Viva Argentina - Friday plays
Viva Argentina - Friday plays
<IMG src=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-76xzZtYDAYA/UAjmwb7Lc7I/AAAAAAAADuM/GVe7PRv5zc4/s1600/Veron-maciel.jpg width="400" height="300" alt="Veron-maciel">
(Javier Francisco Maciel(right) -140 v. Mateo Damian Veron(left) +110)
(10 rounds - Argentina light middleweight title)
After a small taste of Argentina last weekend, I'm feeling lucky again. We have another 1 KO fighter from Argentina, champion Veron w/ a record of 13(1)-6(3)-2. Surprisingly there's a wealth of footage available on both fighters. Veron keeps his left hand low and is a slapping puncher w/ terrible accuracy. Tends to do better against taller fighters, which Maciel is not. Mostly fights maintaining distance, but gets drawn into firefights just as much. A good 2 fight comparison to highlight all this is Veron's fights against Guido Pitto. In the first fight, Pitto is very much the shorter man, thus successfully landing bodyshots, dropping Veron and stopping Veron on bodyshots. In the rematch, Pitto must've gone through a growth spurt as he's equally as tall if not taller than Veron. Veron was able to outbox Pitto and squeaked out a majority decision by a 1/2 point.
Maciel in a nutshell looks like a solid fighter, nothing special. Great KO%, which usually is taken w/ a grain of salt when it comes to South American fighters, but his power appears to be the real deal, especially his bodyshots, as he's stopped several fighters w/ single bodyshots. Most notable fight was at middleweight against Dmitry Pirog, who many predicted would blow Maciel out. Whether it was ring rust or not, Maciel made the fight competitive, backing Pirog up at times and took Pirog's best, showing a good chin. His other defeat earlier in his career apparently was highly suspect, as it's officially listed on boxrec as a TKO4, but observers of the fight say a cut caused by a headbutt was instead ruled as a cut caused by a punch. Maciel was dominating the fight before and after the cut, but the fight was apparently questionably stopped to give his opponent the TKO victory. W/ Maciel being a wicked body puncher, and Veron being very lean on the body, plus already being stopped via bodyshots AND having no power to speak of, I don't see how he can keep Maciel off of him, and it could be an early night for Veron. I rate Maciel levels above Veron. I will say the only thing I didn't like about Maciel against Pirog was his lack of offense, but given the fact that he was up a weight class against a top notch opponent, perhaps caution was well advised. I don't anticipate him fighting as cautious against Veron.
Big play on Maciel @ -140.
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(Miguel Acosta(right) -270 v. Art Hovhannisyan(left) +210)
(10 rounds - lightweight)
Just a small play here. An in-form Acosta that stopped Paulus Moses, Urbano Antillon, and troubled Rios in the first half of their fight, I'd take over Hovhannisyan any day. However, since the Rios loss, it seems he's been shot to shit overnight as he looked absolutely horrible against Richard Abril regardless of Abril's style. Abril isn't known for his power, but he was able to drop Acosta w/ glancing blows, and Acosta couldn't keep his footing against the slightest of shoves. Hovhannisyan isn't a lightweight and admitted himself he would've liked to face a super featherweight, but couldn't pass up the opportunity on this fight as they simply don't come his way often. W/ Acosta being a true lightweight, I thought there would be a huge size difference but once side by side at the weigh in, there doesn't seem to be much difference, in fact Hovhannisyan looks much thicker. The blueprint's out on how to beat Acosta, and that's w/ pressure, which Hovhannisyan likes to apply. Whether he's good enough, we shall see. I don't often play the odds, but I'll take my chances when up against what appears to be a suddenly fragile fighter.
Small play on Hovhannisyan @ +210.
