Usyk looked like a rat in a sinking ship, if the rematch doesn't happen after the debacle with the referee, boxing is done.
But in the end it was Rico who was the rat in the sinking ship. Winning some rounds doesn't make you the winner of the fight. Rico looked like the smaller, weaker man from the second half of round ten when he was buzzed and reeling right until he was stopped. He was sinking faster than the titanic...Interesting how him and his corner didn't protest the stoppage, eh? They instead chose to get the moral victory of winning some rounds and getting beat down..., not even wanting to continue to fight on, knowing Rico would get splattered had they allowed the fight to go on. The stoppage was the best thing that could have happened to Rico and his team.
It's not how you start the fight...It's how you end the fight that matters. You people sound like a bunch of casuals who judge a fight simply on "expectations". Rico did better than you "expected" so you conclude that Usyk is somehow "lesser than". You guys do that with every single fighter..., particularly with fighters you don't like or fighters that don't have a similar shade of skin as your own. Usyk, the small heavyweight, is threatening to your ego.
Inoue and Crawford have never fought someone who outweighs them that much and Usyk schooled Rico 7 rounds to 3 going into the 11th
I agree with the first part but I thought Rico was close to even at the time of the stoppage, though he was fading fast and he had been hurt in the 10th and badly hurt in the 11th. Either way, Usyk reminded us that winning some rounds and being a frontrunner doesn't win fights. The later rounds are equally as important or even more so..., Great fighters know how to maintain their focus and intensity late in a fight, when it is most difficult to do that.
Does everyone forget how Usyk had Joshua buzzed and reeling in the final round of their first fight? Does everyone forget how Usyk had Fury badly hurt and on the verge of being KO'd in the 9th round of their first fight? Usyk is most dangerous as the fight progresses because he slowly breaks his opponents down while he's keeping his reserve full enough to win the last rounds or to get the KO.
Sanchez as the underdog got me thinking about using a x3 but his inactivity scared me off even though Torrez is inexperienced with a limited resume. That should have been an easy multiplier pick... I think only a couple picked him...
I thought the fight could go in almost any direction. Decision or stoppage for Torrez, or a Decision or stoppage for Sanchez. Torrez has looked really reckless and frantic in his fights and he has had difficulties with some lower tier fighters but Sanchez looks lazy and unwilling to throw punches and I thought that gave Torrez some opportunity to outwork Sanchez and have him shell up for much of the fight. Also, Torrez is a fairly small heavyweight by today's standards...That was one thing I didn't put into my calculations...and the fact that he was KO'd in the amateurs..I didn't even know that until after Sanchez KO'd him.
AJ is all wrong for Rico. If AJ has anything left it would be a brutal KO.
AJ had better knock Rico out quickly or he will end up in deep water. Joshua doesn't have the stamina to maintain the kind of pace that Rico brought to the ring with Usyk. I could see all kinds of problems that A.J. would have with Rico. This guy is not a stationary statue like Ngannou...If Joshua doesn't connect with the perfect punch he would end up getting KO'd.
Rico was hurt at the end of the 10th and Usyk went for the kill in the 11th. At first Rico didn't even protest the stoppage and neither were his corner protesting the stoppage. Rico was very hurt at the end of the 11th, even worse than he was at the end of the 10th. He was going downhill very quickly. I still would have preferred that the ref give him some benefit of the doubt though. I'm pretty confident that Usyk would have beat him up and KO'd him in the twelfth round. So in some sense the ref did Usyk AND Rico a disservice. Also, most of us boxing fans still wanted to see it play out fully, so that we could be sure of the end result. With that stoppage, many of us are now questioning how it would play out.
Fans (particularly Usyk haters) are now giving all the benefit of the doubt to Rico and taking everything away from Usyk. Typical biased fangirl behaviour. It's all or nothing thinking. Black and white thinking, without any nuance. That's the way most people's minds work. Many people were moaning about Joshua taking so long to get out a relative newbie small cruiserweight Youtuber (Jake Paul) and getting hit a few times by him but then when he finally stops Jake (which we all expected to happen within 2 or 3 rounds tops), Joshua is all of a sudden the hero and saviour of boxing (haha). All or nothing thinking. Black and white. No nuance or dissection of the fights. Just ridiculous, "fighter A should simply come in and club the other guy to death within a round or 3". Rico wasn't a 195 pound Jake Paul. He was a 258 pound, life long fighter who had fought guys much bigger than himself for years (not lazy middleweights, geriatric, arthritic seniors and 175 pound MMA has-beens) and he had a ton of boxing experience with the Fury's and other fighters. Just because he wasn't known "NAME" in boxing circles doesn't diminish his actual skill and capabilities. Do people understand the weird comparisons between this fight and the Joshua VS Jake Paul fight?
