Light Middleweight veteran Cornelius "K9" Bundrage (32-4-0-1, 19) will attempt to make the 3rd defense of his IBF Light Middleweight title as he faces the under-rated but talented Ishe Smith (24-5, 11). Although this bout is a pretty notable one, especially stateside with the winner likely joining the running for the Canelo sweepstakes it has been heavily overlooked by many due to the unattractiveness of the fighters involved.
Although the 39 year old Bundrage is the champion is generally seen as one of the weakest champions, not just in his division but in the whole of boxing. He's powerful but crude and really was lucky to find an aging and disinterested Cory Spinks 2010 to dethrone. Since winning the title Bundrage has been relatively inactive defeating the barking Sechew Powell in 2011 and Spinks again in 2012.
Aside from title fights Bundrage is best known for his appearance on the television show "The Contender" where he beat Michael Clark and Walter Wright before losing to Steve Forbes. As well as his time in the Contender he is known for being in a memorable 22 second bout with Sechew Powell in which both men were simultaneously dropped before Bundrage was unable to fully regain his feet.
Despite his famous moments it does need to be accepted that Bundrage has scored a few noteworthy wins as well as his title victories, including wins over Kassim Ouma and Zaurbek Baysangurov.
Sadly for Bundrage he has a lot more negatives than positive and 2 stoppage losses he's been shown not to have a great chin, his skill levels are genuinely low, especially for a world level fighter and the combination of age and inactivity will not help him. On the flip of this he is powerful, he does throw some very awkward punches that you're not likely to see from too many other fighters and he does have a lot of confidence in him self thanks to his very public belief in god. It may just be a shame that god can't help fighters beat father time.
Aged 34 the challenger is no spring chicken himself though Smith is a very skilled fighter who often shows all the cute moves you'd expect to see from a fringe world class fighter. He knows how to use his defense excellently, he can throw almost all the shots in the book however his own downfalls come in regards to his lack of power and often his lack of work-rate as he falls into his defensive shell for too long and gives rounds away.
Like Bundrage, Smith was also featured on "The Contender" where he defeated Ahmad Kaddour and Anthony Bonsante before losing a split decision to eventual winner Sergio Mora. As well as his fights in "The Contender" Smith has faced (and beaten) a number of recognisable names including Alfonso Gomez, David Estrada, Randall Bailey, Pawel Wolak, and Ayi Bruce. Likewise he has also lost to recognisable names including Sechew Powell, Joel Julio, Daniel Jacobs and Fernando Guerrero though he did often run them closer than the cards show.
If Smith can fight to his potential then for me this is an easy win for the smoother, more skilled fighter however if Smith decides to stay defensive for too long he could very easily find himself giving rounds away to the crude but offensive work of Bundrage. In my eyes as long as Smith works his offense from the off he shouldn't struggle to claim the victory by a wide decision, or in fact even a late stoppage.
Prediction-Smith Decision
No comments:
Post a Comment