Boxing Thread

[Christmas Lights]

There is a lot of hate for Khan but you guys cannot admit he isn't good to watch.  I think its his faults that make him a must watch.  He has speed and power to trouble opponents but he also has the ability of going from dominating a fight to utter meltdown with one punch such is his poor punch resistance.  Perfect example was Saturday night and the fight with Madiana was the same, boxed brilliantly and then caught with one and the Jelly legs came.

Always makes good matches as well Khan and doesn't duck a challenge, gets a lot of bad press but he does aim to fight the best int the divisions.

[screenexile]

There is a lot of hate for Khan but you guys cannot admit he isn't good to watch.  I think its his faults that make him a must watch.  He has speed and power to trouble opponents but he also has the ability of going from dominating a fight to utter meltdown with one punch such is his poor punch resistance.  Perfect example was Saturday night and the fight with Madiana was the same, boxed brilliantly and then caught with one and the Jelly legs came.

Always makes good matches as well Khan and doesn't duck a challenge, gets a lot of bad press but he does aim to fight the best int the divisions.

I'm not saying he's not good to watch but he's a complete tube. The way he behaved after the McCloskey and Peterson fights was an absolute disgrace. Let's be honest he's done nothing in his professional career that would suggest he can mix it with the big boys. Anyone he has fought has been a bum or else at the tail end of their career.

I love watching small lads with plenty of heart get the shite knocked out of them but they can't then turn around and say they should be in the ring with Mayweather/Pacquiao etc.

[CiKe]

Khan really does himself no favours does he??

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/18852698

But Khan responded: "Carl's always got his little things to say and I'll leave it to that really. If he wants to retire he can retire.

"I'm in a tougher division, I'm fighting better opposition and I'm a bigger name than him. That's what burns him really.

Yeah for some reason I don't think Froch is too worried about what Khan has to say about him!!

Just after reading that on BBC, and thats one of the main reasons why I can't stand Khan.  It was the same with the papers on Saturday, he was slabbering about how he was going to fight Mayweather next.  How has he fought better opposition than Froch?  Balls.  As for it being a tougher division, I would also disagree.  Look at the wins Khan has had the past few years since Prescott, and they have been against over-rated power punchers (Malignaggi, Salita etc) or flukey technical decisions (MAB & McCloskey), although I agree McCloskey probably wouldn't have troubled him had the fight went on.  I hope he doesn't get a rematch because he is the one fighter who never seems to give anyone a rematch when circumstances call for it, and in the Garcia fight it was hardly a contentious points win so why would or should Garcia bother.

I'd be fairly confident in saying that I don't think anyone in world boxing has fought as consistently high a standard of opponent as Carl Froch has over the last 4 years:

Jean Pascal (then undefeated, goes on to win LHW title)
Jermain Taylor (two defeats to Pavlikk, previously dethroned Hopkins)
Andre Dirrell (undefeated at time)
Mikel Kessler (two defeats, one being one of the toughest fights of Calzaghe's career, the other being to "Son of God" who is so good he would be top fighter in most eras)
Artur Abraham (only a DQ loss on resume to Dirrell, pretty fearsome puncher though personally never convinced)
Glen Johnson (many more defeats on his resume than he should have - tough as nails)
Andre Ward (undefeated, possibly the next P4P number 1 when Mayweather hangs up the gloves)
Lucian Bute (undefeated and very well rated - talk of him being ill and so on, to be fair I didn't see him putting u any excuses - Froch battered him)
Jo

That is 8 seriously tough fights on the go. Not certain but possibly the only fights he would have gone in as favourite were Pascal and Johnson. I thought he lost to Dirrell mind but no shame at all in losing to Kessler and Ward.

