The "Witton Lane" Boxing Chat Thread

[dont_do_it_doug.]

That I am.

[The_Rev]

http://youtu.be/Ob2XyHY2XuE

 

First bell 8:40

[donnie]

Vitali Klitskho FINALLY stripped of his WBC belt. He has been made 'champion emeritus' which is basically like wwe money in the bag when he wants to cash in to fight for the WBC title he can.

Stiverne will defo be made mandatory contender against either arreloa or wilder. Arreloa is a big fat waste of space. Im hoping wilder and im hoping it will happen in the USA. Best thing that has happened in heavyweight boxing in a while. By giving someone else a chance hopefully it will bring life to the division even if the rest of the heavyweights in the division are average to abysmal.

[The_Rev]

To be fair to Vitali, he has got bigger fish to fry at the moment.

[Dr_Pangloss]

My 'end of year awards':

 

Boxer of the year:

 

Rigondeaux - it's simple, he demolished Donaire in what was a boxing clinic, Donaire was routinely ranked in the top 4 pound for pound by pretty much every boxing outlet, Donaire had earned that status and Rigo made him look like an amateur. No other boxer recorded a win against a top pound for pounder this year so on that basis and the manner of the win, Rigo takes it. He also beat Agbeko by a very wide margin, Agbeko is/was a world class bantamweight.

 

An honourable mention goes to Tim Bradley for his excellent fight against Provodnikov and for clearly beating Marquez. I'm not including Adonis Stevenson because I remain sceptical about him as a boxer and the corpses put in front of him this year, beating a journeyman in Boone, a shot Chad Dawson, Tony Bellew and Tavoris Cloud for me do not really cut the mustard in terms of opponent quality, although he did dispatch of them all impressively.

 

Fight of the year:

 

Bradley vs Provodnikov. For me this was a breath taking fight, with Bradley getting the shit beat out of him for the first two rounds, only to turn it around with an excellent boxing performance, but then Provo made a late surge in round 12 and forced Bradley to take a knee. Truly excellent fight.

 

Other stand out fights were Rios vs Alvarado 2, Groves vs Froch, Segura vs Marquez (probably the best fight of the year but isn't my number because it unfortunately wasn't a big enough occasion).

 

Upset of the year:

 

Maidana vs Broner. I never expected Maidana to be the one to expose Broner but he did, and gave the unlike-able Broner an enormous beating, loved it.

 

Come back of the year:

 

Probably Kiko Martinez. He started the year getting stopped by Carl Frampton in a competitive fight. He was only really a european level boxer in terms of his achievements in the sport so things looked almost over for him. But he gets a title shot against the favoured Jhonatan Romero on HBO and stops him mid way, he then ends the year with a fight against Jeffrey Mathebula, a very tall and rangey former world champ who went the distance with Donaire (and gave Donaire some problems), well Kiko knocks him out in the 9th round, excellent stuff.

 

Trainer of the year:

 

A lot of credit has been given to Froch for his work with Provodnikov and in Pacquiao's return against Rios, but I'm gonna give it to Robert Garcia. Yes Garcia had losses, with Rios losing twice and Donaire losing to Rigo, but he has continued his excellent work with Mikey Garcia, someone who looks destined to become a pound for pound star in the next two years and had a great year with Maidana, who managed to stop Josesito Lopez and decision Broner.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Dr_Pangloss

[donnie]

My 'end of year awards':

Boxer of the year:

Rigondeaux - it's simple, he demolished Donaire in what was a boxing clinic, Donaire was routinely ranked in the top 4 pound for pound by pretty much every boxing outlet, Donaire had earned that status and Rigo made him look like an amateur. No other boxer recorded a win against a top pound for pounder this year so on that basis and the manner of the win, Rigo takes it. He also beat Agbeko by a very wide margin, Agbeko is/was a world class bantamweight.

An honourable mention goes to Tim Bradley for his excellent fight against Provodnikov and for clearly beating Marquez. I'm not including Adonis Stevenson because I remain sceptical about him as a boxer and the corpses put in front of him this year, beating a journeyman in Boone, a shot Chad Dawson, Tony Bellew and Tavoris Cloud for me do not really cut the mustard in terms of opponent quality, although he did dispatch of them all impressively.

Fight of the year:

Bradley vs Provodnikov. For me this was a breath taking fight, with Bradley getting the shit beat out of him for the first two rounds, only to turn it around with an excellent boxing performance, but then Provo made a late surge in round 12 and forced Bradley to take a knee. Truly excellent fight.

Other stand out fights were Rios vs Alvarado 2, Groves vs Froch, Segura vs Marquez (probably the best fight of the year but isn't my number because it unfortunately wasn't a big enough occasion).

