Questions from last night

[zero188]

1. Is cortez officialy done? Even the normally biased hbo commentators were asking what the **** he was doing breaking the action in the pocket.

2. Will this fight come back to haunt Khan in the future? You guys saw the punishment he took, not to mention Maidana's "Tyson" tactics. His chin stood the test imo.

3. Was Khan in premium shape? I said this during the first 5 rounds. He didnt look quite as lean as he did for the paulie fight. And yes, i do know the type of conditioning it takes to withstand that 10th round.

4. Where does Maidana go from here? Not because he lost. He fought a great fight. I say this because he got up from that nasty kd and came back to almost win the fight. IMO nobody will want anything to do with this guy.

5. Should the ref/corner have stopped in the 10th?

6. What improvements need to be made by Khan? I would say he needs to work on defense big time.

7. Whats next for Khan? I think he is ready for the TB/DA winner next month.

Not hating either fighter, just making discussion.

[-EAGLE-]

can you say what the HBO commentators said? about Cortez? word by word. thx

[uncle_ray]

If Khan wasn't such a hyped fighter with all kinds of money backing him. That fight would have definitely got stopped in the tenth. He barely fought back and IMO didn't intelligently defend himself

[zero188]

EAGLE-
I cant say for sure, but there was a moment (forget what round) when Maidana was starting to come on when he had Khan on the ropes. He must have landed 6 left hooks in a row up close, yet cortez broke them up. HBO commentators asked why he was breaking the action up when both fighters still had free hands (I.E they were not tied up.)

[-EAGLE-]

oh ok man, didn't see it on HBO, yea Cortez pfff **** him

[zero188]

oh ok man, didn't see it on HBO, yea Cortez pfff **** him

Yeah, i was shocked to see him do that. Rewatch the fight, youll be shocked.

[Stigma]

Both Roy and Merchant mentioned unnecessary breaks. Lampley may have as well, can't recall.

As for a tenth round stoppage, I kind of agree with your assessment now, but can't recall thinking it last night during the actual fight. Whether that's because I was too busy anticipating a killshot, or whether it actually wasn't so bad, I can't be sure. The Maidana fan in me might say it should've been stopped, but the boxing fan is glad it didn't. Khan deserved the opportunity to prove his chin. And he did.

[zero188]

Both Roy and Merchant mentioned unnecessary breaks. Lampley may have as well, can't recall.

As for a tenth round stoppage, I kind of agree with your assessment now, but can't recall thinking it last night during the actual fight. Whether that's because I was too busy anticipating a killshot, or whether it actually wasn't so bad, I can't be sure. The Maidana fan in me might say it should've been stopped, but the boxing fan is glad it didn't. Khan deserved the opportunity to prove his chin. And he did.

Yes, i agree. I thought back to the taylor-chavez fight. I thought about how a big deal would have been made if the fight was stopped with khan winning on all the cards. I will be honest, i was waiting for the killshot too lol. When you watch the fight again, look at Khan's legs when the bell rings. When Ariza asked him if he was ok, he gave him "the look." A coach or someone who has boxed before knows that look from a mile away. Khan wasnt going to quit. If he was going to lose, someone else would have to save him. He took some brutal punishment. I give him credit for that.

[Kris Silver]

Cortez was ok, he had words with both sides roughly as much, and was not standing for leaping in, hitting and holding and rough tactics/butts.

From all the fights that night a lot of the ones staged in the UK borderline had early stoppages.

In-fact 2 fights had stoppages which it could be said were not much worse than the punishment Khan soaked up.

Although Khan wasn't throwing back enough for awhile, it was right not to stop it. I actually think too much is made of not throwing back because often in that position you just have to survice the onslaught of punches, by soaking, blocking or moving. Khan was to varying degree's doing those things and wasn't looking out on his feet. For anyone at that point thinking it could have been stopped, well that was pretty much proven wrong when Khan through good solid combinations sometimes just 20 seconds later.

He does need to improve his defence when he's cornered though, he can't rely on moving out of there. His guard, head movement and countering all need to improve.

[Traveler1]

I don't think the fight should have been stopped in the 10th. Khan was getting smashed up, but he still had his hands up. If he had dropped his hands and was catching clean shot to the head without really answering back, then yea I would have liked to see it stopped, but in this case it was right to let the fight go on. I was waiting for Maidana to finally knock him out, but he seemed so eager and desperate to land a shot on his face that he neglected to go for the body. Khan had cocooned his head within his arms trying to weather any head shots, but in the process left his body open at times. Maidana didn't think and just kept aiming for the head when just some well placed shots to the midsection could have brought him down once and for all.

I also agree that the ref was way too overzealous in breaking these guys up during the fight. There were some rounds where Khan would clinch with Maidana and hold onto one of his arms. Marcos would then start punching him at will with his free hand, but the ref kept coming in and breaking them apart when that happened.