sweeterscience

It's not that he got beat, it's just that it was against Porter, a 5'6 welterweight. I don't think you realise how ridiculous that is. That's a great find. Never heard that. I agree with you. While it may have been a long, gangly Usyk who was less physically matured than Porter, that's still pretty incredible. Yeah, almost every contender or champ lost amateur fights to guys who never went pro or did anything big, but I think that speaks loudly to Porter's toughness and strength. I have not seen that type of thing very often, but it happens way more in the amateur ranks than pro. I think it's probably that often really tall guys take longer for the muscle to grow into the right places and become really functional, hence why heavyweights tend to peak older. In this way, their size advantage can be not as meaningful. Not that often, but it's more common with young guys. Still pretty amazing.

hear me out, rjj always liked to fight at a slow pace (30-40 punches per round), when he was faced with raw aggression he would do the following: throw a quick counter and move or lay on the ropes and grin. calzaghe had very good powers of recovery, sure he would go down every now and then but he has never looked massively shaky and rjj never had huge 1 punch knock out power so i dont think he can take him out with 1 punch. calzaghe overwhelms opponents with speed, clever pivots, head movement and volume of punches. how will rjj out box him? rjj when faced with a large quantity of quick punches coming straight down the pipe would back up to the ropes and try sneaking in quick counters. rjj was a great fighter and one of my all time fav but styles make fights so i see calzaghe beating rjj on the scorecards. I agree that a prime Calzaghe is a bad style matchup for a prime Roy, and I think you make a strong case, but Roy's incredible athleticism and the variety of angles he launched hooks and straight rights from...I would still have to favor Roy. I also agree with you that Roy could be corralled toward the ropes, have his movement cut off with stiff, straight punches. But I don't know if Calzaghe's straight left out of a southpaw stance was stiff or explosive enough to cut through Roy's guard and back him up. I can see Calzaghe landing the right hook and uppercut when Roy is launching in...but I just don't know if it'd be enough. Anyhow, it's good food for thought. And I see where you are coming from. I'll probably rewatch some of both guys in their prime years with your points in mind. Good stuff to consider.

Interesting.. what do you think happened in Oscar-Floyd. Why couldnt Oscar rob floyd? Maybe the judge wasnt happy about the money? I have no idea why De la Hoya didn't get the decision against Floyd. At the time Floyd hadn't yet rolled out the loudmouth villain character that made him so profitable by tempting people to pay to watch him lose. Though Mayweather definitely clearly beat Oscar, I was assuming the judges would float Oscar a hometown decision to set up big purse rematches. Can't explain how the right decision was scored.

The alphabet soup is ridiculous, there are far too many champions with diluted belts. There are too many weight classes, primarily in the lower limits. But the only thing worse than having 150 weight classes would be having three. It'd deprive us of the best fights out there.

I think both have a stronger case than Spence on resume. My first instinct was to disagree, but I think I am prone to give Spence too much credit based on my opinion of his potential to win matchups against Porter, Thurman and Crawford. That said, you're probably right.

If you changed your name legally to something that would sound cooler or avoid confusion with another fighter, I suppose you'd feel fine about it. A guy named Barry Joe Jablonski changes his name to Clint Eastwood and rattles off a string of wins, he probably feels pretty cool. If you were on the run or ducking charges or something, someone is going to find out through the identification verification process when you apply for a license somewhere. Even if you somehow beat the system, end up on tv, that's on the internet forever and someone is going to recognize you sooner or later.

Joshua does appear to be in top shape already. The guy is built like a superhero. And I expect he'll stop Parker in the middle rounds, but I'll be rooting for Parker and wouldn't write him off. Parker just doesn't have the tools, I don't think, to effectively capitalize film Joshua's porous defense. That said, why are boxing fans such suckers for a bodybuilder's physique? We've seen it time and again. Often the big, musclebound guy loses, especially if the fight escapes the middle rounds. Just carrying too much muscle around to maintain stamina and flexibility. Jeff Lacy, Frank Bruno and David Haye come to mind.

The guy he confronted in that YouTube video was an actor making his professional MMA debut. In that case, I suppose there isn't much need to get him in a Gracie Jiujitsu program then. Szpilka is safe until the next time he steps up above that Mike Mollo-Brian Minto bar in a boxing ring.

I suppose a young Mike Tyson and Aaron Pryor are the obvious low hanging fruit. What about Qawi and Chavez Sr? I think a lightweight and below Roberto Duran may also qualify as being underrated in this area.

I like John alot but he did not beat Marquez. Hometown cooking classic example. Watch it Yeah. I tried to go into watching it with an open mind, but that was Sven Ottke vs. Reid, Mitchell, Larsen, Markussen level egregious. The cheers every time John touched Marquez' forearm didn't help the judging either.