Upset of the year:

Maidana vs Broner. I never expected Maidana to be the one to expose Broner but he did, and gave the unlike-able Broner an enormous beating, loved it.

Come back of the year:

Probably Kiko Martinez. He started the year getting stopped by Carl Frampton in a competitive fight. He was only really a european level boxer in terms of his achievements in the sport so things looked almost over for him. But he gets a title shot against the favoured Jhonatan Romero on HBO and stops him mid way, he then ends the year with a fight against Jeffrey Mathebula, a very tall and rangey former world champ who went the distance with Donaire (and gave Donaire some problems), well Kiko knocks him out in the 9th round, excellent stuff.

Trainer of the year:

A lot of credit has been given to Froch for his work with Provodnikov and in Pacquiao's return against Rios, but I'm gonna give it to Robert Garcia. Yes Garcia had losses, with Rios losing twice and Donaire losing to Rigo, but he has continued his excellent work with Mikey Garcia, someone who looks destined to become a pound for pound star in the next two years and had a great year with Maidana, who managed to stop Josesito Lopez and decision Broner.

Great Post. Enjoyed reading it except I cant take to Rigondeux. I respect him and he arguably is pound 4 pound the best boxer on the planet along with floyd but I dont want to watch him as he bores me to tears. Is there anyone out there who you think can offer him a decent challenge?? Lomanchenko has said he would fight him if Rigondeux moves up in weight. That would be interesting.

Fighter of the Year - Floyd Mayweather. The way he dismantled the new star of boxing, Alverez, was incredible.

Tim Bradley, Danny Garcia, Adonis Stevenson, Golvokin,Provodnikov all deserve a mention for the great year they had.

Fight of the Year - Tim Bradley v Provodnikov.

Maidana v Broner had it all as well.

Domestic Fighter of the Year - Shit year for British Boxing really. Although I cant stand the prick and he was lucky it has to be Carl Froch. Beating Kessler and Groves (yeah yeah but he still got the W). I cant think of anyone else. Barker winning the world title then losing it. Burns got exposed. Brook and Khan have been quiet.

Fighter to watch for 2014 - Lomanchenko!! In his 3rd pro fight he fights for a world title.Incredible but he is that good.

Crazy shout because I know he dont look that great but he is still an unknown quantity but the Heavyweight Demontary Wilder. With one Klitskho gone and one only having a year or two left, he is a guy who could sweep up the appalling heavyweight scene. Big punching, big stature. But techinally poor and he hasnt really fought anyone. But imo he is the best of an appalling lot. He would destroy tyson Fury.

[maqroll]

Reports saying Mayweather-Pacqiao will happen in September. They'll both make their entrances in wheelchairs apparently.

[The_Rev]

Floyd will win but it will settle nothing really, fans of whoever wins will gloat while fans of whoever loses will (rightly) point out that the fight is five years beyond it's sell by date. 

[AVFCforever1991]

Reports saying Mayweather-Pacqiao will happen in September. They'll both make their entrances in wheelchairs apparently.

 

[Oaks]

Floyd will win but it will settle nothing really, fans of whoever wins will gloat while fans of whoever loses will (rightly) point out that the fight is five years beyond it's sell by date.

Floyd would and will win at any time they fight.

[leemond2008]

That's the thing though it is a fight that the casual boxing fan will eat up but avid boxing fans will all know it should have been fought years ago.

[The_Rev]

 

Floyd will win but it will settle nothing really, fans of whoever wins will gloat while fans of whoever loses will (rightly) point out that the fight is five years beyond it's sell by date.

Floyd would and will win at any time they fight.

 

 

 

But you don't know that and you never will.  Manny was an absolute beast in 2008-2010, I think he had every chance of beating Floyd back then. He seemed more willing to make the fight but Floyd appeared to be unwilling to split the purse 50/50.  Floyd is definitely an all time great but I think he can be accused of being a little too protective of his 0 which is why history might not remember him as kindly as the four kings of the 1980s. 

[Dr_Pangloss]

Pacquaio would still give Floyd major problems because Floyd has never fought someone with Pacquiao's handspeed and power. Pacquiao will show him speed, angles and combinations that he will have never come up against in his pro career or in sparring.

 

Floyd is a great adjuster but he always starts his fights slow because he operates off muscle memory and wants to suss his opponents out. That period, i,e. the first 4-5 rounds would be Pacquiao's best chance, if he could start as fast and as aggressive as he did in the fourth Marquez fight, precisely showing Mayweather angles and lots of head movement, and especially throwing 3s, 4s and 5s (one way to beat the shoulder roll), I wouldn't discount Pacquiao doing something big.

