Boxing thread

Lebarque

And then AJ puts in his best performance in years!

Placidcasual79

I think that was an interesting event/card....good and bad - I think that sort of depth is going to be needed if boxing is going to compete with the UFC. That said there are some issues with the match making - Miller has no business being there at all. It's disappointing that he was allowed to compete - boxing has got to make grab for a greater degree of credibility..... and that means no drug cheats and the best fighters meeting......there were good names on this card -  but the fights have to be competitive.
I thought Lyndon Arthur did well to go the distance with Bivol. That was a huge jump up in class for him - Anthony Yarde is the best name on his record and he lost and won one against him.  Parker Wilder was the only fight that, on paper, didn't appear to be a foregone conclusion - and it turned out that way. 

TeleMaster

mikeyrob73 said:

TeleMaster said:

Wilder is awful, just a one trick pony. Congrats to Parker. 

What does this mean for an AJ v Wilder matchup? Does anyone care anymore after this? 

This Wilder has always been the same , big punch big very little else, Parker boxed him perfectly 

Absolutely. He's always been someone who was an poor boxer but had that equalising, neutralising power that could end a fight with one punch but I think he's been found out now. 

TeleMaster

Lebarque said:

And then AJ puts in his best performance in years!

Surely we have to see AJ v Fury now whatever happens against Usyk?

Tone71

Wilder is terrible, but then again most of his resume is fighting taxi drivers to defend his belt, he's avoided any good/smart fighters for years, pleased for Parker, he's a likeable guy and a good fighter.

AJ looked good and delivered well, I think Ben Davison could be a good match up.

Dubois also looked good, although looked tiny compared to the unit in front of him, glad he shut motormouth/PEDS cheat up!

Overall a great card and despite the sound issues on DAZN, was £20 well spent.

Iamnobody

Not a bad night. Not sure it delivered 100% for me, but largely decent. I appreciate the skill set of the lighter fighters so a card of mainly monsters doesn’t necessarily hit the spot.

Jai Opetaia is a dangerous man. Can’t wait to see him square up against the best in the division. 

I thought Arthur put in an ok performance, his defensive work was excellent he was catching a lot of what Bivol threw to keep himself mainly upright, but the constant pressure meant he couldn’t get anything off of his own, the one body shot might have troubled Bivol who said it was a good spar in the post fight interview. 

AJ - a decent night at the office, hopefully he’s still got something left in the sport whereas Wilder looked like he’s got nothing left. Barely threw at Parker in a shutout and even raised his hand at the end in a victory statement, deluded. 

Dubois - I wanted him to chin Big Druggy Miller but I’d take the absolute beating of him instead. 

Hootsmon

Lebarque said:

And then AJ puts in his best performance in years!

Tae be a champion you've gotta show up for ALL your fights not just one in ten.....he's a lamb chop

Whatever that means 

Schnozz

Another bum for AJ

munckee

Any thoughts on Smiths chances at the weekend. In paper looks an easy win for beterbiev but smith can punch, my concern is he didn’t trouble canelo at all where bivol made canelo look slow and small. 

Apparently there were ‘anomalies’ in a drugs test for beterbiev with steroids and growth enhancers showing up but has since put in a clean test (with someone else’s piss possibly!)

Anyone give Callum a shot?

Iamnobody

Tricky comparison because smith fought Canelo at super middle didn’t he?

Smith looks better at light heavy…

Go on then - I’ll give Smith a chance! 

The atypical test puts a cloud over the contest though doesn’t it high levels of HGH & test. 

munckee

Iamnobody said:

Tricky comparison because smith fought Canelo at super middle didn’t he?

Smith looks better at light heavy…

Go on then - I’ll give Smith a chance! 

The atypical test puts a cloud over the contest though doesn’t it high levels of HGH & test. 