Crawford is great, and surging, but let's not say he has the best resume yet I don't disagree that Bud has accomplished a lot and I expect really great things from him if his punch comes up to 147 with him. I would love to see him fight Thurman or Spence after he has a welterweight tune-up fight. But the best resume in boxing? I can't go that far. I assume that statement was made only about guys in or near their prime. As long as RJJ, Pacquiao, Toney and Mayweather are technically still active fighters, those are the best resumes in boxing, by a mile. They are just all in various stages of boxing decrepitude. Danny Garcia surely has a better resume. Maybe not a better fighter, but a better resume for sure. I'm not a Canelo die hard, but he certainly does as well.

I think that the GGG-Canelo decision was a function of incompetence and cluelessness with perhaps a bit of senility. But I expect when payoffs happen it's as simple as someone handing a judge cash or a promotional outfit promising off the books to get judges work on big fights.

People rarely have time to follow two events back to back or probably have had their fill of entertainment from football and feel too satiated to bother watching a fight. I'm speaking about the UK, though, don't know what it's like over there in the US, but a match is followed by pub crawls or hanging with mates talking about the match etc. Plus, work commitments. Even the world cup which is every 4 years has to take into account other sports like Wimbledon and plan accordingly. I would tend to agree with you. I like the idea of watching a boxing card before or after a basketball or football game, but I doubt it would be a consistent ratings draw because, as you say, people tend to make a day of it where they are all-in for one particular sport, drinking and wearing a jersey and talking smack on Twitter and so on. Add to that the fact of limited time in a day to spend in front of a TV when guys have kids and wives and all...just don't think it would shake out. It's a fun idea for total sports fanatics, but I think splitting the attention of die shards might backfire.

Despite having never been a fan of Broner and his antics, it seems he has real psychological and substance abuse issues. I hope he gets help and straightens himself out. Whatever else I can say about the guy, he represented a profound waste of talent. Sadly, I expect we'll see him in increasing legal trouble and broke before too long, then an ill advised comeback will lead to disastrous beatings. It's sad to see more fighters go down this well-worn path.

Is this even a question? I respect the hell out of Lewis and liked him even when he was perceived as the boring moderator of the after-Tyson era. But Lewis was not a draw anywhere near Joshua. Joshua puts up attendance and ratings just in England that Lewis couldn't have done worldwide. I don't like Joshua, but he's the biggest draw we've seen since the Tyson-Holyfield era ended.

This one has got the haters confused :dance: Yep. I think we are comparing apples and oranges here a bit. I mean, the huge weight gap, the total overload of reasons to say Canelo being offset by significant, immediate damage done in the marquee shared matchup. I don't think the boxing math works on this one. Canelo hits harder.

I think this one is pretty clear, even if I don't like it Calzaghe was often hard to watch and had an incredible ability to make fights with exciting fighters into excruciating points wins, but his noodle-y, slap happy, jumpy style did turn out to be incredibly effective against world class guys, against all odds. Calzaghe is the better boxer, technically and on the whole. It seems even more automatic to say Hatton was the more entertaining, exciting, fun, likable fighter. I'm still frustrated the Junior Witter fight never happened.

I'd stick GGG in it and take him back to Hagler Hearns Leonard,Duran era. This is the correct use of a time machine for a boxing fan, bringing us those mythical matchups. Prime Tyson V Ali Ali V Joshua, just to see.... And so on You raise a good point about taking two fighters from different eras and taking them to a neutral decade. That's the time machine put to good use right there. Michael Spinks vs. Ezzard Charles Wlad Klitschko vs. Sonny Liston Sandy Sadler vs. Erik Morales Dick Tiger vs. Marvin Hagler Parnell Whittaker vs. Money Mayweather Lee Jenkins vs. Diego Corrales Gatti vs. Boom Boom Mancini for pure bloody entertainment.

Winner makes $10m. I think winner of the frontrunner for FOTY and the WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO/Ring champ and for sure top 5 pound for pound. I'd have both top 10 currently and think it's the best fight that can be made this year. I'm not sure I'd have both in my top 10 p4p, but I wouldn't say that's too far off or I would have them too far off the list. The main thing holding me back would be the sample size against top fighters, for both Gassiev and Usyk. Though, in fairness, you could make a similiar argument about Loma or Crawford. You're definitely right that it's the best fight that can be made this year. Though I would really love to see Francisco Vargas vs. Alberto Machado too. Mexico vs. Puerto Rico rivalry, both big hitters who can be hurt.

Lomachenko against lipinets. Mikey Garcia v horn. I'd give Spence a great shot at beating Saunders. I agree. I think Spence beating Saunders may be the best odds for a two-division jump winning.

