Recent Espinoza tweet about his mismatches

[Dinamita 03]

I understand the point clearly. I agree with everything you said about the Danny fight. He should be fighting Petersen for the JWW lineal and not against salka in a 142 CW fight that isn't for the title.

HBO just had as big a mismatch Sat night-the only difference is it was for a title and Caparello is a LHW.

It was a mismatch but nowhere near the joke your trying to compare it to. An obvious reason is the fight involved two fighters in the same division. Kovalev fighting an unknown smw would be comparable.

[The Big Dunn]

How the hell was Caparello as bad as Salka?!?



You know that's not true! Salka isn't even a 140lber!

Come on King. Salka is a terrible, unfit, unjustifiable opponent for Danny. Blake is that for Kovalev.

[King_]

I don't know who Main Events sought out just that HBO rejected other opposition. HBO has any number of reasons why it will not approve an opponent-(see GGG Mora where HBO rejected Mora not because GGG would lose but because Mora's awkward style would most likely make for an ugly UD win for GGG and not a KO).

Come on King-you had no idea who Blake Caparello was, same as Salka. HBO likely approved because there was little danger in Kovalev losing -it is the 1st fight of his deal and a loss wouldn't be so great.

Again, the thread topic is mismatches-Kovalev Caparello was just that.

The difference between Caparello and Salka is there simply wasn't anyone better the Caparello for Kovalev on August 2nd. Sure it was a mismatch, but like I originally said... there is a huge and legit backstory to this fight and there wasn't anyone better. At the LEAST, he fought on ESPN in his last fight, was undefeated, and held the IBO LHW title. Similar circumstances to Prov and Algieri getting their shot on HBO

Meanwhile, Salka is not only 19-3, but not even a 140bler. He's moving up a division in which he is not ranked in any sanctioning bodies rankings, the fight is at a catchweight of 142 (lol) and 140 is STACKED. He could of just fought Peterson instead of Showtime headling a card with two tune ups for both of them


One thing I will say about HBO- its clear they're focused on putting on the best fights possible. Showtime has been putting on showcase cards on their main network for a while now. It really hasn't been happening with HBO for a while (see HBO rejecting Golovkin/Ishida-Adama)


The problem? Two words:


Stephen Espinoza


(IMO)



edit: you're probably right. kovalev-Caparello would of been better off on NBC. but there hasn't been many other mismatches

[King_]

Come on King. Salka is a terrible, unfit, unjustifiable opponent for Danny. Blake is that for Kovalev.

I agree. You are right about that- he had no chance to win.... BUT


There is a backstory, you know that bro. Adonis ducked him and like I said, for a stay-busy fight.... this was the best possible opponent


Although you are most likely right- this shouldn't have been on HBO. Maybe NBC sportsnetwork


But still, not even in the same realm as the Salka fight. Not even close

[The Big Dunn]

It was a mismatch but nowhere near the joke your trying to compare it to. An obvious reason is the fight involved two fighters in the same division. Kovalev fighting an unknown smw would be comparable.

if you honestly believe that Kovalev v Caparello is any different than Garcia v Salka because of the weight-we can agree to disagree.

You are highlighting the exact problem I made in my initial post in this thread. Kovalev v caparello was a **** fight. we all know it.

Trying to differentiate the 2 is like trying to differentiate between Kevin Ware's injury compared to Paul George's injury.

