AZ Front Row Magazine

Miguel Berchelt vs Takashi Miura Fight Prediction

By: Albert Alvarez

This Saturday night at the Forum in Inglewood, California, vicious punchers Miguel Berchelt and Takashi Miura will slug it out for the WBC World super featherweight title.

Miguel Berchelt is on quite an impressive knockout streak with a 31-1 record that includes 28 big knockouts. Berchelt has not eye balled a decision since 2012. The power punching Berchelt is coming off a January big win over Francisco Vargas in a very exciting toe to toe shootout.

Berchelt fights out of an orthodox stance and his jab is a stiff pesky dagger that is employed to cause damage on impact instead of just seeking range with it.

Takashi Miura has a 31-3-2 record and like his opponent also has dynamite in both hands with 24 knockouts. Miura has gotten his hand raised in five of his last six fights, and he’s coming off a January win over Miguel Roman.

Miura is a very heavy handed Japanese boxer that fights out of a southpaw stance. Miura is a tough as nails fighter with a granite chin.

This clash is going to be a edge of your seat toe to toe fight between two offensive minded power punchers. So if you love action fights, this clash is a must-watch affair.

Picking a winner in this is tough since I feel that it will come down to attrition and will. I like Berchelt in this one since I feel he holds a slight edge in punching power.

It’s going to be a close fight, but I see Berchelt’s powerful combinations being a bit too much for Miura and will stop Miura inside of 10 brutal rounds.

Andre Ward/Sergey Kovalev The Rematch Prediction

By: Albert Alvarez

Andre "S.O.G." Ward(31-0) and Sergey "The Krusher" Kovalev(30-1-1) will once again knuckle up to face off against one another in another superfight, this one is being billed "The Rematch".

This much anticipated rematch between these top five pound for pound fighters takes place June 17 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and will be for the unified WBA, WBO, IBF, and the vacant Ring magazine light heavyweight titles.

In their first encounter, Ward had to pick himself off of the canvas in the early going to then make key adjustments like better inside fighting to beat Kovalev down the stretch in a very close controversial decision win.

In looking at both fighters, I feel that each fighter just seems to have that one difficult style that will always trouble one another. Ward has the better close range fighting game and Kovalev is a better long range fighter than Ward, so fights between these two combatants will always be tight close fights.

So needless to say, I am expecting to see another close possible controversial decision win for the victor in this rematch clash. It will be very interesting to see which fighter will make the biggest recognizable adjustments to get some separation in those close rounds to secure the win.

Ward has got to get right at Kovalevs chest at the exact second off of the release of his jabs. I would also like to see Ward attack the body mercifully due to the fact that Kovalev appears to be extremely bothered and has to reposition his stance whenever his midsection is being hit.

As for Kovalev, he must fight at an arms length distance to give himself the absolute best striking opportunities. Kovalev also has to continue to use that long stiff jab that gave Ward fitts in their first affair. If I am Kovalev, I would employ my jab to also stab with it towards the pit of Wards stomach to help set up his killer right hand over the top.

This one is really really hard to call, for me the safe pick is to take Ward by unanimous decision. However, as I continue to study their first fight, I come away from it thinking that Ward can NOT box Kovalev any better than he did in the last six rounds of their first encounter. And here is the thing with that, even against an exhausted Kovalev, even then I didn't see Ward sweep those pivotal last six rounds.

Staying on Kovalev and his conditioning issues, Team Kovalev has this time around hired a Russian conditioning guru to make sure that the Kovalev gas tank is sitting pretty for the later rounds. Problem is that I believe Kovalevs exhaustion is of the mind. Ward has a chess boxing style that forces foes to think faster than they are used to, so it's not out of the question that Kovalev was and may be drained more so mentally than physically once again.

In saying all of that, I am taking Ward to outwit and outsmart Kovalev in a 7 rounds to 5 split decision.

Golovkin/Jacobs Prediction

By: Albert Alvarez

Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs will do battle this Saturday night at Madison Square Garden for the WBA Super World middleweight title on HBO Pay Per View.

Golovkin the monsterous puncher known as Triple G, has a flawless 36-0 record with 33 big knockouts. Golovkin is coming off of a September win over Kell Brook, in a match that forced Brooks trainer to throw in the towel to save his fighter from further punishment.

That 5th round stoppage win over Brook is quite possibly the biggest win thus far for Triple G and he did so by going directly into London and punishing Brook in front of Brooks home crowd.

Golovkin is without a doubt the best middleweight in the world and has looked invincible as he breaks his opponents fighting will with his powerful shots. Triple G to me is not only a very effective offensive fighter, but his ability to cut the ring off rapidly is a thing of beauty.

Danny Jacobs on the other hand just may be the hardest puncher Golovkin has faced and since Golovkin is not a defensive wizard, he will be there to be hit. So with that being said, I am extremely curious to see how Triple G’s chin will hold up.

Danny Jacobs last fought in September when he defeated Sergio Mora to improve to a stellar 32-1 record that includes 29 knockouts. Jacobs is definitely the bigger fighter and will have a reach advantage over Golovkin. I mention Jacob’s longer reach because Jacobs will need to fire out his jab to keep Golovkin at arms length in order to find any real shot at being the first man to defeat Golovkin.

So who shall be victorious in one of the biggest fights of the year?

For me, I feel that the fight will be evenly matched in the early going, but by round 6 I see Golovkin cutting off the ring on Jacobs and will begin to break down Jacobs with very heavy body shots.

I see Golovkin dropping Jacobs with a vicious right hook in round number 8. Jacobs will then somehow get back up to his feet and like a shark smelling blood, Golovkin will then jump on his prey to batter Jacobs post to post forcing the referee to stop the fight.

Golovkin by 8th round TKO.

Photo: WBC

Manny Pacquiao Vs. Amir Khan Coming Soon?

By: Albert Alvarez

A couple days ago, both Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan both tweeted that negotiations were underway to secure a mega match to take place between both former gym mates/ sparring partners.

If this mega match comes to fruition, Khan would have finally landed one of his top two ultimate dream matches.

Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) has been trying desperately the past few years to land a fight with either currently retired, Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs).

It has almost been a year since Khan last fought in May of 2016 when Canelo Alvarez knocked Khan out leaving him unconscious. The explosive knock out occurred in the 6th stanza when Khan was blitzed with a devastating right hand by the then-middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez at a catchweight of 155 pounds.

The Pacquiao and Khan tweets about a potential matchup came to a big surprise to fight fans since Pacquiao previously had a deal to fight April 22 against Australia's Jeff Horn in Brisbane.

Pacquiao then also recently tweeted that his next bout will take place in the United Arab Emirates.

However, no official announcement has been made about the location of the Khan fight or no concrete response from Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum on whether or not the fight is a done deal.

So the question remains, will Pacquiao who last fought this past November when he dominated Jesse Vargas by unanimous decision, enter the ring on April 22 or 23? And if so, will Amir Khan be standing right across from the eight division world titleholder?

Photo Credit: Crown Boxing