Last week we went with a bout between previously unbeaten Freddie Lawson (24-1, 20 KOs) of Ghana and Kevin Bizier ( 25-2, 17 KOs) of Canada. The two squared off in an IBF welterweight world title eliminator. It was another edition of Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions series. The bout took place at the Miccosukee Indian Gaming Resort in Miami, Florida. NBC will air the event.
Bizier set the tone from the opening bell for the fight going to the body. Lawson on paper seemed to be the bigger puncher of the two but Bizier quickly set the record straight on that. It was Bizier who was the aggressor while Lawson was boxing on the back foot. Bizier saw his early commitment pay off when he put Lawson down with a body shot in round 5. Lawson was able to continue on but was never really back in the fight after that. Lawson seemed to suffer an injury to his jaw and did not answer the bell for round 11. Bizier the underdog won by 10th round TKO and we were wrong on our prediction as we had Lawson as our pick to win.
We look to get back on track this week as we have decided to go with the fight today between former world champion Anthony Mundine (47-6, 27 KOs) of Australia and world ranked contender Charles Hatley ( 25-1-, 17 KOs) of Texas. The main event bout will take place at the Convention& Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Victoria Australia. Its scheduled for 12 rounds with Mundine’s WBC Silver Super Welterweight title on the line.
Mundine scored what some felt was a questionable split decision win over then unbeaten Sergey Rabchenko in his last bout nearly a year ago. Hatley is riding an 8 bout win streak albeit against lower level opposition. Some oddsmakers have this fight considerably close with Mundine as a minus 250 favorite to defeat the plus 190 underdog Hatley. This may be contributed to Mundine now being 40 years old and Hatley just 29. Mundine’s long layoff could be another aspect being considered. This is still a huge step up in class for Hatley who has never fought outside the United States as a professional. We are picking Mundine to step up at home and win this one decisively.
Disclaimer: Boxing360’s Pick of the week is strictly for entertainment purposes only