This was no different to Floyd vs McGregor with the boxer letting his opponent do his thing, downloading data then turning it up at will so fans go their money worth.
Garbage stoppage but the writing was on the wall and it likely sells the rematch, 1 of Usyks final 3 and a further big pay day for both.
The biggest difference is that Rico has exceptional stamina, while McGregor was known for exceptionally POOR stamina. Also the size difference was much bigger between Usyk and Rico.
bring in AJ to clean up the mess
If AJ doesn't KO Rico quickly, it will be a very bad night for AJ. Rico's gas tank and herky jerky style could be very bad for AJ.
One thing that was on Rico's side was that the ref gave him lots of rest time when he was hurt...twice. The mouthpiece in the 4rth round...That was a needed break for Rico. Then again at the end there was some time given to Rico. But Usyk was behind in rounds. I gave Usyk 4 clear rounds ...Maybe 5 at the very most!
Usyk looks like crap. Slow, worse cardio than I've seen from him. Unwillingly to push the pace....Yikes!
Rico won just by being very competitive!
Really bad stoppage!
Rico was going to get KO'd because he was hurt at the end of the tenth and he was virually gone in the 11th....BUT that stoppage was really terrible because Rico was winning most of the rounds. Give him the remote chance that he still had. I think he was about to get his brains scrambled even more but that stoppage creates doubt and questions in the viewers minds.
Usyk look slow, out of shape...unwilling to force the pace...Usk looked like S-H-I-T. He's looks like an an old fighter
They said kickboxers have really good footwork...Will this Rico guy be slick on his feet..., or will he be stumbling all over the place. He might have to plant his feet to throw solid, heavy punches. Might be his best chance.
is Keyshawn that dope
commentators glazing him hard
I know he’s a charismatic showman but what about his boxing ability
I heard a bit of the glazing but luckily I missed some of it because I was on a bathroom break.
Orangeville is known for flowers and leisure. This guy (Norman's opponent) might be the king of Orangeville, a town of 30,000 easygoing people, but he's a small fish when he leaves his town.
There's the crappy audio again...The crap "music" is 5 times louder than the commentators. Do they think that makes it more entertaining for us to watch - listen to? WTF is wrong with this terrible production?
Update # The volume balance between the commentators and the audience has improved in this fight (the Norman fight).
The audio is horrible...., not only was the fight bad.
Why the hell do they have the audience volume up so high. Turn that crap down...We can barely hear the commentating. Amateur sound engineers.
I think fighters, PARTICULARLY heavyweights seem to not fully realize how their jabs offset and bother their opponent. There were a few jabs that Allen threw to Hrgovic's body that would temporarily slow him down, briefly. Then when Hrgovic would land some shots, Allen would throw his right hand hard and wildly. It's like he didn't want to have to use the jab repeatedly. Wardley did the same thing last week... and Wardley, when he used the jab would land some really good jabs.
I think these guys, even though they're viewed as fearless warriors, often or usually panic and stop trying to gain momentum inch by inch by using the jab and strategy to gain their momentum. I get it,... it's really scary and difficult to maintain your composure when there's a powerful, skillful fighter coming at you....BUT that's what really separates the best from the second tier fighters. The best fighters keep their composure and still think strategically, even when they're under immense pressure. That's what Usyk and Fury seem to have more of than the other heavyweights. They're very mentally strong. Particularly, Usyk.
Allen is terrible, wait for him to say this time it was because he lost too much weight and didn't have any energy.
Stoppage by the corner WAS too early, Allen wasn't hurt and Hrgovic has a history of gassing, but at the same time Allen was just tanking shots doing NOTHING so I don't feel sorry for him, you have to give something back.
Hrgovic stays the exact same fighter in my eyes, he looked aggressive tonight vs a literal heavy bag on legs
That's exactly why I thought the stoppage was too early.