What he said in the post fight interview bothers me more than him quitting. He "doesn't deserve to get beaten up like this"? I can respect the choice of looking after his health but to say that in a sport where you're going to get hit is nothing to applaud about. It was idiotic, really. Sorry, Victor, but you had your foot in your mouth with that one.
I will say its smart to challenge Beterbiev now then when he's had a few more fights & gotten more experience so not a bad idea at the end of the day by Duva, but I really feel like somehow this is gonna end bad for her again & she's gonna have more Haymon night terrors in her future.
But then he risks getting beat by a guy with only 9 fights under his belt. If Kovalev loses, fighters will use that as an excuse not to fight him. "Kovalev? He got Beterbiev problems, that guy only had 9 fights! He got exposed by a prospect!" blah blah blah
I'm assuming HBO paying Stevenson what he's worth without being signed to HBO is the problem still. If Duva had $ to outbid Haymon, had HBO's backing to make the bid or they'd be cool receiving more money to fight off HBO & HBO would let them it sounds like the fight could happen np. Problem is Duva is cool with Kovalev receiving less money then he's worth for the Stevenson fight for it to be on HBO (cuz they build stars & all that stuff she was saying before) & Stevenson isn't.
Even though Duva was free and clear from her HBO contract to let Haymon win the purse bid, I'm sure she was thinking of her future relationship with HBO. Or maybe they're going to try to milk this and build the next "Mayweather-Pacquiao" fight. Kovalev-Stevenson coming in 2020.
I think if Beterbiev beats Kovalev it won't be about a guy with 9 fights exposing Kovalev it'll be more about how talented Beterbiev is. I think Rigo, Loma & a few other guys who've done some solid to great things early in their pro career after long amateur careers have put fans on notice that some guys with few fights can be capable of some exceptional ****.
Hopefully this fight can be made. I think this would be one of the most fun fights in the sport.
I would just be worried that if Kovalev loses to Beterbiev, we can kiss the Stevenson fight goodbye. That's just ammo for Stevenson to avoid the fight. Rather fight Stevenson first because win or lose that fight, Beterbiev will still be there willing and able.
If he sacked up and fought Ward, I think they'd do 500k. Lemieux is another match that heavily favors Golovkin. A lot of people will enthusiastically watch that for free but not many are going to pay for it.
I doubt it. Ward-GGG is a hardcore fan's fight and I don't think neither has a big casual fanbase. Like someone said before, not even Chavez-Martinez hit 500k and Chavez had the the mexican fanbase behind him on a Sept. date.
Whoever is in it, it needs to be a knockout style tournament, you lose, you're out. That round robin style is too long of a commitment and the tournament would eventually turn into a tournament full of replacements we don't care for.
I think anyone who wants to see GGG against the big names in the future should support this PPV. Give them a reason why they should fight this man. The less successful GGG is, the more one sided fights we're going to get.
I predict barely over 200k made up of hardcore boxing fans. GGG isn't ready to be the solo headliner, he needs a bigger dance partner first to get his name out to the casuals.
Sounds great but why no Stevenson? He is with Al Haymon too.
Right. If any Haymon fighter is facing Kovalev, it's Stevenson. That fight is long over due.
Broner easy, I don't like the guy but he's been underrated lately. Also, Porter looked like **** vs a career 140lber in Bone who had 24 hours notice.
I think that fight showed how good Bone was more than how **** Porter looked. Bone showed skill, he would've given anyone trouble.
i'm fan of him being the bad guy, he's a better bad guy than floyd was. boxing fans needs bad guys like broner. if maidana had beat and humiliated a kind and humble version of broner, that night would not have been as satisfying. i hope he rises to the top and becomes even more hated just so someone can bring him down again.
I always thought Kirkland was good. The second you start fighting Kirklands fight, things get bad quick. He's extremely good at applying pressure, and has power in both hands.
His stoppage against Angulo proved it to me, no one had even hurt ANgulo the way he did, and AFTER suffering a KD.
great determination and will, all he needs is to sharpen up a bit.
Going to be a great fight.
I think Kirkland has been lucky in his last high profile fights. Angulo gassed himself, Molina got a stupid DQ from a fight he was winning, and Tapia had horrible conditioning but showed he had the superior skill set. I see Canelo giving another Angulo type beatdown with the ref eventually having to step in to save Kirkland from himself.
I gave Geale the shot to pull the upset when this fight was made but I don't think he's looking very good, the catchweight is definitely affecting him. Cotto by mid stoppage.
i give ortiz the better chance at winning. jmm is old and moving up. i have a feeling he might even get stopped this time despite his good performances against pac in the past.