Sillakh a case of bad matchmaking?

I know all about his pedigree & looked up Grachev's before the fight and felt those 11/1 odds was flattering - Talked myself out of it like an idiot. 11-0 7K.Os recently derailed a highly regarded Russian stand out. Also had a short but successful MMA career. The guy trains & spars with Chatman, Fedor & Lebedev amongst others. IKF Muay Thai Light Cruiserweight World Champion 2X World Kickboxing Champion (2000, 2005) 4X Russian Kickboxing Champion Sure that don't really mean he can cross over to pro boxing & be successful but neither does an olympic gold medal as Audrey Harrison proved in recent years, funnily Sillakh was preparing for this fight with Audrey. From his videos on YT you could see Grachev was a dangerous guy. Maybe they thought he wasn't hugely interested in boxing? Props to Grachev, tough, tough mofo! Boxing needs more guys like him, he showed mad heart & determination. I hope the black Russian can bounce back. Grachev vs Bellew would be sweet as fook. Props to Atlas as well, he more or less called it!

Comments (13)

ShoulderRoll

They both got stopped so it doesn't matter. But one is American so he has to take sh*t for it, while the other is Eastern European so he gets cut some slack by certain people.

14y ago

Light_Speed

When this happened to Danny Jacobs everyone was calling him an American hypejob. Not talking about "bad matchmaking." Jacobs was dropped and then stopped early, Sillakh was dominating the fight and winning every round until he got stopped in the 8th.

14y ago

ShoulderRoll

When this happened to Danny Jacobs everyone was calling him an American hypejob. Not talking about "bad matchmaking."

14y ago

ModernTalking

If Pac had beat Sillakh he would have been cherry picking.

14y ago

Bushbaby

From my perspective I say it was a case of Sillakh not fighting to win but more fighting not to lose. Maybe he felt the pressure of being on the cusp of a big payday and didnt want to lose so badly that he didnt fight to win but played it very safe. Grachev had nothing to lose and went for it. Also when Sillakh got caught with that hard right he didn't react well. He had the capacity to react much differently but didn't and it cost him the fight. Sillakh was by far the more skilled fighter even though he left much of the skill in the locker room. They knew Grachev had some power. Sillakh had sparred with Grachev not to long ago. Grachev is a strong guy with incredible conditioning and they knew that going in. My money would be on Sillakh any time these 2 meet again. Sillakh will bounce back a much better fighter. Nah, I think he looked past this guy as easy work. Kinda like what Khan did with Peterson. Fighters do get caught up in their own hype sometimes. This being 1 of them.

14y ago

TeamUppercut

He looked past this guy & payed the price. From my perspective I say it was a case of Sillakh not fighting to win but more fighting not to lose. Maybe he felt the pressure of being on the cusp of a big payday and didnt want to lose so badly that he didnt fight to win but played it very safe. Grachev had nothing to lose and went for it. Also when Sillakh got caught with that hard right he didn't react well. He had the capacity to react much differently but didn't and it cost him the fight. Sillakh was by far the more skilled fighter even though he left much of the skill in the locker room. They knew Grachev had some power. Sillakh had sparred with Grachev not to long ago. Grachev is a strong guy with incredible conditioning and they knew that going in. My money would be on Sillakh any time these 2 meet again. Sillakh will bounce back a much better fighter.

14y ago

Bushbaby

He looked past this guy & payed the price.

14y ago

ironmike2012

Not bad matchmking, but a bad chin and defense.

14y ago

onechance87

nope, that's not bad match making that's Sillakh screwing up. It was clear from the first minute of the fight Sillakh was far the better fighter and was on a different level. Now that obviously proved to mean nothing in the end but clearly he was the much more talented fighter. And remember, Sillakh-Pascal was ordered by the WBC. That was the fight that should have happened. Pascal didn't take it and decided to make a deal with Cloud instead and the WBC in return told Sillakh would be the mandatory to Hopkins-Dawson, provided he won. And the WBC gave him a soft fight. So Sillakh only has himself to blame. He f*cked up. He should have not lost to a guy like that. agreed........

14y ago

Russian_Crushin

Just a case of bad chin and getting caught

14y ago

ringer

I'd say he was more the victim of his own sh*tty defense and hype than bad matchmaking.

14y ago

The_Gambler1981

Grachev is a tough dude, and clearly has quality stamina because he kept coming. I don't think it was poor match making because sooner or later he was going to have to deal with a tough guy that was going to be relentless and this guy doesn't seem to have all that much talent. It should have been a test not a death sentence.

14y ago

Light_Speed

What do you mean bad matchmaking? You're not a promoter, you're a boxing fan so from your point of view you should be happy to see fighters get tested against solid opposition. And Grachev ain't that good, Sillakh was supposed to dominate him and he did until he got stopped.

14y ago