ELPacman

One thing was for sure here. Usyk's legs looked gone. His in and out movement was nearly completely absent. Whether that was aging, the extra weight or just coming a tad under prepared for Rico. Rico did great for the look Usyk gave him, but I'm not sure that's the Usyk any of us expected. Usyk without leg movement isn't much different than many other subpar fighters out there.

So he wasn't a quitter, as I said. Once, his shoulder was out. The second time, it was the doctor who stopped for a valid reason. He himself wasn't technically a "quitter", but he was labeled mostly a quitter by the boxing fans and media because of aborting out of the fight that he was winning. They probably thought he could have just sucked it up for the remaining rounds. I'm not sure if you would call one a quitter or not if they agreed to bow out of the match after being given sound Dr. advice. It was smart of him to do, though I can see how folks might still consider him a quitter for doing that. This is boxing after all and the critics are harsh. They don't care if he was trying to save his future career, they described what they saw in that moment and it was him and his team retiring him on the stool in a fight he was easily winning, hence quitting the match.

I don't think Vitali was called "a quitter". He can be criticised for other things. Those who called Dubois so were just casuals, to be polite... I don't see any reason to bash Dubois, he seems a nice character and is definitely elite level. He was actually at that time. People didn't realize how severe his shoulder injury was and pissed that he quit. He was literally winning every round and only had to go I think 2 or 3 more rounds to win the fight. In retrospect, you have to really understand how bad the injury was when he and his whole team knew they were up, but if he continued, it could have jeopardized his entire career. They were willing to take the "L", but the backlash was swift. Hence why he went to the darkest place to not quit against Lennox when his eye brow was hanging off his face. He refused to allow himself to be called a quitter again when this time, he had no shoulder injury and wanted to prove that as brutal of a cut that it was, he was not going to quit again. That said, aside from that slight blip moment in his career, he was quite a dominant heavyweight. Also fun to watch because he was very aggressive and hit hard. It's too bad he didn't have better competition during his era, but what was there, he was demolishing and in rather exciting fashion. His fight vs Corrie Sanders was awesome and even Danny Williams, despite it mostly being one sided.

There is no reality that exists where a 100% Usyk loses to a 50% boxer. Even if that boxer is bigger than him as we've already seen with Usyk facing larger 100% boxers in AJ and Fury. Rico's only chance is a miracle KO punch landing, but that is only because Usyk is simply not 100% anymore. Even 75% Usyk shouldn't lose this... Let's be real.

I'm not sure if he's still announcing himself to the world. Xayas is not a mega name in boxing yet. More known with the boxing fans and not the casuals. Beating Xayas might just mean that he's beaten an unproven fighter who was mostly fed a nice diet of no hopers. I personally have not found one Xander match to be exciting or that he wow'd me with some god given talenet. He's mostly been mediocre in my eyes. In this matchup, I feel Boots has everything to lose and not as much to gain. I still won't say Boots is the next best thing by beating Xayas. If he fought Virgil however and won that, now we can start talking.

Another meaningless fight for Canelo. Mbilli can make it a fun fight and hopefully brings more of a fight to Canelo than he's looking for at this stage. At least he won't run like Scull.

From a promotional stand point, this is what promoters should be doing getting your fighter on shows that reach out to casuals and normies. I've said it before but I believe boxing only advertises to itself and you can't grow a sport if you're not outreaching to people who aren't fans. That said I think there are other boxers who need the popularity and late night boost more than Ryan, he's already a social media star he doesn't need this. It's not that it hasn't been done before, it's that they usually only pick on fighters that are trending for whatever reason. Andy Ruiz was immediately on one of those night shows after beating AJ. Pacquiao was on a Kimmel I believe twice. Wladimir Klitschko went on Conan O Brian before a horrible fight that he just held the entire fight. Can't remember who the opponent was. AJ went on Conan O Brian. Can't recall who he may have just beaten that got him there. Mayweather was recently on I think Fallon plugging his brand supplements that he didn't know what they were. Though yeah, it's typically for trendy moments and not just normal type guests. The Breakfast Club on Power105.1 usually brings fighters to talk, even not super popular ones. I like that they do that, but this doesn't reach a huge audience as does the free TV late night talk shows do.

These guys have turned into brothers practically. No need to see them go at it again. At this point, Usyk would even give up the fight to give it to AJ out of empathy for him. AJ-Usyk is one of my, we don't need to see it again along with Fury-Usyk, Fury-Wilder, Usyk-DDD.

Appropriate that Paulie got flattened by a Temu Pacquiao. Karma caught up.

