That makes sense. I enjoy some sh^t talking if its good, but 90%+ of the sh^t talking in boxing seems forced & contrived & I know some cats don't like any of it so fair play if thats the case with you. Generally the gossip sh^t seems to be SM driven so as long as you stay away from SM (although I guess that could include a site like this one often) you can avoid that.
And f#ck yea I'm completely on board with the business of boxing & the art of promotion f#cking up the desire of fans & the legacy of fighters.
The best should ALWAYS be fighting the best in boxing like what happens in every other sport. Boxing could be improved tomorrow if anyone with some power decided that boxing should make as much sense as other sports.
You need a centralized power structure that runs & looks out for boxing first & foremost. You don't need this bs which works like a ton of small businesses all looking out for their own good first & foremost.
Some QB in the NFL or some pitcher in the MLB can't control their own destiny quite like a boxer can, a promoter can for a boxer or a manager for a boxer. Thats cool that boxers have so much control of their destiny, but it always greatly damages the quality control of boxing which is one of the least competitive sports at the elite level cuz there is very little ability in keeping unproven fighters from getting big fights.
At the highest level of the sport no top ten guy should be fighting a guy you could say is #38 or #52 or even further down. The top guys should ONLY be fighting each other at the tip top level.
This is how things work in every other f#cking sport basically. Certainly every major sport that one could say is above boxing in the minds & hearts of sports fans.
Thats a huge mfing problem for the integrity of the sport that there is no quality control at any f#cking level of the sport.
/my rant lol
I agree with this entire post and most of the other posts on this topic. The part in bold pretty much sums it up for me. I've been watching boxing since the early 90's. I check a few sites daily. I come here and read a few stories and check the forum to see what's being said. I've been losing interest in boxing for quite awhile now. Not sure when it started, but a lot of the talk started being about how much a fighter is going to make and PPV buys and being undefeated. There was a time when none of that was being talked about. At least not as much. I just dropped HBO. Picked up DAZN, but just feel kinda meh about it and the rest of boxing. Boxing is the only sport I follow, and I feel that may be coming to an end. Especially as fragmented as things are.
Another advantage Pirog had over Jacobs was his length. Jacobs was never able to get the right distance because of Pirog's long arms. If Jacobs chin can hold up then this will be a close fight. Jacobs has to stay off the ropes. If he gets pushed to ropes Golovkin will go to work on his body. In reality Golovkin will have more ways to win than Jacobs. At the same time Jacobs can crack so it will be real interesting to see how Golovkin reacts the first time he gets hit flush.
If this isn't the number one key to victory besides not getting hit by Golovkin.....I don't what is. I would love to see Jacobs box, sit down on a few punches and then get out. Soon as he feels his back against the ropes......move. Sadly, I feel Jacobs is going to end up on the ropes either way. Be it Golovkin putting him there or Jacobs going voluntarily.
"I honestly don't know how much of Ward is left because his competition does not allow us to gauge it? Is he the same fighter he was 5 years ago? "
I don't really think he is TBH. I am a fan of both guys and ward cannot seem to keep 175 guys off him. He's been beating C rate competition by sloppy decisions at 175. I think Ward will always go down as great super middle as it was his best weight in his prime.
I don't think Ward is winning this fight. He has nothing that will have enough power to really make Kovalev weary. I think GGG has much more power than Ward. I think Kovalev will win a majority decision and maybe gte a knockdown
Just finished reading this thread. I'm a fan of both guys as well. I have had a lot of the same thoughts that most have had here. I've been going back and forth with this fight for the last couple of days. I picked Ward by UD. I arrived at my pick in a slightly different way than what I have read from other members. I removed all the answered and unanswered questions for both Ward and Kovalev and this is what I was left with. Both guys have strengths and weaknesses that I feel (for arguments sake) cancel each other out. Timing is how I see Ward winning a UD. Ward seems to have this extra offensive tool that allows him to hit his opponent in what looks like little lulls in the action. I think the clean punches he lands in this part of the fight are going to be the deciding factor in Ward winning. You'll have Kovalev landing his shots. Ward will land his shots and counters, but Ward will have this other area in which to score. The lulls in action where both fighters are not throwing punches, but looking, moving and thinking.
He receives the praise because he passes the eye test, if you understand boxing you can see that he is a star in the making.
Agreed. Although, I can understand both sides of the argument here. Crawford will have to keep doing what he's doing.
This is no 50/50 fight. There are paths to victory for Jacobs make no mistake, but his chin will be a huge liability in this contest.
Jacobs will either need to put on a masterclass performance, that I'd argue we've never seen from Jacobs or anything close to a masterclass performance, or he'll need to connect to GGG harder &/or more often early before he gets tagged. Personally I see little chance of seeing a decisions here. Someone will be KO'd & the most likely person to be KO'd is Jacobs by a large margin.
Agreed. Nice post. I wouldn't really call this an advantage, but Danny has the utmost confidence in himself. He's heading into this fight a lot more mentally prepared than other triple G opponents. This could be a double-edged sword for other fighters, but I don't think Danny is going to be overconfident to the point where he's reckless.
Crawford-Collazo = ESPN+ CANCELLED. I know ESPN will be just fine without my $4.99 a month, but c'mon. I just can no longer support Top Rank or ESPN any longer. This fight was the last smack in the face.
According to Ringside Reporter, his brother Shane did an interview with IFLTV. Shane said why should he fight this guy when he's making all this money to fight Tom Schwarz. At 1:54:13 of the podcast #235.