Boxing Picks 2019- Oleksandr Usyk vs Chazz Witherspoon (October 12th)

Between now and the middle of December there are some very good looking cards with some big time main events that have been put together for Boxing fans (and no I am not including the YouTube fight in that). It is an exciting time as we should have a number of strong weekends to look forward to, although that is not the case this weekend.

Instead it is more of a time to have a quick look at some names that are going to be involved in big fights either at the end of this year, or more likely in early 2020. Two World Champions are in action who have been chasing Unifications without any success in drawing the other Champions into the ring and they will be getting ready to ensure they can put mandatories out of the way and also keep the ring rust from gathering around them.

The main fighter of interest though has to be Oleksandr Usyk who finally makes his debut at Heavyweight, although it has been a difficult road to get here with the Undisputed Cruiserweight king being out of the ring for almost a full twelve months.


Before I get into the Boxing Picks from this weekend and the three main fights I am concentrating on, I have to say a couple of words about Errol Spence Jr.

Most should know I am a huge fan of the Texan so it was a real shock to the system to hear of the car crash he had been involved in on Thursday.

It sounded bad and then the video made it clear it was very bad- but thankfully Spence Jr had some sort of guardian angel looking out for him that he was able to come out of the accident without a broken bone. Things will take time for a full recovery so I doubt he is out in January as was rumoured for his fight with Danny Garcia, but those things matter little when he could easily have lost his life on the night.

Hopefully we will get to see Errol Spence Jr sooner rather than later though and you have to wish him the best for his recovery.


I only had the one pick last Saturday and it turned out to be a losing one after backing Gennady Golovkin to find a late stoppage against Sergiy Derevyanchenko. It was a very close fight, but I think the early Knock Down in favour of GGG just about kept him in front, although it is clear the best days are now past him.

Unsurprisingly Canelo Alvarez is now talking up a third fight with GGG and I think that has to be next for the latter if it is ever going to happen. A rematch with Derevyanchenko could easily go the other way and I think the likes of Billy Joe Saunders and Demetrius Andrade would be confident in beating Golovkin now too.

Right now I am anticipating Canelo will announce that the trilogy with GGG will be completed on Cinco de Mayo weekend in 2020. First off the Mexican superstar has a huge fight with Sergey Kovalev coming up early next month in his move to Light Heavyweight, but regardless of the outcome I do think Alvarez will be targeting Golovkin and a chance to put an exclamation point on their rivalry.

Josh Warrington vs Sofiane Takoucht

After beating Lee Selby and Carl Frampton to win the World Title and underline his position, Josh Warrington just about got the better of Kid Galahad in an awful fight to clear his IBF mandatory.

As soon as that fight was over Warrington was desperate to get in with one of the other Champions, but for one reason or another the Leeds Featherweight has not been able to seal the deal. Oscar Valdez has seemingly moved up to Super Featherweight, Leo Santa Cruz is going to be on the Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz undercard and for the sixth year in a row Gary Russell looks set to only have one fight within a calendar year.

It has to be a frustration for Warrington who has been given a chance to return home for this bout with Sofiane Takoucht. Only one of the last ten fights Josh Warrington has had has been outside of Leeds, but he was desperately looking to head State-side this time around.

His opponent is Ranked in the top ten of the IBF World Rankings, but Warrington's mood in missing the big fights won't have been improved when noting that the IBF have put Kid Galahad in an Eliminator position to earn a rematch with the Leeds man. The first fight was very close, but it was not a very appealing watch which was partly down to the tactics employed by Galahad and I am not sure Warrington will be holding the IBF World Title if forced to go in that direction.

This all means he has to win this fight and do it in the style to entice one of the other Champions into the ring with him. Josh Warrington himself realises time is of the essence and that he can't allow his career to drift at this point, while the chance of having a rematch with Carl Frampton is not that appealing to him now without more belts being on the line.

It can't be a distraction to him when taking on veteran Sofiane Takoucht who will head to Leeds with nothing to lose. To be perfectly honest he is not someone who should pose a lot of problems for Warrington having struggled to move above European level and there is nothing in his eight fight winning run to suggest he can step up and beat Warrington at this stage of his career.

Takoucht is a southpaw which could make things awkward for a while, but I fully expect Josh Warrington to keep the pressure on and break down this opponent. The record suggests Warrington will do well to stop an opponent who has never been stopped before, especially as Warrington has only stopped six of twenty-nine previous opponents, but five of those have come in the last thirteen times he has stepped into the ring.

