The 27-year-old Martinez, at 24-0 with 15Kos, is unbeaten and has the heavier punch. He won the title when he stopped Briton Nicky Cook in Manchester in the fourth round back in March 2009. Martinez is quite aggressive as well as heavy-handed, but isn’t considered by most boxing experts to be an elite world champion. Cook came close to dropping him during the second round of their fight and was outboxing him when the champion landed some big shots to stop it in the fourth.

Burns, who’s also 27, isn’t much of a power puncher as his record of 28-2, with 7Kos attests to, but he’s a fast, smart boxer who has won 13 fights in a row. He can’t afford to get into a toe-to-toe slugfest with Martinez as he doesn’t have the power. Look for Burns to stick and move, jab, and keep his hands up.
Burns has never been knocked out, but has sometimes looked pretty shaky while being pressured in previous fights. He’s going to have to show a pretty solid chin to Martinez if he hopes to withstand the champion’s power.

Look for Martinez to try and take the fight to Burns from the get-go and impose his will with some heavy shots. Martinez is pretty good at moving forwards with his hands held up and establishes his jab to set up solid right hands and heavy hooks. He’s also got a pretty good left uppercut that Burns will need to watch out for.

Burns will need to counter with jabs, right hands, and flurries and try to win as many rounds as possible. He’s also going to have to rise to the occasion of a big-fight atmosphere and with a fanatical Scottish crowd behind him it could help. But on the other hand he might wilt under the added pressure and expectations of his supporters.

Burns is a good boxer, but he might not have enough power to keep Martinez off of him. However, Martinez can often be outboxed and it’s possible to beat him on points if you can withstand his power. This is what makes this fight a pretty close one to pick. It’s probably going to be Martinez by stoppage or Burns on points. Since Burns hasn’t been stopped before let’s assume he’s going to get by and win the title by a 12-round split decision.

Sportsbook William Hill has Martinez as a pretty solid favourite with the odds of him winning at 2/9. A Burns’ victory is at 3/1 and a draw comes in at 25/1, which may not be a bad bet. Martinez to win on a stoppage is listed at 7/4 and Burns to take a decision comes in at 7/2.

The DVD contains some slick bonus materials including animated trivia cards for each of the boxers, featurettes that look at the fighters and their experiences with Ali, the making of the film and the unique way this book was adapted for the screen as well as the process used to restore and upgrade the archival fight footage to HD quality.

If you’re looking for a way to use those holiday gift cards, “Facing Ali” would be a good choice.

According to ESPN.com, Heavyweight Tommy Morrison is back in the fight game.

“Heavyweight Tommy Morrison, who was indefinitely suspended after a positive HIV test on the eve of a 1996 fight in Las Vegas, has been cleared to return to the ring after passing a battery of medical tests.”

Morrison will fight Thursday night in a four-round bout against a fella named John Castle. The card is being televised on “Versus”, but apparently they are not showing Morrison’s bout. At a time when MMA is kicking the crud out of not only boxing ratings but other major sports like the NBA and NHL, you have to wonder why they wouldn’t televise his fight. But that’s why boxing is slowly going the way of the buffalo.

The ESPN article quotes Morrison as saying, “I know I didn’t have [HIV] in the first place. I never had it. I believe it, but they kicked me out of the sport. … Over the last two or three months, I have taken five, six different [HIV] tests and continued to pass them. It was just a matter of time before they had to let me fight again.”

Morrison, now 38, owns a career record of 46-3-1, with 40 KOs.

Perhaps the biggest surprise at the press conference was the attendance and
announcement of former undisputed heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.
Apparently Tyson has entered into some sort of agreement with the Japanese
promoter.

Neither he nor Pride would give any specific details as to
their partnership when Tyson was asked if he will be fighting for the promotion in the future. But just his presence alone at the press conference is sure to
ignite plenty of speculation.

It will be intersting to see which weight class he fights in and how much training he will do before he fights. MMA involes grappling, Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, Judo, Kick-Boxing and more. I don’t know how many of those skills Mike can handle. If he fights as a heavyweight, he’ll look back and think that Lennox Lewis was Peter Pan compared to what he will face.

Hat Tip to JKDilla.

More here:

Pride MMA UFC Mike+Tyson Fedor