HBO JANUARY MENU A MIXED BAG By George J. Elsasser

The HBO gang a tad slow outta the gate ... still, appears it should catch the Showtime entries at the final turn ~ but then again, the run to the wire could well be a photo-finish.

Early on is (Showtime) Freitas-Grigorian; Ouma-Candelo just after the New Year 2004 on the 3rd of January - then the 15th gives us a very interesting jr. welter pairing with WBA ranked Randall Bailey facing young, undefeated wannabe Ishe "Sugar Shay" Smith.

Thoughts here is Freitas and Candelo and the past proven Bailey over Smith ... and just what brand of confection is this Sugar Shay anyway?

But back to the HBO cards of January 24 and 31 .... Arturo Gatti vs. Gianluca Branco open the month ... Branco rated #1 under the WBC banner with Gatti just beneath at number two ... from that point on it looks like a Gatti nite.

Hard to go with a guy, undefeated at 32 wins, 1 draw with 15 knockouts that has dined on pasta in all but one of his fights ... the solo trip abroad for some French cuisine was a split-decision win over Gabriel Mapouka that was contested at Massy, France.

Somehow, super club fight skilled Gatti with names on the résumé like Tracy Patterson, Calvin Grove, Wilson Rodriguez, Ivan Robinson, Angel Manfredy ... and yes, De La Hoya, Terron Millett, Li'l Joe Hutchinson ... not to mention them evil trench warfares with Micky Ward sort of overwhelm the Branco victims with surnames Michel Raynaud, Massimo Bertozzi, George Scott without the C, Fred Tripp ... and running up the numbers in tank towns of Bovezzo, Ferrara, Monfalcone, Bari ... well, you get the point.

HBO closes the month on the 31st with welters Antonio Margarito and Hercules Kyvelos ... and what you see is what you get ~~~ Margarito holds WBO welter bauble ... in this one keeping busy until something better surfaces ... Hercules undefeated at 22 wins and 11 stoppages and only WBO has him among its top ten in number eight.

See this one going Antonio's way ... Hercules returns home to "Oh, Canada" licking his wounds after first loss and gets tryout with Montreal NHL franchise as a goon ... but must first go on steroids to beef up from 147.

Underneath card featuring bantams Rafael Marquez and Pete Frissina another gimme ... just a peek at the Marquez rap sheet speaks volumes ... since year 2001 victims include likes of Mark Johnson (twice), Tim Austin by TKO 8 and on last outing Mauricio Pastrana by decision.

Opponent Frissina boasts decent resumé at 27 up, 3 down, a draw and 15 KO's ... but a 22 world ranking suggests Peter isn't in same league as Marquez ... still, the little guys usually come to do battle - and on that note, strike up the music mister orchestra man.

Semper fi,

GEL