I want a rematch at a nuetral venue with a better ref and not all the bias like the TV network cover up, 'the sting' acting performace by the Dirrel camp, the ref not warning for the clear low blows against AA and not counting the Dirrel knockdown in round 10.
It's so obvious that the flaws in all but one of these supersix fights is the hometown advatage, in Nottingham, Froch got a lucky decision but Dirrel held too much and should and easily could have put on a performance more like Sat night. In the Ward/Kessler fight, they never once warned about the blatent butts and last nite the low blows and as mentioned lack of counting the knockdown and the stage show disqualification.
I rate Ward and Green and Dirrel is a good boxer with slick movement and skills but this whole incident puts a bad taste in the mouth about Dirrel's weak character. Of course it's my opinion and everyone is entitled to believe what they want but for me, Dirrel & Shaw camp did everything they could to steal this fight just like Ward did against Kessler when in fact the boxers themselves didn't need to, cause they are clearly great boxers and needn't have gone to such lengths when they can achieve it without resorting to cheap tactics.
I think you have to take into consideration that Boxing was alot more popular back in the day than it is today, so for instance if you were the heavyweight champ, it meant you really were no1 in that division without several other associations laying claim on having their own champ.
You also must consider that the fights lasted longer upto 15 rounds and referree's wouldn't stop fights unless it was completely obvious one guy had lost, which means there was alot more mental strength and stamina required from boxers back then.
Then consider the social aspects of boxing and what it meant in openly racist societies like in the US until the late 60's or the larger gap between the wealthy and the poor, which made opportunities alot harder to come by for many boxers, then the lack of sports science & technology used around the globe to help prepair and pamper boxers like they are today.
They couldn't study other fighters styles like they can today, so the preparation was totally different to what it is today.
I think many people look on past boxers and the things they had to perservere through and add that to the equation when deliberating whether a modern boxer stands up against the old skool.
If we're talking about straight skill sets, it's impossible not to consider these factors because I know for a fact that many of today's boxers would crumble under some of those conditions because boxers today are mentally 'soft' in comparison because they never had to go through that level of hardship on a daily basis.
I don't agree, Cotto was neither weight drained nor is he done but he needs to do some regrouping and get himself a trainer and not a yes man. I didn't think he clearly won the Clottey fight and you could just see him lose the battle of the minds in this fight, when some of his good shots were landing and Manny didn't go down.
I think an eventual Cotto v Hatton (with a warm up for both prior to a match up) would earn both fighters good money and would go some way to restoring something back to both fighters and it's something fans would still want to see.
The one thing I picked up on was in the final interviews Manny always makes a point of thanking the people of the Philippines whilst Cotto failed to even mention his Puerto Rican followers.
I was happy to see this great fight but Cotto did considerably better than Diaz, Oscar & Hatton, so how could anyone say he is done?
Was that a boxing match or a Headbutt contest? I don't think Ward needed to do that to beat Kessler, the same as Dirrel v Froch, I don't think Dirrel needed to keep holding as much as he did to beat Froch.
Ward & Dirrel are great fighters but what's with the tactics that cheapen their talent and cause contention over their obvious ability.
Kessler was dissapointing no doubt but it is supposed to be Boxing and not a headbutt, hold em fight. Ward won that fight but to me, it looked like Ward was holding alot but making Kessler look like he was the one holding.
I thought Ward boxed well and didn't need to use those dirty tactics to win this fight because Kessler as usual was robotic.
Oh and fans can say what the hell they like, they can call someone a pussy if they like and I bet I'd **** Ortiz up cause he's got no ground game and I'd just take him to the floor and choke the bitch till he cried like the bitch he is!
What the hell are you guys talking about, did you watch the fight? He's got no heart, he quit in a match he was winning. He was lucky that the ref announced it was a cut stoppage after Ortiz seemed to verbally want to quit and by turning his back on the ref he demonstrated he is a fighter with no heart.
He even said he has to re-evaluate everything because he was found wanting against a more determined fighter with experience. If he doesn't show the determination to be a true world champ, there's no point discussing anything about what he talks about and who he's pussyhole promoters are........He quit just like De La Hoya.......
What the hell is happening with this generation of Mexican American fighters who don't have the pride of the true Mexican's in them it seems? It's too much of that easy living and a desperation of networks and promoters wanting to endorse every one of their prospects as the next big thing.......Same thing happened with Khan, hyped too quickly but at least the boy has never quit like this punk Ortiz.
I use to love Mexican fighters but these candy floss American Mexicana's bring shame to the honour of true Mexican warriors!
Looks another bum fight, why bother with these tune ups when the boxer doesn't learn.......Damn the main events on this Top Rank card is looking like a Warren style tune up
Card......
this will be a signature khan fight. blazingly fast in the opening rounds then completely mediocre in the remaining rounds with a high probability of knockdowns and blatant running.
