Brooks to Fight on May 18

Michael "Lefty" Brooks is slated to take on Chazz "Magnificent" McDowell at the Mid-Hundson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York on May 18. The all-New York affair will take place at lightweight.

This fight will likely go the eight round distance. Combined, both men have a total of three knockouts in a 19 fights between them and neither man has even been stopped. Brooks is the naturally bigger man as he fought over the lightweight limit in each of his first seven fights while McDowell has never weighed as much as 135 pounds. McDowell, however, has fought as many as eight rounds twice while Brooks has done so only once.

Brooks (9-0-1, two KOs) is a proficient body puncher who has added more wrinkles to his game in recent fights. Against Bryan Acaba two fights ago, Lefty adjusted his combinations on the fly in winning a majority decision. In his last bout, Brooks fought to a technical draw in Mexico in March. This will be Michael's fourth opponent with a winning record.

McDowell (6-3, one KO) won his first five fights, but has lost three of his last four. In his six wins, his opponents had a combined win total of two heading into the fight. Their combined record is 2-14-1 at the time they faced McDowell.

Chazz is also a singer. This year, he released a song called "She's Wet," which isn't exactly about a woman caught in the rain without an umbrella. In the song, his voice is mercifully distorted by an auto-tuner as it squeaks over a pseudo-pornographic video. Thankfully, his jab is better than his music.

In his last fight, McDowell used that jab effectively and boxed on the perimeter of the ring against Chip Perez, but was susceptible to Perez's overhand right. Brooks is a lefty, so the overhand right won't come into play on May 18, but McDowell's lack of a right hand will. The straight right is usually an orthodox fighter's best punch against a southpaw and McDowell didn't show an effective one against Perez.

Perez was awarded a majority decision over McDowell, who is from Yonkers in New York, though the fight probably should have been ruled a draw. Chazz was far busier and landed more often during the first four rounds, but faded during the second half of the fight.

Brooks and McDowell have a common opponent. Brooks defeated Jamell Tyson in 2011 by unanimous decision thanks to overhand lefts and combinations to the body. Tyson decisioned McDowell in 2012. McDowell didn't jab against his southpaw opponent, which was a problem because his right was like a Carolina hot dog, no mustard on it. Tyson feigned a jab and landed a straight left to the chin knocking down McDowell at the end of the first round. The same move wobbled Chazz in the fourth. Another straight left sent McDowell into the ropes in the fifth, which was deemed a knockdown.

Discussing Brooks, McDowell told The Jewish Boxing Blog, "[He's a] good fighter. He comes forward and is probably going to try to cut me off." Brooks wrote on Facebook, "[I'm] feeling good and can't wait to get back in the ring."