Well Jennings was able to beat him widely and that fight was the highest level Szpilka every fought on. IMO Wilder is on a higher level than Jennings.
Szpilka is better now than that fight --- and he had visa issues the week leading up to the fight... he had to fly back and forth from poland twice to get a pointless document signed. That definitely didn't help him
Wilder is a tough opponent though with his huge size and reach. I just hope Szpilka can get in and use his sharp uppercuts. He needs to defend himself well in this fight.
Stay humble Andrzej. He's a great fighter and I think he could bang evenly with all these guys in this weight. He got way to ****y and that was obvious vs Joe Smith in front of a home crowd. Virgil Hunter and his team will bring a fresh new chapter into Fonfara and I expect to see him rise back up in the rankings by the end of this year. He'll get that title shot again next year and we'll see what happens.
Fonfara's claim to fame is beating Chavez Jr.
If Stevenson loses a single round he should feel bad.
He already lost a few rounds to Fonfara in their 1st fight..
Who you wanna see him fight? Most all the notables at 175 are booked so I doubt most of the fights you & I would prefer to see aren't available.
This seems like a stay busy fight with some semi-prospect type guy. Seems like Fonfara is probably not seeing a title shot til March or later 2017. Might as well stay busy vs standing around.
Me, along with Fonfara's entire camp, were hoping Stevenson wasn't a ***** champ lol. Also was hoping maybe Beterbiev until he announced a fight with someone else about a month ago.
Well, he did seem to "just want to done with it" in the Jennings fight.
He said Jennings felt too strong for him. Had a bunch of excuses for that though.
Hopefully he gets his azz over to the states early enough to train properly this time.
He's living in Houston now training with Ronnie everyday for about a year now so he's got the proper training in now. Ronnie is also teaching him new tricks. One thing I'm concerned about is the last fight Szpilka had he won in I think the 2nd round without breaking a sweat.
PS
With the Jennings bout, he arrived a week before the fight and they turned him down in Chicago due to some visa problems. He had to fly back to Poland, straighten things out, and came back a day or two before his fight... That can't help...but no excuses, Jennings was a man in that ring, Szpilka didn't look close.
This article sort of takes it out of context because it seems like Szpilka is calling out Wilder however the reporter asked the question so Szpilka had to respond in some way. He's still about 2 years away until I see him realistically getting any title shots (that's if he keeps winning). Hoping his career turns out to be a good one!
Some of these top chubby high-rate HW guys are a threat. Kownacki is for real. I think he'll enjoy showing off vs Arreola on the main event. He seems to have hell of stamina/conditioning. His motor is high and he's hungry for the win. I see him very similar to Ruiz.
He did manage to put Stevenson down but I don't see him doing any better than the first fight.
Fonfara soaks up too many shots and Stevenson is not the guy you want to have sloppy defense with.
I just didn't feel like the first fight was close enough to merit a rematch.
Just curious, what fights have you watched of Fonfara? His defense isn't great but we can't judge that based off of the Julio and Cleverly fight. I've been watching Fonfara for maybe 8 years now and I know when I see he doesn't want to have a defensive fight. Julio and Clev couldn't hurt Fonfara. No power in their punches. When Fonfara knows that and feels how soft they are, why worry about defending when you can have some fun with it and show off some offensive tactics? His defense was so-so vs Stevenson but I think this time around he'll be much more prepared. Maybe Stevenson just underestimated him the 1st time? A rematch would tell us everything we need to know. Andrzej loves turning it up in the late rounds which is crucial for any type of win.
I want Arreola to fight and beat Wilder so we can have a hillarious Arreola vs Ruiz Heavywieght unification mega fight.
I'd rather see Kownacki vs Ruiz!
Not only is Izu physically gifted but he's also an intelligent person. Handles himself very well and speaks excellent Polish and English. I think his discipline will show in the ring against better opponents. He'll be tough to crack.
This is a perfect time for the fight. Glowacki gets a very popular and young fighter in Usyk at an early stage of his career. Usyk has not fought anyone even close to the level of Glowacki so this should be really fun.
The first fight against fonfara was a 80/20 beat down in favor of Stevenson. Fonfara fought for his life, and only hung on by a string until Stevenson got tired near the end of the fight. This BS is Haymon milking it. There are intangibles, like maybe Fonfara is better now, but overall, I expect a repeat of the first fight.
lmao fonfara near death... he was kicking Stevenson's ass the last few rounds. Stevenson can't fight pass round 8.
Fonfara beats Smith in a rematch. He got caught with Smith's best punch in his life and Fonfara clearly underestimated him... I was pissed when I heard the fight made because no one knew who Smith was at the time. Watch the 1st round. Fonfara was rocking him until the deadly punch happened.
This guy doesn't deserve a title shot at all. It's a good looking record after fighting bums but he clearly isn't on the same level as the top 10 in Heavy.
Awesome more big fights being forced on people I don't think Glowacki will turn it down but he will demand it to be in USA this will be a very good one to watch just wish the Yanks would actually give respect to the best division currently in boxing and stop down playing it just because you have no good cruiserweights yet.
Good post! If this fight happens in Ukraine then it'll just be another failure for cruiserweight division unfortunately.
And Fonfara knocked down Stevenson...not sure how many times that has happened in Stevenson's career... that came also after Fonfara was down twice. So he's got heart and the will to fight until the end. He was easily losing vs Campillo too until he hit him with a wicked body shot and won on TKO.
Unfortunately he isn't much of a kid anymore. His career really needs to jump up fast if they want to make something of Izu. The skills and body for it are definitely there. He has really high potential. Just got to get it going. I say he changes management because fighting in NZ isn't going to get you very far..
I have a feeling he might take it. Stevenson is looking old and has been out for a while whereas Fonfara has a new team and is coming off a W in which he showed the ability to adapt and finish.
He just needs to be prepared for pressure. I think he'll take rounds from Stevenson but when Adonis knows he's getting behind, he's going to rally. Fonfara has to be ready to nullify that. His chin is too readily available.
Good analysis. As long as Fonfara survives Stevenson's power in the early rounds then I think he's got this. He's consistently shown that he is a better fighter as the fight progresses. Stevenson will get tired if this fight stretches.
Its kind of amazing that almost every title fight these days includes AT LEAST one fighter I've never heard of before.
Well then you don't really know boxing that well..
Hate it or love it, these guys can fight. They don't care about their looks. They'll just keep going forward at you and that is never a comfortable opponent to anyone.
Why is this fight not being picked up by any of the networks??? It's mind boggling and its for the WBO. Aside from the Ward/Kovalev fight, I've been anticipating for this fight ever since it was announced. A lot of guts from Usyk to go for the title after his injury.
AGREED. This fight will live up to expectations.
Szpilka looks a lot better with Ronnie as his trainer. We'll see a lot of him win or lose Saturday night. He's gone done before but springs right back up and has shown twice now that he can win by KO from behind - meaning he has power and heart. I don't know what to expect from Wilder in this fight... he may go full out attack in rd 1. As long as Szpilka can hold that off, I'm excited to see what happens then. That's when the fight gets interesting if it reaches that point. WAR SZPILA