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 William Joppy |
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Our Pick: William Joppy
At +220 you have to take William Joppy.
Joppy is the champion in this fight. Trinidad is stepping up in weight.
Joppy is a good boxer who has power in his right hand. Trinidad is a fighter who moves forward relentlessly, overpowering opponents. That is a great strategy if it works, but it gets harder when your opponent is a bigger man.
Trinidad is an authentic ring star. He beat Oscar del la Hoya, but the golden boy took the early rounds with better boxing -- footwork and angles. Joppy is an even better boxer, and has true middleweight power. With a brief hiatus, he's been a champion since 1996.
The risk, of course, is that Trinidad will walk through Joppy in the later rounds. Trinidad has a wicked left hook, and although Joppy's corner has tried to prepare for it, Trinidad may grow to the status the smart money has conferred on him.
But Trinidad is a welterweight moving to middleweight. Trinidad's handlers say he bulks up to 175 pounds between fights, that fighting at 160 will be natural for him. We remember the last welterweight who stepped up and took the middleweight title. That was Roberto Duran against Iran Barkley. Between fights, Duran used to balloon to 200, if not a bloated and debauched 220, back then.
Joppy uses the same management as his friend Hasim Rahman. Joppy trained for this fight at the same Catskills gym as Rahman, even slept in the same bed. Maybe lightning will strike twice. Joppy has 24 KOs in 34 fights. He's the best champion you've never heard of. Bet on him Saturday night.