a three round unanimous decision loss at UFC 179 last October. But despite those losses, Texeira remains one of the hardest hitter at light heavyweight with his 13 total knockouts.

Race to the Top

St. Preux had a busy 2014 with four fights, winning three all by stoppage. That impressive run, followed by a win over Cummins last April, has put the Florida native in his highest ranking ever at #6. Another knockout win over a former title contender like Texeira would definitely put him in title fight conversation.

Texeira meanwhile is looking to end the first two-fight losing streak of his career with a big win and nothing would be louder than a knockout win over St. Preux who hasn’t been stopped since 2009. Ranked higher than St. Preux at #4 by the UFC, Texeira is a win or two away from getting another title shot.

Who Takes This?

This is one of the closest main event bouts in recent months as far as betting lines are with Texeira a -110 favorite against the +103 of St. Preux. Both men are very good strikers with KO power. St. Preux is more athletic but overall, Texeira is the more fluid striker between the two. No doubt, we’ve seen St. Preux improve leaps and bounds but against a very experienced and calculated predator like Texeira, it might not be enough.

Texeira has been taken down 12 times in his last two bouts and if St. Preux can take him to the mat, he has a chance of winning by decision or submission. However, if Texeira’s takedown defense holds, he will pummel St. Preux all night long. The first two rounds should be crucial because who dictates the fight after 10 minutes should have the advantage. Texeira’s experience should be more than enough for St. Preux to handle. Experts are picking him to stop St. Preux late in the fight.

Unified light welterweight champion Danny “Swift” Garcia makes his long awaited welterweight debut on August 1st at the Barclays Center in New York against former champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi in the featured bout of PBC on ESPN.

Swift or Gift?

The unbeaten Garcia burst into boxing superstardom after beating and then retiring Mexican legend Erik “El Terrible” Morales in 2012. He also sandwiched a 4th round TKO of British superstar Amir Khan in between his two victories over Morales. But after his impressive 2013 closer against Lucas Matthysse, the man known as “Swift” for his moves and the way he finished his foes has been criticized as the “Gift”.

Garcia started 2014 on the wrong foot when a supposed Puerto Rico homecoming turned into a dog fight with Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera. Garcia struggled so badly against Herrera that most pundits believed Herrera should have won that fight. Instead of a make-up fight to finish the year, Garcia opted to fight lightweight Rod Salka in August of 2104 which put him in a bad spot the more. Then in his most recent bout last April 2015, Garcia looked bad against former 140-pound champion Lamont Peterson but ended up winning by majority decision, furthering criticisms about his stature.

Weight Problems

But Garcia countered his detractors by saying that he should have moved up to 147 after his win over Matthysse because he started having trouble making weight at 140. Garcia claimed that he lost both his speed and power in his last three fights because of that. Instead of training to get better, he said that he trained to make weight. He may have a point there.

Garcia fought Peterson at a catchweight of 143 pounds and Salka at 142 pounds. During the build-up to the Herrera fight, he was also rumored to be having problems making weight. But is weight really the issue with Danny Garcia? His opponent Paulie Malignaggi thinks that there were a lot of flaws in Garcia’s game which Herrera and Peterson exposed. He believes that if he can execute his game plan, he will finish off what both started and upset Garcia. But does he have what it takes?

The Magic Man

Malignaggi is a two division world champion, having won the IBF 140 pound belt in 2007 and the WBA welterweight title in 2012. He’s beaten the likes of Zab Judah, Pablo Cesar Cano, Vyascheslav Senchenko, Juan Diaz and Edner Cherry. He’s also shared the ring with Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Ricky Hatton, Adrien Broner and Shawn Porter. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been as active since 2013.

After beating Zab Judah in December of 2013, his only fight has been a 4th round TKO loss to Shawn Porter in his IBF welterweight title challenge in April of 2014. He’s semi-retired and has spent much of his time being a boxing analyst at Showtime. But he’s kept himself in shape and has long waited for a big chance like this to come his way. Malignaggi believes he can still weave his old magic.

Who Takes This?

Malignaggi may be older at 34, but he’s got the advantage in experience and in the level of opposition he’s faced. However, we all know that Paulie doesn’t have the power in his punches- he’s only got 7 KOs in 33 wins. Against Porter, he made the blunder of going toe to toe with him, and we all know that ended in an early KO loss. Against Garcia, he needs to move away from Danny’s left hook, or else he’ll end up like Morales and Khan.