There are so many heavyweight matchups I'm sick of, lol. Let's not see anymore Wilder Fury. No more AJ Usyk. No more Fury Usyk. Now I'll say, no more DDD Usyk. Yeah, DDD just might win finally but that's just because of both men's respective times in their careers. DDD is on the up while Usyk is eventually going to lose soon. His age will play a factor in that unless he retires as soon as he realizes a fight he won took more out of him than he expected. If you play the numbers game, something eventually gives. If you punch a fighter enough, even if you're missing early on, eventually you're going to start to land. If you fight a guy enough that you've lost to, I think eventually you're going to get a win. Not necessarily that you do much different, but that person is no longer the same or they do something different that doesn't work in their favor this time.

He looks ready, but at his age, why rush him? Then if he loses to the upper elite, people will wonder why did he get moved so quickly when he's so young. He already can't beat the Mike Tyson youngest HWY record, so just play it safe.

It's an Okay win. Not like Serhii was among the elite. He was easily there to be hit and just as easy as he was hit, so was Mosley. I don't see him going too much further. He fights like a C+, B- type fighter. Too easily hittable and nothing outstanding with his fight game.

This guy really has all the attributes, he's tough, solid chin, great power and stamina. His only question mark is his heart. Aside from his losses to Usyk, he has shown himself to be possibly the 2nd best heavyweight in the world right now, his resume speaks for itself as well Hergovic Baby Miller Anthony Joshua Wardley His loss to Joyce was a fluke, he was winning that fight, similar to Vitali Klitschko vs Chris Byrd. He can have a very bright future at the young age of 28. I'd rematch Joyce, then go through a few of the B level competition like Parker, Okolie, Gassiev, before stepping up to Fury or Kabayel. Is he stepping up to face Fury? Fury also loss to Usyk twice. Fury is now facing AJ who DDD KO'd. I feel like Usyk really separated himself from the pack with his wins and just about anyone under Usyk has a chance of beating one another but not Usyk himself. Granted, Usyk at this age might be ripe for the taking. I just hope it's not a kickboxer that does, lol.

This feels like a clear money grab come out of retirement type situation. Maybe banking on a Turki type fight to get some insane paycheck before officially sailing to the sunset. I can't see him coming back now boding well. His last few fights he was already looking washed and either lost fights he probably shouldn't have (Teo, Haney) or had to work harder than before to get the win (GKJ). At this point, he'll be even further removed from his prime years and his style depended on youth tremendously. Lots of activity offensively and footwork for defense. I can't see that at nearly 40.

Oh damn! Fake Paul can't keep ripping off the people? That sucks. I guess he'll just have to be happy with the 100m+ in his bank account.

------------- One thing you can't ignore is that Margarito was a shell of himself AFTER getting KO'd by Mosley. That's like saying beating an ATG like Roy Jones after he had been KO'd multiple times. We've heard that from Australians who believed their hero Danny Green had a great career win when he beat a shell of himself, Roy Jones. If Floyd was to fight Haney today, and Haney beats him, would you call that a great win for Haney? Was he immediately a shell of himself after his KO loss to Mosley? He fought another guy immediately after and dropped him in the first rd and took the W. I would argue Margarito was a shell after losing to Pac because the eye damage was significant. He was a shell when Cotto got the rematch if you ask me, though he looked pretty solid in there vs Pacquiao. Verry strong and coming forward the entire fight. He didn't look any different than I'd seen him in prior fights, the only difference was how slow Pac made him look. Though he was still a big puncher and nearly had Pac doubled over with a body shot in the 6th I think it was. Though I also understand we're talking Margarito here. He was mostly a tough walking punching bag who wasn't hard to hit and won most of his fights by out toughing you (and bricks probably helped).

------------------- I wish more people responded the way you do, with class and dignity to match your logic. I may disagree with you but I will respect your opinion. The truth is, Manny has achieved feats that may never be matched. Ever. However, that's not to say we can't place an asterisk next to some of those achievements especially when dubious titles are bestowed upon him. One such duplicity was the catch-weight fight against Margarito. It had the trifecta of the asterisks I mention. One, Margarito was coming off a spectacular KO loss to Mosley. Two, the fight was at catch-weight of 150 and Third, it was for a VACANT title so his team made sure they knew whose hands to grease to get Manny a title shot for a VACANT 154 Ibs belt that was fought at 150 against a guy that was coming off a one-sided beat down. How exactly is that a great win? To beat a guy that had ZERO shot at winning. And just FYI, I wish Manny put that scumbag in a coma for what he did to Cotto. He took it easy on him. The other one was the lone fight at 135 Ibs which was against a guy no one knew or cared for. So, like I said, I can have a conversation with you and have a respectful discord. There are some clowns here that I like to troll because they are blinded by their idol-worshiping trance-like hypnosis. They'll call out things about Floyd knowing very well that their idol did the same exact thing AFTER swearing he wouldn't do it. I'm talking about the exhibition fights against kick boxers and You Tubers that Manny did. If he's making money, good for him. Just like it made money for Floyd. If you discard the title shot at that weight and catch-weight part, it was a highly impressive win vs Margarito who had some crazy advantages in the fight. Aside from the height and reach advantage, Margarito went up to 165lbs on fight night while Pac was a mere 148lbs. He fought a dude nearly 3 divisions higher than him and beat him to a bloody pulp. Again, with those advantages Margarito had, you can remove the catch-weight part. Any fighter on the planet who has the reach, height and that much weight advantage 99.9% of the time doesn't lose the fight... That was what was astonishing about it. Reminder that Pac had just been fighting 130lbs a few years prior to Margarito, was the former Flyweight champion of the world and now beat to a pulp a guy weighing 165lbs. It's crazy man. No matter what way you cut it.

