Here are my Olympic Boxing Semi-Final predictions for the middleweight and heavyweights. These bouts will take place on Friday the 22nd at 3:00 a.m. EST (middle) and 3:30 a.m. (heavy). We’ll analyze how I did on Saturday. (Jabandgrapple picks in bold)

Middleweight Semifinals

Darren Sutherland (IRL) vs. James Degale (GBR)
Sutherland likes to scrap and that makes him a jabandgrapple favorite. He throws punches, combination even! He boxes, he engages his opponent, he doesn’t dance and he works hard. These shouldn’t be unique qualities in a boxing tourney but these Olympic Games aren’t just any competition. In the quarters he beat the 2007 silver medalist Alfonso Blanco 11-1. The score wasn’t nearly that lopsided and it was a great match to watch and Sutherland (as well as Blanco) might have a successful pro career in his future.

And Degale? Well, he beat the Athens 2004 boxer of the tourney Bakhtiyar Artayev in the semis 8-3. How the awkward, gawky Kazakh could ever have been voted most outstanding is beyond us. Evidently aesthetics weren’t involved in the decision. The southpaw Degale seemed to have confused Artayev with his frequent backtracking and lunging left-hand jabs.

Degale described his style to announcer Jim Gray as hit-move-hit-move-hit-move. Gray responded by complementing his dancing. Sutherland’s style is more hit-hit-hit-hit. For the love of boxing let’s hope the Irishman wins.

Emilio Correa (CUB) vs. Vijender Kumar (IND)
Correa is yet another skilled Cuban boxer. In the first round of Emilio’s quarterfinal matchup he circled the ring looking for spots and openings. But in the second he switched to aggressor and successfully hunted down his opponent. Correa’s dad, Emilio Sr., won the Olympic welterweight gold in 1972 and we think his son is going to repeat his father’s accomplishment, or at least make the finals.

3:00 a.m. - 3:30 a.m. EST

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Heavyweight Semifinals

Osmay Acosta (CUB) vs. Rakhim Chakhkeiv (RUS)
Haven’t been impressed with either of these two heavyweights. Will go with Acosta not because the Cubans have been getting some friendly judging while the Russians have been getting the shaft. I like Chakhkeiv a lot better. Goes to show how horrible Olympic boxing has become.

Deontay Wilder (USA) vs. Clemente Russo (ITA)
I like Wilder and think the raw prospect might be a good pro but the stylized, experienced awkwardness of Russo is too much for the Tuscaloosa tornado.

The highest Ring Magazine-ranked boxer in “action” last weekend was Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin although it’s not as if his opponent Taurus Sykes actually wanted to fight. Povetkin, Ring’s #5 heavyweight, won by KO in the fourth round. Sykes spent the entire fight grasping and holding. When the White Lion finally managed to graze him with a punch Sykes floundered to the ground refusing to get up. And to think I was angry that this fight wasn’t being broadcast on U.S. television.

If you can actually find a legitimate knockout punch then you have a better eye than me. A youtube video of the fight’s third and fourth rounds is enclosed below.

On Friday night British heavyweight Danny Williams somehow found a way to beat challenger John McDermott and remain in boxrec.com’s top twenty despite. Williams managed to win a majority decision despite having three points taken away from him in the late rounds for various infractions. Williams also survived an fifth round beating (video below) which was unbelievably not stopped by the referee.

Here is the London Telegraph’s recount of the fight where writer Gareth Davies correctly assesses British heavyweight boxing as being “in the doldrums.”

Image details: Chris Arreola v Damian Wills served by picapp.com

My dad recently asked me “Why didn’t you write about the HBO heavyweight fight a few weeks ago? The one where the young kid Chris Arreola just tore that poor Philly boxer Chazz Witherspoon up. That kid was something else.”

Back in late June I was much more interested in the Showtime fights that aired at the same night: the Arthur Abraham - Edison Miranda rematch its co-feature the Raul Marquez - Giovanni Lorenzo upset. A few days later when I got around to watching the HBO fights — Arreola’s third round KO and Andre Berto’s domination of Miki Rodriguez — there was nothing left to say.

Since then everyone and their mother (my father was on the cutting edge) has fallen in love with young, round, and large Chris Arreola. During the July 2 Friday Night Fights ESPN2 ranked him as America’s 2nd best heavyweight behind Tony Thompson, after the Wladimir Klitschko fight the HBO team was rushing to place him in a major fight, and today Arreola pops up in Ring Magazine’s Top Ten Heavyweights.

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Image details: Wladimir Klitschko v Tony Thompson - IBF/IBO/WBO World Championship served by picapp.com

It took 11 slogging rounds but eventually Wladimir Klitschko decided that America’s top ranked heavyweight Tony “The Tiger” Thompson was his for the taking. In the eleventh Dr. Steelhammer upped his output and caught Thompson with a clean right which sent him down for a quick ten count from Joe Cortez.

The win brought Klitschko’s record to 51-3 with 45 of those victories coming by knockout. Thompson fell to 31-2 and will no longer hold the severely devalued mythical title of top American heavyweight. With his win Klitschko retains the IBF, IBO, and WBO championship belts.

For much of the fight The Tiger performed more like a tamed kitten preferring conservative-minded glancing body blows to any demonstrative action. Klitschko’s efforts were securely focused on finding a way through Thompson’s permanently raised gloves. To Wladmir’s credit many straight rights did shoot through steadily inflicting damage.

Both fighters were cut about their right eyes in the second: Wladimir by a Thompson left hook and The Tiger presumably by a head butt. Klitschko’s cut was swiftly tended to and was not reopened for the remainder of the battle primarily because Thompson rarely ventured shots to Wlad’s head. Thompson’s cut was reopened nearly every round by Klitschko’s steady barrage of rights.