[Atticus_Finch]

Think a couple of lads on here being a tad disrespectful to DeMarcus Corley.  They seem to know enough about his career to call him a journeyman but don't even know his name, speaks volumes.  Any boxer that has gone the distance with Floyd Mayweather Jnr, lost on a split decision to Zab Judah, troubled Miguel Cotto must have some sort of boxing pedigree.  There is no denying Paul McCloskey had a bad night at the office when he fought Corley, having title aspirations he not only had to beat him, he had to beat him convincingly. He left his strongest asset, his elusiveness, at home that night.  I know he was happy with his training camp and couldn't pin point any weaknesses but his wife had a child during the training camp and I think that naturally took away his focus to an extent although he would most likely deny that. 

Don't really want to go over the McCloskey vs Khan fight again it's been talked about enough ... although Khan was winning the fight in the early stages he was not winning convincingly, depite his best efforts he was not landing how he would have liked to.  The fact was that McCloskey was denied his opportunity of executing the blueprint that was drawn up before the fight.  Whether that blueprint would have gone to plan ? i'll never know and nor will anyone else, a bout can change in a matter of seconds ... but the circumstances in which he was denied the right to fight his fight was an injustice. 

McCloskey has gone back to the drawing board and is prepared to start from almost scratch in his quest for a shot again. Once upon a time he was the headlining bouts in Belfast but on Thursday he'll be announced as appearing on the undercard of the Carl Frampton vs Kiko Martinez fight on the 22nd of September.  Even with being on the undercard i'd be surprised if McCloskey's fans do not outnumber that of any other fighter on the night. Khan could take a couple of lessons from him on how to act outside of the ring and how to build up and retain a loyal fanbase.  Don't get me wrong the 22nd of September isn't a contest to see who has the most fans,  it is about belfast having a great night of boxing displaying all the local fighters with Martin lindsay and jamie conlan also involved.  Brian Magee is also scheduled to be having his WBA super middleweight title shot against Karoly Balzsay on the same date but I would imagine that will be moved to another date.

I was truly delighted to see Garcia triumph at the weekend, I didn't see it coming and that element of surprise made it all the better.  I think Khan refused to learn the lessons of the Peterson fight as he felt he had no lessons to learn with Peterson failing a drugs test.  Perhaps he felt that a drug free Peterson would have lost and there was nothing to be worried about.  When Khan gets in a bit of bother his boxing brain switches off, when the adrenalin kicks in he always seems to opt for fight rather than flight.  This pursuit of the former is great for tv but it is never going to serve him well.

Even in victory I think Garica may be able to learn a thing or two from Khan.  Does anyone else see the parallels between the two in respect of family involvement ?  In the post fight conference, Garcia did not have time to finish his sentence in which he seemed set to say that he would offer Khan a rematch when his dad jumped in and made the decision for him.  I've always felt that Khan's career has been badly handled due to the involvement of his family.  On more than one occasion they've let their pursuit of money make decisions which have harmed Khan's career and also his image in the boxing world.  Garcia's father has done nothing to suggest that he hasn't always put the interests of his son first but if Garcia is to make the step up to the next level (and I don't think that by defeating Khan he necessarily has) then he might want to surround himself with one or two more people that are a bit more angelic than Angel Garcia.

[Rois]

Urgent request for advice:

I was thinking of getting tickets for a fight between Andre Ward and Chad Dawson in September when myself and my boyfriend are over in SF.

Is that a fight that he would want to see?  He's fairly interested in boxing and has been to a few fights in Vegas - will this live up to what he's seen before?  Or are they two people that he'll never have heard of? 

[bridgegael]

Book it. Big fight. If he has any notion of boxing he will know t!!hese guys and look forward to that fight

[CiKe]

Book it. Big fight. If he has any notion of boxing he will know t!!hese guys and look forward to that fight

+1, unlikely to be an exciting brawl but two very skilled boxers - if was me would be delighted!

[Rois]

Thanks - booked it so will report on Sunday how the surprise goes down. Just means I'll have to sit through it, but sure it is something different.

