Boxing Thread

[Tony Baloney]

You think he lost the round he was knocked down in (despite the KO)?

Yes. He hardly landed leather in Round 2 regardless - draw at best and the two commentators gave it a 10-8 round. I think he did enough to win it so I think the 39 score does him a disservice if it calls into question the result. Quality was poor though, some desperate open handed slaps.

[Atticus_Finch]

Would agree with how you scored it.  Although,  felt there was very little between them in the fourth round. 

I felt the commentary gave Flintoff more credit than he deserved in the fourth e.g. just after the 5 minute stage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cQX3_DO-hc the commentary says he landed flush, I don't think he even landed and was prevented from doing so by Dawson's arms. He landed a low percentage of clean shots.  Dawson wasn't too active either but landed a couple of counters, would say Flintoff just shaded it but not much in it.

[bennydorano]

Yeah, it was a pish fight that FF just about deserved, shouts of fix are a  bit off, him losing probably would have made better TV for sky documentary.

[JimStynes]

Took a lot of balls to get in there with a heavyweight! But how can he still not throw a punch properly after 6 months of training hard for a fight!

[DuffleKing]

Jeeez, It was a poor white collar fight. Is yer man really a pro heavyweight? As Jim says, how can he not throw a right hand properly with the level of coaching he's had? Surprised how little bulk he has on the frame - very scrawney

Fair play for getting though

[Walter Cronc]

Are all these fights, inc Eubanks junior in the Odyssey tonight??

[Atticus_Finch]

Yeah. Quite a lot of empty seats.  Would be interested to hear the official attendance.

Tyson dropped the Antrim shirt for his ring entrance, but just when i thought he had dropped the whole circus act of doing anything he can to attract an irish fan base .... a dance version of the fields of athenry starts to play 

Johnson hasn't sat down for the last number of round intervals, commentators haven't said anything but that to me would suggest that he's been hurt around the ribs.

Not an entertaining fight so far.

[onefaircounty]

Not entertaining?  That's very generous. It's f**king shite.

[Atticus_Finch]

You sound surprised, I didn't have high expectations.

[here comes 6]

Hes not their to entertain. Its a results business

[nrico2006]

Fair play to Fury for out boxing Johnson and not getting into a slug fest.  But to be honest, I think it shows how poor the Heavyweight division is when the like of Johnson is one of the top rated fighters and he has very little mobility.  I can't remember him doing anything the whole fight.  Maybe it is this new breed of 6ft7+ fighter that is ruining the Heavyweight division, surely it is unfair when you have the huge weight, height and reach advantages that the like of the Klitschkos, Valuev, Price and Fury have.  Should there be a new weight category?  The only thing that will make the division interesting is when the biggest men fight each other, be very interesting to see how they all fare out when their physical advantages are nullified.

As for Eubank junior, looks very good and his style is very similar to his da's, posing and prancing about the ring in slow motion. 

[NAG1]

Fair play to Fury for out boxing Johnson and not getting into a slug fest.  But to be honest, I think it shows how poor the Heavyweight division is when the like of Johnson is one of the top rated fighters and he has very little mobility.  I can't remember him doing anything the whole fight.  Maybe it is this new breed of 6ft7+ fighter that is ruining the Heavyweight division, surely it is unfair when you have the huge weight, height and reach advantages that the like of the Klitschkos, Valuev, Price and Fury have.  Should there be a new weight category?  The only thing that will make the division interesting is when the biggest men fight each other, be very interesting to see how they all fare out when their physical advantages are nullified.

As for Eubank junior, looks very good and his style is very similar to his da's, posing and prancing about the ring in slow motion.

In fairness to the lad he has only started doing this kind of thing in his last couple of fights, must be coming to the end of the Channel 5 deal and probably trying to get a bit of attention and press. Good tidy fighter.

[Tommo2]

What time does the pacqiou fight start at tonite?

[Atticus_Finch]

You are probably looking at roughly 4am.

Some great boxing action this weekend.  I'll start with Brian Magee vs Mikkel Kessler.  I can't help but feel that the bookies have priced this one up wrongly, you can get 7/1 on him.

While Kessler should undoubtedly be the favourite here I think Magee is being unfairly estimated here.

Only two people have officially beaten Kessler (Carl Froch would argue he deserved to get the decision when the pair met in 2010)  Joe Calzaghe and Andre Ward.  Magee shares a southpaw stance with Calzaghe.  Any of the other south paw fighters that Kessler has defeated have not been anywhere near the standard of Calzaghe and Magee would represent a true test to see if Kessler may have any problems with southpaws.

Fighting in Denmark is not going to present any problems to Magee either he has fought there twice before recently.