The punch output should remain strong for Twelve Rounds and I would not be surprised if Warrington can put enough together as the Frenchman tires to force a stoppage here. He wants to make a statement so I do think Warrington will be looking to put the exclamation point on this one against an opponent who has stopped less than 40% of his opponents who have largely come at a much lower level than this.

Backing Josh Warrington to stop opponents would have been a short route to the poor house in his career, but Takoucht is a step down from his recent opponents and I think that helps here. Tiredness and a potentially kind corner/referee should be in play here and I will have a small interest in Warrington winning this fight between the Seventh and Twelfth without the need to go to the cards.

Dmitry Bivol vs Lenin Castillo

The main talking point on the Chicago card on Saturday is the debut of Oleksandr Usyk at Heavyweight, but Dmitry Bivol is also in action as he defends his WBA World Title.

At the moment there are rumours that Bivol is soon going to be elevated into the Super Champion status for the WBA, but there are similarities with his situation and Josh Warrington's at Featherweight. What I mean is that this is not the fight Bivol wanted as he chased the other Champions in the Light Heavyweight Division only to be left out in the cold as one Unification takes place next weekend, while the other Champion takes on a big challenger for a big payday.

Dmitry Bivol became the full WBA Champion in 2017 having not really faced too many top named opposition at that point, but he has stepped up his level while defending this belt. Wins over Sullivan Barrera, Isaac Chilemba, Jean Pascal and Joe Smith Jr are all exceptional ones, but all are the types of fights you might give someone building up to a World Title shot rather than when they are defending Champion.

This is all vital experience though and I am not going to criticise Bivol for failing to stop any of the last three of those opponents. They are durable fighters and Pascal's win over Marcus Browne showed that he still has something left, but on Saturday it should be a different story as Dmitry Bivol looks to remind people of his name before the other Champions return to the ring over the next month.

Lenin Castillo does not have a deep resume and his two previous losses have both come against unbeaten fighters including a points defeat to Marcus Browne in August 2018. He did Knock Down Browne, but I am less sure how impressive that is when we saw the American's whiskers fail him in his surprising defeat to Pascal two months ago.

There is clearly some pop that has to be respected and Castillo might be durable enough to become the fourth fighter in a row to go the distance with Bivol. Much will depend on his attitude really as he didn't really show a lot of aggression in the fight with Browne and didn't look to be really convinced he should be fighting at a higher level.

With that in mind I do think there is a possibility that this fight could just see Bivol pressing with Castillo looking to cover up and make sure he gets to the scorecards. That is a big price here, but I think Bivol has a little more power than Marcus Browne and he is the better Boxer who will pick his shots a little smarter than Browne did in that fight with Castillo. It could open the Dominican fighter up for something big that puts him in a difficult place and I think my lean is that Bivol will find the combination to get rid of this opponent somewhere in the second half of the fight.

Dmitry Bivol has shown he can carry his power late into the fight with the Twelfth Round stoppage of Sullivan Barrera, although the majority of his stoppages have been early on. In this one he is going to need time to break down Lenin Castillo while being aware of his power early and I think that is what we are going to see.

Oleksandr Usyk vs Chazz Witherspoon

The long anticipated Heavyweight debut of Undisputed Cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk takes place in Chicago this week.

In an alternative timeline, Usyk would have beaten Carlos Takam back in May just a few weeks before Anthony Joshua retained his World Titles in a win over Andy Ruiz Jr. We would then be heading into the fall with the most likely scenario being a Joshua vs Usyk World Title bout, but the chips have not landed that way for either fighter.

While Joshua continues preparation for a rematch with Ruiz Jr to avenge his defeat in June, injury has kept Usyk out of the ring for almost twelve months but the Ukrainian is finally ready to return.

Instead of the fight with an unbeaten Tyrone Spong, Chazz Witherspoon has stepped in at short notice and we only need to look back at Madison Square Garden on June 1st to note how things can go wrong if a fighter is overlooked. In saying that, Witherspoon is 38 years old, has had two Rounds in eighteen months and was disqualified against Chris Arreola and stopped by Tony Thompson and Seth Mitchell when hoping to be a contender.

The last of those was in 2012 so it is not wrong to suggest that Witherspoon is someway past his best and unlikely to really give Usyk too many problems. The bigger question is how many Rounds can Witherspoon get through having failed to hear the bell for the Fourth Round against Arreola and Mitchell.

