I can't speak to Dubois' intelligence, but he is certainly not particularly articulate. Regardless, though, it's harsh to have people critcise him for it when he has been open about how much he dislikes interviews, feels uncomfortable talking in front of the camera... and yet fulfills his media obligations regardless. You'd think there'd be a bit more appreciation for him giving his time to talk to the press and opening up about this vulnerability. There is something churlish about then criticising him for it.
Anyway, quite looking forward to the actual fight.
It's a poor fight, but given how bad he looked against Dubois AND the car crash, it's not that surprising. Is it great prep for Fury? Not really, but it is also a bit of an unusual situation. It's better than fighting Jake Paul, I know that much.
The WWE-style segment after the fight was totally cringe inducing.
Joshua should retire. He was so awful against Daniel Dubois, I don't see the sense in continuing. He definitely doesn't need the money and between Klitschko, Ruiz and DDD, his brain has taken enough of a beating that he should be giving some serious thought to his long-term well being.
Not surprised. Just corrupt Brits being corrupt as usual.
Where is the corruption? Which parts of the explanations were wrong?
View it objectively. It is the first round. Wilder, after delivering a barrage of deliberate rabbit punches to Chisora's head, is now attempting to wrestle Chisora through the ropes, with his elbow on his throat. The trainer runs across the ring and then quickly runs back when told to get out of there. What would you do if you were ref? Call and end to the night and DQ Chisora for his cornerman's mistake? Send all the punters home happy they didn't get to see one round? Or issue a warning to the corner (as the ref did)? Bear in the mind the trainer made no material difference to the fight. He was just there when he shouldn't have been.
YMMV, but I think the ref did the sensible thing.
Similarly in the eighth (which was actually a cracking round), when Wilder pushed him through the ropes, yes, someone stopped him from crashing into the monitors. Technically this is not right, but I think any neutral person would see this as being far more about common sense (the presence of all this modern media gumph around the ring is somewhat artifical) than about trying to gain an unfair advantage, especially when within the context of him not being punched out of the ring, but shoved (twice, no less, by Wilder's forearms). The ref deducted a point from Wilder. Let us recall the round began with the ref warning both fighter to cut out the dirty stuff. Watch the round again. Watch how many times Wilder is using his forearm on Chisora. Watch how he holds his head with one hand while he clubs him with the other. Watch how he definitely pushes him through the ropes. I don't think we are seeing corruption when a ref specifically warns about the chaotic, dirty rough stuff that they had had up to that point and then when a fighter continues with the egregious rough stuff, he gets a point deducted. I think it was harsh on Wilder and we could easily have done without the deduction there, but I don't think it was corrupt or even wrong. Wilder could easily have punched Chisora and instead told him he loved him and then shoved him through the ropes. Which is plain weird. Not the ref's fault Wilder is weird.
"I had to heal, it took a long time to heal, but I’m back.”
He's back! Just as funny as this comment is that a couple of people here appear to believe it.
For the record, Wilder is not back and will never beat any top HW in their prime ever.
Overstated
Top Soviet Bivol is training in Saint Petersburg right now
Compared to Russia higher risk of strikes in UAE yet expats are still choose to remain in Dubai:cool:
recall that neither Klitschko ever defended a real title in pre-war ukraine
each having fought there only ONCE while holding some bogus belt
Despite having double the gdp of pre-war Ukraine manny never defended in his homeland either
Mexico 6x the gdp of pre-war Ukraine but Saul Santos never defended there
these countries weren’t good enough to defend in but Ukraine is?:rofl:
lol for westerners Russia was never a major holiday destination
bulk of pre-war Russia visitors were from China
I wish Oleksandr was 175
we’d get to see Top Soviet Bivol Buff Guy Artur MOP Oleksandr in Russia
I don't recall saying Russia was a major holiday destination for Westerners.
You raise some half-valid points, undercut by some poorly thought out claims. Yes, Bivol has no issue training in Russia. What a surprise.You stick this fight in Germany, or the UK, or MSG, or Montreal, do you think it is easier and safer for fight fans from mutiple countries to visit those places or Russia?