 

If Mayweather gets through that period and starts to time Pacquiao on the way in then he'll win on points. But it's clear to me at least that even now if Mayweather is to win it won't be by a very wide margin.

 

For me it's still the biggest fight in boxing despite both being past their primes.

 

For what it's worth Floyd definitely is a cherry picker, at least, certainly since he has moved up to welterweight. He has either elected to fight top fighters past their primes (Cotto, ODLH and Mosley) or selected his opponents based on the fact that his style will clash favourably with their's (Alvarez, Hatton [Hatton fought at a sub-par weight class for that fight as well], Guerrero, Ortiz, Baldomir), as well as having some curiously long absences from the ring, and not entertaining fights with a prime Margarito, Paul Williams, and of course Pacquiao. Those three alone would have given him a bigger test than anyone he has fought at 147lbs or above.

 

Although yeah I am playing devil's advocate  a bit with all of that lol.

Edited January 5, 2014 by Dr_Pangloss

[The_Rev]

http://youtu.be/nrKB6wAXYaU

 

KO came after the bell (link)

 

Unacceptable at any time, but this was a world title fight.   Worth watching the whole thing, it's only two rounds. 

[Dr_Pangloss]

Well for me, Pascal vs Bute (early tomorrow morning) is a very interesting fight.

 

Firstly, quite a few are expecting Pascal by knockout, precisely because he's a very powerful and explosive puncher and has looked in terrific shape in his last tune up fight. Whereas with Bute the perception is that he is finished, given he looked awful in his last fight against a very ordinary and plodding Denis Grachev, and well, has chin issues.

 

Also it has to be noted that Bute has only ever fought one fight at lightheavy before (the Grachev fight) and didn't fight at all last year having elected to take some time out and then, in the latter part of the year, suffering with injuries which caused this fight to be postponed in the first place.

 

That said I dont think it's clear that Pascal takes this. Although he's very explosive, and powerful, he's relatively low volume and lacks a lot of boxing skill, whereas Bute is very crafty, and has that absolute jackhammer of a left uppercut which he can throw the body or head.

 

Froch exposed in Bute that if you force the pace, let your hands go, and throw with very high volume, that he's not able to cope, and struggles to counter effectively. Froch did a great job of smothering Bute without smothering his own work, so Bute didn't get many counters off, and Froch was landing with more accuracy than I've seen before.

 

Pascal won't force the action like that. I'd like to see Bute box off the back foot and make Pascal be the one walking forward, cos Pascal, although may be on the front foot, is not capable of showing Froch level volume, so Bute will be countering him more regularly.

 

I would not discount Bute in this one at all.

Edited January 18, 2014 by Dr_Pangloss

[ArteSuave]

Bute looked gun shy. Disappointing really.

[The_Rev]

The beating Carl Froch handed out ended Bute as a top level fighter. 

[Dr_Pangloss]

Bute looked gun shy. Disappointing really.

He did show the hallmarks of a shot fighter. For me it appeared that his confidence was shot, hence he wasn't loading up on his punches for most of his fight, however in his post fight interview he remarked that it was a physical thing, that his arms just weren't moving, which is even more worrying.

 

To be honest Bute missed a big opportunity, if he could have been more active, and would have been able to put more mustard on his punches, he would have won. Pascal can only fight in spots, and frankly doesn't counterpunch well at all, Bute had numerous chances to step in and load up on his left hand, but looked frozen most of the time.

 

The 12th round was bizarre and Pascal was basically there to be knocked out, Bute in many ways rolled back the years a bit in that round, but it was too little too late.

 

Pascal though has too many technical deficiencies, is way too inactive and struggles with the weight (he's way too bulky for a lightheavy), which tells me that he won't stand much of a chance against Kovalev and would most likely lose to Stevenson unless he can land a big shot on his suspect chin.

[leemond2008]

Is it me or has boxing gone a bit stagnant just lately?

Just 12 months ago I was staying in every Saturday night watching whatever rubbish BoxNation had on offer and I was loving every second of it, but now Sky has got in on the act and have got a decent stable together with Match Room but it is always 1 fight in the early hours of the morning (and I'm sorry but I'm not staying up to watch Bute) whereas when BoxNation had a fight like that on you would get a night full of domestic fighters on up until the main event, fair enough you wouldn't hear of the majority of them again but it was a full on boxfest.

I just think that the cards are too staggered and with regards to the telly and the undercards you don't see the benefits when there are two major promoters going against each other.

[AshVilla]

Froch been forced to fight Groves within 90 days or lose his belt by the IBF

 

Great move by them i guess there is no more running unless he's happy giving it up

 

I noticed he's trying to get in the ring with Chavez jnr instead

 

Anyone but Groves eh Carl