Boxing

[Gotothehole]

Cant wait to see the Crawford Spense fight

 

[SWC75]

Cant wait to see the Crawford Spense fight

Hopefully the trilogy of our time.

 

[SWC75]

Max Kellerman was just asked what's Naoya Inoue next move if he gets by Stephen Fulton?

Fri, 6/2 - Max on Boxing (6/2/23) - Live Stream - Watch ESPN

He suggests at 23:15 a catchweight fight between Inoue and Vasyl Lomachenko, whom he described as "essentially a junior lightweight". That would be a summit meeting of talents. Loma is 5-7 with a 65 1/2 inch reach. "The Monster" is 5-5 with a 67 1/2 inch reach. Having just seen Loma lose a controversial decision to Devin Haney, I'd have to think that this would be Inoue finally biting off more than he could chew. But I remember than Manny Pacquiao's first title was the WBC flyweight title in 1999 and Manny is 5-5 1/2 with a 67 inch reach.

Naoya Inoue is the best fighter in the world -- and an all-time great

Naoya Inoue moved up in weight and demolished Stephen Fulton in eight rounds, winning two junior featherweight titles and showing he's on top of the sport.

www.espn.com

 

[SWC75]

 

[SWC75]

Spence-Crawford: The biggest questions about the biggest fight of the year

Is Spence too big for Crawford? Is the winner the pound-for-pound king? Did the fight wait too long to happen? Mike Coppinger and Ben Baby debate the megafight.

www.espn.com

 

[ssbriefcase]

Biggest fight of the decade minimum and everything's so quiet. I feel the promotion for this fight is lacking bad. I blame some of it on how quickly they scheduled it. I was very close to going as tickets weren't as high as I expected them to be, but decided to cook all day and throw a get together. Everyone coming over has been waiting years for this fight. Hoping my favorite boxer since he was about 8-0 Spence, becomes the best fighter on the planet tonight

 

[SWC75]

Biggest fight of the decade minimum and everything's so quiet. I feel the promotion for this fight is lacking bad. I blame some of it on how quickly they scheduled it. I was very close to going as tickets weren't as high as I expected them to be, but decided to cook all day and throw a get together. Everyone coming over has been waiting years for this fight. Hoping my favorite boxer since he was about 8-0 Spence, becomes the best fighter on the planet tonight

This is boxing's Super Bowl - but boxing doesn't have one.

I'll repeat my years old suggestion: have an annual tournament to determine a single title. Quarterfinals in the spring, semis in the summer and decide the titles in the fall. Become part of the sports calendar!

The inmates have run the asylum for too long.

 

[SWC75]

I see this as this generation's version of Sugar Ray Leonard - Marvin Hagler: the most talented boxer who attacks from different angles, changes strategies when he figures his man out, has great defense and hand speed and enough power to knock out welterweights vs. a guy who should probably be a middleweight, is rock-hard and can break your bones with his punches and is the most fundamentally sound fighter in the business.

 

[ssbriefcase]

I see this as this generation's version of Sugar Ray Leonard - Marvin Hagler: the most talented boxer who attacks from different angles, changes strategies when he figures his man out, has great defense and hand speed and enough power to knock out welterweights vs. a guy who should probably be a middleweight, is rock-hard and can break your bones with his punches and is the most fundamentally sound fighter in the business.

Yep, have that one as one of the best of my lifetime. Looking back, this one on paper is for sure top 10 and possibly top 5 for me

 

[NashvilleOrange]

Biggest fight of the decade minimum and everything's so quiet. I feel the promotion for this fight is lacking bad. I blame some of it on how quickly they scheduled it. I was very close to going as tickets weren't as high as I expected them to be, but decided to cook all day and throw a get together. Everyone coming over has been waiting years for this fight. Hoping my favorite boxer since he was about 8-0 Spence, becomes the best fighter on the planet tonight

I am a boxing casual and just remembered the fight was happening yesterday. Did not see one single ad, just remembered by chance. Ordering now and inviting the neighbors over. Very pumped!

 

[SWC75]

I am a boxing casual and just remembered the fight was happening yesterday. Did not see one single ad, just remembered by chance. Ordering now and inviting the neighbors over. Very pumped!

