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HBO Undisputed PPV
December 13, 2003 Atlantic City, New Jersey 5pm PT
Tonight is the night for boxing. Eight championship title bouts will take place in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In no particular order:
John "The Quite Man" Ruiz will be taking on Hasim Rahman for the interim WBA heavyweight title. Ruiz is coming off a 12 round unanimous decision loss to Roy Jones Jr. earlier this March. In that bout, Ruiz lost his WBA title to Jones Jr.. In his previous four fights to Jones Jr., Ruiz had gone 2-1-1. He lost a unanimous decision to Evander Holyfield back in August of 2000 for the vacant WBA heavyweight title. Ruiz then preceded to win a unanimous decision over Holyfield in the rematch in March of 2001 (and captured the WBA title). He then fought Holyfield for a third time in December of 2001 that ended in a draw. His next bout was in July of 2002 against Kirk Johnson that ended in a disqualification win for Ruiz due to low blows.
Rahman is coming off a 10 round draw with David Tua in March of this year (2003). In his last three bouts previous to Tua, he racked up a record of 1-2. Rahman won the WBC, IBF, and IBO heavyweight titles by way of fifth round knock out over then champ Lennox Lewis in April of 2001. Rahman then preceded to lose his titles to Lewis in the rematch seven months later via fourth round knock out. He then lost an eight round technical draw to Evander Holyfield because of swelling over his eye in June of 2002
Next, we have a unification bout that will pit WBC/IBF Champ Bernard Hopkins against WBA Champ William Joppy. Hopkins is on a eight fight win streak since his "no contest" against Robert Allen in February of 1999 when he was accidentally pushed out of the ring by referee Mills Lane while trying to break up the fighters. Hopkins may be best known for his 12th round TKO over Felix Trinidad back in September of 2001. His last fight was in March of this year (2003) when he defeated Morrade Hakkar via eighth round TKO.
Since losing to Felix Trinindad in May of 2001, Joppy has won his last two bouts defeating Howard Eastman for the vacant WBA middleweight title in November of 2001 via majority decision and Naotaka Hozumi by 10th round TKO in October of 2002.
We then come to a welterweight unification bout between WBA/WBC Champ Ricardo Mayorga going up against IBF Champ Cory Spinks. Mayorga is coming off two huge wins (third round TKO in January and 12 round majority decision in July of 2003) over Vernon Forrest (who beat Shane Mosley twice).
Spinks won the IBF title in his last bout (March, 2003) with a 12 round unanimous decision win over Michele Picirillo.
Next, we have WBO champ Zab Judah against Jaime Rangel in a Jr. welterweight bout. In his last bout, Judah won a split decision over DeMarcus Corley in July of this year.
Rangel is on a three fight win streak since March of 2002 (one by KO, two by TKO).
The Wayne Braithwaite vs. Luis Andres Pineda cruiserweight bout should be a war. Both like to win by knock out early.
In a battle of the undefeated, WBA Jr. middleweight champion Alejandro Garcia will go up against Travis Simms. Garcia has won every fight by knock out and has only been past the sixth round once.
Simms has power as well and much like the Braithwaite/ Pineda bout, this fight should be action packed.
The Luis Perez vs. Felix Machado is a rematch of their January (2003) bout where Perez won a split decision and captured the IBF Jr. bantamweight title from Machado.
Lastly, WBA Jr. flyweight champ Rosendo Alvarez will take on IBF Jr. flyweight champ Jose Victor Burgos in a unification bout. Alavarez has won his last five bouts while Burgos just captured the IBF title by beating Alex Sanchez via 12th round TKO in February of this year.
Fight Card: 12 Round WBA Heavyweight Title Eliminator Bout John Ruiz (38-5-1, 27 KO's) vs. Hasim Rahman (35-4, 29 KO's)
Prediction: Ruiz by decision
12 Round Unification Middleweight Title Bout WBC/IBF Champ Bernard Hopkins (42-2-1, 31 KO's) vs. WBA Champ William Joppy (34-2-1, 25 KO's)
Prediction: Hopkins by ninth round KO
12 Round Unification Welterweight Title Bout WBA/WBC Champ Ricardo Mayorga (26-3-1, 23 KO's) vs. IBF Champ Cory Spinks (31-2, 10 KO's)
Prediction: Mayorga by fifth round TKO
12 Round WBO Jr. Welterweight Title Bout Champ Zab Judah (29-1, 21 KO's) vs. Jaime Rangel (29-4-1, 25 KO's)
Prediction: Judah by seventh round TKO
12 Round WBC Cruiserweight Title Bout Champ Wayne Braithwaite (19-0, 16 KO's) vs. Luis Andres Pineda (17-3, 15 KO's)
Prediction: Braithwaite by third round KO
12 Round WBA Jr. Middleweight Title Bout Champ Alejandro Garcia (27-0, 27 KO's) vs. Travis Simms (22-0, 17 KO's)
Prediction: Garcia by fourth round KO
12 Round IBF Jr. Bantamweight Title Bout - Rematch Champ Luis Perez (21-1, 14 KO's) vs. ex-champ Felix Machado (23-4-1, 12 KO's)
Prediction: Perez by decision
12 Round Unification Jr. Flyweight Title Bout WBA Champ Rosendo Alvarez (32-2-1, 20 KO's) vs. IBF Champ Jose Victor Burgos (35-13-2, 20 KO's)
Prediction: Alavarez by unanimous decision
card subject to change (12/13/03)
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