As we round into the stretch run of the first iteration of the TQBR Prediction Game, the difference between winning and losing could come down to one wrong call, or one slightly more accurate call.
There is a slight dilemma for said stretch run, however. There are two fights this weekend that are game-worthy: The HBO double-header, Andre Berto-Carlos Quintana and Celestino Caballero-. The next weekend, there are two more prediction-worthy fights in another HBO double-header. That puts us with an uneven number that splits up our 12-round frame, either 11 or 13. That means we might have to pick a third fight this weekend to conclude the game (uh… Evander Holyfield-Francois Botha?), or go into an unplanned overtime next weekend. Any thoughts?
Anyway: JB and Pretty Toney remained 100 points apart atop the list after last weekend’s fights, but Geordie Dancer aka Andrew Harrison is within shooting distance, and with three (or more or less) more fights to go, plenty of people are still live ‘dogs.
From week to week, though, there are chances to be a hero. When stickfigure and PI Joe aka Irvin Ryan predicted a 9th round KO for David Haye over John Ruiz, they got it precisely right for the 100 point bonus. Yes, THAT stickfigure, whom IR had dubbed the Peter Buckley of the game. Sixteen people saw a KO for Mr. Haye, for 50 extra points on top of the 500 for getting it right. With Ruiz up and down all fight, I’m sure some of us were like, “Dang, is gonna go in my round?” (In my weekend round-up, I left out out what a tough, brave showing Ruiz gave us. If this is the note his career ends on, he has nothing to be ashamed of, if you ask me. He had a nice career even if he was mocked for much of it, and his toughness has always been underrated.) Only one person — gavaniacono — went with Ruiz to win.
Four people — David Schraub, willfrank, cardscott5, Geordie Dancer — got Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones II exactly right, i.e. a unanimous decision. One other person, PJ Prediction King, at least got the decision part right. In retrospect, most of us were crazy to think Hopkins would knock anyone out, even a horrendously faded Jones. Two people — Not Sure aka Jay Ari Yin and fadein2bolivian — went with Jones.
One more thing: People keep saying they’ve miss the prediction entries. The cure for that? You could visit more often (always welcome), or at least make sure you look at all posts between Tuesday and Thursday no matter what.
As usual, standings await below. Let me know if I made any mistakes in tabulation, and we can adjudicate:
STANDINGS
JB: 4550
Pretty Toney: 4450
Geordie Dancer (Andrew Harrison): 4000
cNceddie: 3850
Team Monica (edub): 3850
David Schraub: 3850
Hit Dog: 3800
Paul Kelly: 3400
Arthur Billette: 3400
Unifythebelts: 3300
Cardscott5: 3300
The Queensberry Fools (Eugene Dammrod): 3200
Knees Up Neville Brown (Dobbler): 3200
B-Side Meth (Tim Starks): 3200
cguenard (Chris): 3150
PI Joe (Irvin Ryan): 2850
Alexmac: 2750
Not Sure (Jay Ari Yin): 2700
willfrank: 2700
severuck: 2700
PJ Prediction King (PJ): 2650
DukeShadeBlue: 2600
Kid Gruesome (Scott Kraus): 2600
Bigmaxy: 2600
fadein2bolivian: 2550
Always Wrong (RoWyN): 2550
Donkey Puncher (Brian.McNeely): 2050
epark88 1750
ScottB: 1650
stickfigure: 1150
the legend: 1000
marlon vera 650
Israel: 600
sam.fong: 600
gavaniacono: 550
venom.0420: 500
Bob77: 500
Beccapooka: 500
Jay Cliff: 500
Eric Naff: 500