When you say it plainly, Golovkin vs Lara doesn't seem like a big fight but when you consider the situation at MW then why not? People are always so quick to slate GGG for not fighting guys with big names, Lara has a name, he steps forward and then the next thing you know people react badly too it?
I mean come on...the general consensus is that GGG beats Jacobs, Saunders for their belts, and if he can't secure either of those then Eubank Jr because he is mentioning him...Why not Lara for that reason too then? If GGG can't get Canelo (which he clearly cant) and aiming for Saunders/Jacobs' belts doesn't materialise into anything any time soon then why not Lara?
I'd rather see him fight Lara than Eubank Jr, and I see less people complain about Eubank Jr being in the mix than Lara which seems strange to me at this point.
If Haye doesn't fight a legit opponent after Briggs then it's pretty clear he's milking the fans for all their worth.
Can't believe Haye-Valuev was in 2009.
I remember watching that fight and expecting Haye to get robbed and was really happy when he got the decision.
Same here man, I was so happy for him back then, I actually was a fan of his but like many others slowly began to see him for what he was.
Said it before, he wants the celebrity lifestyle and image, and his route into that limelight is scamming boxing fans. It is a crying shame so many casual British fans still think he is some form of heavyweight blessing.
Its pretty embarrassing, you can't help but cringe at how transparent he and his plans are.
There will be someone bigger than Floyd there always is, Ali-Tyson-De La Hoya-Floyd-???
Pretty much man...big names come and go around, eventually someone will be bigger than Floyd down the line it is just the way the sport evolves.
Each era and generation has a figurehead, maybe two, and some are bigger than others as each generation passes...At some point boxing will have someone that is bigger than ones that came before.
Canelo would still have made a total mockery of himself. That simply can not be denied. GGG wanted to fight him at 160 for the WBC belt (and with that the lineal title at the correct weight, of course)...Canelo agrees and calls out GGG after his recent win but doesn't want to fight at 160, and he surrendered the WBC belt. Even if he signed to fight at 160 today, he has still made himself the butt of the joke in the whole process.
He knows GGG's goal is to unify the division...He had the WBC strap and vacated it. If you where a belthoder in a division with someone who wanted to claim them all, do you simply just let go of the belt and let him snap it up with no bother? No, you don't. There is no pride or honour there.
I stand by the fact that Floyd did have an extremely respectable degree of power...Not anything above and beyond what we have seen before obviously. He, nor his style of fighting, produces knockouts, granted; but he definitely has power. It always used to make people sound a little stupid when they used to say Floyd had pillow hands.
He dragged peoples work rates down quite dramatically, why is that? Because he was a masterful counter-puncher? Yes, we all know that, but the power comes with that too...If you knew for a fact that even if you had been getting caught crisp and repeatedly with clean counters all night, your man still never hurt you, you would still go about your business and walk through it to land your own. Simple. Not many people tried to do this to Floyd so the answer is pretty simple: He clearly had enough power to keep people honest and for his style of fighting that is perfect. If he had Tyson-esque power it would have been kind of wasted on his style.
**** off Gaye. We all know this sh1t has been planned for months.
During the HayeDay card, the cameras panned over to Briggs and he was laughing and joking with security, then when Briggs realised he was being filmed, he suddenly went into crazy mode.
Still, the football loving casuals will eat all this sh1t up and will no doubt fork out more cash to watch the upcoming farce.
David Haye's blueprint. He knows this...The casuals in the UK still see him as the same guy from the lead up to the Wlad fight. They don't see a guy steamrolling someone in a total mismatch, they see the hope of the HW division.
Only Hopkins and Taylor really come to mind.
Did think of Wlad but then as people have said it is east to forget that Vitali actually held the WBC while Wlad had everything else...
Even Fury is someone that comes to mind as someone who has had a clean sweep but then similar to Wlad, someone else (Wilder) has the WBC.
Hopkins seems to be the one standout name that achieved a four belt sweep.
He is:
- Very big
- Young but mature
- Extremely powerful
- Reasonably skilled
- Reasonably fast
We don't know about his chin or stamina yet, but he is certainly dangerous and got a lot of potential. He will soon have knocked out 4 undefeated opponents in a row (when he is done with Breazale).
I agree with this...The main thing that stands out for AJ is the potential...He could potentially make waves, it is early for him and he doesn't have spectacularly dazzling skills or style, but he is all the of the above, which gives us potential of a big name in the HW division in the near future.