Chazz Witherspoon is on an eight fight winning run against lower level opponents, but only three of those fights have needed the bell for a Fifth Round. He is going to go into the bout bigger than Usyk, but Witherspoon is not one of the giants of the Division and I think the superior quickness of the Ukrainian is going to see the American realise he is out of his depth pretty quickly.

Oleksandr Usyk probably needs some Rounds, but I think this debut is to make a statement and I can see him looking to pop Witherspoon from angles which takes away any semblance of belief the latter may be coming into the fight with. However this is not a one punch KO artist and even in his early Cruiserweight fights it took a couple of Rounds to warm into the task at hand and only 25% of Usyk's wins have come inside the first four Rounds.

You can't forget some of the high level opponents Usyk has fought though and Witherspoon can't really sit alongside those. The American is saying all the right things, but at 38 years old this is not really the time for Witherspoon to take on someone who is going to be quicker than him and clearly the superior boxer who will be just levels above him.

While the Ukrainian is not someone who is expected to stop opponents very early as he warms up to his task, I am not sure he is going to find a lot of resilience here. Chazz Witherspoon might have an early go, but I think the first time Usyk gets a few shots off we might be close to the end and I am going to look for the Ukrainian to secure his first early stoppage since beating Johnny Muller in 2015.

MY PICKS: Josh Warrington to Win Between 7-12 @ 3.00 Sky Bet (1 Unit)

Dmitry Bivol to Win Between 7-12 @ 2.75 Ladbrokes (2 Units)

Oleksandr Usyk to Win Between 1-4 @ 1.91 Sky Bet (2 Units)

Boxing Picks 2019: 21-40, + 5.87 Units (93 Units Staked, + 6.31% Yield)

Boxing Picks 2019- Gennady Golovkin vs Sergiy Derevyanchenko (October 5th)

The card from the Staples Center a week ago did not disappoint with Errol Spence Jr and Shawn Porter getting into a fantastic fight to headline the whole show.

They both showed they are amongst the best in the Welterweight Division and I am not going to be one of those who is down on Spence Jr for what was perhaps a tougher fight than he would have expected. Anyone who has watched Porter down the years should know what this man brings to the table and all credit to Porter for making Spence Jr have to dig in to find some reserves that he has yet to really display in a strong career.

My only personal disappointment on the evening was the arrival of Danny Garcia which suggests he is the next fight that Errol Spence Jr will be taking in January. We have seen some solid wins over Garcia down the years, but I am not sure he is good enough to compete with Spence Jr and the bouts with Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford, the two other belt holders in this Division, look to have been pushed back at least six months.

That is a shame for the fans, but the Welterweight Division is loaded and I would not be disappointed if Shawn Porter was able to land the shot with Crawford. The future for Manny Pacquiao is much harder to work out as his team look to negotiate his last few fights, but it can only be a matter of time before he has to put his World Title on the line against someone like Errol Spence Jr considering both are under the same promotional banner.


We will see those issues hopefully clearing up as some of the early 2020 scheduled fights begin to be announced in the next few weeks.

There are plenty of big nights to appreciate before then though and this weekend it is the return of Gennady Golovkin as he looks to pick up the IBF World Title which has been dropped by Canelo Alvarez. It feels like we are still some way away from seeing the third fight between Golovkin and Canelo, but picking up a World Title will give Golovkin something to bring to the table, although he should not be overlooking this opponent.

I will get onto my selection from that fight below.


Before then just a quick word on the Boxing Picks which ended with a 2-2 record last weekend but with a very strong, profitable return. That has just pushed the 2019 totals into a better position, but I am still looking for a better win-loss record to really improve the results.

This weekend there is only one fight that interests me in terms of a Boxing Pick and that is the main event involving GGG.

Gennady Golovkin vs Sergiy Derevyanchenko

When DAZN offered Gennady Golovkin a huge chunk of money the reasoning was that a third fight with Canelo Alvarez would give them a huge return.

However it has not been the case because Canelo refuses to play ball with his TV network and instead continues to insist that his time sharing a ring with Golovkin is over.

Canelo seems to be chasing some legacy defining fights at the moment and is going up two weight Divisions to take on a legitimate Light Heavyweight Champion in Sergey Kovalev early next month. You can't say Canelo is taking an easy option, but the IBF wanted their Middleweight Title defended yet and Canelo's refusal means the World Title became vacant.