The point stands: why would or should international sporting bodies approve events like this in Russia, at a time when it is literally attempting to steal another country? Why are you so keen on it?
The "it doesn't make a difference" doesn't fly and is at odds with your "it's all about the money" argument. Clearly there are many other richer, safer -- and less objectionable -- alternatives. Anyway, you think it's OK, I don't. We can leave it at that.
nice virtue
like that is going to change sht
ukrainian Oleksandr wouldn't ever defend in ukraine because the US and Russia have something that ukraine doesnt
M O N E Y speaks louder than your virtue
boxing is PRIZEfighting no virtuefighting
US and Russia have something that ukraine doesn't -- armies invading their country. Russia does have drone strikes, risk of detention for any Western fans travelling there, risks of terrorism, unrest, wrongful detention , etc ,etc which on a practical level makes it not a great choice, all 'virtue' aside. In terms of money, Ukraine is not a poor country. It's GDP is commensurate with oil-rich Qatar, for example -- even with its economy being impacted by the invading Russians. I don't have the mind-reading you possesss to know that Usyk wouldn't even defend in Ukraine if there was no war there.
Boxing is prize fighting. Thanks, Captain Obvious. But I don't see why anyone would be quite so keen to lick the boots of Pu tin though. The main reason tinpot countries want to stump up cash for these kinds of events is to gain some kind of credibility. It's also the reason Russia has state-sponsored doping in most sports. I don't see why you would rush to help them be desplcable shlts. As I say though, for security issues alone (few to no Western fans would likely travel to Russia), it's a bad choice.
Top Soviet Bivol is too defensively savvy and durable to get stopped by Joe Smith Peak Buff Guy Artur
recall that Buff Guy Artur knocked down Gvozdyk, Joe, and Callum MULTIPLE times before he could stop them
Not once did he come close to putting Top Soviet Bivol on his ass across 24 rounds
and he timed some beautiful counter right crosses that split Top Soviet's Bivol 1-2
nig Bivol is too durable he took that right hook-left hook combo to the body like a champ in the rematch
the much bigger Usyk couldn't and got dropped by an Artur right to the body in big pillow amateur gloves
you euroid?:grouphug:
Applying this backwards logic no more fights for Vegas either because DC is having its military misadventure of aggression towards Iran
Forget the UK hosting too because it had the British Empire that spanned the globe
:bottle:
You'd have been there cheering along at the Berlin Olympics, wouldn't you?
A. Russia are the biggest bunch of organised dopers in sport ever.
B. Pu t in is the biggest c*nt living (Such a c*nt that his name gets auto asterisked out, it seems)
C. Why doesn't Usyk get to defend his titles in Ukraine ever? Oh, that's right. Russia.
As for the US and its misadventures in Iran. Yes, blowing up the world's energy supplies and rocketing inflation and causing chaos in the middle east for (what exactly, I don't know) also makes the US a terrible place for major sporting events right now. This is why I said there are fewer and fewer places that deserve it. But top of the list for "least deserving" would be Russia. As for the British Empire, wtf are you on about? Current events are currently relevant. Events from governments of hundreds of years ago, not so much.
Itauma looks very good. Yes, this has been against C list opposition and things will get harder as he steps up the level of opposition. Obviously. But he has so many tools and is still very young for a HW. I'm a supporter. Let him entertain us and, provided Frank does steadily improve the level of opposition, I'm happy to enjoy the journey rather than worrying too much right now about how high the ceiling might be.
as opposed to Saudi which is at high risk for missile strikes:nono:
I was going to add that there are fewer and fewer places that are safe or deserve to host it for various reasons, but didn't want to get bogged down in the geopolitics. In the end I decided the simplest thing was what I wrote: screw Russia hosting this.
It's a nice idea to make a provision to look after fighters, although I think she's wrong when she says "It should be considered a smart career path, and not a gamble to try and be a fighter".
