Roman Greenberg, Matt Godfrey and James Kirkland are taking some high risk fights.
This Friday, HW prospect Roman Greenberg is going from years of facing D levels to suddenly facing Cedric Boswell, a consistent, large HW who gave Jameel McCline a very tough fight and was up on the cards going into the final round before getting dropped and TKO'd with less than one minute left. The McCine fight is Boswell's only loss and since returning to boxing in 2006 (2 years after the loss), he's signed with a new promoter and been very active against the same level of opponents as Greenberg, destroying them with more ease. In 2008, he shut out a solid-chinned D level and blew out Cliff Couser, while Greenberg hasn't fought since October of last year, where he dropped a few rounds to a guy who was destroyed by any decent heavies in the past. Apparently he had a hand surgery during his layoff.
Putting Greenberg in with Boswell right now is a dumb idea IMO. He hasn't fought in a year and now he's going to be put in with a guy whose boxing skill is on a much higher level compared to his past opponents and might even be better than his own? A guy who could hit MUCH harder than any of his past opponents and is going to be a lot more motivated, since he's been looking for a significant fight for a while. He's also facing him in Boswell's home town! I can't believe Greenberg's team didn't even give him a tune-up fight. He rarely looks comfortable in the ring and after the biggest layoff in his career he's bound to be a little rusty.
If you haven't seen Greenberg fight, he's basically a very slow paced fighter who picks his shots and likes to stay on the outside for the most part, going in and out with combinations. There's nothing that stands out about him talent-wise. His handspeed isn't bad, his timing/accuracy is pretty decent, and he has some power. But I think his defense and mental strength is his very weak. When being pressured, Greenberg moves more than he needs to and punches back much less than he should. He's very uncomfortable any time an opponent pressures him with anything. A basic jab pushes him back and even the weak opposition he's faced didn't have too many problems landing the jab in between his strange, often way open guard. I also think he has the type of fighters mentality where when things aren't going his way, he'll choose to shell up, clinch, and run instead of firing back. He lacks the fire that a prospect must have if they want to be successful against anyone C- level or better. Greenberg doesn't impose himself against opponents, he just waits and fires shots when his opponents let him.. if they're firing or are too defensive, he simply won't answer back.
Greenberg doesn't move his head or defend his face much in general, so he ends up running right into punches very often, when coming in with his hands down or pulling straight back. He can get away with this against the competition he's faced in the past, but Boswell has some serious power. Boswell could hurt him badly with a timed right hand and I'm sure he'll have no trouble landing it. If Greenberg's chin is shaky, which I think there's a pretty good chance it is, this fight may be over pretty quickly. If his chin is pretty solid, I still think he'll lose after getting outworked and outboxed by Boswell, who's more experienced, and perhaps quicker than Greenberg. ESPN replayed Boswell-McCline recently and I was half-watching it.. from what I remember, Boswell was controlling the fight and outboxing McCline, but Jameel was slowly breaking him down and after hurting him in the 9th when Boswell was exhausted, he put him out in the 10th as Boswell tried desperately to hang on until the final bell. Greenberg lacks Jameel's size and isn't going to be breaking Boswell down. He has a very realistic chance in this fight to land something big (especially an uppercut that Boswell doesn't expect) and maybe stop him, but I see Boswell as being both the slightly superior boxer and fighter here, who will be more comfortable with the situation. I can't believe Greenberg opened up as the slight odds-favorite, IMO Boswell should be favored at least 2-1.. but I guess that zero on Greenberg's record impresses people. Anyways, this fight should be a good test for both of them. Anyone have other thoughts on this? I'll pick Boswell by wide UD and I think a KO is highly possible here. Damn.. that was a long write-up for a fight between two C levels.
