Boxing thread

[Morocco Mole]

Caroline Dubois…..blimey.

[Shabu]

Usyks manager is saying that the Fury fight will be signed soon & will happen before the end of March.

I'd love it if Wilder Joshua could happen on the undercard but Hearn wouldn't allow that. He'll be cashing in with a Joshua Whyte bout in London (Whyte seems done but why not squeeze another 5 million out?)

[Shabu]

Caroline Dubois…..blimey.

She's the real fighter in the family. I want Danny to do well but she's going to be the one the Dad hoped for....

[Shabu]

For a bit of fun, here's my award ceremony for 2022.

Male Boxer of the Year - Naoya Inoue of Japan. Won the rematch with Nonito Donaire (whom he'd outpointed in 2019) by crushing him in 2 rounds then defeated Britains Paul Butler to unify the Bantamweight title. Has won world titles in three weight divisions & is now moving up to try to win a 4th.

Runner up - Dimitri Bivol of Kyrgyzstan/Russia/California . Outclassed Canelo in May then outclassed the undefeated ex Champion Gilberto Ramirez in November.

Female Boxer of the Year - Katie Taylor of Ireland. Sold out Madison Square Garden in a brilliant fight against Amanda Serrano then beat Karen Carabajal in October.

Runner up - Claressa Shields of America. Fought in the UK twice this year, beating two undefeated fighters including Savannah Marshall who is the only person to have ever beaten Shields in the ring (as an amateur a decade ago).

Fight of the Year - Leigh Wood v Michael Conlan. Incredible breathtaking fight from start to finish in which Wood was decked in the first but knocked Conlan out of the ring in the final round, when he was behind on points.

Female Fight of the Year - Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano. Similar to the above in which one fighter won the early rounds with the other winning the latter, but without the dramatic KO.

[Shabu]

Someone posted this old program on an ex boxers page. The main event was Pat Clinton v Armando Tapia.

At that time Clinton was British & European Flyweight Champion. And two fights after this he would go on to win the WBO title, although that belt was still new & not taken too seriously outside of Britain in those days.

The funny thing is that there's no record of Armando Tapia other than this fight. No record of any fights anywhere else & no record of him at all in Texas. He made his debut against a European Champion then just vanished after losing over 8 rounds on points.

Personally I think they made him up. He was probably a sparring partner & not even American or Mexican, just a Scottish bloke with a tan :lol:

They just needed someone to fill in so invented this Tapia character. I'd love to know the full story.

[Shabu]

There's promoting a fighter then there's REALLY promoting a fighter

[Shabu]

Gervonta Davis arrested in South Florida for domestic battery.

He's meant to be fighting on the 7th then have a fight against Ryan Garcia in the Spring.

He also had other court cases coming up which could send him to jail.

https://www.tmz.com/2022/12/27/gervonta ... cia-fight/

[Shabu]

Moses Itauma has just signed a pro contract with Frank Warren. Kid turns 18 tomorrow.

He's been sparring top pros since he was 14/15 & doing well. Joe Joyce raves about him. One to keep an eye out in the future heavyweight scene.

His older brother Karol is unbeaten as a pro 9(7)-0 at Light Heavy. The lads are from Chatham in Kent although their mum is Slovakian & dad African. Karol has a fashion business too.

The family are bringing the shine back to Chatham


https://www.boxingscene.com/moses-itaum ... en--171519

[Shabu]

The WBC are looking to introduce a Transgender category.

I'm not sure how it works. I generally stay out of the trans discussion but each to their own. Respect each individual as the individual they are, regardless of gender, colour, religion, orientation etc etc.

But fair play to the WBC for addressing the issue.

https://www.skysports.com/boxing/news/1 ... -to-follow

[Shabu]

Eddie Hearn is talking about matching Conor Benn with Gervonta Tank Davis next summer, once Benn 'clears his name'

So he last tried to match him against Eubank who has weighed 168 pounds and now wants to match him against a bloke who started his career at 125 pounds & was at 133 for his last fight.

Even without the drug stuff does he just think Benn is a gimmick? I know Welter is a very tough division but what's he doing shopping him around at a load of different weights.