That is where Golovkin was happy to step in and take on Sergiy Derevyanchenko who has come up short once before when going for this World Title. He was beaten by Daniel Jacobs in a very tight fight that was determined by an early Knock Down that cost Derevyanchenko the chance to take on Canelo Alvarez himself earlier this year.

Sergiy Derevyanchenko has only had the one fight in almost twelve months since taking on Jacobs and this is a fighter with a lot of miles on the clock thanks to an extensive amateur career. A 13-1 record as a Professional won't make that clear, but there is some school of thought that Derevyanchenko has seen his best days despite the handy win over Jack Culcay last time out.

He doesn't have the power that Golovkin clearly brings into the ring, but you do have to wonder how much the fighter from Kazakhstan has left in the tank. Those two huge battles with Canelo Alvarez would take something away from a fighter of any age, but Golovkin is 37 years old now and will have to be close to his best if he is going to win a fight like this one.

Ultimately I can see the first few Rounds being very competitive with Derevyanchenko perhaps not going hell for leather with Golovkin until the second half of the fight. Before then I think the Ukrainian will want to pop his shots and make sure he is not dragged into a firefight with someone who looks to have a considerable bigger punch.

We have seen some vulnerabilities in the Derevyanchenko whiskers in the last couple of fights and I do think Golovkin may end up getting to him, although not in the first half of the bout. I expect the early stages to be a time when Golovkin just works out what Derevyanchenko has left and the Ukrainian will likely be looking to move and make sure he is not trapped.

My feeling is that Golovkin's strength will end up making the difference and he should be able to put something together in the second half of the fight to earn the win inside the distance. He still possesses power, although the question remains about how much Golovkin has left having not really been involved in too many big fights since the second loss to Canelo last year.

I do worry about the punch resistance that Derevyanchenko has though and I am going to look for GGG to win this one somewhere between the 7th and 12th.

MY PICKS: Gennady Golovkin Win Between 7-12 @ 4.50 Sky Bet (1 Unit)

Boxing 2019: 21-39, + 6.87 Units (92 Units Staked, + 7.47% Yield)

Boxing Picks 2017- Kell Brook vs Errol Spence Jr (May 27th)

2017 has been a wonderful year for Boxing with the big names getting together to produce the big fights in every Division.

There are still more to come with the Canelo Alvarez vs Gennady Golovkin fight the highlight of the second half of the year, but don't sleep on the likes of Anthony Dirrell vs Callum Smith and a likely rematch between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko after the fireworks they produced at Wembley Stadium at the end of April.

Out of all the fights that had been signed in the first half of the year, this one between Kell Brook and Errol Spence Jr may have been the best of the bunch for the hardcore Boxing fraternity. Other fights might have captured the imagination of the casual fans and even those who have previously shown little interest in the sport, but this one feels like it is coming between two of the very best in a loaded Welterweight division and with a world title and huge unification events for the winner to take part in.

The undercard isn't a bad one at Bramall Lane either and I have three picks overall from the overall card which you can see below.

David Allen vs Lenroy Thomas

If World Titles were given to people with charisma and character, David Allen would be close to the front of the queue and he has built up a cult following with his antics in press conferences and the willingness to fight whoever has been put up in front of him.

Do I think this is a World Champion in the making? Probably not, but we have seen the likes of Charles Martin pick up a portion of the title when mandatories and bigger opportunities are presented to the real leaders of the Division and opens up World Title shots to those who perhaps don't deserve it.

However, David Allen is being built up under the watch of Eddie Hearn and he is definitely on a path that will either make him a viable contender to fight Anthony Joshua at some point or perhaps have a World Title fight against another opponent who is of a similar ilk.

That can only continue if he sees off Lenroy Thomas when they meet for the Commonwealth Heavyweight Title on Saturday and I fully expect Allen to do the job. He is a bit crude, but Allen can punch a bit and he would have learned plenty from his losses to Dillian Whyte and Luis Ortiz.

Those two fights alone are much more daunting than anyone Thomas has fought, even though Thomas has been in the ring with Dominic Breazeale, and I don't really believe Thomas has come here with a lot of belief. It is his first fight outside the United States and he has lost three of his last seven with all of those coming by stoppage in the first half of the fight.

