Abraham, Froch, Taylor, Kessler in Showtime Shocker

[Dave Rado]

Kessler. His career has gone badly off the rails since the Calzaghe defeat, and this tourney offers big fights and a chance to re-establish himself as top dog in the division.

No one can really call themselves top dog unless they've beaten Bute (unless Bute loses to someone else in the meantime). That's what's bull**** and weird about this line-up, it simply makes no sense to exclude Bute.

[Dave Rado]

everyone up in here already know you are racist and is gon pick one of the white guys. u dont have no credibility left son. just give it a rest. kessler is a decent fighter, abraham will destroy him, if he gets his cardio right so will taylor, and u need to give ward the upperhand too since he schooled miranda whom kessler was running scared from.

You're being ridiculous. To claim Kessler was running scared from Miranda is the most laughable, idiotic thing anyone could say; and to claim that anyone who agrees with The Ring that Kessler is the #1 Super Middleweight must be racist is itself a racist statement.

What happened with Miranda is that Kessler's promoter blew the negotiations - and that's one of the reasons Kessler has been in court trying to get out of his lousy contract with his lousy promoter.

[Dave Rado]

if mandatories are going to get in the way then i hope the fighters just ditch the belts and go at

In theory all the alphabets have a policy that provided a belt holder requests a unification in good time, unifications can take precedence over mandatories. So provided the promoters all notify the alphabets in good time, that shouldn't be an issue. To be fair to the alphabets, almost all recent instances of people being stripped prior to a unification were examples of where the promoters did not request in good time that the unification be given precedence over the mandatory - i.e. it was the promoters' fault. Bradley is a good example of that.

[Dave Rado]

forget the "style" BS .. sometimes the better fighter wins.

The fact is that just because someone gets beaten badly by fighter A, that doesn't necessarily mean they would also lose to fighter B, even if fighter B had beaten fighter A. There's no bull**** about it. Marquez has a bad style for Pac, overall Pac is rated by most as the better fighter, but when they fight each other, it's always too close to call. Hopkins is a much better fighter than Taylor but lost to him twice, albeit controversially. The fact my initial examples were at heavyweight is irrelevant. Styles do make fights, and that's just a fact.

[MJ406]

The fact is that just because someone gets beaten badly by fighter A, that doesn't necessarily mean they would also lose to fighter B, even if fighter B had beaten fighter A. There's no bull**** about it. Marquez has a bad style for Pac, overall Pac is rated by most as the better fighter, but when they fight each other, it's always too close to call. Hopkins is a much better fighter than Taylor but lost to him twice, albeit controversially. The fact my initial examples were at heavyweight is irrelevant. Styles do make fights, and that's just a fact.

im not saying that just because Taylor lost to Froch it's a forgone conclusion he'd lose to Kessler or Abraham .. if Kessler or Abe beat Taylor it probably has more to do with them being overall better

yeah "styles make fights" is an over said statement to come to a conclusion why fighters win fights

but I don't think it's an absolute (although there is certain truth to it)

as people can use the "styles make fights" to justify almost anything

oh what about Hatton/Pacquiao for example? classic case of styles make fights

I mean come up with something a little bit more creative, I've heard the "styles make fights" a billion and one times. (and don't get me wrong im not blowing it off all together)

and if Hopkins is much better than Taylor, why did he lose to him twice? lol

and before you throw the cliched "styles make fights" .. I saw the first fight of Hop/Taylor and B-Hop did very little work the first 7 rounds of the fight

that has nothing to do with "styles making fights" it's one guy throwing more punching and winning rounds because of activity.

an inferior fighter (which were calling Taylor since I'll agree B-Hop is better) basically beat Hopkins because of punch activity.

so according to that "styles makes fights" statement are you telling me ANY inferior fighter could beat Hopkins on a high punch output

and if no, how come Taylor did it?

[MJ406]

Foreman destroyed Frazier, then Ali destroyed Foreman, then Ali had the toughest fight of his life against Frazier.

Foreman also destroyed Norton, who beat Ali once, and arguably deserved to beat Ali three times.

Styles make fights.

okay so Foreman never beat Ali, but was able to beat Frazier and Norton (who both hold wins over Ali)

all that really tells me, from the examples is that Foreman can't beat Ali.

Jake LaMotta was able to beat Sugar Ray Robinson once, but then lost the 5 other times they fought.

what's your point?

and yeah I know "styles make fights" but all you showed from the examples is that Foreman could not beat Ali

yet Frazier and Norton were able to beat Ali at least once.

[Tom_Tocca]

Now, ESPN is also on board with this story...I'll mark up the October 10 on my calender...

[dstew]

From Dan Rafael's blog:

The way fighters will advance to the semifinals is by collecting points. A fighter will get two points for a victory, with an additional point given for a knockout. One point is awarded for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss.

The four fighters with the highest point totals advance to the semifinals and will be seeded based on who has the most points. The fighter who has racked up the most points faces the fighter among the four semifinalists with the fewest points. The No. 2 and No. 3 point earners face each other in the other semifinal.

And what if there is a tie in points at the semifinal stage? Easy. If two fighters who have already faced each other are tied, the winner of that bout will be the one to advance to the semis. If there is a tie between fighters who have not fought, the guy with the most stoppage wins in the tournament advances. If there is still a tie, they'll go to the official scorecards of each fighter's tournament bouts and add them up, with the leader advancing. If the ties continue, the ultimate decision will be made with a coin flip.

Hershman has been very thorough -- and secretive -- in this whole process. But, from what I understand, he made at least one trip to Germany to meet with Abraham's handlers. He also worked closely to get Al Haymon, the adviser of Taylor and Dirrell, on board before getting their promoters involved.

Hershman has come up with contingencies in the event of a no contest, a positive drug test and even if a fighter fails to make the 168-pound limit. There are also contingencies in the event of a draw in the semifinals, not to mention language in the contract that addresses everything from sponsorship revenue sharing to ticket allotments.

Hershman has also covered himself in another critical area, that of mandatory obligations of the titleholders. They won't get in the way. By entering the tournament, the fighters and their promoters expressly agree that the tournament takes precedence over a mandatory bout, although a mandatory could take place if it's within the context of the tournament.

[dstew]

If all the fighters, managers, and promoters can come to an agreement and pull this off it will be a miracle. Mad respect to everyone involved if it comes to fruition. The 168 division would set a high standard for what the other weight classes should be aspiring to do.

Taylor getting KO'd in the first round of the tournament would be tough to watch though.

[Sutekh uvdabrix]

If all the fighters, managers, and promoters can come to an agreement and pull this off it will be a miracle. Mad respect to everyone involved if it comes to fruition. The 168 division would set a high standard for what the other weight classes should be aspiring to do.

Taylor getting KO'd in the first round of the tournament would be tough to watch though.

If taylor can stop drinking he could beat everyone in the tournament