[PilotMan]

Second week of March, 2007

Fight Night -

I have two guys fighting tonight, one of the fights is Tomoaki Watanabe and the other is Andreas Ruelas. For Watanabe, he is fighting Faustino Virgen in a rematch of their fight last year, that Wantanabe won easily. Virgen still has yet to win a fight, and Wantanabe is coming off of a loss in his last fight, that he really needed. Watanabe is proving hard to motivate in the gym. I just can’t seem to reach him, and Leeds, his training partner is only faring marginally better. If Tomaki cannot win another fight, it is going to be very hard to find guys who will be willing to fight him. This fight really could go either way. Both men hit hard, but it was Tomoaki who won the first fight by knocking Virgen multiple times. Tonight, Tomoaki has to let it all hang out, because if he loses this fight, it will probably be his last fight for me. I just can’t make money with a guy who’s fights I don’t have any say over. For what it’s worth, Tomoaki is the favorite. He is at 8/11 while Virgen is 7/6. I will lay some money on him, but at those odds it won’t really be worth the risk.

The next fight is a middleweight fight with Andreas Ruelas. Ruelas is cut from the same mold that Lawrence McFarlane is in. In fact, I have been having the two of them spar together so that I can get a good look at both men. Ruelas has been merciless in his three fights for me. Winning them all easily. He faces a vet tonight who only has ten losses in his career, but who has lost three of his last four, and is rumored to be on the way out. Frank Tate can still lay some smack on people and his chin is still strong. We will find out tonight how well he can take a punch, because it is his body that is going to take the beating. Andreas is the favorite in this one too. The odds on him are 8/13, while the odds on Tate are 11/8.

There are two other fights worth mentioning this week as well:

Former Bantamweight Champion Xavier Firth #3 22-8-1(9) v. Denzil Ainsworth #12 41-2-1(26)

Firth has always been a tough customer, but he hasn’t won a fight in over a year and a half. During that span he lost twice to Job Reyes and drew with two other top ten fighters. Ainsworth is trying to get into the top ten and he will do that if he can beat the struggling Firth. Ainsworth may not be as good as his record would suggest, as some of the guys that he has beaten are not highly ranked. However, his last fight was against Victor Luna, a guy who was ranked in the top 10 for a while, and he won by KO in the 3^rd. Oddsmakers like Ainsworth at 3/5, while Firth is at 11/8. I still like Firth

Former Welterweight Champion Sugar Ray Leonard #10 38-6-1(25) v. Ike Quartey #13 40-4-1(34)

Since Leonard lost the title over two years ago his star has been falling steadily. He did manage a win in his last fight but it was by split decision only. Both men are similar hitters, with Leonards skills being more attuned, however, he is struggling with his confidence. Quartey lost by KO in the first round in his last fight to Andrey Romero, but he has been pretty good otherwise. He seems to be in pretty good shape. Oddsmakers are really questioning Quartey’s loss and it has sent the odds through the roof. Leonard is the silly favorite at 1/7, while Quartey is at 11/2. Quartey will get my money here because this fight is much closer than this.