Comments Thread For: Shaw Replaces Rivas, To Fight Ajagba In ESPN Main Event 1/14; Vianello-Rice In Co-Feature

[Boricua181]

Good fights, close fights and I can certainly see two upsets here.
I think Shaw outboxes Ajagba and reckon Rice upsets Vianello.

I actually agree with those two prediction's/logical assessment's, on these upcoming fight's.
Due the perceived winner's having better boxing skill's, although they can possibly win by knockout as well.

[Boricua181]

Not a bad shuffling of fighters to recreate a nice main event. Shaw/Ajagba is a good fight and I'm not sure who wins. Vianello and Rice isn't a bad fight either. Guido was lucky to get that draw against Ibeh and Rice is a tricky out (as Michael Coffie learned twice).

I can see Shaw beating Ajagba, and Rice beating Vianello, and to be clear Kingsley Ibeh, was cheated out of win by the judges against Vianello.
I really hate it when that happen's, these corrupt decision rendered by unscrupulous judges tend to alter the trajectory of a fighter's career.
Leading them to turn to infighting with their team, alcohol, drug's, crime's, homelessness, and in some worse case scenario's murder, or suicide.
These tragedies have already occurred to many boxer's in the history of this sport, corruption has a way of ruining everyone's life who is effected by it.

[joe strong]

I am so far behind on watching fighters the last few years. Never seen Shaw fight & have only seen Guido twice against low level opponents. I know what Rice brings when in shape & Ajagba has a lot to prove after his loss to Sanchez. Has he hit the David Price level? Like Sanchez, Shaw is going to try & leap frog Ajagba move on. Will Guido be able to stop the Rice train coming at him or will he get exposed? Very interesting HW fights. Both fights are important in these fighters careers. Another loss for Ajagba & he will have a steep mountain to climb. Maybe he should have stayed with Ronnie Shields…

[sicko]

Rice beats Vianello and I have Shaw beating slow stiff Efe

Decent Heavyweight Card

[JakeTheBoxer]

A decent hw card, I guess.

I have never seen Shaw fighting, I only know he is undefeated. If he can beat Ajagba, he reaches a fringe contender level.

Rice is a decent journeyman, I think he can beat Vianello.

[PBR Streetgang]

I see Shaw beating Ajagba, and Rice beating Vianello, and to be clear Kingsley Ibeh, was cheated out of win by the judges against Vianello.
I really hate it when that happen's, these corrupt decision rendered by unscrupulous judges tend to alter the trajectory of a fighter's career.
Leading them to turn to infighting with their team, alcohol, drug's, crime's, homelessness, and in some worse case scenario's murder, or suicide.
These tragedies have already occurred to many boxer's in the history of this sport, corruption has a way of ruining everyone's life who is effected by it.

I agree on all accounts my friend. To me Ajagba's development stalled as the quality of competition increased. He had holes defensively and not enough head movement. He hits hard but the offense doesn't really flow. Shaw has power and enough nuance to his offense and defense that he should be able to beat Efe (provided he doesn't get sloppy and get caught).

As for Vianello, I've seen him several times and I'm not terribly impressed. I felt Ibeh won the fight against the Italian. Rice is a solid fighter but sometimes the motivation isn't there and he seems content to be a glorified sparring partner. Should Rice decide to fight (like the two times against Coffie), I expect him to beat (and probably stop) Vianello.

[Boricua181]

I agree on all accounts my friend. To me Ajagba's development stalled as the quality of competition increased. He had holes defensively and not enough head movement. He hits hard but the offense doesn't really flow. Shaw has power and enough nuance to his offense and defense that he should be able to beat Efe (provided he doesn't get sloppy and get caught).

As for Vianello, I've seen him several times and I'm not terribly impressed. I felt Ibeh won the fight against the Italian. Rice is a solid fighter but sometimes the motivation isn't there and he seems content to be a glorified sparring partner. Should Rice decide to fight (like the two times against Coffie), I expect him to beat (and probably stop) Vianello.

Yeah it appear's that Stephan Shaw is on his way up, and Efe Ajagba is on his way down, It's as simple as that or so it appear's.

Vianello was absolutely surprised (virtually ambushed), by Ibeh. I have to admit that's there's something special, and exciting about watching an upset in boxing.

If Rice is still riding his recent wave of success, Vianello is going to think that he's been transported back into time, and is fighting Ibeh again.