Malignaggi has excellent boxing skills and footwork that should help him evade Garcia. The question though is does he still have the legs at 34 and after a long layoff? That should be the key to this fight as Garcia will surely try to put a lot of pressure on Malignaggi and smother him. Garcia won’t be afraid to trade with Paulie because he proved against Matthysse that he can take a big punch.

The odds favor Garcia at -900 but even at +550, Malignaggi can’t be taken for granted. Experts are picking this fight to go the distance if Malignaggi uses his bicycle well. Garcia is believed to be the bigger puncher, but he hasn’t felt the punch of a legit 147-pounder yet nor has he tested his power against one. The fight should go the distance with Garcia winning on points. But if Malignaggi takes a chance at brawling, one of them could be going out cold.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey returns to the Octagon on August 1st to take on Brazilian Bethe “Pitbull” Correia in the main event of UFC 190 in Brazil.

Bad Blood

More than the belt, it’s bad blood between the two which fueled this fight. Bethe Correia earned her UFC stripes by beating two of “Rowdy” Rousey’s stablemates in Jessamyn Duke and Shayna Baszler. At UFC 172, She easily outpointed Duke to win by unanimous decision then at UFC 177, she punched out Baszler to an impressive 2nd round TKO. With two of the UFC’s “Four Horsewomen” on her resume, Correia then trash talked her way to fighting the leader of the quartet.

Correia started calling out Rousey since she beat Duke, but only got Ronda’s attention when she beat Baszler and started talking personal things about her. Even when the UFC already gave the #7 ranked bantamweight the next title shot, the Brazilian Pitbull was relentless in her personal attacks against Rousey, forcing Rousey to declare that she will humiliate and disfigure her challenger.

Best in the Planet

Ronda Rousey is the best female mixed martial artist on the planet today. In fact, she may be the most dominant UFC champion ever, man or woman. She has virtually been untouchable inside the Octagon, winning all of her 11 bouts by stoppage. Nine of those wins have come via armbar submission and only Miesha Tate has lasted more than one round with Rousey. Rousey’s last three title defenses have lasted a combined 1 minute and 36 seconds with her most recent win over #1 contender Cat Zingano lasting just an incredible 14 seconds. So if Rousey is this good, what chance does Bethe Correia have?

Ronda Rousey opened as a 15-1 betting favorite over Correia and the lines haven’t improved for the challenger. Currently, Rousey is a +750 and Correia at -1400. With the way things look, those lines aren’t gonna change as the fight gets closer. Rousey is in the most dominant run the sport has ever seen, and with the way she’s continued to improve her striking game, it doesn’t appear she is going to lose anytime soon.

Who Takes This?

Not many are picking Correia to win, much more last the distance against the dominant champion. But Correia has one thing that none of Rousey’s previous opponents had: Ronda’s attention. Rousey wants to beat her so bad that she could lose her focus and that is to defend her belt. We’ve seen Ronda go personal with Miesha Tate, but her feud against Correia is something else.

Correia is an elite striker and she outstruck Duke 100-55 with an excellent mix of punching combos. To have a shot against Rousey, she must keep the fight on the feet. Even then, Rousey will be tough to beat with her much improved striking game. Rousey has all the advantages in this fight and the only question experts are asking is if her personal animosity against Correia changes her focus. But if Ronda channels that anger in the correct way, we may be about to see her greatest handiwork to date.

The rematch between UFC flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and John “The Magician” Dodson is on. And while the fight is still on September 5th, the Vegas gods have spoken.

Dominant Mouse

Since becoming the inaugural UFC flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson has been nearly untouchable on top of the heap. Mighty Mouse has opened as at least a 3-1 favorite in each of his first four title defenses. For his rematch with Dodson, Johnson has opened as a very solid 4-1 favorite with the challenger an underdog at +310.

Listed as the #3 pound for pound fighter in Mixed Martial Arts, Johnson has gone 8-0-1 since losing to Dominick Cruz in 2011 when he challenged for the bantamweight title. Dodson is among those 8 victims when the two met in January of 2013 in Johnson’s first title defense. Dodson won the first two rounds but Mighty Mouse rallied to win the final three rounds to win by unanimous decision. But before a rematch was set, Dodson has since suffered several injuries while Johnson has become a dominant mouse.

