Watchdog: Steve's PPV Criteria: Tarver vs. Hopkins
 WATCHDOG By Steve Hudgins, May 10, 2006
 |
|
Photo © HBO-PPV
|
THE PURPOSE: I don't think any one fight can be made in boxing today that alone is worth the price of a PPV. Unless of course, they can conjure up Dempsey vs Marciano or Joe Louis, but until that day comes, I want some quantity to go along with quality!
I say, if they want us to shell out 30, 40 sometimes 50 bucks per PPV, they should give us some bang for our buck! The card should be solid from top to bottom! Or at least it should be so top heavy with excellent fights that they can get away with a showcase fight to kick off the festivities, but these 2 or 3 showcase fights and 1 decent to mega main event PPV's are for the birds! (My apologies to any of the birds I may have offended with that statement.)
SO HERE'S MY SYSTEM:
I preview and rate every fight that is scheduled to be televised on a PPV Boxing Card, and try to determine whether that card is worth purchasing or not based on my point system below.
Please note that at the end of each preview, I will mention what weight class the bout is being fought at and where each fighter ranks within that weight class. This is done by using ‘The Ring’ ratings.
HERE'S HOW STEVE'S PPV CRITERIA WORKS!
POINTS:
6 = MEGA MATCHUP
5 = Excellent Matchup
4 = Good Matchup
3 = Decent Matchup
2 = OK Matchup
1 = Bad Matchup
If a fight is scheduled to be televised on the card, it gets at least 1 point. This helps to reward quantity.
POINT SYSTEM:
14 or higher = GET IT!
13 = If you can find someone to split it with you or the price of the PPV is $24.99 or less, GET IT!
12 = If you can find someone to split it with you or the price of the PPV is $19.99 or less CONSIDER getting it.
11 = If you can find a place that is showing it, or get enough people over to split it with you, so that you are not paying more than 10 dollars for the card, CONSIDER getting it.
10 or under = Save your money and sleep well at night knowing you didn't get ripped off!
AND AWAY WE GO!
June 10th - PPV PRICE: $44.95
ANTONIO TARVER (24-3 18 KO's) vs BERNARD HOPKINS (46-4-1 32 KO's)
This is for the REAL, one and only, Light heavyweight Championship of the world! And that's where the excitement ends. To put it bluntly, this is a boring matchup. Hopkins is well past his prime as has been evident by his fights the past year and a half. I mean did you see the Hopkins/Taylor fights? If you didn't, then consider yourself lucky. They were Boring(notice the capital B). And Hopkins could have taken either fight clearly had he stepped it up, but he was unable or unwillingly to do so. If he was extra cautious with Jermain Taylor, an under-experienced, carefully guided middleweight, how cautious would you expect him to be with Tarver who is bigger, stronger and more experienced fighter than Taylor, and with several solid wins over good fighters? Tarver is not ball of energy himself. If Hopkins allows him to, Tarver will be happy to stay on the outside and jab his way to a win. Yes these are 2 big names facing each other, but this matchup has boring written all over it!
*Antonio Tarver is the Light Heavyweight Champion Of The World (175lbs) - Bernard Hopkins is rated # 2 at Middleweight (160 lbs)*
SCORE = 2
ISRAEL VAZQUEZ (39-3 28 KO's) vs IVAN HERNANDEZ (23-1-1 13 KO's)
Vazquez is a real champ who is on a roll. He won the championship in a rubbermatch with Oscar Larios, in which he won when the fight was stopped early due to a cut, when things were just starting to heat up. Still, Vazquez is solid all the way around. Hernandez is best known for his hard fought KO victory Marc Johnson back in 2004. Since then he was KO'd by Fernando Montiel. Yes, the 115 lb Fernando Montiel, who looked small when he stepped up to 118 last month. Hernandez will be game, but is majorly outgunned against the bigger, stronger, talented Vazquez. This has potential to be an early, one sided, blow out for Vazquez.
*Israel Vazquez is the Jr Featherweight Champion Of The World (122 lbs) - Ivan Hernandez is not rated*
SCORE = 2
HECTOR CAMACHO JR (41-1-1 KO's) vs ANDREY TSURKAN (22-2 14 KO's)
You'd think with the potentially boring main event, the promoters would want to stack the undercard with some exciting matchups. I guess not, since they chose to go with Hector Camacho Jr, who's career plummeted after he quit against Jesse James Leija. He was not very entertaining back then as a Jr Welterweight, and guess what? He is now campaigning at Jr. Middleweight and is still a bore. As if that wasn't enough, they have him up against a soft touch in Andrey Tsurkan. Maybe the promoters are thinking that after this fight, the main event might not look so bad! That must be it!
*This fight is taking place at Jr Middlweight (154 lbs) - Neither fighter is rated*
SCORE = 1
JORGE PAEZ JR. (8-0 7 KO's) vs. TRAVIS HARTMAN (7-3-1 5 KO's)
This might be the most entertaining fight on the card! Baby Paez looks like a good young prospect with fast hands. Hartman was KO'd in 3 by Baby Chavez one year ago. It will be interesting to see if Baby Paez can do any better.
*This fight will take place at Jr Welterweight* - Neither Fighter is rated*
SCORE = 1
FINAL SCORE = 6
SUMMARY: Dull. Humdrum. Monotonous. Tedious. Tiresome. Uninteresting. Uneventful. Pick whichever word you prefer. This card may be great for insomniacs, but I'm pretty sure you can get a box of sleeping pills at the local Wal-Mart for less than 45 bucks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2006
|
