30stonegorilla

I would just like to stop hearing about ricky in general. Well, Hatton could kick any of our message boarding asses, no problem. But Tszyu will school him big time, bloody him up something awful, and Hatton has no Plan B. Hatton could have Einsten's brain transplanted in his body and submit a paper on E=Mc2 for peer review, and STILL have no Plan B---he is a face first body punching slugger and cannot adapt. If heart and stamina won't wear his opponent down he's a baggy pair of trousers flapping in the wind and Tszyu will give him a retirement beatdown.

Does not matter who you are Samoan or european or whatever, if you get hit hard on the chin you will definitely go down. The average chin(chin of any normal human being) can not withstand more than 50 pound of pressure(known fact). Average heavyweight has about a punch with 450-500 pounds of pressure. Tyson had about 1000 pounds of pressure in his punch. What saves boxer from going down is the actual stance, strong neck, strong legs and good reflexes. For example, look at Joe Mesi's neck, it was very thin and he went down quiet often. So in case of Tua he had very strong legs, very thick neck, he kept his chin tucked in and the fact that in professional boxing gloves prevent fighter from making good fist thus weakening the punch. Hi Brooklyn. I agree with most of your past except that last part. Certain gloves are harder to punch with than other gloves but gloves INCREASE your ability to knock your opponent down, not decrease it. In the 1870's the bare knuckle boxing was meeting all kinds of resistance from religious groups who called the sport evil and uncivilized. Prize fighters themselves didn't like the fifty round bloodbaths but it was harder than hell to knock a man out with bare fists. Most knock downs were the results of pushes and trips and flips which were legal at the time. Many a career was ruined because the hands couldn't take it anymore. Driving gloves were introduced and popularized by fighters like the original Jack Dempsey. It helped get the anti-boxing people off the sports's back but that was not why they started wearing gloves, just like your ears and nose hold your glasses nicely right where they need to be, but that is not why a person has ears and a nose. The idea was to protect the hands. Pretty soon gloves became the order of the day, four ounces at best. They gave the hands better protection and they made it easier to knock a guy down for two reasons---first, you could punch with far more resolve because you weren't worried about busting your hands all to hell, second, the more surface area the wider the pattern of the blow and the easier the oxygen is cut off from the brain. It became clear by the 1910's that boxing gloves increased knockouts. Which is why it is foolish to put more padding in a heavy's gloves. Lighter gloves bust up a face better, but the real brain damage is done by the heavier gloves. The Germans have a word schwerpunkt, it is the striking point of a blow in military terms. The schwerpunkt of a bare fist will punch a hole into a face but a gloved fist takes that force and distributes it over the entire striking area. There is no schwerpunkt. The result is the brain inside the head, which is floating on fluid, is far more traumitized than if the force had been reduced by a puncturing knuckle. Once you get to 16 ounces, like sparring gloves, the padding benefit starts to outweigh the penalty of no schwerpunkt. You get to 20 ounces and you might as well be punching each other with pillows. Eight ounces seem the perfect compromise, but this makes sense and would improve the sport so of course it will never be adopted. Jimmy

So, I think alot of boxers who some of you guys feel have a iron chin is just good defense. These guys include: -De La Hoya -Toney -Tyson -Hopkins -Tua (probaby has a good chin, but never seen him hit clean) Hi teakay. They accused Ali of not being able to take a shot, back when he was Cassius Clay, imagine that? There was no way to know. It was assumed because he danced and talked and was "pretty" he would fold up like a lawn chair if he got tagged. A good chin is a combination of a lot of factors that add up to a guy not going down where maybe most guys would. BTW, "alot" is two words---a lot. Don't really want to be pedantic here, but I see it so many times on these boards it is starting to hurt my eyes. Now if a guy wants to post ain't and gonna to be a regular conversational type of poster that is okay because he knows the diff. I'm not sure how it got started in this country that "alot" was a word, but it ain't. Also, getting proactive here, it's "definitely" not "definately." I post that to you only because most folks who post "alot" also post "defintely" and they also post "supposably" for "supposedly." You don't have to thank me. This is America. The lessons are free.