It was super middle.  I rewatched the fight, Not a single Smith punch seemed to remotely trouble Canelo, unlike against Bivol where he was repeatedly backed up.  I suppose we don/t know if Beterbiev can take Smith's shots as well and they mentioned in the canelo fight that Smith has never been knocked down.

Iamnobody

munckee said:

Iamnobody said:

Tricky comparison because smith fought Canelo at super middle didn’t he?

Smith looks better at light heavy…

Go on then - I’ll give Smith a chance! 

The atypical test puts a cloud over the contest though doesn’t it high levels of HGH & test. 

It was super middle.  I rewatched the fight, Not a single Smith punch seemed to remotely trouble Canelo, unlike against Bivol where he was repeatedly backed up.  I suppose we don/t know if Beterbiev can take Smith's shots as well and they mentioned in the canelo fight that Smith has never been knocked down.

If you believe the narrative that Smith was done at the weight then probably not the best example of his work. But then if you remember John Ryder gave Smith a tough night (and won it for me) so…

I’m consistently wrong but I’ll go for the plucky Brit   

duotone

I predict a late stoppage for Beterbiev.

richman6100

I suspect that Smith was struggling to make super-middleweight and may have been weight-drained to get down to it by the end of his time in that division. That said, his performance against Canelo was pretty poor and I think Ryder beat him too, despite what the judges decided. He's also coming off a period of inactivity.

Beterbiev isn't a flawless fighter and he's now 38, but despite being a big puncher, I can't see Smith doing better than Yarde did against him. I'd love to be wrong, but I can see Smith being stopped in the second half of the fight.

swiller

a 50/50 fight for me.

Beterbiev:
 is older, smaller, less reach and a bit hyped when you look at his pedigree. Has better awareness, eyes always on opponent which i think its what favours him over smith and what the fuss is about. 

Smith :
can finish with fast combinations,  think he will catch beterbiev with his counters and vice versa. Should use his reach, not go into a close up slugfest with beterbiev, pounce and counter when appropriate. Right strategy is to take him the distance from distance as a starter for 10. If he engages close up by choice, its beterbievs all day long.
He should have learned a lot defensively from canelo fight, footwork, ropes, movement under attack were the key takeaways. 

For me has the hallmarks of a cracking fight. Power wise i have them equal.
Think it will be smiths night. lll go for an underdog Smith win on points, perhaps in a bloody battle. Great odds on a KO per round for smith. 50-1-100-1.

munckee

Similar to canelo fight really Smith just did not have the power to trouble him. 

duotone

Good to see his trainer jump in & make it clear to the referee he didn’t want it to continue. No point Smith taking any more punishment.

richman6100

To his credit, Smith showed how Beterbiev could potentially be beaten if you stay off the ropes, keep him at distance and implement controlled aggression. Something Bivol will almost certainly be more able to do. Sadly, Smith only did this sporadically. He had his moments, notably in round two (which I thought he probably won), but the rest of the fight was one-way traffic. I predicted a stoppage between rounds 6-8 and that's exactly how it played out unfortunately. Despite Smith's power against lesser fighters, it didn't look like Beterbiev was troubled at any point. He fought a disciplined fight, used his underrated footwork to good effect and let his power do what it always does.

Bivol has the ability to beat Beterbiev *if* he can keep him at distance. He doesn't have the power of some Light Heavyweights, but he's the most complete boxer in the division. That will be a genuinely intriguing bout. A master craftsman against an opponent who can floor you with a short jab. Ultimately, I think it will come down to how effective Beterbiev's in/out footwork can be neutralised. The safe (cop out) prediction will be Bivol to win on points or Beterbiev to win by stoppage.

munckee

What a fight Jonas v Mayer very close.  

Iamnobody

Didn’t see it - still haven’t watched the Smith fight from last week yet! 

Caught highlights of both though. 

The highlights didn’t flatter Jonas too much and it looked a good competitive fight - the talksport pundits thought a draw at best mostly going for a Mayer win. How did you see it?