Antoine Douglas demise: bad match making or wasn't ready?

I think he just wasn't good enough to beat that tough guy. I don't think it was bad match making. If they were planning for Douglas to get to the championship level then sooner or later they have to risk fighting better fighters. Douglas had never lost a fight and was favored to win. Not every promising prospect is good enough to make it to the top. Ali showed that he is probably not good enough to make it and now Douglas has shown that he probably doesn't have what it takes to be a champion either. Every fighter wants to be a champion but few ever become one. Even with 4 champions in each weight class it is not easy to be a champion.

**** promoter. I remember........Todd Debouf(?) said that if a prospect loses before you can make money from him it's the promoters fault.

He lingered on the ropes way too long, didn't use his footwork and let himself get beat on. He had the tools to win the fight but fell into Khurtsidze game plan over and over again. He showed a flash of his footwork at only a few brief times in the fight but staying on the ropes repeatedly was one critical mistake that Douglas made almost habitually in the fight. It was insane how much his back touched the ropes that night, I'll be surprised if he didn't go home with rope burn. Khurtsidze fought brilliantly though, he kept up a high pace, high intensity for all 12 rounds and fought an excellent, inspired fight. Mad credit goes to Douglas for showing a hell of a lot of heart when a lot of fighters would have just quit half way through the fight. Tough night that he should learn from and improve, as hundreds of other boxers do each year in defeat. 99% of boxers lose at various points in their careers, it's normal and a necessary, beneficial part of the learning process for most. Douglas is one tough dude with a lot of potential.

he didn't clinch every time khurts got close. bad "boxing"

I don't think they were ready for this style at all... Sam Solomon is a pressure fighter with soft power... His game is to overwhelm his opponent with punches in bunches, death by 1,000 paper cuts... (See Solomon vs Winky Wright) Khurtsidze is a pressure fighter looking to take your head off, with the power to do it.... Douglas could easily exchange with Solomon, but not with Khurtsidze. This fight reminded me of Bobby Czyz vs Andrew Maynard light... (Minus Maynards hot dogging attitude.) Older veteran cast as a gate keeper takes down the young lion looking for a title shot soon...

This is boxing, not mma,,, so fighters get matched soft forever and then finally fight a guy with a pulse.. Nearly impossible to tell if the guy will improve like a young manny or disappear like a mike jones

He opponent is so damn short, that Douglas must have found it very hard to not only prepare for, but also hit someone that low. It also presented punches coming at him from low. That stuff can throw a fighter off. He is the height of Roman Gonzalez, Estrada and other flyweights, bantams, sbw's and lower weight fighters.

I gotta say though, it was the first time I have seen Khurtsidzi fight. He is definitely a fun fighter. The Old fella is relentless. Fought N'Dam, gave him a lot of trouble

Khurtzide is always a handful. Most likely wasn't ready for that kind of pressure from the little guy

I gotta say though, it was the first time I have seen Khurtsidzi fight. He is definitely a fun fighter. The Old fella is relentless.

As far as I know his handlers didn't pick the fight for him. They where trying to maneuver him in a title shot against Saunders. Soliman was the original opponent and would have been a less tough fight. I won't say Soliman would be easier because his a tricky fellow but he wasn't going to do what Khurtzirde did. Now his team could have pulled him from the fight after Soliman pulled out but looking at Khurtsidze, you'll think he'll be a beatable opponent. But it was boy vs man. Antoine simply didn't have the man strength to cope nor the boxing IQ to implement a different game plan on the fly.

It's a combination of matchmaking and training. Young fighters should be exposed to the various different styles at the 4 round level. Put 'em in against movers/pressure fighters/boxer-punchers/southpaws of different heights. If they have any glaring deficiencies against a particular style then a good trainer should show them how to fix those. Repeat the process again at the 6 round level. See how the fighter is coming along plus what other areas might need improving....then repeat the whole thing at the 8 round level and so on. By the time a fighter is taking on a top 10 opponent he should have a well-rounded understanding of how to approach any fighting style. He should be confident that he has built up the stamina to last all the rounds. And he should have smoothed out any obvious rough edges in his fundamentals. Douglas was dropping his right hand a lot on Saturday and that should have been caught a long time ago in my opinion.

Whatever it was he messed up my Shostreak.

Well to be fair, he was supposed to face Sam Soliman, which he would have won, but even if he lost, he would have not taken damage. It was probably hard to find a last second replacement, whoever brought him in should get fired, that was not a good move, they should have moved to a different card. Worse part was the corner, he showed the heart of a champion, he was fighting back with no power and taking way too many blows. Should have been stopped rounds earlier, like Roach did with Pascal, Pascal was a title fight and his last payday, Douglas has a career ahead, but that beating might be huge. He needs to rest, corner didn't look out for him. No shame in losing to that fighter, he was ready to fight, a lot of young fighters would have lost the same way.

does anybody have the full fight?? i missed it

Just did not look prepared to deal with a Pressure fighter and a guy who had nothing to lose and fought like it Douglas and Sadam Ali and even going back to Amir Imam defeat, this Back Foot Fighting backing themselves against the Ropes is getting FUKING Ridiculous and All 3 Paid the price for fighting like that. Sorry but when you're a young up and coming fighter...LET YOUR FUKING HANDS GO! That is the time in your career that yes you should be trying to impressive you should be trying things to see what what and what doesn't. Somebody posted in another thread about certain fighters trying to copy Mayweather, yes this is true but the mistake they're making is copying the Older Mayweather the one with the Brittle Hands and not the one in his Prime before the Brittle Hands Guys are backing straight up, they don't side step or circle, don't know how to turn their opponent to keep it in the middle of the ring, they don't know how to even clinch to buy themselves time to try and recover. They all got stopped the same way if you look at it, against the Ropes with them just covering up and the Refs having to step in. All can bounce back but and will but who comes back strong and better from those defeats will be interesting!

He opponent is so damn short, that Douglas must have found it very hard to not only prepare for, but also hit someone that low. It also presented punches coming at him from low. That stuff can throw a fighter off.

Nah. That was a damn good fight. He just fought the wrong fight and his corner didn't step on early enough.

He actually drew with Michel Soro, who is much better than Khurtsidze, in a close fight. So he can box and he has talent. I just don't think he was prepared for this type of style. Khurtsidze was relentless and he dragged Douglas into a dog fight. Douglas abandoned his jab and spent most of the fight on the ropes. It's a tough way to learn. He took quite a bit of damage so I hope he's ok.

His trainers let him down, bad game plan and then didn't stop it when he was taking too much.