I think the original post is fairly accurate. I've gone back and forth with a bunch of posters and wavered a bit in my sense of this fight. Guys made a strong case for Povetkin's quality, chin and veteran guile overcoming the size gap, and guys made a strong case for Joshua just being too friggin' big, young, long and strong and rangey, despite the shaky chin. I have always liked Povetkin, the PED scandal is what it is. And I am, admittedly, no big fan of Joshua and wouldn't mind seeing him knocked off his pedestal and have to prove himself on a comeback trail to earn the absurd adulation he has been served. That said, I am not sure Povetkin (or Parker) has any chance of doing it or any tool to do it with. Based on Povetkin's age and long history of tough fights during which he has eaten up a ton of punishment from big, hard-hitting heavies, I really am worried that he might get smashed and hurt.

he sons your pbc boy Benevidez easy. Lets see if Benevidez even gets by gavril... I may eat my words, but I have been amazed that everyone is looking past Gavril and giving Benevidez the victory without a second thought. My opinion of Gavril went way up after the first fight. If he can use that sneaky power and drop Benevidez early instead of late this time, I think it changes the whole complexion of the fight.

He’s just a talent raw athlete, his ground game would be special and his hand speed speaks for itself. TBE would dominate UFC if he wanted, I don’t see people like Pacquiao or any Mexican fighters having the talent to do so. Let’s go TBE! :boxing: In terms of profitability and popularity, even as a self-styled villain or whatever, absolutely agreed. But in terms of the learning curve and assets that would count for knockouts and decisions by MMA scoring, I think a Southeast Asian fighter with a Muay Thai background would be best equipped skills wise or an Eastern Euro with a background in a grappling art.

I didn't see video Maybe there isn't any. I'd really like to see him in with Bivol. If he can hang tough with Bivol in sparring, maybe I wasnt giving the man his due.

Frankly i find this abit cringe worthy. Why is Gassiev trying to look like such a nice guy for?? He won the belt fair and square i dont think anyone would admonish him if he had of kept it. Does this mean now that Dorticus is still the title holder?? I think it came from an honorable and respectful place, but I agree with you, it was a bit over the top. Though they had a tough fight, so Gassiev being magnanimous in victory shows his class. If it made Dorticos feel a bit better in defeat, good. Lord knows he earned it by hanging tough through some atomic punishment. Clearly, Gassiev will still be officially recognized as the belt holder, and he'll have to pay for another if Dorticos keeps the physical strap. I'm on the fence about this.

I have only seen a handful of his fights, but I think you're absolutely right. Dorticos appears to have really bad timing, I think that might be behind the reluctance to chuck a lead right. He's just clunky. Nothing flows. Against a blown up, shorter super-middle like Miranda and a one dimensional guy like Kalenga he should've been able to force the lead right over the top for some damage. And Kudryashov had such a limited tool box, Dorticos didn't punch nearly confidently as he looked like he ought to have. Don't get it. Gassiev TKO 7-9.

I agree with you. I think fans tend to go to one extreme or the other with old school vs. modern fantasy matchups. I believe this one would be pretty open to a case for either fighter. Loma is a stylistic revelation, doing the unconventional at such a high level and dominating much in the way Roy Jones was twenty-years-or-so-ago. But opponents study tape, prepare and adapt as a dominant champ produces more tape to watch. This will happen with Loma like everyone else. I think Sanchez would really have a shot to use long, crisp punches from awkward angles and do damage. And no one has really gone after Loma's body ferociously yet either. Largely because he's so slick and quick, but still, if Sanchez could sting the ribs early...might wear down Loma's advantages. If it's a large ring and Sanchez doesn't land big early, Loma probably puts a clinic on him. If it's a small ring and Sanchez gets to the body, I think he KO's Loma in 8 or 9.

how do you think bud would fare against errol spence if buds 1st fight was against spence knowing that at lkeast early spence is there to be hit with clean shots like brook and lamont did.can bud take the same shots coming from a true welter like spence i say no That's a good question. Crawford probably has the power and mean-streak to put Spence away if he lands hard and early, if his power comes up with him at welter. But Spence is such a complete package and a big, solid welter...it does make me think Bud might end up taking his first defeat. I think since Crawford can fight out of a either stance, the minute he started eating uppercuts from Spence, he would have to switch to Southpaw or get frozen and taken apart in short order.

I think so. I think he could beat Parker for sure. Parker is the John Ruiz of the HW division. Only thing I worry about is his power and chin. How will his power translate to HW and how good is his chin at HW? But his skills are so far ahead of anyone at HW right now he could Chris Byrd his way to a HW title. I definitely agree with you about Parker. After Usyk fights Gassiev up the road, a Parker fight could be a nice, low-risk coming out party in the HW division. Hell, Gassiev is a real 6-foot-4, depending on how a fight between him and Usyk goes, they could rematch at heavyweight and put a ton of Eastern Euro Euros in the bank.

Winky Wrighs high guard is a great example of what you're saying and a lot more effective due to being able to counter after blocking I agree with that completely. I think Winky's losses to Vargas, Vasquez and Simon could easily have gone his way if not for judges apparently viewing many of the punches that bounced off his guard as scoring punches.