Boxing Thread

[Atticus_Finch]

Good opening round from Macklin - definitely starting a lot more cautious than he did against Sturm ... wasn't  a lot in that round at all

[The Claw]

I give the first two to Martinez. I'd probably call the third a draw but Macklin might have shaded it.

[Atticus_Finch]

Second definitely Martinez .. didn't think there was an awful lot in the first but would give Martinez the benefit of the doubt.  Third i think Macklin did enough. Macklin starting to find a bit of rhythm

[The Claw]

Great round.
I have it Mart, Mart, Draw, Draw, Macklin

[Atticus_Finch]

Go on Macklin !

[The Claw]

I have Martinez a round ahead with 2 to go. Come on Mack!!

[The Claw]

Edit - forgot it was 12 rounds!

[The Claw]

Great show from Macklin, showed great courage and really gave Martinez a run for his money. Martinez is just a class above. Well done to Macklin. Right decision from him / his corner not to come back out.

[Atticus_Finch]

Ha, thought my stream was well behind.  Back at the folk's place here and no sky and left my laptop which had Sky go on it.

Brave performance from Macklin but unfortunately he once again ran out of steam again in the later stages.  Martinez left counter won him the fight.

[The Claw]

Where do you think his career goes from here Finch? Can he keep going giving these guys good fights?

[Atticus_Finch]

I can see him getting a rematch with Sturm and it taking place outside of Germany.

There are a lot of options for him closer to home.  Him and Darren Barker have been scheduled to fight on a few occasions but it has fallen through for one reason or another.  Would love to see who would come out on top between him and Andy Lee.

[GalwayBayBoy]

"Martinez was leading by one point on two cards and behind by three points on the third card entering the eleventh round." according to fightnews.com.

Lot closer than many thought on the scorecards. I think most had Martinez 3+ points up after the 2 knockdowns in round 11.

[Atticus_Finch]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmTR3nPfOHM

Watch the above youtube clip and then read the below news article

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-2118654/Scott-Harrison-arrested-alleged-theft.html

When i look at Scott Harrison's career post- 2006 I am reminded of the love life of one of the posters on the Derry thread. 

The poster in question tackled this girl once upon a time and he declared the first time would be the last time but there have been many "last times" since then.  The poster could be on a night out in Belfast and she could be on a night out in Mozambique but by some strange supernatural magnetic force of nature they would wake up beside each other the next morning. 

And in the same way I've lost count of the amount of times Scott Harrison has "gone clean" and is a "new man".  But it had been so long since his name had been on the front pages (rather than the back pages) of a paper, that when i watched the ringside episode above i was almost tempted to believe him.  However, yet again 9 days before a fight he goes and does what he does best ... blow it.  He was never going to return to being a world champion of any description but if he had kept his head down he might have just got a few decent lays .... sorry i mean't pay days ... was thinking of the antics of that derry poster again !

I can't help but feel a bit sorry for Scott Harrison but even sadder than that still is the case of darren Sutherland and the inquest into his death which returned its verdict this week.

The coroner returned an open verdict - meaning he was unable to determine the exact cause of Sutherland's death.  It had appeared to be a clear cut case of suicide and it still likely does but third party involvement couldn't be categorically ruled out.

A lot of fingers have been pointed at Frank Maloney during the inquest and the role he played in Sutherland's death or suicide.  It seems that Sutherland wanted to quit boxing but felt trapped due to the amount of money he would owe Maloney, with whom Sutherland had signed a contract with when he had gone pro. The inquest has taken its toll on Maloney and as a result he is quitting the sport.  Although not anytime soon, he is waiting until he no longer has any commitments which according to this article is 2015.  (http://www.boxingscene.com/frank-maloney-eyes-retirement-28-year-boxing-run--50805)

By reading the following article you can understand why sutherland would have felt trapped  - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2113868/Olympic-medalist-boxer-hanged-losing-confidence-turning-professional.html

I mentioned a while back on here, an interview that Pat Magee did with the Belfast telegraph, in which he clearly outlined how difficult it is to make it as a professional boxer at the minute and that fighters should stay amateur as long as they can until they have that platform behind them that will enable them to make the step into the professional world.