Please let your top 5 be known. 5-Paulino Uzcudun 4-Santos Cardona 3-Muhammad Ali 2-Julio Cesar Chavez 1-Marvin Hagler There are dozens of other guys I coulda stuck on the list, like Wayne McCullough. That little guy can really take a shot.

Let's not forget that Ricky has amazing strength and stamina levels, he's in the best shape of his life and is stronger and fitter than ever for this fight. So is Lance Armstrong. If that's all it took. But you gotta be able to fight, well enough to back Tszyu up, because the only way Hatton can fight is coming forward, and I don't believe he can back Tszyu up. He has a nutritionist on board now, he has more advanced training methods now, he's using weights, he started training a month early... I think that describes Russell Crowe for his role in Cinderella Man, too. All that preperation stuff is well and good, if Hatton can fight with the Russian, and he can't. So I do hope that if Ricky's difficult pressuring and sapping body blows do actually land him a victory We're hoping they don't, but that's what makes for rivalries. I do hope that you people will give him his dues and respect him if he wins. I personally do not think that he will win, but if he does manage to pull it off somehow then please give Ricky respect! He earns that in the ring. Had he fought Vivian Harris or even DeMarcus Corley or Sharmba Mitchell, he'd be getting respect, even if he'd lost, long as he gave us a good outing. But he has ducked those people and stayed home in Manchester and wrung out that hometown hero washcloth for all it was worth, instead of manning up and zipping over and taking his lumps under the Las Vegas lights the way Barry McGuigan did, which is why folks respect McGuigan on this side of the pond, and not Hatton. I hate being a stinker, but I am REALLY looking forward to seeing Hatton have his arse handed to him. Then he can retire and be a commentator on Sky Sports before his brains get scrambled. Jimmy

Why is Jones regarded as unlikeable, anyway? I think he's a cool guy. (reference to post two above) I don't follow you, Anorak. You think Jones is cool. Lots of people don't. You asked why he is unlikable but I don't think you really want an answer. You like him. I don't. Everything's cool. To each his own. But since you asked, i don't like him because he postures himself like he's this super special person doing boxing a favor by even fighting, like he could have been a movie star or a rocket scientist no problem if he wasn't a fighter. Big laugh, that. He tries to act intelligent and polished and sophisticated and he's just an uneducated pug from Pensacola. That would be fine, if he didn't walk the dog and try to pretend he's way above that. Ali's ego was cool, Roy's just makes him a punk.

If B-Hop starts to show some signs of aging (slower fists & reflexes, poor foot movement, etc) then Taylor has a great chance Hi Sactown. Hopkins started showing these signs several years ago, just like Archie Moore did in his day. The difference between these fighters and other fighters who age more quickly is they have learned so much and understand the game so well they are actually better than in their physical prime. In his physical prime Walcott lost to the likes of Tiger Jack Fox, but past his physical prime he actually beat Louis, although Louis was given the decision, and beat Charles with my all time favorite lights-out left hook. But even Walcott aged eventually. if B-Hop continues to improve and stay sharp, B-Hop could be sharp, but he will not continue to improve. He has already slipped from the fighter who dominated Trinidad. ...then Taylor will lose 11 outta 12 rounds or so and Bernard will remain the 160 pound king B-Hop is the favorite, but no way does Taylor lose 11 out of 12 rounds to ANY fighter on the planet, including heavyweights. He is just too skilled a boxer. The problem for Hopkins is he no longer has the "Executioner" power he displayed early in his careeer, for whatever reason. So he will have to out-hustle and out-think a slick, young, hungry boxer who doesn't know what defeat really tastes like. I like Taylor in this fight by a decision. On paper it is an upset, but in reality I don't think it is. I just wish I could bring myself to like Taylor like I like B-Hop. But I can't. Jimmy