Looking for Magic

After suffering a knee injury that forced him out of action for over a year, Dodson returned at UFC 187 to score a unanimous decision win over Zack Makovsky. In all, he’s won three in a row since losing to Mighty Mouse but after looking rusty against Makovsky, it is pretty clear that Dodson is still looking for his old Magic to come back.

The rematch with Mighty Mouse is one that Dodson has been salivating about because he was one round away from dethroning Demetrious Johnson. Since the Dodson fight, no one has ever come close to beating Mighty Mouse who has stopped four of his last five opponents. In his most recent bout at UFC 186, Johnson submitted Kyoji Horiguchi with one second left in the final round to record the latest submission in UFC history.

Who Takes This?

The last time they met, the odds also opened at 3-1 but the lines closed with Johnson at -245. Dodson believes that he beat Johnson the first time around and thinks that he will knock him out this time. That is easier said than done however because Johnson is probably the most complete fighter in his weight class. He packs power in his punches and has also submitted 9 opponents. On the other hand, Dodson is more of a striker with only 2 submissions in his resume.

So while Johnson should win by decision again in their rematch, the fight should be exciting because of the pace that these two men put. Expect an all-out action fight like in their first encounter, but look for Mighty Mouse to come out on top once again on September 5.

Unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev returns to the ring on Saturday to face mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi in a 12-round bout at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Russian Krusher

Kovalev is one of the sport’s most destructive punchers. The Russian Krusher has knocked down 24 opponents and is unbeaten in 28 fights. Kovalev is coming off an 8th round KO of former light heavyweight title holder Jean Pascal this past March. Prior to the Pascal fight, Kovalev outclassed the legendary Bernard Hopkins in what many consider to be his career-defining win.

It wasn’t because Bernard Hopkins had never been beaten before, but it was because it was the first time we ever saw Hopkins lose a bout from start to finish. Kovalev opened strong and scored a first round knockdown against Hopkins and then outboxed him the rest of the way. Kovalev won via scores of 120-107, 120-107 and 119-106.

Chasing Superman

So after taking on two giants in Hopkins and Pascal, Kovalev takes a breather of sorts when he fights the relatively unknown Mohammedi. Kovalev has long been seeking a title unification bout with WBC champion Adonis “Superman” Stevenson but that fight has remained elusive.

The two were supposed to meet in the fall of 2014 but Stevenson reneged on their agreement and jumped ship from HBO to Showtime on the advice of PBC founder Al Haymon. Then in an unprecedented move, the WBC made Kovalev its mandatory challenger despite Kovalev being a champion in three other alphabet organizations. This time around, it was the Kovalev camp who refused the offer by rejecting an opportunity to join an April purse bid, citing they want to fight at HBO and they want to focus on beating Mohammed first.

Mohammedi Mandatory

While little is known of Mohammedi, the Frenchman has an outstanding record of 37-3, with 24 KOs. Mohammedi’s 7th round TKO of Anatoly Dudchenko in 2014 put him in a position to challenge Hopkins for the IBF title but since Hopkins lost that belt to Kovalev, he became the mandatory challenger for the new title holder.

Mohammedi and Kovalev share one common foe in former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly. Mohammedi lost to Cleverly by unanimous decision in 2010 while Kovalev knocked Cleverly out in four rounds to take the WBO light heavyweight title from the Briton. Other than Cleverly, Mohammedi hasn’t faced the level of opposition which Kovalev has demolished.

Who Takes This?

This is not the fight that fans wanted from Sergey Kovalev but after two huge wins, it was but time to take a little breather and take his mandatory. The odds reflect that as they have Kovalev as a huge -10000 favorite over Mohammedi who is at +1600. Kovalev is widely considered as the best 175 fighter out there today, even if it’s Stevenson who holds the lineal title.

Two of Mohammedi’s three losses have been by KO and fight experts are looking at a third one against the Krusher. Fighting Kovalev is like solving a riddle. If you exchange with him in the pocket, he will knock you out. If you try to box around him, he will outscore you with a very sound boxing game. Kovalev’s attack starts with a steady diet of jabs that are strong enough to knock out a mere mortal. Once Kovalev finds his target, he will try to pummel Mohammedi with hard right hands.