ESPN has the UFC card on their front page, over Spence-crawford.

 

[SWC75]

Tongiht's card, from ESPN and BoxRec:

Jose Salas Reyes 13-0 (11KOs) 5-7, reach unknown, age 21 5-7 reach unknown, the #24 junior feather, knocked out Aston Paliute 28-6-1 (23-4), 5-9 64 1/2 reach, age 32, #79 in the 4th round, (not on TV)

Steven Nelson 19-0 (15), 5-10 75 1/2 reach, age 25, #44 super middleweight, beat Rowdy Montgomery 10-5-1 (7-1), 6-2 reach unknown, age 37, #116 in 10 rounds (also not on TV)

Gurgen Hovhannisyan, 4-0 (4), 6-7 81" reach age 25 #82 heavyweight was supposed to fight Viktor Vykhryst (aka Faust) 11-1 (7-1), 6-5 81 inch reach age 31, #65 but Boxrec has no result and there's been no mention of it on TV. Viktor's Boxrec record says "suspended by Texas Combative Sports Program indefinitely" but they aren't in Texas.

The first televised fight was supposed to be Sergio Garcia, now 34-3 (14-1) age 30, 5-11 with unknown reach ranked as the #73 junior middle against undefeated Jesus Alejandro Ramos but Ramos broke his hand so Yoenis Tellez, now 5-0, (4), age 23, 5-10 reach unknown #163 and Tellez drilled him in 3 rounds. Never under-estimate your opponent!

Now on: Nonito Donaire 42-7 (28-2), 5-7 68 1/2" reach, age 40, not rated by Boxrec because of inactivity but a boxing legend fighting Alexander Santiago, 27-3-5 (14), 5-2 1/2 65 1/2" age 27 #11 for the WBC bantamweight title. Santiago is holding own against the aging Donaire. I'm not scoring it.

Next: Isaac Cruz 24-2-1 (17) age 25, 5-4 63" reach #11 lightweight vs. Giovanni Cabrera 21-0 (7) 5-9 71", age unknown, 'inactive' so no rating.

The main event: Errol Spence Jr. 28-0 (22) 5-9 1/2 72" reach age 33 'inactive' vs. Terrence Crawford 39-0 (30) 5-8 74# reach, age 35 #1 for the welterweight title.

 

[SWC75]

Santiago won an unanimous decision over his idol, Donaire, (115-113 and the other two 116-112), and cried when the decision was announced.

 

[SWC75]

Cruz won a split decision over Cabrera, 115-112, 114-113, 113-114. Cruz won the punch-count 164-105, connecting on 31% to 14%. He did have a point deducted for head buts. Mike Tyson had said that Cruz, a short, muscular fighter, was the one that most reminded him of himself. Cruz was the busier fighter with the most economical style but he certain lacks Iron Mike's explosive power. Cabrera was a rather unschooled fighter who kept his hands down, got hit, and still kept them down. And he just wasn't busy enough. Ryan Garcia tweeted that he wants Cruz next. I think Garcia should look to the welters.

 

[SWC75]

I have believed that Terrence Crawford was the best fighter in the world since Floyd Mayweather Jr. retired and it was certainly confirmed tonight. I'm also a big fan of Erroll Spence Jr., (as I was a big fan of both Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler back in 1987) and I was hoping he would make a better battle of it than this but he was no match at all for Bud Crawford.

Spence was supposed to be the bigger, stronger man and the harder hitter but looking at them at the weigh in and in the pictures used to advertise this and he didn't look smaller or less powerful. Spence was supposed to possess the better jab but Crawford's jab dominated the fight, jolting Spence every time he threw it, including the first knockdown. A big key was whether Spence could pin Crawford against the ropes but Bud controlled the distance between the fighters and found angels of attack Spence wasn't ready for and kept the fight in the middle of the ring - until Spence started retreating to the ropes. I kept waiting for Spence to hit a big shot as Crawford became more and more confident to get back in the fight but whenever he landed a good shot Crawford landed a better one, including the second knockdown. Spence tried going to Crawford's body and Crawford started going to Spence's body.