[Shabu]

[Shabu]

So many good bouts on tomorrow nights bill in Washington.

https://boxrec.com/en/event/865231

[Shabu]

Looks like two cracking fights have been made (or are about to be made).

Leigh Wood defends his Featherweight belt against Mauricio Lara, the little Mexican wrecking ball that f*cked up Josh Warrington.

Both fighters can punch although Lara seems to have the better chin. Saying that, Lara did get stopped in One a few years back when he was a teenager.

I think it's either Lara earlyish or Wood on points. This fight's at the Nottingham Arena on February 18th.

And we could soon hear the announcement of Andy Ruiz v Deontay Wilder. Interesting fight. Winner possibly gets the winner of Fury Usyk although the alphabet boys will have their say. Two tangibles in this fight. Will Ruiz be in shape & when he gets knocked down, can he recover? He'll have to be in tip top condition because Wilder will land at some point.

[WHU Independent]

This 26 min doc about Tommy Morrison popped up on my feed. I thought it was a riviting watch and if you like boxing history it's a must see.

[Shabu]

Eubank v Smiff, the gloves are off.

[btajim - mcfc]

Smith will have to be at the top of his game to beat Eubank Jr.

[Shabu]

Interesting point of view from Hrgovic, a Croatian fighter who I thought would have gone a lot further in his career by now. But he reckons, as do many of us, that Joshua went too far in trying to hone his boxing skills rather than using his natural attributes & aggression. The loss to Ruiz really messed with his head, didn't it.

We'll see if the last year or two of his career will be reverting to type or trying to box more. He still hasn't announced a trainer & his next bout is meant to be in April.

Though rivals, Filip Hrgovic had a healthy dose of both respect and fear for former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. While the former may still be present, the latter has ostensibly dissipated for Hrgovic.

Joshua, 33, once stood as the proud holder of the WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF heavyweight titles. However, following consecutive shortcomings at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk, Joshua’s reign at the top of the heavyweight mountain came to an end.

In their first meeting, a fleet of foot Usyk boxed circles around a listless Joshua. Although his hulking physique suggested that he would attempt to bully his man, Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) opted to box and move, leading to his untimely demise.


Nearly one month later, Joshua would come up short once again, losing yet another showdown against Usyk, this time via split decision. Hrgovic, a highly-ranked contender in each of the four sanctioning bodies, has been mystified by Joshua’s performances as of late.

Hrgovic, at least thus far, has remained true to himself. The 30-year-old from Zagreb, Croatia, has mostly run through his competition, stopping some of the more durable heavyweight contenders around. But, in his most recent trip to the ring, Hrgovic (15-0, 12 KOs) was forced to peel himself up off the deck before scoring a close and somewhat controversial unanimous decision victory on the night.

Now, as the 30-year-old Croatian continues to closely examine the overall career of Joshua, he has a difficult time recognizing the fighter that stands before him. In addition to the former Olympic gold medalist opting to box on the outside against Usyk, the two-time champion has remained uncommitted to a singular coach. Due to a combination of his lack of aggression and propensity to soak up knowledge, Hrgovic is convinced that Joshua has simply lost his way.

“I’m careful not to learn too much and become something that I’m not, take away my advantages,” said Hrgovic during an interview with Tru School Sports. “I think that happened to Anthony Joshua. He was a beast. He was a knockout artist and then he started to learn too much about boxing and he started to box too much, overthinking.”

https://www.boxingscene.com/filip-hrgov ... ch--171837

[Shabu]

On Muhammad Ali's 81st birthday, here's a few of his poems....

[Shabu]

Who are you picking this weekend? Eubank Jr or Smith?

We know exactly what we're getting with Smith. He'll come forward & will be plugging away in the early rounds & the later rounds.

Eubank very rarely fights whole rounds or whole fights, tending to take it easy at some point. When he's ON he's ON & will deck you but he doesn't always have the fire to match his talent.

I think Eubank starts fast, maybe even decks Smith & Smith will come on strong in the later rounds. It'll be a close fight with people crying robbery no matter which way the decision foes.

[taust68]

I think it will be similar to the liam Williams fight with eubank try to counter punch though I think it will be a closer fight, but I'd love to see Liam Smith pull it off