The Boxing Thread

The Game Room
1

Though some claim that boxing is dead or dying, Mayweather-Alvarez made millions, and I don’t think I should have to convince anyone that’s willing to participate in this thread.

To start off the discussion, I’ll just begin with fights that have caught my eye, but feel free to discuss other fights or fighters that I neglect to mention.

Recent Major Fights
Mayweather vs Alvarez - Not that recent, not that exciting, in the sense that there was never much doubt who was going to win. But you gotta love (or hate?) the hype machine that made Canelo look like a worthy contender and Mayweather too for sort of acting like he was.
The fight itself was a Mayweather clinic, affirming his status as pound for pound king. The only problem now I guess is who’s left?

Good boy Golovkin vs Stevens - Looks like HBO has decided Golovkin is going to be the next Pacquiao, so their formidable hype machine is running at full throttle but hopefully GGG lives up to the hype. In either case, I’m pretty excited of GGG’s prospects, a crowd pleasing style, gee-shucks demeanor, his English leaves something to be desired but you don’t fight with your mouth, though Broner might think so.
The fight itself was predictably one-sided but Stevens showed some great heart and before the stoppage you can tell those body shots would have been a game-ender if Stevens wasn’t up for it. GGG seemed pretty respectful of Stevens’ power and didn’t command the ring as much has he did in some other recent fights but still, a landslide victory.

Upcoming Major Fights
Maidana vs. Broner - Holy shit I hate Broner. And I really really like Maidana. But that doesn’t mean that Maidana’s gonna win. He still can’t box and many say he can’t take body shots and Broner might exploit that. But then again, Broner’s knock-off Mayweather style is not very mobile and people are also talking about his lack of dedication to the sport and how he will be ill-prepared for the fight. I think his fight with Paulie shows that he’s definitely not a top contender yet at this weight at least.
I predict a UD Broner victory but I hope Maidana breaks Broner’s jaw and KOs him, which is a very real possibility considering Broner’s never faced a puncher of this magnitude and the way keeps his mouth open when he throws a punch.

Zudah vs Paulie - Sorry I can’t spell Paulie’s last name. Good fight I think, both sort of past their prime, both excellent boxers. I really like Paulie, not so much for his boxing but his commentary on Showtime. I think Zudah’s probably going to win, UD.

Thurman vs Karass - Thurman looks like he could be going places and Karass is no cab drive,r so an interesting fight.

Pacquiao vs Rios - Meh. Don’t know enough about Rios to really discuss the fight. I think the hype, fame, and fortune went to Pacquiao’s head.

Last comment: Please do not bring up MMA unless it’s somehow relevant to boxing. When the two sports mix, the discussion ends up a pissing contest more than half the time.

2

You mentioned 12 boxers, I’ve only heard of 3 of them. (this could be why boxing is dying)

3

Let me guess, Mayweather, Pacquiao, and Canelo and Canelo only because he fought Mayweather.

I don’t mean to be rude, but in addition to MMA, I would greatly appreciate if no “boxing is dead” comments were made also. This thread isn’t about that “debate”, and maybe it was my mistake to open with that line.
If boxing is truly dead (as far as the SDMB is concerned) then so be it, this thread will very soon follow.

4

Nope, Zudah.

5

Maidana vs. Broner - I also hate Broner! His need to imitate Floyd in so many ways is just down right creepy. That being said, I think he wins this fight. He struggled with Paulie more than expected (at least to me) but Paulie is a solid veteran. Broner UD

Judah vs Paulie - Paulie all the way. Paulie kept it interesting vs a very good Broner. Paulie also has a great chin. I predict the normal Judah routine. Start the fight out very well for 4 rounds, lose focus and lose the fight. Paulie is no slouch and is a very good boxer, just lacks power. Pauli UD.

Thurman vs Karass - Thurman looks good, but you never know when a prospect will be exposed. Karass was able to upset Berto recently (who I was never that high on to begin with, but hey). I see no reason not to pick Thurman. Thurman KO

Pacquiao vs Rios - Pac by knockout. Rios is a come forward brawler who is moving up from 140. This guy seems tailor made for Manny. I think the intent is to have Pac get a great knockout of Rios and look like Pacquiao circa 2009. Then Pac hopes to sit out until May and try to get a Mayweather fight. The fight is tarnished beyond belief but like you said who’s left for Floyd to fight really? Hell, we got Jones vs Hopkins II 16 years after the first fight. (And it sucked.) PAC by KO

Carl Froch vs George Groves - Big Froch fan. What’s not to like? Amazing chin, great power, exciting style, and can box a little bit. I always thought Kessler would be the better fighter of the two, but Froch has looked great since his destruction of Bute. Froch by super powerful miracle KO

6

You left out the fight I’m most looking forward to, Andre Ward vs. Edwin Rodriguez. Ward is usually ranked as the best P4P fighter behind Mayweather, and he’s been out of the ring way too long. Looking forward to seeing him fight again.