This is very accurate
Has anyone else noticed how Goldenboy, Mayweather, the casino's, HBO and Sky have all made a tidy sum out of Hatton fans and even Hatton himself has obviously done well but mostly from his amazing fanbase not because of Hatton's performances. How much of this is Frank Warren's ability to build a fighter?
Ricky hasn't taken notice of either fight plans from trainers Mayweather or Graham and in the heat of the moment can't follow strategy. He's been hurt a few times, his punch resistance isn't great, his movement is predictable and I feel he's more of a commodity than a top top fighter.
For all his talk about 'bet your mortgage on me' from Hatton and the silly masks, the way Mayweather acted after the fight, not going to the dressing room with his fighter etc, it looks more like this was all a marketing ploy.
It would be interesting to see if Hatton comes back and if he does what type of fighter would he take on? I can't see another Vegas fight. Would he fight a Marquez or even Zab Judah for instance? He would probably take on a British fight but would he fight Witter or Khan? I can't see that because Witter's profile has been tarnished since his loss on live terestrial TV to Bradley and Khan's a Warren fighter, so would Hatton want to line up his pocket?
Hatton should retire with the knowledge he screwed his fans thoroughly.
I think the fights between Froch V Dirrel, Abrahams V Dirrel & Ward V Kessler all demonstrate the flaws in this contest in not having neutral venue's & a better standard of refs & judges in this Super Six contest.
Personally I think Dirrel will be exposed by the better fighter Ward eventually in this comp, whilst I think Ward headbutted his way to victory on cuts against Kessler, although he didn't really need to rely on that because he was the superior fighter, nevertheless the fact remain he stopped Kessler on cuts brought about by butts.
Dirrel should have been braver against Froch but held too much and made it easier for the judges to give it to the defending champ, whilst Dirrel's play acting should have been handled much in the same manner as the boring RJJ V BHop fight last week, whereby the ref allowed time for BHop to recover because there's no doubt these fighters were both acting up, which seems to be the only way American fighters think they can win nowadays.
The protest probably won't get them anywhere but there's no doubt Abrahams had the momentum going into the final round.
In the future, and for the sack of a competition like this, better refs and judge's would be needed plus most importantly nuetral venue's.
First off, what a fight. Froch's performance wasn't particularly good but he demonstrated what he's all about, an attrition fighter with power, heart, stamina & a great chin. Froch has a tendency to wear his opponents down, take what they have, suck their energy and deliver devastating and spectacular knock outs.
There's no doubt the Calzaghe fight would be fantastic but I feel Froch should concentrate on a contingency plan because Calzaghe probably won't come out of retirement until there's at least one more, big name under Froch's demolition list and that name has to be Kessler.
The Calzaghe route is the obvious direct route because it represents both the biggest prize both financially and in terms of legacy. Froch has been after Joe for years and there is evidence that Joe has always distanced himself from that fight for one reason or another.
Meanwhile Froch knows he only has a handful of fights left in him because of consistent niggling injuries and the Kessler fight would be a fantastic alternative for boxing but still doesn't offer the pay packet or the kudos a Calzaghe fight would for Froch, whilst the Pavlik fight would probably be avoided by Pavlik's camp due to the difference in size, although that would be another interesting battle.
Taylor boxed clever but with no stamina there was no chance he was going to stop Froch. Unless Taylor works on his stamina I would imagine that would be the end of his career and we were constantly told by the Showtime commentators that Taylor's lack of stamina days were supposed to be over but he got properly served up, a super size can of whoop ass by Nottingham's finest.
The main thing to remember is that I don't believe Froch has more than 2 or 3 big fights left in him with his style of boxing, so he wants the quickest and most lucrative route to the very top and Calzaghe offers just this!
Hatton simply doesn't listen to his trainers & doesn't follow his strategy from his training camps because he get's stupid once he's in the ring. Anyone that fights him, of any half decent standard is likely to go for a knockout, hell even Luscano had some luck against him and could have KO'd him.
The only reason Hatton has the support he has over other good British fighters like Calzaghe or Lloyd Honeyghan is because he's straight up English and not Italian or Jamaican or Yemani like Hamed.
The majority of people on the island of Britain are inbreds and follow their big white hope, who was made by Warren but decided to sell himself to the American, HBO, Goldenboy/Mayweather Snr to pimp his fanbase out & extract money from him.
Ricky Hatton should have stayed with Billy Graham and actually listened to him, he would have saved himself alot of money but Mayweather was brought in to market the fight with Pacman to the American audience with his spats with Roach.
Ricky's choices are either big money spinners like the other hype job Khan, which may not happen cause of Warren.
or Witter, which may not happen cause Witter played himself against Bradley.
That leaves Judah......
Totally agree with Mafu Mofo, although I would say Manny & Roach will go to catchweights of around 143 but no higher than 145. The De La Hoya 147 was a huge money spinner and considering it was De La Hoya, worth every penny but a Manny v Cotto/Mosley fight isn't going to generate anywhere near the same interest, so why take the risk? When a PBF or Marquez rematch would generate more money?
