Thirteen out of 35 people went three for four over the weekend with the big HBO/Golden Boy pay-per-view show, but it was the man who went four for four who vaulted to the #1 spot. Ultra-young Casey Kasem, eat your heart out, as BenOlson is the new leader of the pack. (Yes, I’m trying to diversify my image options to accompany these updates, quite transparently. Countdowns/standings-related images + prediction-related images = more choices for me.)
Plenty of people took a chance on at least one upset — be it Juan Diaz upsetting Juan Manuel Marquez (nope), Joel Casamayor upsetting Robert Guerrero (nah) or Rocky Juarez upsetting Jorge Linares (nuh-uh) — but it was the one that BenOlson picked, Dmitry Pirog upsetting Daniel Jacobs (ding ding ding) that put him over the top. He got 700 points for that pick alone, as it was an upset and he was the one who picked the outcome closest to reality, by default. Nobody else saw Pirog’s big right hand coming in the 5th. Jacobs sure as hell didn’t. (I can’t grant the new name request just yet, BenOlson — gotta wait 4.0. Rules are rules, even for the current king.)
Now, going into the final prediction weekend, BenOlson has a slight edge. With a maximum 1400 points available, theoretically, a whopping 20 people could still win TQBR Prediction Game 3.0. It would require quite a mathematical turn of events, mind you, for some of the people on the lower end of things to pull ahead, but it’s at least possible.
Either way, you’ll want to make your next picks count — tomorrow, I anticipate posting a prediction entry for this upcoming double-header on HBO: Devon Alexander-Andriy Kotelnik/Tavoris Cloud-Glen Johnson. The person who’s #1 at the end of those two fights will enter the TQBR Prediction Game Hall of Champions.
Current standings below. As usual, please examine your scores closely. If you see any errors in the tabulation, notify me and we can adjudicate:
STANDINGS
BenOlson 5600
Geordie Dancer (Andrew Harrison) 5250
nazarioz 5150
KO Onan (Tim Starks) 5150
David Schraub 5150
Arthur Billette 5100
DukeShadeBlue 5100
Bigmaxy 5000
Frankie Topanga (ScottB) 4950
the legend 4900
cardscott5 4850
Unifythebelts 4650
Pew Pew Pew PJ 4600
Da Legend Killa (cNcEDDIE) 4500
JB 4500
Not Sure (Jay Ari Yin) 4450
team individuality 4450
ShortFuse (rowyn) 4400
Eu-ro-pe, Eu-ro-pe! (Dobbler) 4400
Sad Keanu (ALEXMAC) 4300
johnkzoo 4100
The Fire In The Flint (Apemantus) 4000
Drederick Tatum (Scott Kraus) 3900
Hit Dog 3900
Mean Eugene (Eugene Dammrod) 3900
Team Vuvuzela (edub) 3800
Team Judge Smails (willfrank) 3300
Stickfigure 3250
Da Weasel (FunkyBadger) 3150
cguenard 2950
Grillmaster (indiebass) 2800
miggs88 2750
Queensberry Wench 2700
Morelandj 2650
Paul Kelly 1200
Basque Country 600
The Royal Marcus 600
beccapooka 600
Malignant Narcissism (Eric Naff) 600
Burbank Baker 550
PI Joe (Irvin Ryan) 500
sam.fong 500
fadein2bolivian 0