He may not be the second coming of any ATG, but in this era a guy coming through with these factors is great and provides potential, and thats what makes him an attraction. He could become more than that when he steps up and we see how he handles the world level.
He isn't preparing for a Floyd fight here.
Why would he be sparring a southpaw in preparation for Floyd? His most reasonable next opponent, Nate Diaz, is a southpaw however...Come on guys.
I can see him staying at '155' for a while now. A Cotto rematch wouldn't surprise me.
I think he will fight blown up WW's, and boiled down MW's. Before starting his assault at 156.
Assault at 156! Haha man the thing is that is how it would probably be sold to us by GBP...Watch out, he's moving up.
But nah seriously, Canelo has made himself a little more irrelevant. He can sit at 155 and claim to be the lineal king as long and as much as he wants, he will only be able to fight people blown up or 'catchweighted' MW's...Each and every time he does that would dilute his claim to the lineal 160 throne. He doesn't have a belt and the only claim to championship is his lineal stake, which again, looks more and more diluted the more he emphasises 155. He will one day become forced to surrender his hostage situation and go to 154, or face up to the reality of his claims and actually fight people at 160. He has watered down his image so much and every time he weighs in at 155 while claiming to be the 160 champ will get older and older, as if it wasn't old enough.
Who here thinks they wouldn't have granted it? Knowing they are negotiating in good faith and working on the details of a huge fight... The WBC would have bent over backwards for them and pushed back the deadline and purse bid for a month... That excuse from GBP is a pathetic ploy to make it about anything but they're unwillingness to fight GGG this September and at every advantage they can possibly gain..
If you disagree, give me a good reason why...
I agree fully.
Honestly, people believing that Alvarez dropped the belt because he doesn't deserve to be pressed by them really need to reconsider what sport they want to follow. Seriously.. The WBC want this fight to happen and after plenty of time and plenty of people dancing around it they eventually press for it. Both teams apparently agree to make it happen so therefore if either side went to the WBC, said it was going well at the moment but more time may be needed, you are damn right the WBC would have given it to them. The whole 'Canelo didn't agree with being deadlined' is total BS....They just don't want it.
Chicken, no excusing it.
He is massive for his own weight division (155lbs)
He'd make 160 with sheer ease he just is afraid of facing guys who he won't have a massive advantage over.
All there is too it. Nothing else need be said.
He even gave up his belt just so he could have an excuse to demand the weight cut. He actually surrendered a belt to his number one challenge JUST so he can attempt to save face on emphasising the weight cut. How is that not fear of facing something real...
Saul Alvarez is a manufactured 'star', a by-product of the fascination that this generation has with the business side of things.
For sure. If I had my way, believe me- 8/9 divisions and one world champion per division. Right not we have Golovkin, WBC/IBF/WBA Champion at middleweight, Kovalev, WBA/WBO/IBF Champion at light heavyweight, Tyson Fury, WBA/WBO Champion at heavyweight and Dennis Lebedev, WBA/IBF Champion at cruiserweight. So, it isn't all bad, but it could be better. I know the WBA is trying to unify their cruiserweight belts which is ridiculous but at least a step in the right direction. My guess is the money has dried up on those add-on titles. Either way, a few good things are happening.
Me too man, me too. If there's any one thing I could change about boxing it would definitely be re-implementing the old school division/champion situation. It would be so refreshing to be able to easily reel off a short and easy list of each divisional champion rather than have to check each organisations rankings and then compare them to the general consensus* so we can see who 'appears' to be or should be the man. I get what you mean, some divisions have champions in them that are clearly the king, but the water is still cloudy and it always will be unless the sport rids itself of its excess of titles.
*Personally I like to go off the Transnational Boxing Board for actual rankings, and then out of interest run quick checks on who else in the ranks of each division has title claims other than 'THE' champion listed. Doesn't solve any title claim confusions by an stretch, but it helps keep track of who should be where.
This is what is so great about being undisputed champion. Sooner or later, they will all come to you. Either that, or they'll be shamed for being a coward. It's very simple and yes, it does work. If this sport had any integrity and we didn't have a hundred champions any more, this would be much more evident. When you wanted a title shot in the '40s, there was Joe Louis. You had to go through him to get it. Very simple.
