I find it ironic that there have been a significant number of WBA heavyweight "champions" who have been a huge underdog and virtually overmatched vs. the challenger to the title....
Bruce Seldon vs. Mike Tyson was a brutal mismatch
Ruiz vs. Toney, f#@% the haters, this is a mismatch as well
Ruiz vs. Jones, Roy won every minute of every round
Bonecrusher vs. Mike Tyson, ouch what a lousy fight
does anybody know of any others that come to mind?
The problem with some of the mismatches you here refer to the champion is the overmatched person. In those cases you cannot blame the WBA for taking the strongest challenger there is. It is in those cases just unfortunate that the champ is so weak you cannot just strip the champ of the belt just because the challenger is much better.
That wouldnt work. What do you do with the fans?
A day before allows for an announcment that the fight is off etc etc...
Its all business.
An altenative could be to have more than one weigh in. Say three one a week before another 3 days before and last one day before and you should make weight within 1-2 pounds on the first two. By having more weigh ins it would also make it impossible to gain and lose so much weight since you would have to do it several times during one week and it would simply mess you up if you tried.
This is the fight that makes sense. Perhaps after this Calzaghe will face Kessler instead of some of the old faded former champs in the LHW division he has been talking about.
It think the weigh in should be closer to fighting time so you do not see these great differences in weight from the weigh in to fighting time. Fighters would quickly find out that they cannot drain themselves so much if they have to fight in a few hours.
Yeah it's a boxer's/promoter's duty to create interest in a fight. Especially considering this isn't really that interesting a fight. I like it when they stage fights at the weigh-in or press conferences. Have you noticed they never really hurt each other, even when it's two heavyweights supposedly slugging it out bare-knuckle?
Not an interesting fight? You have perhaps the two hardest punching middleweights facing each other for (hopefully) the chance then to unify against Taylor. They may not be big stars yet but there is a good chance at least one of them could be.
Beyer had to take the fight. He has often written on his german website that his goal was to be unified champ. Thus he had to take it. Especially after the Bika sleep-over.
His coach has (again in German) said that Beyer has a very big chance of beating Kessler if he follows his plan, and that his plan is one that Beyer can follow.
I think we will see a Beyer step up as he does when he is the underdog. I am certain he will come prepared as ever, I just don';t think it will be enough. Some of the fights he has stepped up in are Sanavia II, Green II and when he won the title in England. I don't think that even that version of Beyer can beat Kessler. Tough - but I don't think so... Beyer WILL come in focused etc. but it won't be enough.
There is no doubt Beyer will come prepared but i doubt even Beyer at his best will be enough to win. But Beyer can be tricky and is tactically very good (and has a good corner with Ulli Wegner) so i don't think he will be blown out in a few rounds.
I think AA jaw was already broken at the end of the fourth. I at first thought AA was getting tired since his mouth was open and he was breathing heavy so i have to agree with the rest of the posters that the jaw was broken before the headbutt.
Yes the headbutt was intentional but no way hard enough to break a jaw.
Wonder if Kessler can come down to middleweight since he so looks big at SMW. But perhaps 164 could be realistic without draining him too much. But i think if this fight is ever going to happen it will be several years from now and at SMW.
Interesting. The enumeration is chronological; it begins with 1986 and ends with 2001. And, it is supposed to cover controversies in the last 25 years, i.e., 1981-2006. The article has a September 16, 2006 timeline.
None were listed for the years: '81, '82, '83, '84, '85, '89, '90, '94, '95, '96, '98, '00, '02, '03, '04, '05 and '06.
It is a top 10 over 25 years. More years than than spots on the top list hence not all years will be in there.
If Kessler beat Lucas he will maybe fight Markus Beyer in Germany,so if Lacy beat Calzaghe and so i hope Lacy will meat Kessler it will be the fight of the year
Yes i know there has been some talk in Denmark about Kessler going to Germany to fight Beyer as the other unification fight. But i doubt it will happen since Beyer at the moment is the only Sauerland fighter with a world championship belt (Valuev and Abraham could soon have one as well) and fighting Kessler will be to big of a risk. Beyer would most likely lose that fight and then Sauerland could be out of a (German) champion.
