Boxing: this week on TV (April 25-28)

[H2O Man]

April 25
WEDNESDAY - at Minneapolis (ESPN2) - 10 rounds,
featherweights: Jason Litzau (20-1, 18 KOs) vs.
Aldo Valtierra (24-7, 13 KOs).

April 27
FRIDAY - at Washington (ESPN2) - 10 rounds,
lightweights: Mike Anchondo (27-1, 19 KOs) vs. Darling
Jimenez (22-2-2, 13 KOs); 10 rounds, super middleweights:
William Joppy (37-4-1, 28 KOs) vs. TBA.

FRIDAY - at Houston (Telefutura) - 12 rounds, light
middleweights: Sergio Gabriel Martinez (38-1-1, 19 KOs)
vs. Saul Roman (26-2, 23 KOs)

April 28
SATURDAY - at Mashantucket, Connecticut (HBO) - 12 rounds,
WBA & WBC lightweight titles: Acelino Freitas (38-1, 32 KOs)
vs. Juan Diaz (31-0, 15 KOs).


At its best, boxing is the sport that offers "problemed" kids an opportunity to master self-discipline, and to find a way to overcome the stumbling blocks in their lives. On Wednesday, ESPN will be featuring one of those kids, Jason Litzau. He is coming back after a disappointing lose that exposed some of his shortcomings in the ring. It is hard to imagine this kid ever becoming a champion in the boxing ring, but when you hear his life story, and see how he has worked to straighten himself out, you'll find yourself cheering for him.

On the Friday Night Fights, it appears that William Joppy is still scheduled to fight. This will likely be one of the fights that ESPN should not be featuring: more and more boxing fans are using The Ring and other magazines to complain about non-competitive "fights" being shown on ESPN, and especially on HBO. (The co-feature on FFN actually matches two capable lightweight contenders in what, at least on paper, looks like a competitive fight.)

The week's "main event" will be the HBO match with Freitas versus Diaz on Saturday night. Freitas was one of the many fighters from South and Central America that come to the USA with impressive KO statistics, but primarily against weak competition. His knockout streak came to an end against the top level competition, though he showed very impressive skills in the ring. However, his boxing career created conflicts in his marriage, and his marriage impacted his ability to focus on boxing, and he lost one of the most important fights in his career when his wife left him. Since then, though he had repaired his marriage, he was not been able to recapture his skills in the ring; retired briefly, and is making a come back.

He is scheduled to fight Juan Diaz this weekend, and use the fight as a stepping stone to a big fight this summer. However, Diaz is likely to provide him with a serious test. He is undefeated, and though he is not a big puncher, he is intelligent, has good skills, and is always in very good condition when he steps into the ring. The fight is to unify the WBO and WBA lightweight "titles." When I used to train fighters, I prefered a steady workhorse that I could depend on, to a sleek race horse that was unreliable. If Diaz can avoid getting hurt earlier, he has a fair chance of pulling off an upset.

[H2O Man]

1. Re: Jason Litzau

Here is some information from an article found on SecondsOut.Com:


By Ray Kilgore: At age 23, Jason Litzau 20-1 (18 KOs), makes a comeback after his first professional defeat. Litzau takes on Aldo Valtierra, 24-7 (13 KOs) at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in Saint Paul Minnesota this Wednesday on ESPN 2. Litzau says fans can expect a new boxer based on the soul searching he’s done the past several months.

Litzau and older brother Allen, a professional fighter coming off a knockout defeat April 6th 2007, survived an abusive, made for TV, childhood. Litzau’s upbringing demanded adjustment, flexibility, and carefulness, but his boxing career thus far is best summed up by the saying, "If the only tool you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail."

Litzau’s action-first mentality cost him against Joe Hernandez in his only defeat. Litzau, whose ring alias “The American Boy,” punched, slapped, and rattled Hernandez’s brain for seven rounds, until Hernandez knocked Litzau from his senses in round eight.

“In the past, he publicly and privately said I am here to knock you out and give you your money’s worth. If I get knocked out ’oh well,’” notes Litzau’s long time trainer Bob Van Syckle. "If I think he’s looking great, I’ll tell him. If not, I’ll tell him you gotta listen to me. If it’s not important I wouldn’t say it.” ......

http://secondsout.com/news/index.cfm?ccs=534&cs=21899

[H2O Man]

2. Wednesday's results .....

Litzau decisions Valtierra

Super-featherweight contender Jason Litzau unanimously out-pointed Aldo Valtierra over 10 rounds at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St Paul,Minnesota on Wednesday night.

Despite a short break following an eighth round headbutt, Litzau was in complete control as the judges scores of 99-90 twice and 98-92,indicated.

Other results from St Paul
Junior Middleweight Henry Crawford w rtd 6 Jeremy Yelton
Junior Middleweight Antonio Johnson w pts 6 Anthony Young
Welterweight Mohammed Kayongo w ko 4 Eberto Medina


Note: Litzau is an exciting fighter, but flawed. Before the fight, ESPN played a clip of him explaining why he gets hit a lot. He said he can use defensive skills, but then wouldn't have an impressive offense. Yikes! As Teddy Atlas said, you can name 100 fighters who based their strong offensive skills on good defense -- Ray Leonard being his first example.

Litzau got hit way too often. He was lucky that he was in against an older fighter moving up in weight, who didn't have much pop to his punch. Could a good trainer instill solid defensive skills in this kid? Maybe. But most fighters have a way of reverting back to "old habits" when they get hit with a hard shot. Jason will likely be an exciting fighter, who will not make it to the top of his division. There are too many good fighters who can exploit his weaknesses.

[H2O Man]

3. Diaz by TKO !

Juan Diaz looked very good in TKOing Freitas, who quit after 8.