Damn right. The way this sport was, and how it should be. Unfortunately in todays world it is not, so in my opinion if a fighter comes a long and makes it a firm statement that they want to achieve this, it blows my mind how some people don't support it.
There should be one champ per division, but today that is extremely difficult, so the next best thing is plotting to complete a clean sweep of the main titles and therefore become that 'one champ'. How can you not like a guy that wants that? It is the way the sport should be.
British casuals lap it up and he knows it. Knocking over total bums make him look like a beast to them...for some reason he really manages to capture casual minds...real fans know full well what his game is.
Haye is a salesman, not a fighter wanting to secure a legacy.
Personally I believe Don King's influences and involvement played a bigger part in Tyson losing his potential than Cus dying. Mike actually continued to look very solid in the aftermath of Cus' death, it was a mixture of some events in his life a few years later - and then of course Don King moulding Tyson into a different image...Get rid of his original team/Make Tyson feel like he was all that mattered and surround him with a picked team of yes-men. Tyson was extremely impressionable and needed the right people around him, he says so himself...It was bound to fail once King set up the whole "Family Affair" gimmick.
But back to the point - While he is not in the extreme high on ATG lists, I do agree that Tyson had so much for those early years. If I had been around back then and somebody told me if he carried on the way he was and stayed focused, then I would not have found it hard to visualise at all. He had so much potential it was unreal.
Personally I don't like it.
The amateurs/Olympics and the pro ranks are historically separate, one leads to another with the Olympics being the gateway for the peak of the amateur boys to platform into the pro ranks...Why would professionals go back to that? I dunno man it just doesn't sit well with me.
Imagine you are a rising and promising talent as an amateur and you are being touted as someone to keep an eye on for when/if you turn pro...You make it to the olympics and it goes great for you and you make it into the contest for gold and you lose to someone who is an already established professional? You would feel like someone had doubled back on themselves and climbed back down the ladder to stop you from getting on.
That being said, I suppose you could counter my point by saying "Yeah but if you beat the pro in the finals you would look even better" but come on, that isn't the idea...The idea of the Gold medal is the pinnacle of the amateur level - therefore the contests should be just that - amateur vs amateur.
I am sure the sport has several examples of this...One guy trying to get into better shape while the other guy is sharpening tools.
I think though, that the real equation of this fight is what version of Wladimir shows up. Fury could come into this in slightly worse/slightly better shape than last time and still do what he did in that first fight. Wladimir on the other hand, what he did in the first fight wasn't a question of being in shape, it was a question of committing to the fight. Being built and ripped does not improve your mental approach, they are separate things. Can be built however you want, if your head won't allow you to commit then it means nothing in regards to fighting.
The key factor in this fight is which Wladimir turns up. Fury can joke around one day about being fat then swear on his eyes the next day that he is (or will be) in prime condition...Fury did his thing last time, Wladimir did not.
Nah he is definitely a MW. Don't be fooled by the 155 BS. He can make 160, easily AND rehydrate to a decent enough extent to hang with other MW. He just acts like he can't so he can use weight to his advantage. Plain and simple. We all know this now.
I simply cant understand how you can not respect Muhammad Ali after what he did and who he was - A true figure head of boxing and an icon in terms of his roles in humanity. To those posters I would say...
Disagree with him? Ok, we all have opinions. Dislike? Also OK, we all have that choice. Disrespect? Not OK...Is this not the sport you love? How can you not respect a man who is arguably the most key face of it over all time and therefore have the maturity to hold your tongue out of respect of his passing?
I truly believe that those people that showed their disrespect and ignorance in the days after his passing are either trolling and just want to kick up some fuss...Or fanboys that are only interested in this generation/only like a few of the main names and don't appreciate the history and therefore don't understand the impact of Ali.
Either that or they are just bitter/hateful people in general day to day life.
Like/Dislike...Agree with/Disagree with...He was (and will still be for as long as we can guess) the most iconic man to ever take part in this sport we all claim to love and follow daily. He went beyond the pinnacle of this game and the man has died...Weather you love him/hate him/are indifferent...Recognise who he actually is and was - Show some respect.