Personally i would like to see that fight since a win for Kessler would elevate him into an unavoidable status for the winner of the Calzaghe and Lacy fight. For some time it has looked like the other champions hasn't wanted to talk about Kessler and one could fear that he will miss out on the big fights.
If Damgaard can show what he did some years ago (3+) he has a very good chance of winning but lately he has been on the slide and has looked very ordinary. I like Damgaard but i think this is his one shot and he will not make it. Gatti by KO
Damgaard is a real slugger with a lot of hart,chin and stamina. I think Damgaard is to big for Gatti whom is a natual Lightweight. just ask Greg Haugen and Khalid Rahilou what they thinks of Damgaard
I have to agree with punchdrunk that Damgaard has not been impressive the last couple of years and unless he has turned back time i'm afraid he will be ko'ed in the mid rounds. Gatti may not be what he once was but Damgaard seems to be even further from his best just look at his last couple of fights and compare them with the ones you refer to.
cuz he can. its possible, even though im not rooting for him or betting on him. hell i dont think hell win, but he has a 8.5 reach advantage and 4.5 inch advantage over hatton. if he jabs n moves well he can do ok.
but no one closes the gap like ricky hatton, hes good like that
Listen to what you say.
I know i'm just repeating everybody else but have you ever seen him do that? And he is 34 so he is not likely to pick up any new tricks.
What is the source of this statement from Chanet?
I have to say i don't know anything about Chanet except he beat Tsypko this weekend. Perhaps challenging Kessler is a bit too soon for him since Tsypko is the first top rated fighter he has fought.
Perhaps Markussen could then reclaim the belt EBU by fighting Chanet before he gets his WBO mandatory?
Or Beyer gets inspired by the Lacy Calzaghe fight and invites Kessler to Germany though this isn't likely.
I'm sorry JUYJUY..
Competition in America is actually stiffer...
Also when they compete in international competions with competitors from all over the world like the Olympics and so on?
You don't make much sense.
He's 40-0, and he's the longest-reigning world champion in the whole of boxing. He's held the WBO super-middleweight title for eight years now, and during that time he has beaten former WBC super-middleweight champion and Olympic medalist Robin Reid, former WBC super-middleweight champion and Olympic medalist Richie Woodhall, former IBF super-middleweight champion American Charles Brewer and former WBA super-middleweight champion American Byron Mitchell. He hasn't lost since 1990, he won three ABA titles at three different weights. He's accomplished a lot so far, and wins next year against Tarver and Lacy before retiring would throw him into the HOF and make him a true legend.
Joe has been by far the best in his division since Roy Jones Jr. WBA and IBF champion Sven Ottke barely scraped past Byron Mitchell in a boring, very close fight. Calzaghe then wiped out Mitchell in much more impressive fashion, Mitchell said "I've never been hit so hard so often", and said that he'd be putting his money on Calzaghe if he met Ottke. WBC champion Marcus Beyer lost five times to Mario Veit (who Joe wiped out in one round, and beat in six in his backyard), and Beyer got a gift decision against Richie Woodhall (who Joe wiped out in much more impressive fashion). Woodhall said that Beyer doesn't deserve to share the same ring as Joe. So what more can Joe do?? Roy Jones Jr was too scared to fight him, Bernard Hopkins was too scared to fight him. Calzaghe has beaten every guy who has been put in front of him, every last one of them who has had the guts to share a ring with him. He's actually beaten every man he's ever fought, amateur or pro. Give him his dues.
The problem with this list is that it is all former champions. Had he made a serious attempt to unify the titles things would have been completely different. Just take Hopkins career for example. But he never made that attempt which is a shame because
he could have beaten Ottke and Beyer even in Germany. Instead he has seemed content with defending the WBO belt against often poor opposition. He is so talented that it is frustrating to see him piss it away against has beens and never beens. I think he is one of the few people who could have given a prime Roy Jones a really tough fight.
I am glad that he perhaps finally has realized that people want to see him step it up or perhaps want to himself and start to face another champion. If he still has it then i think he going KO Lacy but it is difficult to say since he hasn't lately fought anybody noteworthy.