I was getting worried for him that he could become a vegetable incredible if Furious Fabio is the same after this his legs weren't all there even after multiple 1 minute breaks If there was ever a fighter whose chin could be his greatest enemy, it's Wardley. That dude's chin is granite and would not allow him to go down. Effectively allowing him to take more damage than he should from heavyweights. He won't be the same in a few years.

------------------------- PAC got KO'd by Marques in 2012 so he was losing fights. Also, Freddy Roach is Manny's coach, advisor and friend AND he's saying Ariza was giving Manny juiced up drinks. I am not saying that. His coach is saying that. Also if juicing doesn't win fights then 100% catch-weights to weaken your opponents win fights. If Manny was that good, he would never demand catch-weights against almost everyone he fought at 140 and 147. Please humor me and answer this simple question - why did Manny require catch-weights? Because Manny going up in weight was initially a dream idea. Him facing Oscar was a made up idea by I think Larry Merchant who offered the idea and it ended up becoming a reality. Manny had JUST fought at 135lbs once after leaving his premiere weight class of 130lbs. before the Oscar fight materialized. Let that sink in for a moment because it really needs to. Manny only had 1 fight at 135lbs and was immediately asked to jump two divisions higher. He was just recently removed from 130lbs... Manny was not a true welterweight by any means yet. They fought Oscar because they knew he was coming down to a weight he hadn't in awhile and he did terrible against his last southpaw opponent. Plus Freddy knew him well after training him not too long ago. It was the perfect attempt at an opponent going up 2 weight classes that was going to be one of Manny's biggest paychecks. An offer he couldn't refuse. So now he faces Oscars, beats him to a pulp and people think Manny is the greatest fighter on the planet. Though Manny, Freddy and team knew the truth. Oscar wasn't at his best and Manny had JUST went up 2 divisions or you can almost say 3 since again, he was 130lbs for years and only fought 135lbs once. So now the demand is out and everyone and their mother wants to face Manny at 147lbs because he's the new face of boxing after beating Oscar. They figure he's an easy fight because he JUST got to that weight class. Manny and team knew he wasn't a real welterweight yet, so they had to negotiate the fights until Manny filled in more to the weight. You can cut that however you want to, but technically, if a guy weights 145lbs, that's still a welterweight. 147lbs is just the limit. Besides Oscar (and it wasn't even a catchweight), I don't think any of his other opponents looked bad due to the catchweights. They were just as strong and effective. Manny just outclassed them with skillz.

That's one of the greatest heavyweight chins I've ever seen. He never went down.

--------------- So Freddie Roach is just spitting nonsense when he said that Ariza was juicing Manny? Also, you are admitting that Manny was juicing in "only a few fights". Thank you for admitting what we've always known. I'm not admitting anything. I'm simply saying, folks been saying Pac on the juice because of how good he was. So if you're saying Ariza was the juice man, who was given Pac the juice after he ditched Ariza? Or what about before he hooked up with Ariza? If you believe Ariza was juicing Pac for the few fights he had with him, how come Pac continued winning even after ditching Ariza? Winning before Ariza? P.S Juice alone doesn't win fights, so you can't just default taking juice allows a fighter to become unbeatable. Plenty of sh!tty fighters have juiced and go on to lose or suck at boxing.

My jaw dropped seeing those last 40 seconds of the final round. He already rocked Morrell the round prior, but I didn't think he would get the stoppage. Figure Morrell would dance around just enough to get to the cards where he was clearly up despite not looking at his best. All the credit to Chelli who showed up on a moments notice to face Morrell. Talk about a life changing win. From school teacher to #2 ranked in the world now? Wasn't that Morrell's ranking?