The jury is still out on whether Kessler is the same boxer that fought Carl Froch he suffered a serious eye injury and was out for 13 months since then he's had two bouts since against Mehdi Bouadla and Allan Green.  He dispatched Green in impressive fashion 4th round KO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI2kwR-6IFU)  Green made the super six series a few years back and that fact alone would suggest he has some boxing pedigree.  However, he was only a last minute replacement for Jermain Taylor (who pulled out of the tournament after suffering memory loss following his preliminary round loss to Arthur Abraham)  and his record in the super six was not impressive he was comprehensively beaten by Andre Ward and Glen Johnson.

Magee is undoubtedly the best opponent that Kessler has fought since Froch.  While Kessler should prevail there are questions surrounding whether he is the fighter he was, I don't think it is outlandish to suggest that Magee could have some answers to those questions that Kessler or Denmark will not like.

If i'm offered 7/1 for what should be a 5/2 shot i will take it any day of the week.

Dungiven middleweight Eamon O'Kane is also fighting tonight on the undercard of the Darren Barker vs Kerry Hope bout.  He is fighting John Ryder who you might remember from the undercard of the Carl Frampton vs Raul Hirales fight.  Ryder is not a bad fighter at all and O'Kane is the underdog here (7/4) but his camp are very confident of victory.  I have no reason to doubt their confidence is misplaced, the only problem could be that the fight is scheduled for ten rounds and that O'Kane has never fought at that distance before but with adequate preparation that hopefully shouldn't cause too many problems.

The main event of this evening is undoubtedly Pacquiao vs Marquez, the boxing world still has an appetite for this fight as their trilogy could not clearly separate the fighters.  I think Pacquiao in light of his political duties has lost his focus to an extent,  I'm going for Marquez.  Marquez will do what he can to take the decision out of the hands of the judges and even if it does go the distance I think he may get the nod on this occasion.

Magee
O'Kane
Marquez

Christmas might come early with this 50/1 treble.

[Milltown Row2]

You are probably looking at roughly 4am.

Some great boxing action this weekend.  I'll start with Brian Magee vs Mikkel Kessler.  I can't help but feel that the bookies have priced this one up wrongly, you can get 7/1 on him.

While Kessler should undoubtedly be the favourite here I think Magee is being unfairly estimated here.

Only two people have officially beaten Kessler (Carl Froch would argue he deserved to get the decision when the pair met in 2010)  Joe Calzaghe and Andre Ward.  Magee shares a southpaw stance with Calzaghe.  Any of the other south paw fighters that Kessler has defeated have not been anywhere near the standard of Calzaghe and Magee would represent a true test to see if Kessler may have any problems with southpaws.

Fighting in Denmark is not going to present any problems to Magee either he has fought there twice before recently.

The jury is still out on whether Kessler is the same boxer that fought Carl Froch he suffered a serious eye injury and was out for 13 months since then he's had two bouts since against Mehdi Bouadla and Allan Green.  He dispatched Green in impressive fashion 4th round KO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI2kwR-6IFU)  Green made the super six series a few years back and that fact alone would suggest he has some boxing pedigree.  However, he was only a last minute replacement for Jermain Taylor (who pulled out of the tournament after suffering memory loss following his preliminary round loss to Arthur Abraham)  and his record in the super six was not impressive he was comprehensively beaten by Andre Ward and Glen Johnson.

Magee is undoubtedly the best opponent that Kessler has fought since Froch.  While Kessler should prevail there are questions surrounding whether he is the fighter he was, I don't think it is outlandish to suggest that Magee could have some answers to those questions that Kessler or Denmark will not like.

If i'm offered 7/1 for what should be a 5/2 shot i will take it any day of the week.

Dungiven middleweight Eamon O'Kane is also fighting tonight on the undercard of the Darren Barker vs Kerry Hope bout.  He is fighting John Ryder who you might remember from the undercard of the Carl Frampton vs Raul Hirales fight.  Ryder is not a bad fighter at all and O'Kane is the underdog here (7/4) but his camp are very confident of victory.  I have no reason to doubt their confidence is misplaced, the only problem could be that the fight is scheduled for ten rounds and that O'Kane has never fought at that distance before but with adequate preparation that hopefully shouldn't cause too many problems.

The main event of this evening is undoubtedly Pacquiao vs Marquez, the boxing world still has an appetite for this fight as their trilogy could not clearly separate the fighters.  I think Pacquiao in light of his political duties has lost his focus to an extent,  I'm going for Marquez.  Marquez will do what he can to take the decision out of the hands of the judges and even if it does go the distance I think he may get the nod on this occasion.

Magee
O'Kane
Marquez

Christmas might come early with this 50/1 treble.

Have had a pop at that bet Atticus, hopefully it comes up