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This past Saturday night, Joe Calzaghe took what must surely be seen as a backwards step or two as he out-pointed a fighter who, all defense of his standing aside, is now 0-1-1 as a super-middleweight.
Sakio Bika was an unsatisfactory choice as a follow-up to the beating of Jeff Lacy in March. The scrappy, often foul-invested points win scored by Joe was even more unsatisfactory given the hand-picked opponent he faced.
Leading up top the fight there had been a lack of buzz here in Manchester. This is not necessarily a slur on Joe per se; it is just that somehow Joe had slipped under the radar. Bringing London ticket prices to the North was a puzzling move also.
A partial reason for the lack of buzz was due to the choice of opponent, for a man who is haunted by brittle hands and a dwindling shelf-life Bika is total bunk as an opponent.
However it is always best to take rumours of poor ticket sales - plus competition giveaways being used to fill seats - with a pinch of salt. Due to my being persona non gratis with Sports Network I had decided to purchase tickets for my partner and I in order to catch a glimpse of a Calzaghe – plus I wanted to see how well the show had sold.
My secondary question was partially answered as we entered the arena only to be redirected to a queue of people waiting for upgrades on their tickets. Our second-tier seat had been upgraded to a lower-tier seat.
The second-tier was covered under a black velvety blanket and completely closed-off, the lower-tier was in full use aside from three covered-up sections on the left-hand side of the arena. We were being packed tight for the cameras.
The quickness of the eye can deceive the mind so I held fire on any judgements for a while.
As people arrived it became clear that the show had sold well, yet it was not Hatton’d out by any stretch of the imagination. Still, once the main event drew near the crowd whipped up a decent volume of noise for the Joe. [details]
Sakio Bika was an unsatisfactory choice as a follow-up to the beating of Jeff Lacy in March. The scrappy, often foul-invested points win scored by Joe was even more unsatisfactory given the hand-picked opponent he faced.
Leading up top the fight there had been a lack of buzz here in Manchester. This is not necessarily a slur on Joe per se; it is just that somehow Joe had slipped under the radar. Bringing London ticket prices to the North was a puzzling move also.
A partial reason for the lack of buzz was due to the choice of opponent, for a man who is haunted by brittle hands and a dwindling shelf-life Bika is total bunk as an opponent.
However it is always best to take rumours of poor ticket sales - plus competition giveaways being used to fill seats - with a pinch of salt. Due to my being persona non gratis with Sports Network I had decided to purchase tickets for my partner and I in order to catch a glimpse of a Calzaghe – plus I wanted to see how well the show had sold.
My secondary question was partially answered as we entered the arena only to be redirected to a queue of people waiting for upgrades on their tickets. Our second-tier seat had been upgraded to a lower-tier seat.
The second-tier was covered under a black velvety blanket and completely closed-off, the lower-tier was in full use aside from three covered-up sections on the left-hand side of the arena. We were being packed tight for the cameras.
The quickness of the eye can deceive the mind so I held fire on any judgements for a while.
As people arrived it became clear that the show had sold well, yet it was not Hatton’d out by any stretch of the imagination. Still, once the main event drew near the crowd whipped up a decent volume of noise for the Joe. [details]
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