I think Allen is likely to want to get the jump on Thomas early as possible in this one and he has the punching power to force his opponent to really think about whether he 'wants' this as much as the 'White Rhino'. I am not sure Thomas has the best whiskers and I can see Allen taking him out fairly early in this one and will back him to win this in the within the first six Rounds on Saturday.

George Groves vs Fedor Chudinov

There are some who will like the way George Groves carried himself before his two fights with Carl Froch and others who may never like him, but no one can say he doesn't deserve the chance to become a World Champion. He has been beaten in three World Title fights, but two of those were fairly controversial and Groves is looking to prove he belongs in the elite which will open up the opportunities for some huge fights ahead.

The most immediate thought will turn to the rematch with James DeGale, although Groves can't overlook Fedor Chudinov in this main supporting fight to the main event at Bramall Lane on Saturday.

However it has been over a year since Chudinov was last seen being outpointed in a Split Decision loss to Felix Sturm whose best days look long behind him. Simply put, Chudinov has not been in the ring with anything like the quality George Groves has and I think that is going to be highlighted when you see these two in the ring with one another on Saturday.

Groves has rebuilt his career with four successive wins after the Split Decision loss to Badou Jack in a fight he recovered really well after being put on the floor in the First Round. I actually thought he might have done enough that day to overturn the Knock Down, but he has since tried to shown an improved stamina in his last few fights.

One of the big knocks on Groves was he seemed to lose some energy in the Championship Rounds in the past, but I think he is trying to put together his boxing in a way to make sure there are reserves in the tank. That means I don't think Groves will push for a stoppage in this one and instead is going to coast towards a fairly comfortable win on the scorecards and I will back him to win by a points call.

Kell Brook vs Errol Spence Jr

The first thing I want to say is I don't mind being wrong in this prediction one bit if it means Kell Brook is still the World Champion come Sunday morning.

However, history of Boxing suggests it is almost impossible to move up and down the weight classes in the manner Brook has and even having the ten months between fights may not be enough to really feel comfortable at the Welterweight limit.

Brook didn't move up one Division to face the power punching Gennady Golovkin, but he moved up two Divisions and we have seen throughout history that fighters almost always come unstuck when moving back down that kind of weight.

Take nothing away from 'The Special One', he looks in fantastic shape and is saying all of the right things- I do think Brook truly believes he is going to win this fight, but the acid test is how the body will react to the sharp shooting skills of Errol Spence Jr and how much will be in the tank if this goes into the latter stages of the fight.

I fully expect Spence to target the body early and often to sap the energy and Brook is the kind of warrior who will be willing to go out on his shield if he is going to give up his prized possession of the IBF Welterweight Title.

He clearly is proud of being a World Champion- most advised Brook to skip this mandatory and move up in weight or simply to 'duck' Spence, but the reason I have a lot of time for the Sheffield star is because that is the furthest thing from his mind.

This is a dangerous unbeaten American prospect coming to town and I call Spence a prospect because he is stepping up to the World level for the first time. His wins over Chris Algieri and Leonard Bundu have to be respected as Spence became the first man to stop either (Algeiri had lost on points to Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan, while Bundu had lost on points to Thurman).

Neither is on the level of Kell Brook though who will bring his 'chocolate brownie' to the party and so there are some questions about Spence, who also looks big at this weight, and whether Spence is ready to take this step. He is saying all the right things and I don't think he is another Jeff Lacy and I can understand why the American is the favourite.

Regardless of whether Spence feels truly comfortable at the weight is less of an issue when he hasn't made the same decision as Kell Brook to move up to Middleweight before coming back down for this fight. Spence's body should be much more accustomed to being boiled down to the Welterweight limit and I really think that will end up making the difference in the fight.

Spence has power in both hands and I think he is going to be able to take Brook into the second half of the fight and then take over with some sharp shooting. The fact Brook is willing to go to the very limits in this one makes him very dangerous, but I think the weight drop will be an issue at the end of this one and I can see Brook walking into something big late in the fight.

Like I said at the opening, I would love to be wrong and Brook pulls this out of the fire.

But putting my heart aside and what I want, the head is saying, and has been saying since the fight was announced, that Spence will force the stoppage late in a barnstormer.

MY PICKS: David Allen Win Between 1-6 @ 2.25 Bet Fred (2 Units)

George Groves by Decision or Technical Decision @ 1.80 Sky Bet (2 Units)

Errol Spence Jr Win Between 7-12 @ 4.33 Paddy Power (1 Unit)