I think all the upcoming fights are great, PBF v Marquez, Cotto v Clottey and neither are foregone conclusions, so all the posturing and talking is secondary until these fights are concluded, in the meantime a Manny v Mosley could be arranged and that would be really interesting because Mosley has good power & faster hands than most other potential Manny opponents.....
Ricky Hatton should answer to his fans first and foremost for talking a load of bull and fooling them into spending alot of their hard earned money following his undedicated self around the world in a vain attempt to somehow prove he was a world class boxer.
Ricky Hatton made his fans spend their wages on American networks, Casino's, Golden Boy & himself and took alot of the money he generated from boxing late in his career away from Britain.
It would be interesting to watch him fight Khan in Bradford and see a race riot erupt especially if Khan wins.
Although people will try and promote the similiarities between Hamed & Khan the facts are completely different.
Hamed's parent's come from Yemen and Khan's parent's are from Pakistan.
There is absolutly no resemblance between the two besides their faith & skin colour. Most importantly their boxing styles & personalities completely differ.
Hamed was proud to publically demonstrate his faith, Khan is used as a symbol of 'multi-cultural Britain' and due to the current political climate he is regarded by many, as the Asian 'Frank Bruno- ie Uncle Tom'.
This is to say that he is used more as a tool by political entities to promote better relations between the young Muslim communities and the wider community, just as Bruno was used in the 80's, when there was considerible unrest in the Afro Carribean communities back then.
The majority of Boxing fans don't like Khan because he hasn't proven himself, Hamed proved himself and therefore earnt his respect from most Boxing fans. The similarities are especially played up by his promoter in order to tap into new markets ie the consideribly large British Asian community in the UK.
This would be a great match up because what Clottey lacks in speed he certainly makes up for in power, stamina and defence.
I don't know about you guys but I think Cotto needs to be properly tested because although he was convincing against Jennings, Jennings was running scared and caused no particular problems for Cotto whereas Clottey should really be coming out gunning for Cotto's suspected fragile confidence.
Clottey likes to keep a high guard which may also work toward Cotto's favour with some slick body work! I hope this fight happens!
The definition of a prospect is someone who hasn't yet proven themselves. So you think the majority of boxing fans don't like any boxer who is still a prospect. Clearly you are not a genuine boxing fan or you wouldn't spout such nonsense.
The large majority of the boxing following public in the UK do not yet consider Khan as a top boxer even though he has been promoted, specifically off the back of Hamed's legacy.
Khan has targetted the standards set by Hamed and was itching to win a world title at a younger age than Hamed, however the plan backfired. The majority of Khan's fans are British Asians, who do not really follow boxing, this helps give Khan more of a mainstream appeal (as well as the Silver Medal & lurcative sponsorship deals), however real boxing fans all acknowledge that Khan is not yet worthy of the amount of hype & adjulation which has followed his brief pro career but this is more courtesy of Sports Networks ability to market their stars and set up lucrative contracts before a boxer has even earnt the respect of their boxing peers or any significant national or international titles.
My point being that the whole Hamed link is something that has been orchestrated by Warren & Team Khan for marketing purposes and the truth is that Khan doesn't have devastating natural power, super quick reflexes or an unorthodox southpaw style, although I do personally believe he could be a prospect, if he remains hungry and develops his boxing skills under the Roach camp.
Hamed on the other hand was charismatic, outspoken and everything Khan isn't in boxing terms. My whole post was about how, due only to slim similarities, the Khan/Warren camp have projected comparisons between Hamed and Khan when true boxing fans understand that this is only for public & media consumption, which simpletons such as yourself jump on and consume like the fanboy that you are.
Just for the record, I think in terms of business, Warren has done the right thing and maximised his investment in Khan, however I expect any true boxing fan to see through the hype and understand a little more about how the world of boxing promotions works but all too often more people get caught up with media talk.
Perhaps you will read carefully what I actually wrote and relax a little before making accusations.
Paulie was shook by the whole on the night occassion. If you saw the pre fight warm up interview on Sky then you could read the emotional excitement on his face, he was trying too hard to look unbothered but once he tasted Hatton's power he was bowing to grab Ricky all night.
He also knew he couldn't hurt him, so Hatton ended up skoolin Paulie from the outside with his jabs and moving inside with some good hook work.
I still think Hatton hasn't got all his confidence back and he'd be foollhardy to go up in weight again but who's left in this weight worth fighting?
Shouldn't have thrown the towel, I wanyed yo see a ko.
Is it 70/30 in pacmans favour the money split?
Its gonna be a great fight, I like both fighters....I don't know if Cotto is the same Cotto before the Margo fight, seeing his last two fights tells me he's lost a bit of confidence. But weighing upto 20lbs more on the night will make a difference especially if he catches Pacman in the corner like he did Clottey.
Tough one to call but Manny has won my heart........I wish he would stop boxing because I get nervous every time but he keeps knocking suckers out! Although Cotto is no sucker.....