The same people I was talking about leaked in his thread
Everybody has an opinion...just thought on a boxing site, people would be more wise than their words
We all troll, bicker back n forth now and then but we literally lost the face of our sport
Personally Ali was one of my lifetime heroes
Flawed, human, passionate, charismatic, could kick your azz n take your girl
Sure he said some things people don't like that's life
Seeing all the crazy alts and so called boxing fans can't even respect the greatest?
Fvck em
Exactly man...Everybody does and says things are controversial at times and many of us have beliefs/ideas on life etc that other men would question to no end...It is life and that is how people are.
I could say it all day - like him as a boxer or not/like him as a man or not - he was great at both...Considering we are all fans of the same sport and he was the ultimate icon of that sport, you would think that on the eve of his passing and the days after, that we could all at least see that.
The paying of respect costs us all nothing, and it has nothing to do with the liking or disliking of someone. Muhammad Ali may not have been your guy, but he was great at what he stood for in humanity and he was great at what he stood for in the ring, that much is a fact...His passing deserves a respectful acknowledgement no matter what you personal opinion is.
I have read many articles discussing this injury, his lack of making the board aware of it, not wanting to postpone, Floyd knew about it etc etc...and I can not help but feel like it doesn't matter. Not in terms of the fight, because as time goes by it seems that this actually is a legitimate injury that no doubt will have affected Manny's performance, but that's not my point. My point is in terms of a rematch and what it ultimately means in the fans lasting memory of this event it doesn't exactly make us all rally up in arms and express desire for a rematch does it? The majority of us saw a fight, a fight that floyd won and therefore we got our answer. The only people rallying are those that are only fans of Manny/haters of floyd.
Manny may have a legitimate injury that affected the fight - sure I can accept that as truth - but will it leave a lasting desire in us fans of boxing to want it again? I do not get the impression that it does. Personally, like I have said a few times now, I would happily watch theses guys fight again, but I do not feel as though their is any majority of fans that do, legit injury or not, you have to wonder why that is.....
I'm not sure I believe this just yet to be honest guys...until an official statement comes from someone a little more worthy than Stephen A then I think it should only be treated as a rumour.
It does make a lot of sense for Floyd however, to wait till next May for Pac's shoulder to heal and fight his last fight then rather than in September against someone that will look incredibly less exciting/attractive than what he has just had.
Who knows, we will see. I am game for a rematch, I just hope the whole emphasis isn't based purely on that shoulder. If the attitude was more based on the fact that previous greats more often than not fought each other a few times then it would be easier to convince us all I think.
Whats with this galaxy s6 commercial with the suck my d*ck song in the background? :lol1:
Haha that is what I was thinking.. Someone is getting fired tomorrow for sure
AJ did what he was supposed to do tonight and looked good doing it more importantly...It is time for him to step up now for sure. The point has been made. He no longer needs to fight people he is guaranteed to beat after tonight. I know he is only at 13 fights now but like I said, the point has been made, step him up from this point on.
Exactly, it was because the place was a dump that it was so good. You don't turn out fighters in fancy gyms, you turn them out in rough conditions.
True. The best boxing gyms are the basic and gritty ones, not the squeaky clean and shiny ones. I would rather go to a gym with worn in equipment and looks like it could use a bit of work rather than one with everything nice and top of the range.
Very heavy handed like Maidana, not one punch concussive power but if he connects, he can put you to sleep.
I was trying to think of someone to compare his power too and saw this and have to agree. His speed may not be too great and his shots can be telegraphed a little etc, but if he gets in a good one you can pretty much bet that you will feel it.
He might not blast everyone out of there but his power is enough to consider him a powerful puncher.
I regards to how it could possibly compare to GGG, I think GGG hits a lot harder and has better shots. I am not sure who would win that fight if it happened, I'd be torn between two guys on my list of current favourites but think my head would favour GGG though.
There are actually a few fights where Floyd has outclassed his opponent so much you would not sound too stupid to say it was a masterclass.
It all depends on what you want to see as a fan with an individual opinion, as is your right. But it does depend on what you want to see.
For example: The Mosley fight...One person may say 'how can it be a masterclass when he was arguably the most hurt he has ever been, early on in the fight no less?' and on the other hand someone else would say, 'well look what he did for the rest of the fight. As soon as he recovered and adjusted he went levels above Shane, a man who had him hanging on moments prior'.
It all depends on what you want to see. The Foreman quote where he said the better boxing is the less it is appreciated reminds me of when people often state that when fighters win a chess match it automatically sucks. George was right.