Ruiz is no draw without a belt, that's why Don has gone to great efforts to keep him his belt. Now Don has decided to trade Ruiz out for Valuev (the decision to trade for Valuev was made as soon as the fight was proposed), and Valuev would have won a decision even if he didn't win. I thought it was 116-112 Valuev. Ruiz just had no answer for the jab, really.
Ruiz may make one more farewell fight, but I think it's more likely that'll he'll just retire if he doesn't get the rematch.
I couldn't agree more. Ruiz was traded for Valuev. I don't believe in a rematch since King now has a 4 fight option on Valuev and that is worth more than the rest of Ruiz career even if Valuev only manages to defend the title once or twice. Ruiz will at most be used to try to take out non Don King contenders is my guess.
So to note this was not another German robbery (if you should think it was so) but then at least one in cooperation with Don King.
P.S. I had 114-114 but several rounds were close so it could have gone either way.
I really hopes he gets back in shape for the Rahman fight so he doesn't end up looking like some side show freak. Lets hope he doesn't eat away his ability to box.
And i have to agree with bozo that he does deserve a title shot. Not so much because of his accomplishments so far in the heavyweight division but for those he has from lower weight classes and due to the lack of other serious contenders.
Most likely Frazer was refering to the Heavyweight division, right now it needs a lot of improving.
Yes I think so too since several of the lower divisions are very good.
Another hope could be to move away from pay per view to the public channels more people would then watch boxing. I think that is one of the reasons Mike Tyson instantly was so big everywhere in the world. This may not create better boxers just more fans of course.
Ottke and Beyer dodged Calzaghe and would have been destroyed by Calzaghe (as you also seem to think) had they had the balls to face him.
The problem is that Calzaghe has never made a serious offer to either of them. He has only made an offer to Ottke after he could see that Ottke's legs where gone. And that was a ridiculous low one. Ottke could make way more than that beating a bum at home.
And i don't think someone like Hopkins ducked him since he had big name fighters comming from lower divisions to fight him.
I think the point is that Calzaghe has not made himself attractive enough for Hopkins or RJJ to want to fight him.
L. Lewis is a tactical fighter. He will not try to over reach and get caught against punchers. He knows his limits and will keep his weak chin far away and protected from punchers. He's smart.
He is not purposely a boring fighter. If you recall, any fighter who tags him good, Lennox is sure to return the favor as he did with Michael Grant and Klitchko. If Tua had landed a solid punch and Lennox survived, he would retaliate for sure. But Tua never really landed a good punch and thus, Lennox was content to jab all night. Tua, never succumbed to his jabs and thus, Lennox would not dare go for the kill.
If Lennox knows the other fighter clearly has no advantage at any time in the fight, like a Lion, he will pounce on him as he did with Botha.
As much as possible, Lennox will not allow a skilled fighter to have an advantage (Holyfield had to reach out for the taller man and got caught with counters). Botha had almost none and Lennox went for it. Holyfield was a veteran and Lennox used patience and his physical attributes to beat him impressively.
I can only agree
I read that King got options on Valuev's next two fights. I strongly believe that King wanted to lose Ruiz because his marketability was approaching 0 in the US and knew that Ruiz will not win on points and most likely could not KO Valuev. All in all, I think that we will see Valuev in the US pretty soon.
That said, it would be really weird to see Valuev unify the belts. I believe that Wlad or Brewster would KO him, Toney would UD him, he could possibly win over Rahman and Byrd.
Bozo, did you see the fight?
Yes King has options on Valuev. So i can only agree with you that the smile on Kings face while waving the Russian flag means that King think Valuev a couple of Valuev fights can bring more then the rest of Ruiz career. I think so too at least for a few fights (till he loses). Because as we have allready seen he can generate headlines just because of his looks.
And on another note i had it 114-114 but it could have gone either way since some of the rounds were close.
For being so god awful. The man would just show up fall down, and go to the next fight and do the same thing. He is a legend.
He doesn't just fall. If you look at his record he very often goes the distance. He mostly tries to survive.
Calloway is not in Toney's class. This is just a cry for attention but then again why not try that when you probably lost the biggest purse of your life and the chance for several more as a trial horse for people who want to see if they can KO you as fast as Toney could.