Thompson’s frequent body punching while in the clinch made rounds four through six close but after that activity he seemed to shut his offensive attack down. Between rounds he promised his trainer that he had a plan. That plan never materialized.

Late in the tenth Wladimir stepped on Thompson’s toe and accidentally tackled the American into the ring corner. Thompson appeared dazed and hurt. At this point it was clear that his legs were shot and in the eleventh Klitschko took full advantage of his diminished opponent.

Image details: Wladimir Klitschko v Tony Thompson - IBF/IBO/WBO World Championship served by picapp.com

Image details: Wladimir Klitschko v Tony Thompson Press Conference served by picapp.com

Tomorrow afternoon the consensus (if not undisputed) heavyweight champion of the world is facing the consensus top American heavyweight but for some reason the excitement level hasn’t reached fever pitch on these shores. The clinical, cautious and glass-jawed Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko has yet to capture the American imagination and highly unlikely that his American challenger Tony “The Tiger” Thompson ever will. Even if his beats the 6:1 odds and fells the Eastern European giant.

We at jabandgrapple.com will be glued to our TV set tomorrow a 4:30 p.m. and dialed into HBO hoping Doktor Steelhammer can make clean work of Thompson. We are big Klitschko fans; Mrs. Jabandgrapple has even claimed to have married Mr. Jabandgrapple because of his passing likeness to Wlad.

Regardless, Wlad Klitschko fights always set us on edge. Even though he has the belts, the trainer, the supreme talent, the knockout punch, the smarts, and the imposing presence it always feels as if out of nowhere his opponent is going to knock him out. We were devastated by the Corrie Sanders and the Lamon Brewster fights. How could our champ get knocked out by them?

But he did and in every subsequent bout we suppose it is going to happen again. When his many skills supersede the glass jaw curse then we breath a sigh of relief and are thankful our hero made it through.

This trepidation, of course, is not the way one should feel about their heavyweight champ. The champ should mow people down with his superiority and strength like Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis and most other linear heavyweight champs.

The real question is will we be breathing a sigh of relief after tomorrow match with Tony Thompson? My feeling is yes but that won’t stop the worry. Not one bit.

Yesterday’s ESPN2 fight card originated from an unlikely place: Butler, Pennsylvania, a town of 15,000 located 40 miles north of Pittsburgh. It’s the hometown of heavyweight contender Brian Minto. Minto, 33, played football for the Butler High Golden Tornados and must have competed there with one-time NFL player Scott Milanovich.

Minto predictably dismantled Philadelphia-native John Poore dropping him three times in the first round. There is a full video of the fight below. But is Minto a viable heavyweight candidate? Was ESPN’s graphic correct; is he really the fifth best American heavyweight?

This was ESPN’s list:
1. Tony Thompson 31-1-0 (19) - boxrec.com U.S. Rank: 1
2. Chris Arreola 24-0-0 (21) - boxrec.com U.S. Rank: 8
3. Kevin Johnson 19-0-1 (6) - boxrec.com U.S. Rank: 9
4. Jason Estrada 13-1-0 (3) - boxrec.com U.S. Rank: 13
5. Brian Minto 31-2-0 (20) - boxrec.com U.S. Rank: 14

Who were Teddy and Joe forgetting? Well, ESPN’s Dan Rafael has John Ruiz and Hasim Rahman ranked #6 and #9 in his overall rankings; they’d be his #1 and #2 U.S. heavys. The other names in between - Eddie Chambers, Monte Barrett, Lamon Brewster, Calvin Brock, Demetrice King, Travis Walker, Chazz Witherspoon - have all fought better competition than Minto. But none have any fight fan clamoring towards the ticket booth.

Right now Minto doesn’t belong in the Top 5. He needs to start fighting the above names to prove himself. Then and only then can he be considered a Top 5 American Heavyweight.

Chris Byrd’s foray into the light heavyweight division did not go as planned. In a relatively shocking and ultimately sad bout Shaun George TKOd the former heavyweight champ late in the ninth round. Referee Jay Nady stopped the fight after George floored Byrd for the second time that round.

George’s demonstrative and dominating win, he was up 79-72 on all three cards, announced that he is yet another talented fighter in a division proving to be boxing’s finest. Byrd, on the other hand, did not prove that he belonged.

Byrd fought the smaller quicker George as if he were a plodding heavyweight and George did not oblige Byrd’s incorrect assumption. The 5/1 underdog dropped him in the first and pounded him throughout. He never slowed down his unceasing barrage, dancing around Byrd while peppering him with pinpoint punches and scoring numerous head shots. Byrd landed no punches of consequence and never threatened the 29-year-old Brooklyn native. This wasn’t the Byrd we thought we were going to see.

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Last week at jabandgrapple.com we told you about the proposed Vitali Klitschko - Samuel Peter fight and how Peter will fight some walkover in the interim. Well, a name for that walkover has been bandied about and it’s none other than Andrzej Gołota a/k/a Andrew Golota a/k/a the guy who was perilously close to winning the world heavyweight title in 1996 but couldn’t stop hitting Riddick Bowe in the unmentionables.

“He’s still fighting?” we wondered. It seems. He’s now 40-years-old and in the midst of a modestly successful three-fight comeback. The last time I even thought about Gołota was way back in 1998.

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Image details: Samuel Peter v James Toney served by picapp.com

ESPN reports that www.jabandgrapple.com’s favorite mayoral candidate Vitali Klitschko has just accepted a future WBC heavyweight title fight against the self-proclaimed Nigerian Nightmare Samuel Peter. The match is scheduled to take place sometime this October with a site in Germany being the the likely location. Peter will probably fight an interim fight sometime the summer while Klitschko is kissing babies, giving platform speeches and engaging in anti-corruption debates.

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