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Stevens: Holm is formidable with a Plan B for next bout
Albuquerque world champion boxer set to face Atlanta's Mariem Brakache
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The judges probably could mail in their scorecards today and be right on about the fight between Holly Holm and Mariem Brakache.
It will be Holm in a unanimous decision.
She won't lose a round.
Holm will go at the shorter, slower, stout Brakache like Holm goes after a helpless punching bag.
Which might be what Brakache becomes on Jan. 11 at the Isleta Casino & Resort.
This fight looks to be a mismatch.
Holm is lean, mean, quick-footed, quick-fisted, talented, determined and in world-class condition. In a sentence, she probably is the best pound-for-pound female boxer in the world.
Brakache looks like nothing more than the latest paycheck for Holm and her promoter, Lenny Fresquez, who knew little about Brakache at Tuesday's news conference.
A news conference in which the slim and trim Holm seem to tower by at least 5 inches over her next victim.
And you can bet Holm is going to use that height and reach to pummel Brakache from afar and dance her way to another lopsided decision.
Unless . . .
Unless Holm actually knocks out this tree stump from Atlanta.
But, Holm isn't exactly known for her power, mainly because she has been smart enough to use her God-given talents to hit and run, hit and run, hit and run.
It's a smart way to fight. It keeps Holm's pretty face, well, pretty.
But Holm will enter the ring against Brakache with a Plan B to supplement Plan A.
Plan B is power. Plan B could end the fight early. Plan B could be a hurting for Brakache.
"Everybody knows Holly is the best in the world fighting outside," Mike Winkeljohn, Holm's trainer, said. "So we've been concentrating on her inside fighting style. We have a couple of new twists that people are going to freak out on.
"It has to do with power, just more tools in the box."
Winkeljohn said when he first began training Holm, the emphasis was on her winning fights without getting hurt. So, Holm became a quick-in, quick-out boxer - a little like Muhammad Ali in his Casius Clay days.
"But people like to see the knockout, and now that Holly is at the top, we can start working on other skills," Winkeljohn said. "We have the footwork thing down, the boxing thing. We can always fall back on Plan A because nobody can beat her Plan A.
"Plan B has her coming in at different angles and instead of hitting and backing off - moving out of the danger zone - she is moving in at safe angles. She is following her punches, going back in, getting them on their heels and going right at them."
A Holly Holm with a Plan A was awesome enough. A Holly Holm with a Plan B doesn't seem fair.
And if Plan B works, maybe at least one of the judges needs to change his mailed-in scorecard to read: "Knockout."
