ESPN2 plays host Friday night to an important crossroads fight. Former Jr Middleweight champion Kassim “The Dream” Ouma (25-4-1, 15 KO’s) takes on “The Contender” participant Cornelius Bundrage (27-3, 16 KO’s). Both fighters are in dire need of a victory. Ouma has taken on much higher level of opposition while Bundridge is the bigger stronger man.

Ouma’s inactivity (1 fight in 15 months) is very disturbing. However, in that time he quit smoking cigarettes which obviously affected his in ring performances, especially in his last fight in which he failed to finish well ultimately costing him a split decision loss to journeyman Saul Roman. Ouma’s strength is his movement and punching placement. He throws a ton of punches, but more importantly he lands a high percentage of them. He lacks punching power, but makes up for it in tenacity.

Ouma’s life story is absolutely amazing. Kidnapped as young a child by Ugandan rebels, Ouma was forced to kill before the age of 10. After escaping the army Ouma began boxing as an amateur. He amassed a solid 62-3 record, but sadly couldn’t make the trip to the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta because of fianancial problems. Subsequently he defected to the USA during an amateur competition and turned pro. Ironically, while in Uganda he was never shot despite being in the army, but when he moved to America, he was shot twice in Florida in December 2002. According to Kassim, his father was beaten to death by the Ugandan army in retaliation for his leaving the country.

Bundrage has the tools to win this fight. Nicknamed “K-9″ Cornelius fights like a rabid dog. He has fantastic in fighting skills and throws lethal uppercuts.

I predict Ouma to win by decision or possibly a late round TKO. I just don’t think K-9 at the age of 34 can consistently win rounds against Ouma, who insists he’ll put on the performance of a lifetime. One thing is for sure: the winner will move on to bigger pay days, the loser will be forced to strongly consider retirement from boxing.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 8:14 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.