I don't like Judah much but the kid deserved the nod in the first fight. I'm not saying its a robbery coz it was close and a draw would have been acceptable. Rematch is a pick'em, but it WILL go 12.
two things
1 sven ottke is a fraud
2 hatton will kill kostya before he ever gets to de la hoya and if he does get that far dlh will destroy him pretty fast.
1. Agreed, Ottke is the epitome of fraud.
2. Disagree, Frank Warren knows he can't beat Sharmba Mitchell, thats why Hatton has missed so many chances to fight him, what makes you think he has any better of a chance at beating Tszyu. Warren is asking the fight to be fought in Manchester, shows his confidence.. (fighting in a packed Manchester stadium, is not an excuse, as a fight in the states will ensure bigger exposure and larger purses later on)
Eastman was clearly better than joppy but he just froze up at the start and just got outworked early, but then did what hopkins did in the final rounds. Eastman ain't gonna just rollover but i don't expect him to win. Close UD for Hops in a competitive but typically boring Hopkins fight.
Albeit pass his prime, the beating that Chavez took from Tsyzu was so one-sided that Kosta made it look effortless and did it without a huff or puff. It was the only fight in which i have seen Chavez fighting going backwards. His knew his could not overpower Tszyu and thus had to fight going backwards. I can't see anything different if he were in his prime other than it being more competitive and close. To say a prime Chavez gives Tszyu a beating is ludicrous. Since the only the time they have fought, it was Kosta getting the W.
This bs about past fighters beating current fighters is rubbish. Past fighters may have been bigger warriors due to them fighting for smaller purses and having to really fight for a living but man has evolved over the years to become faster and stronger. Just look at all athletic records and how times have gone lower and lower etc. They may throw less punchers, and fight less nowadays but they are more efficient and better defensively. I truly believe that they in all divisions apart from the sorry heavyweight division that all the current fighters could either match or beat those of the past.
Tszyu has been the top dog in his weight class for around 5 yrs, 10 yrs if you exclude the Vince Phillips loss. That is around 5-10% of boxing history right there, so of course he is an all-time great. So if Oscar for transcending the sport and keeping it alive. Btw, all-time greats do get knocked out. It is how they deal with it that makes them greats.
Whitaker vs Chavez
Lewis vs Holyfield
Those were obvious screwjobs as the fighter who dominated hardcore did not get the win. However, don't feel too bad for em, that at least got the draw. The worst i have seen are:
Ottke vs Teddy Reid
Ottke vs Mars Larsen
Ottke vs Byron Mitchell
Tapia vs Medina
These were fights where the WINNER, did not get a win but in fact got a LOSS for their troubles. Ludicrous. Stuff like this kills boxing.
It is because the world is filled with self righteous people who denounce the things he did, but pay to watch his fights in the hope that he does it. Mike Tyson is probably the BEST thing to happen to boxing in the last two decades. He keeps people interested and the sport alive. Boxing is a brutal sport and him biting Evander's ear just proves that it is a combat sport where the aim is to hurt your opponent by all means possible.
my question is this.....how big is boxing in austrailia? is kostya as popular in austrailia as pac-man is in the filipines? i only ask because i don't know. not to be a smart ass or anything like that. i love kostya tszyu.
Don't worry, boxing here in Australia isn't really huge, but Kosta Tszyu IS. So any fight in Australia will be packed out if Kosta is fighting. Just like the Leija fight, where 60000 packed the Telstra Dome to watch.
People say Toney can just go in and beat Klit to the body. Well easier said than done. Williams tried to get inside and he got hammered for trying. It's not like Williams wanted to fight on the outside, he had no choice coz he coudn't get inside of Klit's long arms. Plus Toney is a counterpuncher. Meaning he fights defensive, and counters shots. You can't really get inside fighting like that. So if they ever meet, it will be pretty one-sided.
Apart from rd1, pacquaio vs marquez was the bloodfest that ppl make it out to be. For me, the foy was mayorga vs trinidad coz it was non-stop action for 9 rounds albeit slightly one-sided.
He beats Corrales by a comfortable UD the 2nd time round. And he would do the same to Gatti as long as he can handle the power, something we don't know yet. Against Tszyu i see him dropping a close but definitive UD with a few knockdowns for Tszyu. You don't just jump 2 divisions, fight the best and win. I mean floyd looks good when he was at 130 and 135 but 140 is where the big fish are.
Considering he has been at the top of the division for the past 8 years, and practically beaten almost every contender in his weight class i cannot see why he shoudn't be #1 or #2. Every1 seems to put hopkins or mayweather as the top dogs as it seems like the cool thing to do, but hopkins beat an undersized dlh and mayweather isn't even the top dog of the division. So yes, you can put tszyu #1. Beating mayweather, harris, cotto or hatton would surely secure him at #1.
Prime hamed was actually a pretty good boxer who was able to straife in and out throwing puts at weird angles. I'd say he prolly wins the first few rounds b4 pacman catches him and catches him with the left and then continuing to pressure him and take rounds onto winning a UD. Hamed has a pretty good beard and against barrera he was flailing all over the place but never really looked like getting knocked out.