By Wil King @ theboxingoracle.com
Friday night (June 11) on Showtime`s Shobox: The next generation, Freddie Roach`s Cruiserweight project Lateef “Power” Kayode (17-0 14 KO`s) was center stage vs Matt “Too Smooth” Godfrey (20-3 10 KO`s) at the Chumash casino in Santa Ynez, California. It was an entertaining fight that was mostly dominated by Kayode, but seemed like just another building block for the cruiserweight, soon to be heavyweight prospect. Godfrey (who isnt a top contender in the division) rocked Kayode in the fight with a good right hand at times, But it was Kayode, who used the instruction from Roach by going to the body, weakening Godfrey`s defense and then landing big power shots upstairs, who came out on top with the unanimous decision (98-89, 98-90 and 97-90). Kayode has a ton of power (hence the nickname “Power”) but is more of a brawler at this stage of his career, should have confidence that he has a master game planner in his corner in Roach who can develop him into something special. In order to be special he would first have to clean out the top 2 dogs of the division in WBO champ Marco Huck (32-1) and IBF champ Steve Cunningham (24-2).
This all begs the question .... How will Kayode, who is figuring to be a top heavyweight contender in the future, handle the power of a Klitchsco? At 6`2 Kayode`s not exactly short, but the Klitscho`s have always used their size to their advantage. He`s going to need to polish his defensive skills and offensively be able to get inside on a bigger man. Roach will have to do his part with another great game plan, which Roach says he has and just needs the right fighter to pull off beating a Klitscho. Is Kayode that fighter? Only time will tell.
Next Saturday (June 18) on HBO`s championship boxing, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (36-0-1 26 KO`s) is back in action from Mexico vs British light middleweight contender Ryan Rhodes (45-4 31 KO`s). Many people have not been impressed yet by Canelo, who`s only claim to fame so far is beating the brothers of 2 future hall of famers, Matthew Hatton (Ricky Hatton`s brother) & Jose Miguel Cotto (Miguel Cotto`s brother) He Ko`d Carlos Baldamir who hadn`t been relevant since Floyd Mayweather Jr. beat him back in Nov of `06.
If Golden Boy promotions think he`s the real deal then they should show some faith in him by putting him in with a real threat, instead of padding his record with tomato cans. If the rematch between Cotto and Margarito cant be made (now the fight is supposedly on for Dec 3) then Top Rank and Golden Boy should work together and give the fans a super fight between Cotto and Alvarez. Canelo would look for a sweep of the Cotto brothers and Cotto would look to avenge his brothers loss. That would be interesting! Until next time...
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