Comments Thread For: BoxingScene.com's 2013 Upset of The Year

[Check_hooks]

Im with you. Gonzalez was a a two weight champ coming in with real KO power. Just cuz he doesnt have star power doesnt mean hes such an underdog as he was made out to be.

Id say Price vs Thompson as Upset of the Year cuz Price was smashing ppl and had Fury vacating tites left n rite to avoid fiting. Thompson consummate pro but old and washed up on his way out.

I forgot about Price Thompson. I think this was more shocking than Mares vs Gonzalez because Thompson was fat and out of shape.

[Levity]

going into the records of the fighters, those who say its an upset don't know about boxing...

Why don't you watch the fights instead? Just a few fights before the upset Gonzalez was dropped by and lost widely to PD, and immediately after that and just months before the Mares bout he was dropped, seriously hurt, and pushed close by the mediocre Eusebio Osejo. His performances offered plenty of evidence that he was fragile fighter off the form he was in when he scored most of the notable victories on his record.

Mares, on the other hand, had a streak of impressive recent performances, including his lopsided wins over Moreno and Agbeko, and of course his stoppage of Gonzalez's conqueror PDL. He had shown grit and versatility, getting through tough bouts and effectively dealing with multiple styles, and I think on balance the evidence was strong enough to suggest that those traits would probably enable to overcome a notoriously chinny fighter seemingly in decline.

Gonzalez is good fighter who deserved respect when he stepped between the ropes to face Mares, but that doesn't mean that his win was not a big upset.

[Levity]

"but accurate" haha Mine too.

Why do you guys think it's the upset of the year? I don't get the sense that there was generally as much surprise as there was for the Mares-Gonzalez outcome, and I can see more reasons to predict that Maidana would win than to predict that Gonzalez would win.

I was very surprised that Broner was even a strong favorite. Naturally the smaller man, uninspiring opposition, fought almost all his bouts at 135 or below, and highly unimpressive in only managing a SD in his one fight at 147. Maidana was far more battle tested and had done well against opponents who were probably top 3-5 at 140 when he beat them (i.e. Kotelnik and Khan) and he stopped a rising Victor Ortiz, which in my view is as or more impressive than Broner's wins over guys like Rees and Escobedo.

It also seemed going into the bout that Broner's relatively low work rate and slow starts would play into the hands of a busy fighter like Maidana. I think Broner's performance against Demarco made a lot of people see him as a top counter-puncher who would exploit Maidana's somewhat crude aggression, but Broner is generally a fighter who does his good work coming forward, and that was true for his bout with Maidana too. Additonally, he was hit often in his two bouts prior to fighting Maidana, but of course Rees and Paulie don't have much power.

I can understand why Broner was the favorite (much faster, generally more accurate, Maidana's performance against Alexander, etc.), but I think the evidence suggested a decent chance that Maidana would be competitive or even win.

[kadyo's]

l definitely agree with gonzales' 1st round KO of mares as the upset of the year.

[Check]

Without a doubt the Mares knockout was the upset of the year.

[bojangles1987]

I like the choice a lot. I agree with it.

Anyone who says they predicted Jhonny would win this fight is either Dwyer or delusional. There IS NO ONE that predicted this. The ones that did on that poll were likely trolling or, like I said, Dwyer fans.

Gonzalez was coming off a really bad performance against Ponce De Leon 2 fights prior. He got dropped in that fight and lost via a controversial stoppage imo. But he was losing that fight convincingly and it looked like the end of the road for him. Then he fights two bums to get in position to challenge for the title.

Abner Mares was coming off a wipe out of Daniel Ponce De Leon.

Gonzalez was/ is past his prime, a 10-1 underdog, going up against a top 5 ranked P4P fighter in his prime, a fighter who knocked out the guy that stopped him. We knew he had punching power, but we also knew that he didn't have much left, and his chin was checked multiple times.

Gonzalez goes out and knocks out Mares in round 1. It was a massive upset.

The Price vs. Thompson was not really an upset, because Price was unproven. Thompson was his first big step up in competition, despite how old Thompson was. Price got exposed, but not upset.

Perfectly said.

[4Corners]

Mares-Gonzalez is the upset of the year.

Mares was coming off wins over some of the best fighters around his weight, had beaten Moreno and stopped Ponce, someone who beat Gonzalez. Was undefeated and rightfully considered Top 10 P4P.

I did not see him losing to Gonzalez.

[New England]

the gonzalez ko of marquez isn't a bad choice, but some of the rest of the choices for the categories are absolute sh#T.

[New England]

stevenson's KO of dawson won KO of the year? the f#ck?

[SaldanaCC]

Glad to see this hype job went from p4p to upset of the yr!
I dont think mares is that good alot of fighters start at a low weight an tear threw champs on the way up till they reach a weight class of a few elites mares did this but stopped a couple weight classes away from the elite!
Broner did the same thing but did it faster and better but hey he went from a weight class of good to a weight class one above his full of talent no shame in that but yet everyone says.......who did broner beat!!!!??????
Same wit mares who has he beat really an now look who he lost to sorry but gonzalez is not that good either mares will be a guy who is good but never great he will win most his fights but loose the biggest ones.
Ab vs dana is my biggest upset just look at the numbers there were wayyyyy more ppl watchin broner vs dana then mares vs gonzalez and the odds were about the same in mares winning and broner winning.Ppl that dont even watch boxing knew heard or saw ab gettin beat trust me wayyyyyy bigger upset!