Spence went down three times but was on his feet, with a beet-red face, when the ref stopped it in the 9th. I gave Spence the first round, reluctantly because he did force Crawford into the ropes at one point but even in that round, Crawford was already establishing his jab even then. Bud won all the other rounds, one 10-8 and another 10-7. Spence has a rematch clause in the contract for the fight and said he intends to use it to get a rematch before the end of the year. "We gotta do this again." That's a very bad idea. I had envisioned this as the great trilogy of this generation. It's hard to see that now.

 

[ssbriefcase]

Cruz won a split decision over Cabrera, 115-112, 114-113, 113-114. Cruz won the punch-count 164-105, connecting on 31% to 14%. He did have a point deducted for head buts. Mike Tyson had said that Cruz, a short, muscular fighter, was the one that most reminded him of himself. Cruz was the busier fighter with the most economical style but he certain lacks Iron Mike's explosive power. Cabrera was a rather unschooled fighter who kept his hands down, got hit, and still kept them down. And he just wasn't busy enough. Ryan Garcia tweeted that he wants Cruz next. I think Garcia should look to the welters.

Glenn Feldman made my bad judges list for his 114-113 Cabrera decision. That's insane as I watched every second of that fight and if you're a boxing judge you just can't have eyes like that.

 

[ssbriefcase]

I have believed that Terrence Crawford was the best fighter in the world since Floyd Mayweather Jr. retired and it was certainly confirmed tonight. I'm also a big fan of Erroll Spence Jr., (as I was a big fan of both Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler back in 1987) and I was hoping he would make a better battle of it than this but he was no match at all for Bud Crawford.

Spence was supposed to be the bigger, stronger man and the harder hitter but looking at them at the weigh in and in the pictures used to advertise this and he didn't look smaller or less powerful. Spence was supposed to possess the better jab but Crawford's jab dominated the fight, jolting Spence every time he threw it, including the first knockdown. A big key was whether Spence could pin Crawford against the ropes but Bud controlled the distance between the fighters and found angels of attack Spence wasn't ready for and kept the fight in the middle of the ring - until Spence started retreating to the ropes. I kept waiting for Spence to hit a big shot as Crawford became more and more confident to get back in the fight but whenever he landed a good shot Crawford landed a better one, including the second knockdown. Spence tried going to Crawford's body and Crawford started going to Spence's body.

Spence went down three times but was on his feet, with a beet-red face, when the ref stopped it in the 9th. I gave Spence the first round, reluctantly because he did force Crawford into the ropes at one point but even in that round, Crawford was already establishing his jab even then. Bud won all the other rounds, one 10-8 and another 10-7. Spence has a rematch clause in the contract for the fight and said he intends to use it to get a rematch before the end of the year. "We gotta do this again." That's a very bad idea. I had envisioned this as the great trilogy of this generation. It's hard to see that now.

Very concise and accurate summary. I'm kinda sad about last night, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be and it won't be. It's weird that the pundits have always said Spence was the bigger stronger fighter, he actually looked like the smaller fighter which I was very surprised about as soon as they got in the ring. Spence said he wants to take the rematch to 154, but man I still don't see it, Bud is too dynamic.

Oh well I guess I'll start looking for the next great fighter. There are some good bouts coming up as well.

 

[SWC75]

Very concise and accurate summary. I'm kinda sad about last night, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be and it won't be. It's weird that the pundits have always said Spence was the bigger stronger fighter, he actually looked like the smaller fighter which I was very surprised about as soon as they got in the ring. Spence said he wants to take the rematch to 154, but man I still don't see it, Bud is too dynamic.

Oh well I guess I'll start looking for the next great fighter. There are some good bouts coming up as well.

I could by the notion that Spence simply wasn't the fighter he used to be: the car crash, Covid and two fights since: a 12/5/20 decision over Danny Garcia and a 4/16/22 KO10 over Yordenis Ugas. But at best that was 20% of the problem. The other 80% was that he was facing a great fighter on his greatest night. I now wonder if Spence can recover from this beating to become anything like what he was. I don't think I've ever seen a guy I thought was a great fighter get beaten up and beaten down like that.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Let’s get ready to rumblllllllllle!