[The Big Dunn]

I agree. You are right about that- he had no chance to win.... BUT


There is a backstory, you know that bro. Adonis ducked him and like I said, for a stay-busy fight.... this was the best possible opponent


Although you are most likely right- this shouldn't have been on HBO. Maybe NBC sportsnetwork


But still, not even in the same realm as the Salka fight. Not even close

The difference between Caparello and Salka is there simply wasn't anyone better the Caparello for Kovalev on August 2nd. Sure it was a mismatch, but like I originally said... there is a huge and legit backstory to this fight and there wasn't anyone better. At the LEAST, he fought on ESPN in his last fight, was undefeated, and held the IBO LHW title. Similar circumstances to Prov and Algieri getting their shot on HBO

Meanwhile, Salka is not only 19-3, but not even a 140bler. He's moving up a division in which he is not ranked in any sanctioning bodies rankings, the fight is at a catchweight of 142 (lol) and 140 is STACKED. He could of just fought Peterson instead of Showtime headling a card with two tune ups for both of them


One thing I will say about HBO- its clear they're focused on putting on the best fights possible. Showtime has been putting on showcase cards on their main network for a while now. It really hasn't been happening with HBO for a while (see HBO rejecting Golovkin/Ishida-Adama)


The problem? Two words:


Stephen Espinoza


(IMO)



edit: you're probably right. kovalev-Caparello would of been better off on NBC

Adonis not taking the Kovalev fight DOES NOT JUSTIFY Kovalev taking a **** fight. Be honest-HBO gave a recently signed fighter a soft fight in the 1st fight of the deal. No different than any other.

Yes there is a backstory. doesn't justify the Caparello fight. You nor I know what fights Main Events tried to make and therefore we shouldn't blindly give them credit as a way to justify a **** fight. Main Events and/or HBO could have refused to negotiate with or rejected other opponents which may have been better,

respectfully, you didn't know who Caparello was before this fight so I find it hard that you are so clear this was the best opponent available.

everything said about the danny v salka fight is true. But that has no bearing on the quality of the Kovalev fight nor should it be factored in when assessing if the fight was a mismatch.

[King_]

Adonis not taking the Kovalev fight DOES NOT JUSTIFY Kovalev taking a **** fight. Be honest-HBO gave a recently signed fighter a soft fight in the 1st fight of the deal. No different than any other.

Yes there is a backstory. doesn't justify the Caparello fight. You nor I know what fights Main Events tried to make and therefore we shouldn't blindly give them credit as a way to justify a **** fight.

everything said about the danny v salka fight is true. But that has no bearing on the quality of the Kovalev fight nor should it be factored in when assessing if the fight was a mismatch.

The fact that Caparello was an undefeated fighter who just made his American TV debut in his last fight on ESPN, the same way Algieri and Prov got their HBO debuts....... and it being just one fight on a split-site triple header, counts for nothing?



Surely, it's somewhat of a consolation for the mismatch

[Dinamita 03]

if you honestly believe that Kovalev v Caparello is any different than Garcia v Salka because of the weight-we can agree to disagree.

You are highlighting the exact problem I made in my initial post in this thread. Kovalev v caparello was a **** fight. we all know it.

Trying to differentiate the 2 is like trying to differentiate between Kevin Ware's injury compared to Paul George's injury.

If that's what you truly believe then good for you I'm not wasting my time on that joke of a fight.

[bojangles1987]

Every time Garcia/Salka is compared to Pac/Algieri, Kovalev/Caparello, Matthysse/Molina, or any other mismatch you care to name recently, they are really underestimating how deep Haymon dug for this fight. This isn't even the bottom of the barrel at 140. They brought in a second barrel and dug to the bottom of that new barrel.

[The Big Dunn]

The fact that Caparello was an undefeated fighter who just made his American TV debut in his last fight on ESPN, the same way Algieri and Prov got their HBO debuts....... and it being just one fight on a split-site triple header, counts for nothing?



Surely, it's somewhat of a consolation for the mismatch

Bringing up other fights has no bearing on whether the Kovalev fight was a mismatch-which is the thread topic. I can respect your points-but you are using them to function in the exact way I mentioned in my 1st post.

Haymon and Duva did the same ****ing thing-got easy fights for their guys to stay busy and not lose before the bigger fight down the road. If mismatches is your issue, than ALL mismatches should be criticized. If Sho/Haymon mismatches are your problem, just say that.