7

Sorry, but the Pac-Man is done. Fighters with his kind of style don’t come back from beatings like Marquez gave him, especially when he was slipping as much as he had in his last couple.

I despise Floyd Mayweather. Plus he’s dumb - he could have beaten Pacquiao fairly easily, but spent his time dicking around playing games to build up his own ego. Nobody is going to pay to see it now.

And boxing is driven by the heavyweights. The Klitschko brothers are supposedly not going to fight each other, and Vitali is sitting on his hands, and Vladimir is boring as heck. He boxes like a Republican - that stand up European style.

I love boxing, but cripes, is it in the doldrums.

Regards,
Shodan

8

I think he is far past prime, but I think he beats Rios easily. Pac was on his way to stopping Marquez before he got hit with a perfect counter.

I heard Vitali is supposed to be announcing his next fight in the coming week or two. I expect it to be Stiverne or someone not very interesting. Of course, I can’t think of anyone who WOULD be interesting. Maybe Haye but he’s fighting Tyson Fury.

Have you seen Deontay Wilder yet? He’s an American prospect. I think he’s 29-0 (29 kos) hasn’t really fought anyone tho.

9

I have been a Ward fan since he won gold in 04. It was so frustrating because they brought his career along very slowly. It was very impressive how easily he beat Froch in what most people considered a 50/50 fight going in. I think his biggest fights are going to be smaller guys coming up. Chavez Jr and GGG mainly

10

That’s kind of my point. “He was doing well before he got knocked cold” is not what you want to hear about a fighter. And it wasn’t a flash knockdown or a TKO on cuts either - Pac really got creamed.

The more you get knocked out, the easier it is to do the next time. Pac started as a flyweight, for heaven’s sake, and that was thirty pounds and a lot of beatings ago. Exciting fights end careers, and Pac-Man was the most exciting fighter in the world for years.

That’s another thing - sitting on the shelf for months, and the most interesting thing one can say about Vitali is that he might announce in a few days that he might fight another boring set-up. And even if there is a big upset and he loses - who cares?

I haven’t seen him fight. Is he 29-0 because he’s good, or 29-0 because he has been fed tomato cans?

I fear for the future - America is where the money is, boxing is about the money, and there aren’t going to be many American prospects since the Olympics has been turned into a game of patty-cake.

Maybe I’m wrong, and somebody equivalent to Tyson will come along tomorrow and re-energize the sport. Or maybe the cable networks will recycle the same fighters over and over while the worthwhile matches fall thru because everybody expects millions for their first title defense.

Regards,
Shodan

11

Chavez Jr would be the money fight, but I don’t think it’d be very competitive. GGG would be interesting if he can carry his power up to supermiddleweight.

12

This is a big fight over here - Groves is good but this is a massive step up. Too early really but I guess he has to take his opportunities - Froch will have too much for him.

We had a good hw prospect here in David Price but he’s had a massive set-back this year. Skilled, big and superbly conditioned bloke; bronze medal winner at the Olympics a few years back, was taking his time working his way up but comprehensively outclassing people. He took on Tony Thompson earlier this year, (decent gatekeeper fighter at the international level) and got sat down by a freakish punch. Fought him again just a few months later and got sat down by non-freakish punches. So his career’s been temporarily derailed.

13

I’d pay to see it. Well depending on how Manny does against Rios, I guess. I think we have the benefit of hindsight in knowing that Pacquiao isn’t invincible but before JMM and Bradley, people thought so. I thought so at least. I think Floyd was genuinely afraid for his record so he wasn’t playing games, he was ducking him.

Froch vs. Groves
I like Froch too but I don’t really know anything about Groves except that he seems to have lots of KOs against bums. But he’s an up and comer so I guess this fight will really show what he’s all about.

