Blood and Guts!!

I can't believe I haven't uttered a peep about the Taylor-Pavlik middleweight fight on Saturday.

Well here it is:

The Andre Berto-David Estrada fight was very interesting. I first heard of Andre Berto when my brother sent me a breathless email about 9 months ago after he'd seen Berto fight. I was intrigued, so I looked him up. It turns out he has a number of highlights on YouTube, and I watched as many as I could. The only ones I really remember now are from his "fight" against Nito Bravo, whom I recognized from The Contender on ESPN. I liked Nito, I thought he was a gutsy guy with a big heart, but I didn't think he was much of a fighter at all, which is pretty consistent with all the chumps on The Contender. There's no point to that show. It's a real stinker, really just an excuse for Sugar Ray Leonard to act eerily similar to how I'd expect Isiah Thomas to act, and for 5 poor rounds of the crappiest gold-glove baloney boxing ever televised. I think Nito came in second or third, I can't remember. Anyway, Berto destroyed him, which is what exciting young prospects do to washed up never-were old turds. He made Bravo into a tune-up, and Bravo made Berto look like Neo.

What stood out was Berto's intriguing mix of athleticism and ferocity. A lot of times a really athletic fighter does a lot of dancing, moving, defending, counter-punching, scoring, and - let's face it - running. They tend to waste a lot of motion on the whole "not fighting" part of fighting. I love to watch guys like Mayweather, Roy Jones Jr., Winky Wright, etc., but I prefer to watch guys like . . .well . . .Andre Berto. He appeared to have the quickness, conditioning, and fluidity to move and frustrate Bravo, and he certainly had the hand speed to counter punch all day. I remember being impressed with the way he used subtle movements to defend, but was always in range to do damage and stayed on the offensive, it kind of reminded me of a lighter James Toney. He had probably one of the scariest hooks I've seen, flooring Bravo three times with brutal efficiency before the fight was stopped in the first round. I read a lot of commentary suggesting the Berto has already developed a reputation as a terrific finisher, and with his fast hands and shocking power, it's easy to see why.

Anyway, I recognized David Estrada from a game effort he gave against Kermit Cintron. He's a gutsy tough guy of a fighter, one who moves forward, punches hard, fights smart and with confidence, and generally challenges his opponent. Cintron put him down eventually, but I remembered him for his effort. This was seen as a step-up fight for Berto, and I can buy that.

This one had a little blood and guts to it. Neither guy moved or defended especially well, and there were times in the fight, especially the early and early-mid rounds when I thought both guys were in trouble. I was a little disappointed to see that Berto isn't a tremendous defensive fighter and never used his athleticism to get away from Estrada. It was clear that Berto's punches had a lot more pop and he was doing a lot more damage, but it really looked to me like he couldn't get out of the way of body shots and took more damage than he needed to. Watching Berto mix it up, take a little punishment, deliver thundering combinations and generally dominate the fight, and all with a look like he was truly enjoying himself, I kept thinking of Hines Ward. Berto reminds me of the way Ward seems to enjoy the hard knocks, loves the challenge, and thrives on competing.

Anyway, it was only a matter of time. Berto busted up Estrada's face pretty good and wobbled him several times. Estrada stuck around, battling the whole way, just like he did against Cintron. He landed 39 percent of his punches and like I said, there were times I thought Berto was in big trouble, but in the 11th, Berto hit Estrada with one of the hardest short right hands you'll ever see in your life, and Estrada went straight backwards and down. He never should have gotten up, his corner never should have let him get up, and the referee sure as hell should have stopped it right then. Estrada had nothing left, his legs were gone, and he was reeling. Berto pounced and landed a devastating flurry, and the ref finally stepped in.

This was a very entertaining fight, and Berto is now ranked number 2 in two sanctioning bodies, so he should very soon be looking at a title fight. As a welterweight, he'll be standing in with some heavier punchers than Estrada, so he'll need to work on his movement and defense, but he's a lot of fun to watch. My only issue with this undercard was right at the end, I felt that someone should have stepped in on Estrada's behalf after the knockdown. He had taken a lot of punishment, he was clearly behind, and he had just been nuked by a real devastator of a straight right. He wasn't going to win the fight, and he sure as hell didn't need any more damage.

Oh, right, in other news, I leapt from my chair and made an embarrassing noise like an owl on steroids and PCP when Jermaine Taylor knocked down Kelly Pavlik in the second round. There was a moment of blood in the water, and nice-guy Jermaine Taylor went nuts. He let loose a wild, exhausting flurry and landed a fair number, and when a guy like Jermaine Taylor loads up and lets loose and LANDS a few, someone is going down. It was a breathtaking moment. Jermaine Taylor wears 160 pounds better than any other middleweight, he's a freakish athlete with incredible power, and in his last three fights he has almost never cut loose. I felt like that flurry was 37 rounds worth of coiled energy, frustration, and anxiety. Too bad it left him completely flat for the next two rounds, and he couldn't put Pavlik away. Pavlik has a big heart and a shit-load of guts for getting up and surviving and then working his way back. All night you could see Pavlik was waiting to land his big right, walking straight in behind his long jab and just turning his frame and cocking his right shoulder enough that you got a little scared for Taylor, especially against the ropes. Somehow the judges had Taylor way ahead, but I insist that was the dreaded "champion tax" being paid by Pavlik, because I saw Pavlik moving Taylor around the ring and landing bigger punches, and though Taylor was game and explosive, after the knockdown he looked tired and frustrated. Early on in the seventh I tought Taylor was in big trouble, and then Pavlik finally landed a short, brutal, straight right hand when Taylor's head was cocked just so, and man was it over immediately. Pavlik smelled a little blood and worked efficiently and in close, dropping Taylor after a series of sharp, thudding uppercuts. The ref made the right call here; though Taylor was in the fight the whole way, he was basically out on his feet, and there was no way, barring a miracle, that he could have finished the fight if he'd gotten up after that.

It's going to be a great fall for boxing, can't wait for the Hatton-Mayweather finale.