Boxing 2013

[Byrnie]

It was a hell of a punch. How did he manage to get down to the weight?

[DanDanShaw]

It was a hell of a punch. How did he manage to get down to the weight?

 

He was a bit of a lazy fucker who wasn't dedicated. He was fighting at light heavy once and he's like 5'7 which is REALLY small even at 160, so 175 was a joke, he should be making 154 but he probably can't be arsed.

 

It was only when Virgil Hunter told him to drop down to 160 that he finally listened (Hunter actually said go to 154 but he wont). That punch though was one of the KO's of the year. I'd love to see him Vs GGG in November like they're saying.

[Kevin D]

Fight with Stevens strikes me as going back. Is Stevens even a top 10 contender? Golovkin just obliterated a top 5 contender, the next logical step should be the winner of Geale/Barker and HBO should be stumping up the money to make that fight happen. If Golovkin runs through either of those two, then the calls for Martinez to take the fight are going to be too overwhelming to be ignored. Knocking out Stevens won't achieve that.

[DanDanShaw]

Fight with Stevens strikes me as going back. Is Stevens even a top 10 contender? Golovkin just obliterated a top 5 contender, the next logical step should be the winner of Geale/Barker and HBO should be stumping up the money to make that fight happen. If Golovkin runs through either of those two, then the calls for Martinez to take the fight are going to be too overwhelming to be ignored. Knocking out Stevens won't achieve that.

 

Not many people want to fight GGG and he's said he's fighting 5 times this year (November and late December) so you've got to think the opponents aren't going to be great.

 

Stevens and somebody like Andy Lee at best. Stevens would be a good fight purely because of his exposure. He just got a 1st round KO on network (terrestrial) US TV.

[Kevin D]

( from 7 minutes)

 

[YOUTUBE]qyXOXgRVjxY[/YOUTUBE]

[DanDanShaw]

Wilder is an accident waiting to happen. He's going to be KO'd soon.

[Byrnie]

What round will Cleverly be getting scraped up from the canvas, Kevin?

[DanDanShaw]

What round will Cleverly be getting scraped up from the canvas, Kevin?

 

I assume you meant Dan, because I know everything :whistle:

 

I actually think Clev will win a disputed, but close UD/SD type thing. Not a complete robbery, but disputed.

[Hooch]

Clev on points, fitness and workrate is his game, and he does have a good chin.

[Kevin D]

What round will Cleverly be getting scraped up from the canvas, Kevin?

 

When the fight was singed, I didn't see Cleverly making it out of the 5th. With this being fight week, though, all the usual doubts have crept in; the fact that Warren is risking his only world champion, which he wouldn't do unless he knew/saw something, the fact it is in Britain where the judges and ref will be against Kovalev and just other small things. Bookies have come in as well, they were slightly favouring Kovalev, but it's now 50/50.

 

Saw Warren say that for the winner of this fight, there is an HBO contract on the table, which may explain why Cleverely was so eager to take a fight that is the very definition of high risk/low reward. Got to believe that Andre Ward and Carl Froch will be making their way up sooner rather than latter, and with Pascal, Stevenson, Bute, and Hopkins all about, Light-heavyweight could become very interesting in the next year.

 

Saturday is a decent night. Obviously Cleverly/Kovalev, but Geale/Barker is also on Sky, Gabriel Campillo is fighting and there is a rematch between Mollo and Szpilka, which was one of the most entertaining fights I've seen this year. If you haven't seen the first fight, you really should, had virtually everything, blood, knockdowns, exchanges and a dramatic end: [YOUTUBE]Dq55rzS8wzY[/YOUTUBE]

[DanDanShaw]

Cleverly will win, Barker will lose.

[Bjornebye]

I like Cleverly. Seemed a bit complacent in a few fights but has turned it on when against decent boxers.

 

This is a tough tough fight for him but as Kevin says, Warren wouldn't risk it if he thought Cleverly had no chance. Looking forward to it.

[loadsoftrophies]

Haven't seen Kovalev fight yet, by all accounts he's a big puncher but limited. Cleverly is decent, his stamina is great and has a decent chin but technically he'll come up short but probably not on Saturday.

Boxing season is back, whoop!

[DanDanShaw]

Haven't seen Kovalev fight yet, by all accounts he's a big puncher but limited. Cleverly is decent, his stamina is great and has a decent chin but technically he'll come up short but probably not on Saturday.

Boxing season is back, whoop!

 

Kovalev is one of the better "boxers" out of all the famed punchers at the moment (Matthysse, Kovalev, GGG, Stevens, Stevenson).

 

I just think Cleverly will have enough.

[loadsoftrophies]

Great KO by Enzo, Ozil was knocked out while standing up.

[loadsoftrophies]

Fuck another cracking KO, Buckland is completely out cold.

[loadsoftrophies]

Wow impressive!

[Fink]

Concrete in his gloves

[TheDrowningMan]

That went as expected; Kovalev is a very good boxer with plenty of power and unless you've got a granite chin - which Cleverly most definitely does not - you're going to struggle at world level with an unexceptional skill-set and porous defence.

 

Cleverly could, and I say could because he won't recover fully from such a brutal loss, have spent the last few years refining and improving his raw ability, but he was an horrendously coddled Frank Warren project who spent such a crucial period fighting opponents who provided little to no test, and as a result he's a limited fighter who's been steamrolled by his first world-class opponent.

[Kevin D]

Looking forward to seeing it when I get in, but Kovalev is the real deal. He represents a clear and preset danger to anybody silly enough to fight him.

[Dr Nowt]

Surprised how easy Cleverly made himself to hit for someone with that sort of power.

 

Possibly as crushing a loss for Warren as it was for him - wonder if he'll decide to try and rebuild over at the Hearn stable.

[loadsoftrophies]

That was some effort by Barker, superb heart in there. Admittedly I had Geale winning the fight but the rounds were very close, fair fucks to Barker I didn't think he had it in him to win a title.

[Fink]

absolutely delighted for him

[dickie mint]

absolutely delighted for him

 

 

Nice that he could dedicate the win to his brother who was a very good Amateur for Repton and was tragically killed in a car crash.

[Hooch]

Great night of boxing that, some great KO's and a bit of fairytale stuff with the Barker win.

 

That Kovalev can punch can't he? Thought Clev did it all wrong, he should have been on his bike and took it into later rounds but what do I know, those punches looked so hard maybe it wouldn't have mattered. I thought Barker edged his fight on workrate and punch volume, what heart he showed in that 6th when it looked like it was over; For that alone he gets major credit and maybe even swayed the judges to just lean his way out of boxing romance?

 

Also very impressed with Kiko Martinez taking the IBF title. Makes Framptons win over him all the more impressive really. Exciting times for boxing, great night.