Ward vs. Rodriguez
Ward never clicked with me. Short attention span on my part I guess. Of course he’s a world-class boxer, but so boring… I’m not a fan of heavy guys that box more than punch. Leave the boxing to the smaller dudes and give me fireworks.

Donaire vs. Darchinyan
Speaking of smaller dudes, though Darchinyan’s probably just another KO to put distance between Donaire’s loss from that Cuban guy (Rigondeux?), I want to talk about Donaire a bit. He admitted to phoning it in with the Cuban (whether it’s an excuse or the truth, still terrible) but I still want to see him fight. At 140. Or a rematch with the Cuban at least.

14

Floyd was clearly ducking him, but it did look like Pac had lost a step, even before the JMM lose. He easily dominated Bradley, but I couldn’t help but feel that he would have knocked him out a couple of years ago.

Then again, JMM has always given Pac fits (even though I don’t buy the revisionist history that JMM should have been awarded the decision in their first two fights). Rios will show whether he actually has faded, or if we should dismiss his lose to a roided-out JMM.

At 140? Isn’t the Darchinyan fight at featherweight? He could probably go up a little more in weight, but in my utterly uninformed opinion, I don’t see him ever fighting heavier than lightweight at a championship level.

15

It’s possible he underestimated him. Rigondeux only had about 12 fights or so going into the Donaire match. Very foolish of Donaire though since Rigondeux won the gold medal at the Olympics twice in a row.

16

That’s true, but Lennox got creamed vs Rahman and still came back to give a couple decent performances. Roy Jones got creamed by Tarver and was never the same. I’m proposing Pacs in the Lennox camp, but time will tell.

17

Kind of an odd question, but does anyone here ever watch “Boxeo” on the Spanish language channels? I DVR it regularly, it’s a great way to spend a Friday night. One of the few places left that you can watch regular fights of decent quality, and I can brush up on my Spanish to boot (“Un puñetazo magnifico!”).

18

I remember people talking about Baseball dying in the late 80s and early 90s and that only old people watched it whereas all the young kids watched football and basketball.

Of course nowadays most of the fans of baseball, which is bigger than ever, either were the young kids back then or not born at that time.

Similarly hockey was at one point in the 90s supposedly dying and now it’s bigger than ever.

19

Yeah, maybe I got a bit ahead of myself. But he’s around the same height as Pac and not skinny, and he has said that he hopes to go up to 140 one day. Pac started at flyweight too. Of course he’s not Manny Pacquiao but I hope to see great things form Donaire.

I think that’s the case. I remember hearing that he didn’t even train with his trainer until like a few weeks before fight, just doing things over the phone. Very unwise, since like you said, the Cuban was a world class amateur and you could see how tight his game was during the fight.

On a different note, I was thinking the other day that if GGG is truly what I hope he is, him vs Mayweather at 154 would be the fight of the century. The ultimate offense vs. the ultimate defense. GGG is a true middleweight so fighting at 154 could take a bit of the edge off his power, and maybe add little speed. But their styles are perfect for each other. GGG is a pressure fighter but not wild, carefully choosing his punches. Floyd’s shoulder roll is most effective when the opponent is flaying all out and GGG is cool as a cucumber. And the Cotto fight showed that Floyd can get cornered and GGG knows how to cut off the ring. GGG has a long amateur record (and a silver medal), so he knows how to box. Good boy Golovkin ends Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s career in a spectacular KO. But of course there’s the whole HBO/Showtime thing and if GGG is actually that good then Floyd’s not going to risk his record. But one can dream…

20

Most of the rumors I hear say Floyd is fighting Amir Khan in May. Seems like a disappointing fight at first but look at all of Floyd’s last opponents. De la Hoya, Hatton, Cotto, Mosley, Ortiz, Canelo, Guerrero (not in that order.) Everyone had the plan to apply constant pressure, pin him on the ropes, work the body to tire him and hope for a KO. No one aside from an old DLH even came close.

I think Floyd loves fighting these type guys because he prefers predictable opponents. It will be interesting to see Floyd fight a boxer with hand speed kind of close to his own. The last guy Floyd fought who wasn’t a brawler was what, Judah?

I think Khan keeps it interesting and wins 4 or 5 rounds.

I think Tarver is coming back this month as well. I know he failed his drug test for his last fight which resulted in a year suspension and being fired from his commentary job. Must be needing money. I think he’s 42 years old now at least.