--------------- Manny's long time trainer, Roach expressed significant concerns regarding the undisclosed drinks and "concoctions" that former strength and conditioning coach Ariza gave to Pacquiao. You can watch the clip below yourself and hear it from the horses' mouth saying and I quote, "The reason I don't work with Ariza is because he is shady and I don't like him. He used to give Manny a drink EVERYDAY before workouts and I would ask him what's in those drinks and he would NEVER tell me. I said to him that I need to know what's in that drink because you are giving it to my fighter and if something goes wrong I'm going to get blamed". Roach then proceeds to say that now that Ariza is working with Brandon Rios, it doesn't surprise him at all that Rios tested positive for Steroids. Ariz was a new addition to Rios' team and for the first time in his career Rios tests positive for steroids. Roach is on record saying he doesn't know what Manny was ingesting. WE ALL KNOW THE TRUTH except you. These are facts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWw-FUSMy6E&t=112s Ariza wasn't with Manny his entire career. Only for a few fights, so who was helping with the juice prior to Ariza? Justin Fortune? lol Mayweather got bust with the illegal IV, Pacquiao has not turned dirty ever. Yet the narrative that Fraud Jr. made up stuck with everyone. Hey, though the guilty do it best. Put the spotlight on your opponent so all eyes are over there while the truth of where the problem is, is with who started the conversation.

Benavidez touched up on this in one of his interviews this week concerning him and Canelo. Basically stating that there is a Mexican civil war between Mexican Americans and Mexican fighters. I believe it. I believe that Canelo has too much pride and ego to lose to a Mexican American and that his fans will never forgive him for it if he did lose. To the Mexican fans, they would immediately latch on to Canelo and consider David the enemy. Just because he wasn't born on Mexican soil. Then you have an Oscar Dela Hoya vs Julio Cesar Chavez situation. It's not pretty when the Mexican American wins. Heck, even for David it just might hurt his stock with the Mexican people because they'll be mad that he beat their "Mexican" champ.

As a Pac fan clearly, I haven't even watched Pacs exhibition fights after he first retired after Ugas. I had zero interest. I can't even recall if I watch the Barrios fight live but I certainly do not remember much of it. For some reason I feel like I had just caught discussions about it the very next day and even those I had no interest in listening to. The fight result felt meaningless other than if Manny would have won, he'd make some sort of history. I had zero care to find out whose on Manny's hit list next at 46 years old... It's just lame. I was a fan of the Manny of his young years and prime. I was disappointed in his style shortly after his prime was fading and he became a tad more technical and thought in his approach to attack. Gone were the days of his reckless attitude where he took a lot more chances. So in short, this rematch is worthless. The first fight sucked and both of them nearly 20 years later is not going to be any better.

I don't think you can get to the highest level of fights in boxing without some kind of intelligence. That goes for the ring IQ as well. You notice, most of the higher up fighters have a higher level of intelligence than the ones that get blasted earlier on as they're coming up. It's not just about physical gifts and training well, it's also about just being smart in the ring. Some folks may be highly physical and train like a work horse, but when the fight goes down, they got ktfo because they make stupid decisions in the ring. Dubois has fought Usyk twice where some people think he may have earned a KO win against him. He's knocked AJ out hard. I mean, what does that say about AJ then? Low intelligence for trading with a big puncher?

Honestly, Beterbiev is already 41. They'd have a 12 year age gap right now if they fought. That's plenty in favor of David now. I would totally pick him over Beterbiev.

I don't think he's a hype job, I just think his win is being blown out of proportion because of how fun it was to watch. He literally had a walking punching bag in front of him that let him display all those flashy combos with minimal resistance. He did what he should have done based on what was in front of him. Though I also think he's too small for a guy like Usyk and Usyk is in no way going to just stand in front of him allowing him to drop those combinations which require David to literally plant himself in front of his opponent to start them up and get them going. Usyk's nickname the cat isn't for no reason. He's in and out, bouncing side to side with a rhythm. The last thing you would ever call Usyk is stationary which is what David needs to drop those combos. I like his opponent choices between 175-200, but I would stay away from the heavies if I were him. I also think Bivol will give him a good fight because he also moves.

Thanks for pointing out reasons I appreciated watching Pacquiao in my younger years and got me into the sport. You need fighters that bring excitement because that does bring casuals who can then dive deeper into the sport, learn more about it and eventually appreciate more defensive minded guys. While they're still not my cup of tea unless they're trying to go for the KO at some point, I can appreciate the art. It just doesn't do much for me entertainment wise.

Based on David's interviews with various folks making the rounds this week, it doesn't like he has interest in that fight anytime soon. His goal is to become a reigning champ and doesn't necessarily see himself competing against the likes of Usyk now. Even admitting the size would still take some getting used to as he just recently went up. Although he said maybe when he's around 35 years old and more than likely his body can no longer drop the weight as easily that he would be interested. Though we all know Usyk will have been long retired by then. The only way I see it happening sooner than later is Turki throws everything including the kitchen sink at Benavidez in terms of finances. Making him an offer he absolutely cannot refuse and takes it regardless of his chances to win (meaning he takes it now instead of later).