Kovalev though has a tendency to be open and off-balanced while throwing combinations and it’s perhaps in this little window of opportunity that Mohammedi has a chance to counter him and put him down. Other than that, Kovalev has all the advantages. Mohammedi will try to weather the storm early, but in the end he’ll suffer the same fate as the others before him. Kovalev should win by KO within 5 rounds and go on to a mega fight with Andre Ward.

Shane Mosley and Ricardo Mayorga have agreed to fight at 154 pounds on August 29th in a still undetermined venue in California.

Dramatic Finish

Mosley and Mayorga fought for the fringe WBA inter-continental light middleweight title back in September 27th, 2008. It was an action-packed bout that saw both fighters have their moments. Mosley was slightly ahead in two of the three judges’ scorecards entering the final round when he scored two empathic knockdowns-one after the other, which forced referee David Mendoza to stop the bout with one second left in the fight.

While Mosley would have won that fight anyway with a decision, the excitement and drama of their first fight immediately heard talks of a rematch. But that idea never materialized as both went their separate ways. Mosley went on to defeat Antonio Margarito to win the welterweight title a second time before his career went on a downward trend which eventually led to a retirement in 2013 following a loss to Anthony Mundine.

A Grudge Match

On the other hand, Mayorga went dormant for a year after that loss and then went on to challenge Miguel Cotto for the WBA light middleweight title in 2011. Mayorga lost that fight and retired. However, he came back in 2014 to fight twice, beating unheralded Allen Medina and Anrdik Saralegui both by knockout. But just when we thought that Mayorga had new plans, he began digging from his past.

Mayorga started antagonizing Mosley in social media for months, tweeting words that made the fire in Mosley burn again. As the old wounds resurfaced, a grudge match was suggested seven years after they first fought in that competitive bout. Then last week, the two put pen to paper by announcing that they will fight again in a bout that will be promoted by Mosley’s Sugar Shane Mosley Promotions.

Chasing History

For Mosley, the August 29th fight card won’t be just a chance to put Mayorga’s mouth in check. It will also be a chance for him to make the history that Antonio Tarver failed to do last year. Tarver and his son Antonio Jr. were supposed to fight on the same fight card last year before a thumb injury forced the older Tarver to withdraw.

Sugar Shane’s boxer-son Shane Jr. will also be fighting on the August 29th card and if both Mosley’s make it to fight night, they will become the first father and son boxer tandem to fight on the same boxing card. Mosley’s middleweight son has a record of 4-1, with 4 KOs but isn’t really on the same caliber as his Hall-of-Fame father. But to see both of them fight on the same night in the same card would truly be sweet icing on the cake for the legendary career of Sugar Shane.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. returns to the ring to face fellow Mexican Marcos Reyes in the main event of Showtime Championship boxing on Saturday at the Don Haskins Arena in the University of Texas El Paso in Texas.

Making Changes

After his stunning 9th round TKO defeat to Andrzej Fonfara three months ago, Chavez Jr has made a couple of very important career changes. First, Chavez Jr. changed trainers by turning to the famed Robert Garcia of Oxnard, California. Garcia has trained the likes of Brandon Rios, Nonito Donaire Jr., Antonio Margarito, Marcos Maidana and his brother and two-division world champion Miguel Angel “Mikee” Garcia. Prior to Garcia, Chavez worked with Joe Goosen, but it was just for the Fonfara bout.

Aside from changing trainers, Chavez also moved down to super middleweight for this bout (and perhaps for good) because he felt that he didn’t belong to light heavyweight as proven in the Fonfara fight where he said the naturally bigger opponent “really hurt him” and slowed him down. What remains to be seen is how Chavez will make weight because he has been known to have problems with his fighting weight.

At a Crossroads as Elite

Chavez’s career as an elite boxer is at a crossroads right now. He’s lost two of his last four bouts with two wins over fringe challenger Brian Vera in between. After his second fight against Vera, Chavez was out of action for over a year following a contract dispute which led to him leaving Top Rank in favor of PBC founder Al Haymon. Against the wishes of his father and namesake Julio Sr., the younger Chavez agreed to fight former title challenger Fonfara in his light heavyweight debut. That proved to be a bad gamble as a visibly worn out Chavez suffered the first knockdown of his career and was stopped in the 9th round.

