With 2011 just about underway, there is a whole year's worth of speculation ahead of us. Unlike 2010, where everybody was too fixated on Pacquiao vs. Mayweather to care about anything else, it's fair game this year. As such, here are 25 BOLD predictions for 2011!
- The Pacquiao bandwagon will start to come undone.
You can already see it with other analysts, like ESPN's Dan Rafael and Yahoo! Sport's Kevin Iole. As Pacquiao's cherry-picked fight with Shane Mosley draws near, you'll hear the same people who once cheered for him for fighting a blind, handicapped man (note the sarcasm) begin to condemn him for his choice of opponents. Don't expect "Money" Pacquiao's team to throw him in harms way from now until the end of his career. - A few more fighters will officially retire.
That means you Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barerra, Bernard Hopkins, Evander Holyfield and Roy Jones Jr. - Take my word for it, Hopkins will retire because...
Chad Dawson will get his rematch with Jean Pascal before Hopkins does and will take back his title. Seeing as how Hopkins doesn't want anything to do with Dawson, he'll finally call it a day. Despite having over over three years to challenge Dawson, he never did, and since nobody will give him slack for fighting Dawson, because he's the "uncrowned king," Hopkins will go on and on about how great he is before riding off into the sunset. It's the perfect escape plan. - If you're European, Cruiserweight will be the best division in 2011.
- If you're American, Bantamweight will be the best division in 2011.
- Yuriorkis Gamboa will continue to take riskier, low-profile fights while Juan Manuel Lopez continues to pound on bottom feeders.
2010 had Gamboa face off against Rogers Mtagwa, who nearly beat Lopez in his last fight, undefeated Jonathan Barrios, and IBF champion Orlando Salido. Lopez was able to fight feather-fisted champion Steven Luevano, inexperienced Bernabe Concepcion, and a blown-up Rafael Marquez. - If #6 is correct, it only solidifies my theory that Top Rank will keep Lopez away from Gamboa.
Believe it! Gamboa's marketability isn't on the same level as Lopez yet. Furthermore, if the Concepcion and Marquez fights are any indication, then Lopez's chin is still a bit shaky. Expect Lopez to probably fight unknown Teon Kennedy in Puerto Rico for his first fight in 2011. Meanwhile, Gamboa is looking at facing lineal champion Chris John. Too many people think Gamboa is too dangerous for Lopez, so the Top Rank brass is keeping him on the back-burner hoping that he "blows his opportunity." - That being said, no Gamboa-Lopez this year.
- Ditto for any Klitschko-Haye fight.
- Amir Khan will take it easy on the big punchers now.
This is easy to call considering Khan barely escaped Marcos Maidana in their ferocious title fight. Now that Khan fought Maidana, don't expect him to fight him again in a rematch. He likely won't be fighting guys like Victor Ortiz or Lucas Matthyse anytime soon either. Case in point, the leading opponent for his next fight is Lamont Peterson, and don't be too shocked if he goes back to calling out Juan Manuel Marquez again in lieu of the Bradley-Alexander fight in January. That chin is still glass if you ask me. - Floyd Mayweather will return in the fall and will again prove to be a bigger draw than Pacquiao.
We have to face the reality that Pacquiao is more than likely going to fight Miguel Cotto this fall because Andre Berto and Juan Manuel Marquez will still be aligned with other promoters. Mayweather has inadvertedly kept himself in the public's eye with his legal issues, making his return fight huge and probably the biggest fight of the year. - With that being said, more people will begin to favor Pacquiao over Mayweather.
Mayweather has been a near 2-1 betting favorite over Pacquiao since initial talks began in 2009, but with mounting inactivity and the realistic fact that Pacquiao will beat Mosley more impressively than Mayweather did, odds will shift to Pacquiao no doubt. Analysts too have been riding the "Mayweather ducking Pacquiao" horse and will make Pacquiao the odds on favorite to win. I'll take the underdog in that case, unless Mayweather looks like garbage in his next fight. - Paul Williams vs. Kelly Pavlik will be discussed for the Fall.
While we've probably heard enough of these two trying to fight each other, it's more realistic now that both fighters are going to be on the comeback trail through 2011. Pavlik was willing to remain at 160 for a Sergio Martinez rematch, or a fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., so a money fight with Williams isn't out of the picture. This fight is even more intriguing now than before Martinez decked them both, I wouldn't be surprised if HBO pushes this fight to happen, just like they did Martinez-Williams II. - Winky Wright, Joshua Clottey, James Toney and Antonio Tarver will not have a single marketable fight....heck, they may not even fight at all.
- Andriy Kotelnik and Anthony Peterson are bound to be featured on Milk Carton Confidential.
- Andre Dirrell will return and, not surprisingly, show no trace of cerebral trauma or brain damage.
- Lucian Bute will have a breakout 2011.
Bute will make his Showtime debut this year against Brian Magee but his second fight will almost certainly be against Arthur Abraham or Carl Froch if they lose their next bouts in the Super Six tournament. Money will hold up a fight with Andre Ward, but Bute may instead find himself opposite Andre Dirrell by years end. He can very easily win all of those fights and, in turn, make Ward-Bute a super-fight. - People will continue to hate the Klitschko brothers because they are too good.
- Joseph Agbeko will win the Bantamweight tournament.
- Andre Ward will lose three rounds in his next two fights, before ultimately winning the Super Six tournament.
- Fighter of the year 2011 candidates will be Manny Pacquiao, Lucian Bute, Timothy Bradley, Andre Ward, Nonito Donaire.
- Sergio Martinez will struggle to fight a noteworthy opponent in 2011.
Andy Lee, Matthew Macklin and Sergei Dzinzriuk hardly sound like seat fillers for this March, and you'd have to be joking about Cotto-Martinez now that Arum intends to keep Cotto on independent shows. The only fights that Martinez can have right now that people will care about are Alfredo Angulo, a third Paul Williams fight, or a fight with Mayweather. Tough break for Martinez, who worked so hard to presumably fade away. - Juan Manuel Marquez will leave Golden Boy Promotions.
Marquez must be frustrated with his promoters' inability to secure him his payday against Manny Pacquiao, but Top Rank will be more than happy to persuade him to jump ship with the promise of big money fights against Humberto Soto, Brandon Rios or even landing the big one against Pacquiao in the fall. It won't take long for Marquez to realize that if they aren't going to throw Shane Mosley a bone, why bother throwing one to him? - There will be less Pay-Per-Views and more doubleheaders.
2010 proved that a stacked card doesn't need a $50 tag to be considered great, and in 2011, we'll be seeing more fights on one card for free. HBO's pay-per-views this year were awful, outside of anything Pacquiao/Mayweather related, mainly because those fights SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON REGULAR TV! Let's hope that the networks keep putting on multi-fight cards and satisfying everybody. - We'll be nowhere closer to Pacquiao-Mayweather, so let's just let it go.