Yup, then went on to lose to a kickboxer. He'll fight AJ, Fury or Dubois one last time and call it a day.
Maybe Wilder? Or Rico rematch? One things for sure, it won't be a "prime" fighter.
Hrgovic-Itauma? Yes please. I would support that. What a chance for Itauma to either silence all critics, or for Hrgovic to drop a chaos bomb on the HW division.
Just waiting for the confirmation. It's obviousl the rescheduling of Itaumas fight date is to allow for a Hrgovic matchup.
This thing is a mess. I was actually stoked for the rubber match between him and Beterbiev. The 2 fighters could not have fought a more even couple of fights. But instead we will get a long line of hard to follow mandatories getting ignored and decent matches being lost in the hoopla. It was so much cleaner when Beterbiev was laying waste to half the division, and Bivol was dusting the other half.
I hope at this point Beterbiev just retires and Bivol ....does something.
I agree with your summary of how 175 has gone dive their second fight however I'd lay the blame squarely on Bivil for that. I have no doubt that Beterbiev was ready to go straight to a third fight. Bivil ducked out and Smith fucked Morrell so now they fight each other. What a mess.
Bivol should have fought Benavidez when the WBC ordered the fight. At the end Bivol still didnt fight Beterbiev as he promised and he will get stripped of all his belts as well. After the Eifert fight Bivol must fight Beterbiev or Benavidez next.
Why not make Bivol vs Beterbiev just to make it right with Beterbiev and on the same card Benavidez vs Smith. Winner fights winner for all the belts.
Smith has already sidestepped Benevidez once, he doesn't want that fight. Same with Morrel, a fight he never wanted or I tended to go through with imo. Now his undisclosed fake injury is rewarded with a title fight against Bivil it's all.paid off.
Rushing Rodriguez into a fight with Inoue will get him beat. He's at least three fights and eighteen months away.
Takuna Inoue wouldn't be a bad next fight, both for the title and to add a bit of spice to a fight with Naoya
But imo Bam needs at least two good quality fights at 122 before challenging as Inoue has really grown into the weight.
Kearn from Nakatani's mistake!
" . . the division’s biggest fight of all is so tantalizingly close . . . "
You're not seriously referring to the Fury - Joshua money-grab are you Lance?!
STFU
David just fought a Mexican body bag named Turdo.
Yes, after looking unimpressive against The Nail who had already retired once, struggling against Morrel, and beating on an overrated 2nd tier Yarde. Why the hype?
Good decision by Leo and his management not to move forward with th fight.
The promoter having to pay the purse of the fighter making weight should be a standard clause in title fights.
Nakatani took the fight with Inoue two, maybe three. fights too early imo. Junto should have had at least another couple of fights at 122 and took another 9-months or so to really grow into the weight.
Maybe he, or his management/promoter were worried that Inoue would retire/go to 126/lose to someone else, so they rushed Nakatani into that fight.
Right now Bam is presently TWO weight classes and probably four or five fights/approx two years away from being able to seriously challenge Inoue. So the momentum is growing for him to also take that fight before he is ready.
If his trainer and his management really want to do their best by him, they will bide their time and let Bam grow into a real 122lb-er. If Inoue is still there at the end of next year (doubtful) then look for him. If not, too bad but there will be other big fights.
I hope Vergil continues to take "L"s concerning this. The man signed a contract, got greedy listening to outside influence, wanted to get out. That's not how contracts work. He should have fulfilled his obligations, then become a free man.
Oscar should be in the driver seat here in every way since the contract was signed and stands. Vergil needs to provide some kind of evidence as to why he needs to break out of the contract which just about anything he says will probably be shot down.
Yes, that's pretty much how I see it too. I'm no great fan of how De La Hoya conducts himself as both a person and promoter BUT Ortiz signed a contract that he must have been happy with. He needs to honour it or prove how Golden Boy have breached it's terms to his detriment.
Not surprised! We all saw a certain pattern when it comes to this fight.
Yes, Smith has never wanted this fight. Just needs a doctor to state he's got a back injury . . .
Prograis is being brought across to lose to Eggy; cash out time. Forget the BS about titles at 147, Regis was shown to lack the grit even at his peak against Taylor.
So we may see Joshua vs Fury 6 years too late typical boxing if it’s free on Netflix I’ll watch but meh both are well passed it Joshua more so
Blatant money grab that's all.
I think Smith played a st.pid game by pricing himself out of the Benavidez fight. He would have received a career ending beating for sure but at least with a decent payday.
Now he will most likely lose the fight against Morrell and that will be it for him. Maybe he can move to Cruiserweight after the loss since Jai Opetaia is desperately looking for any fighter above D level (Without success).
Smith priced himself out rather than receive a career ending beating.