Chavez won the WBC middleweight title with a 12-round majority decision win over Sebastian Zbik in 2011. He defended the belt three times before losing to former lineal middleweight champion Sergio Martinez in 2012. Although Chavez lost to Martinez via wide unanimous decision, Junior knocked down Martinez in the final round and almost finished him off as time expired. However, Chavez failed a post fight drug test that led to a nine month suspension.

Tailor Made?

Unlike the Fonfara fight where Chavez Jr. was literally fed to the lion, Marcos Chavez looks tailor made to resurrect Julio Jr.’s career. The Mexican is known to be a brawler who doesn’t back down from a gun fight and his 24 knockouts in 33 wins is proof of that. Reyes has fought exclusively in Mexico and this will be his first fight on U.S. soil. More importantly, this will be his first bout against a former world champion and should be a big step up in his level of opposition.

Chavez meanwhile is moving back in weight and he will have the physical advantage over his opponent. At his natural weight class, Julio Jr. should overpower Reyes in a slugfest. The odds have him high at -1200 against the +600 Reyes and it’s likely that this fight won’t go the distance. However, Chavez Jr. is notorious for not training seriously and should he come out of shape, we could see the end of his career. He’s still 29 and has an excellent trainer in Robert Garcia who can bring out and maximize his potentials. However, as in the past, no matter how good his trainer has been, the problem has always been with Julio Jr. himself.

The Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) makes it debut at ESPN on Saturday as WBA regular welterweight champion Keith Thurman defends his title against the seasoned veteran Luis Collazo at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida.

One-Time

Known as one of the sport’s most vicious knockout artists, Thurman enters the bout with 21 knockouts in 25 wins.However, the man known in boxing circles as “One-Time” hopes to be known not just for his devastating punching power but also for his reign as welterweight champion.

Thurman, who is making the fifth defense of his title, made known his plans to unify boxing’s most competitive and richest weight class. But before he gets to the other champions, he must first get past the rugged Collazo who incidentally held the same WBA welterweight belt way back in 2005.

One Chance

Despite losing just once in his last six fights, this title shot may be the one last chance for the 34 year old Collazo who has lost virtually every big fight he’s had in his career. After Collazo lost his title to Ricky Hatton in 2006, he’s also lost to big-named fighters like Shane Mosley, Andre Berto, Freddy Hernandez and most recently Amir Khan.

The Brooklyn native rebounded from his one-sided loss to Khan with a 2nd round TKO win over little-known Chris Dellogado last april 11. But he’ll have his hands full against the hard-hitting Thurman, who along with Floyd Mayweather Jr and Britain’s Kell Brook are the only undefeated top dogs at 147 pounds.

Losing KO Luster

Thurman is coming-off a unanimous decision win over former lightweight champion Robert Guerrero last March 7, 2015. And although Thurman knocked Guerrero down in the 9th round, he wasn’t able to finish him off and even allowed Guerrero to make a spirited comeback in the championship rounds.

Prior to Guerrero, Thurman also scored a knockdown against Leonard Bundu but also failed to put away for good, settling for a UD win. In his last six fights, Thurman has failed to knock out three opponents, prompting his critics to say that he’s beginning to lose the KO luster as the level of opposition has gradually increased.

Who Takes This?

Thurman is a huge -5000 favorite to beat the +1200 underdog Collazo, with the odds of him winning by KO set at -200. He didn’t say directly that he will knock Collazo out, instead he said that he will box him smart and put the hurt on him. But with the fight to be held just some 20 minutes from his hometown of Clearwater, Florida, Thurman will most definitely look for the big win for his home crowd and to get his name closer to a Floyd Mayweather fight.

Collazo is unfazed by Thurman’s resume and he relishes the underdog tag which he’s embraced throughout his career. Collazo has seen some of the best at 147, the problem is that he’s been unable to step up his game against top level competition. He’s never been knocked out before, but against a hungry young champion like Thurman who has the world ahead of him, it’s going to be mission impossible for Luis Collazo.

Thurman is going to box intelligently and pick his spots. But once he hurts Collazo, you know he’s going to be like a buzzsaw. Thurman should soften Collazo in the first three rounds then start to punish him from there. A knockout is likely in the middle rounds although Collazo is very durable and may last longer.