[Atticus_Finch]

Rois, if Carlsberg did Girlfriends ......

You must be up there with the best girlfriends in the world, if I was your fella i'd propose to you after a surprise like that ... if things don't work out with your boyfriend give me a shout 

Would echo what bridgegael and Cike have said.  There's only one bigger upcoming fight than this and that's Martinez and Chavez jr.  But this is an exciting match up nonetheless. The number one light heavyweight facing the number one super middleweight - definitely worth a watch.  I'd say your boyfriend will just be delighted to see Andre Ward in the flesh. Enjoy your trip !

[The Iceman]

Andre Ward is definitely a contender for P4P best in the World.
He cross trains a lot with the Diaz brothers in Lodi, California at Grace Jiu Jitsu. Wish MMA paid more money because he would be great to watch in the cage.

He is what boxing needs right now. All the ability and none of the arrogance of FMW

[Atticus_Finch]

It looks like Adrien Broner fight against Vincente Escobedo is now back on.

The fight looked likely to be called off after Broner, who has been dubbed "The new Mayweather" failed to make weight.  He weighed 13 pounds over the contracted weight this morning.  But it looks like both sides have now come to an agreement with Escobedo getting an additional $400k for agreeing to the fight.  They are fighting for the now vacant WBO super featherweight title as broner has been stripped of the title,  the title is only on the line for Escobedo.

If anyone follows Broner's twitter account this scenario could have been forseen:

https://twitter.com/AdrienBroner/status/224619710354952193/photo/1

Bit of a disgrace, if i had paid money to go watch this fight i'd be pretty pissed off.  Broner already being a big favourite now has to much of a weight advantage to make it a fair contest.  But from what i've seen of him so far i'm not really that surprised at his lack of respect for his opponent or for the fans, comes across as a bit of a pr!ck:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfZpbhg2Juk

I see that Enzo Calzaghe has offered to become Khan's coach.  Not that i like to see Khan do well but it could be a move that makes sense. Khan would get the undivided attention he craves if he did join up with Calzaghe.  Over the past 1/2 I think that Parkinson's disease is increasingly affecting Roach.  I'm judging this mainly on the basis of interviews, his speech seems to have become increasingly disjointed.  I wouldn't know an awful lot about Parkinson's but it clearly would impact his movement and if it did get much worse you would have to wonder would it still be wise (or beneficial) him putting on the pads and stepping in the ring for training.

[Atticus_Finch]

As expected Broner coasted through that fight relatively unscatched with Escobedo's corner throwing in the towel towards the end of the 5th.

Once again Broner used the post fight interview to get more publicity and didn't take the opportunity to apologise for not making weight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkSsQ11Y4Ng

Can't blame Escobedo for taking the fight, with a newborn to support it would have been hard for him to turn down the extra money in a fight which he was always going to lose, he gets another crack at the belt from what I understand..

The fight didn't really tell us anything new about Broner,  we won't find out anything new until he is put in with an opponent who will make him extend himself.  That could come in the form of the winner of Ricky Burns vs Kevin Mitchell as Broner has now been named the number one contender by WBO and will most likely get a chance against whoever holds that belt after the fight in Glasgow on the 22nd of September.

[Rois]

Tickets went down really well - thanks for advice!

[JimStynes]

I like the look of Broner so far. Love the trash talk as well, great entertainment. As Floyd says every fight needs a pantomine villain and Broner looks happy enough to play that role. Cant wait to he moves up to 140

[Christmas Lights]

I like the look of Broner so far. Love the trash talk as well, great entertainment. As Floyd says every fight needs a pantomine villain and Broner looks happy enough to play that role. Cant wait to he moves up to 140

He more or less has already, came in way over the weight for the fight at the weekend 

Cant like Broner even though he is a good fighter, trying to duplicate PBF in every way......get your own style and personality you p***k 

Also, there isnt enough facepalms in this world for the hairbursh "joke" in the post fight interview.