If one good thing comes from this tragic case it will be that support mechanisms are put in place for fighters that are trying to make that transition from amateur to the world of professional boxing which undoubtedly can be a tough and lonely world.

[Atticus_Finch]

Erik Morales loses his WBC light welterweight belt before a punch is even thrown in his fight with Danny Garcia that takes place in the early hours of this morning.

Morales was stripped of his belt earlier today because he didn't make weight at 140 pounds.  Not only did he not make it but he refused to even try and shed the weight opting to just sit there and drink water.

The fight is still going ahead but Morales is losing his belt and his purse is also taking a small hit.  He is 2 pound overweight but that is a significant enough gap.  The title is only on the line for Garcia, if he wins, he gets the title.  If Garcia loses, then Morales won't get the belt back, the tile would just be vacant.

Morales defended his stance:

"I was in a position to save the fight or the belt but it's more important to save the fight," Morales said in his defense. "If I tried to make the weight by taking off those two pounds it would have really affected me in the fight. It wasn't worth the sacrifice at this point for the last couple of pounds. It would hurt me. No point."

Morales is a boxing legend and will one day deservedly be inducted into the boxing hall of fame.

But i think he's missing the major point here, he feels he is justified in not even trying to shed the additional weight as by doing so he is  'saving the fight'.  But if a fight isn't fought on a level playing field, is it worth saving ?

If Morales is struggling to make weight I would imagine it won't be too long until he hear father time calling him to hang up the gloves.  He is 35 and while some may compare that to say sergio martinez for example who is 37 and feel it is not significant ... In Morales case it is due to the amount of absolute wars he has been in rather than his age.

The guy Morales is fighting is danny garcia - his name might be not known to many but he is quite a heavy favourite tonight. 

These guys are the same division as Paul McCloskey so i take quite a big interest in this fight.

I was hopeful rather than expecting an upset last weekend with Matthew macklin's fight against sergio martinez as thought Macklin was value and the manner in which he performed would suggest that he should never have been 7/1. He learned from the Sturm fight and knew he would have to box martinez, once again however he didn't have the stamina.  His good movement that he displayed in the earlier rounds dried up in the later rounds and having watched the fight again his knockdown that he inflicted on martinez was maybe counterproductive as it got martinez a tad angry and out of his shell a bit.

But with tonight's fight I think the likelihood of an upset is quite high.  And the reason being ...

While I haven't seen an awful lot of Garcia, saw a few of his fights,  in his fight with Ashley Theophane i think it showed that he really isn't anything special.

This is a 12 round fight and even taking into account age I think Morales has the better stamina, the better technique, he has been there and done that ... time and time again.

Garcia has a couple of decent names on his record (Holt, Theophane and Campbell) but nothing extraordinary.  He has power but arguably not to the same extent as Maidana who Morales put in a tremendous showing against and he only had one eye for most of the fight.

Morales is comfortable with the weight, so comfortable that he didn't want to shed any more !

I don't agree with morales not trying to shed the weight but i think he knows what he is doing and knows that the extra bit of weight will be beneficial to him.

Finch's Finding:

Morales to say no to father time and roll back the years and beat an over rated / over hyped danny Garcia, albeit on an unlevel playing field (Morales has the benefit of a couple of extra pounds) - 3/1 with Stan James.

Tempted to double that with Vernon Paris to beat Zab Judah.

[Atticus_Finch]

Next time i say anything ... do the opposite !

Morales got fairly beat last night - he opened up well enough and made the bout very competitive but overall i was disappointed with his performance to the extent i wouldn't be surprised if he hung up the gloves.

Morales had gall bladder surgery in December and maybe that was a factor i overlooked but still felt that if the fighter who fought against Maidana turned up last night he would have won.

i had it level after the tenth - and then in the 11th Garcia sent Morales to the canvas after an exchange of punches where Morales was doing the more damage.  Garcia also clearly took the 12th.

the judges scored the fight as 118-111, 117-110 and 116-112 .... I don't know what fight the first two were watching.

Also last night Zab Judah stopped vernon paris in the 9th round ..... I think i should hang up the keyboard and stop posting here