All that said there is still the possibility that Ajagba, and Vianello, can win their prospective fight's due to their power.

I still remember Curtis Harper walking out of the ring after the bell sounded to begin the first round, rather than face Ajagba (it was surreal).

[PBR Streetgang]

Yeah it appear's that Stephan Shaw is on his way up, and Efe Ajagba is on his way down, It's as simple as that or so it appear's.

Vianello was absolutely surprised (virtually ambushed), by Ibeh. I have to admit that's there's something special, and exciting about watching an upset in boxing.

If Rice is still riding his recent wave of success, Vianello is going to think that he's been transported back into time, and is fighting Ibeh again.

All that said there is still the possibility that Ajagba, and Vianello, can win their prospective fight's due to their power.

I still remember Curtis Harper walking out of the ring after the bell sounded to begin the first round, rather than face Ajagba (it was surreal).

I remember that as well. Ajagba was a bogeyman in the making. It seemed that fighters were so afraid of Efe that they would flee the ring.

Of course that's not the full story; Harper was upset at the pre-fight shenanigans he was subjected to as the B-side. Harper showed he was plenty game in an upset of Thun and a valiant losing effort against Jalolov.
As for Ajagba, the high water mark for him also began to show his limitations. He beat Demirezen comfortably for his best win but someone stood up to his power and was able to get some leather in as well. Since then, he went life and death with Kiladze, wasn't impressive against Cojanu or Rice and was dominated by Sanchez. The bogeyman no more.

[Boricua181]

I remember that as well. Ajagba was a bogeyman in the making. It seemed that fighters were so afraid of Efe that they would flee the ring.

Of course that's not the full story; Harper was upset at the pre-fight shenanigans he was subjected to as the B-side. Harper showed he was plenty game in an upset of Thun and a valiant losing effort against Jalolov.
As for Ajagba, the high water mark for him also began to show his limitations. He beat Demirezen comfortably for his best win but someone stood up to his power and was able to get some leather in as well. Since then, he went life and death with Kiladze, wasn't impressive against Cojanu or Rice and was dominated by Sanchez. The bogeyman no more.

Sanchez made Ajagba look like a sparring partner, he had absolutely no respect for him at all, and Ajagba looked a bit intimidated by him.
I was surprised to see the way the fight was unfolding between them. I was expecting to see a real tear up between these two, instead It was a disappointing fight.
I didn't know anything about any pre-fight shenanigan's before Harper's fight with Ajagba, but he was definitely the B-side in their fight he had to know that going in.
Harper sure did look impressive taking that giant Christian Thun's undefeated record away from him in their fight (good for him), it was a small measure of redemption.
I will caution you PBR Streetgang,l don't expect to much more out of Harper, he's come into some of his fight's grossly out of weight.
Which indicates a lack of discipline, and that is a career killer in any sport, but especially so in the sport of boxing.

[PBR Streetgang]

Sanchez made Ajagba look like a sparring partner, he had absolutely no respect for him at all, and Ajagba looked a bit intimidated by him.
I was surprised to see the way the fight was unfolding between them. I was expecting to see a real tear up between these two, instead It was a disappointing fight.
I didn't know anything about any pre-fight shenanigan's before Harper's fight with Ajagba, but he was definitely the B-side in their fight he had to know that going in.
Harper sure did look impressive taking that giant Christian Thun's undefeated record away from him in their fight (good for him), it was a small measure of redemption.
I will caution you PBR Streetgang,l don't expect to much more out of Harper, he's come into some of his fight's grossly out of weight.
Which indicates a lack of discipline, and that is a career killer in any sport, but especially so in the sport of boxing.

According to Harper's team at that time:
"...on Aug. 12, Curtis was given a contract to fight Ajagba for $6,000. He specifically asked the person who gave him the contract whether the fight would be on TV and was told no. He signed the contract on Aug. 13 and sent it back that day. After that, he was treated like garbage. He and his wife didn't get their plane tickets until Aug. 22 [the day of their flight]. They flew into Minneapolis and waited at the airport for an hour and 45 minutes before they were picked up. Then, at the weigh-in on Thursday, Curtis learned that, contrary to what he'd been told before, his fight was going to be on TV. And he still hadn't been given a countersigned contract. So he wanted more money."

Harper is a journeyman, I don't expect him to win many more fights. I do respect him as a fighter. Not sure exactly what happened leading up to the Ajagba fight but I think he felt disrespected and taken advantage of in front of his newlywed wife.