Jones Jr could of made far more money fighting Benn or Eubank than he did in any of his other fights. Do you realise how big Benn and Eubank were/are? They were on the TV and in the newspapers kind of like every single day! They were/are celebrities in Britain. Ain't that a little bit like being valedictorian of summer school? Are you saying that Benn and Eubank never made any money from boxing? No. You said that. I don't care how much money they made. It was about how much money Roy Jones could make, and he could make more money staying home fighting the guys he did then traipsing off to germany or the UK to fight some pantywaist for chump change. Let's see. Benn made well over £10million from boxing alone, which is about $20million, he retired in 1996. Like I posted, it's about what JONES would have made, not what Benn would have made. And it's about 17 mil in US dollars, not 20. Eubank made almost £20million from boxing alone, which is $30-40million, he retired in 1998. Add to that their celebrity appearances and we're looking at more millions. So why wasn't he in Vegas fighting the best? Like I posted, these guys wanna hunker down on there rainy, gloomy little island let them do it. Just don't bellyache later about how bad you are and how American fighters "ducked" you. McClellan was Ring Magazine's number one Middleweight in 1993 and 1994, Roy Jones was number two. So Hopkins wasn't the best when Jones Jr fought him. Who gives a rat's ass what Ring Magazine thinks? Hopkins was better than McClellan every day of the week. And any magazine rating Roy Jones number two in them days has got it wrong. Lots of fighters get rated at certain slots for a variety of reasons that have little to do with how they would actually fair against the opponents rated higher than them in the ring. At one time Marvis Frazier was rated above Mike Tyson, for example. Michalczewski had just beat Hill just before Jones Jr beat Hill. So Hill wasn't the best when Jones Jr fought him. As for Griffin, no comment. Griffin is as good as ANY middle to come out of your country since the 1920's. What possible basis could you have for dissing him? Because he can't fight now? I never said Hill was the absolute best but one of the best available contenders at the time. If I say it always rains in Norway I don't mean it rains every single second of every single day. It's nice that the Brits like boxing, and a few can even fight, but them accusing american fighters of ducking them is like the Chihauhau barking behind a big fence at the Great Dane passing by.

I hear what you guys are saying, "Roy Jones Junior would have destroyed this guy, and would have destroyed that guy!" But the problem is, that's just opinion. This is why Roy Jones Junior's career is kinda frustrating, because we'll never know how good he could have been or whether he would have beaten the guy's above because he refused to fight the best in each division. :dunno: Full of prunes on this topic, martin. Roy fought Hopkins and Toney and Hill and Griffin. You saying these guys weren't the best at the time????? He didn't fight your brit guys because there was no MONEY in it for him. Why would he be afraid of your guys and NOT be afraid of the likes of Toney, who by the way, would have whupped Benn's ass, and Eubank's ass, and had problems with Calzhage, because that guy can fight, but beat him, too. Hopkins would have beaten those guys, too. But they wanna sit over there on their rainy, gloomy little island and not come over here and fight the best for big money, let them do it. If they made themselves familar to the American boxing public then that public would have clammored to see them fight against our best guys. But they didn't. So they punk off in magazine interviews about how tough they were and how afraid a great fighter like Jones is of them. I was never a Roy Jones fan, man, did I cheer when Lou Delvalle dropped him in their fight. But Jones, as unlikeable as he may be, and he's pretty damn unlikeable, could this guy ever fight. Toney thought he was special until the reflexes and power of Jones humbled him in their bout. Every guy thinks he can fight with Jones, but his unorthodox speed is like nothing they have ever experienced. Jones never needed to jab. He was so quick he used his left hook as a jab! He had exploitable weaknesses, even in his buck prime, but none the fighters of this generation had the schooling to exploit. When he started to slip, he needed the jab, to keep folks off, and this is why he was stopped in his last couple of fights because without the jab, and without his once cat quick reflexes, eventually he was going to get caught and clocked. Jimmy