I think everyone participating in sports that involve being smacked in the head should consider it more risky than other career paths. It is a gamble and should not be perceived as a nice, sensible, smart career path.
When exactly was prime Tyson? When he was beating the old guys from the previous generation in the mid 80s? Tyson was impressive, but he was made to look even better by coming along at just the right time to face a bunch of big names in their declining years.
And then you have Ali, who we never actually saw his prime, because Uncle Sam took away his boxing licence and his passport. But pre-prime he was unbeatable by anyone at the time. And when he came back a little slower and a little heavier, he took out prime Foreman and prime Frazier (albeit with some trouble).
The 24 or 25 year old Ali's footwork and jab would have made things very difficult for Tyson. We never saw Ali at the age of 26 or 27, but in a different universe that version might have been even better.
My first reaction was this is pointless, but of course it's not: the point is to make a lot of easy money from the witless masses. From a sporting perspective it is a great big nothing.
He was a whisker away from being sparked out in the first fight and beaten even more convincingly the second. Taking a leaf out of the book of his pal Wilder by spouting delusional shlte.
He's unprofessional; he's a cheat; he's got no class. And ultimately he's not all that good at boxing. There was a time when he seemed promising/exctiing as a fighter, but with all the negative aspects -- particularly the cheating -- I just want him to disappear now.
ODLH said in the article: "Vergil’s team hired a new attorney who is also Canelo attorney – the same guy who sued to get Canelo out of his Golden Boy contract . Does that sound fishy to you?"
This doesn't sound fishy at all. If you had an issue with Golden Boy and needed legal representation, you would look to hire someone who had a successful track record in legal proceedings against Golden Boy.
For a trainer to get paid 25% of the boxer’s earnings is pretty exorbitant.
Was he just the trainer? He seemed more like manager and trainer rolled into one, but also added into the mix is the fact that he guided Hamed for more than a decade before any money rolled in. In entertainment, an agent might typically take a 20% cut. 25% is certainly chunky, but I don't think it's like-for-like to compare a trainer that a boxer hires when he's already learnt how to box to the mentor-trainer that guides a fighter from a child through to a world champion over the course of almost a generation.
Once Hamed split from Ingle, he no longer had to give him such a big cut. That was his choice. Of course, his career went south within a few years and then, for whatever reason, he didn't have the motivation to continue.
He fight to of the worst versions of Fury... comeback Fury and untrained Fury.
In the middle fight he wasn't able to let go with the power either. He barely landed a punch.
All true, but this does not change my position or the vailidity of what I wrote. Fury is not a binman. In three fights, Fury destroyed Wilder in the middle one. Though he won well ultimately in the final fight, he was not untroubled by Wilder in the bookend matches. Since then Wilder has looked a LOT worse. Hence my contention that there is clear evidence of decline in Wilder the last three to four years.
And this is 100% what we would expect to see from any fighter over the period of their late 30s into their early 40s. If you flip it on its head, if you are arguing he is no worse at 40 than he was in his early 30s, this is a rather exceptional claim for which I see zero evidence.
In Froch's chippy mind, he probably thinks he "won" this encounter. He should be grateful no one recorded it because it's cringeworthy and Brosnan comes off just fine from the ecounter, while Froch comes off as a fragile knobhead.
He has a good mindset when it comes to leaving the highs in the past and accepting they were a moment in time.
However when it comes to this: “So, I can’t think of a lowest of the low" maybe he should consider his jail time for dangerous driving, having smashed a man up so badly that he was unable to ever work again.. and then run away from the scene of the crime.
I think it would have been better, given we are talking about a potentially deadly sport, to have used a different word to "slayed" in the opening line of the article.
I'm not convinced he's declined as much as made out.
That he looks worse against top 10 fighters than he did against binmen isn't surefire proof of decline.
He's declined because against Fury -- who is not a binman -- he was still able to let go with the power. That just wasn't there against Zhang or Parker.