 

[ssbriefcase]

I could by the notion that Spence simply wasn't the fighter he used to be: the car crash, Covid and two fights since: a 12/5/20 decision over Danny Garcia and a 4/16/22 KO10 over Yordenis Ugas. But at best that was 20% of the problem. The other 80% was that he was facing a great fighter on his greatest night. I now wonder if Spence can recover from this beating to become anything like what he was. I don't think I've ever seen a guy I thought was a great fighter get beaten up and beaten down like that.

It’ll sound like excuses, which most certainly isn’t, but for clarity. 2 car crashes and detached retina as well. Fully agree, I’ve never seen a great fighter get beat like that at a fight of this magnitude

 

[SWC75]

It’ll sound like excuses, which most certainly isn’t, but for clarity. 2 car crashes and detached retina as well. Fully agree, I’ve never seen a great fighter get beat like that at a fight of this magnitude

On the one hand, I'm in awe of Crawford's performance but on the other a fight we've been waiting for years is a total fizzle and what I thought would be a trilogy wasn't even much of an event.

It was like the NCAA football title game. Crawford was Georgia and Spence was TCU.

 

[SWC75]

Who does Crawford fight now, (aside from an unnecessary rematch with Spence)?

Does he wait for the lightweights, (Haney, Davis, Garcia, Lopez, Stevenson, Lomachenko) to come up and challenge him, as Hagler waited for the welterweights in the 80's or does he move up to challenge the Charlos or even Canelo Alvarez?

 

[SWC75]

Just watched the Oleksandr Usyk - Daniel Dubois fight. DuBois, per ESPN, had seemed to be a coming force in the division Joe Joyce broke his orbital bone in 2020, resulting in his first defeat. That seemed to reduce his enthusiasm for the sport. Timothy Bradley on his most recent bout against Kevin Lerena: "His once flawless style, which had experts like myself excited about his potential, had deflated. In a disappointing turn of events, he was knocked down three times in the opening round, two of which appeared unprovoked, while wrestling with the need for active engagement. Despite his impressive comeback to secure victory, there are still subtle signs of a fighter with a partially fractured spirit."

Usyk seemed to be dominating the fight until Duboise started to come alive in the 4th round and gave as good as he got. Then, early in the 5th round, he got in a shot to Usyk's beltline that cause him to collapse to the ring. The referee immediately called a low blow and allowed Usyk a rest period that wound up lasting 3 1/2 minutes. At one point Usyk said he was ready to continue but the ref actually told him to take more time. They finally resumed and Usyk danced around the ring, (like Tunney vs. Dempsey), then came back out and used his sharper combinations to force Duboise backwards where he couldn't lunch any more shorts to the beltline, although he tried. Replays didn't show it to be a low blow at all and Duboise should have been awarded a knock-out, (Usyk was on the ground for at least a minute and later told Duboise that he couldn't feel his legs).

Daniel kept trying to get at Usyk's belly but Oleksandr won every exchange above the belt. Daniel finally sagged to his knees at the end fo the 7th and did so again, off a jab in the 9th. He didn't appear seriously hurt but the referee stopped it and Duboise didn't argue, saving his energy to argue that he should have been named the winner the in the 5th round. Bradley said "He checked out". It made it harder to have sympathy for him, but he did get cheated.

Tyson Fury must have noticed that Usyk doesn't like to get hit in the breadbasket. But he might have to wait for Usyk-Duboise rematch before the can find out for himself.

 

[TheHaze315]

Nico Walsh Ali is one of the most raw boxers I’ve ever seen that’s considered a professional. If he didn’t have Ali in his name he’d more likely than not be flipping burgers.

 

[SWC75]

Jared Anderson took om a punching bag named Audril Rodenko, the #149 ranked heavyweight, (Jared is #14). As Timothy Bradley said, "toughness is his only talent". He had never been knocked out in 39 fight until his fight with Vladyslav Sirenko was stopped for "uncompetitiveness", which also the basic reason this one was stopped in the 5th round. Rodenko was there to be hit and Anderson hit him with ever punch in his repertoire but never came close to decking him. Jared is now 16-0 with 15 ko's. You have wonder who thought fighting Mr. #149 was a route to the big money fights, or even something he could learn from.