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Boxing

Page 10 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Merckx index said:
Khan's people denied this, and I haven't heard any more about it. Though Khan is an interesting opponent for Mayweather--his main weakness is a glass jaw which might not be so much of a liability with a defensive specialist--he's coming off a stretch of 3-4 very disappointing performances. It would be hard to build up this fight as a compelling match.

Anyway, forget Floyd. One of the most significant fights of the year takes place tonight: Marquez vs. Bradley. Though any fight can turn out to disappoint the hype, this has the potential to be a great one. Far more likely to be close and exciting than Floyd-Canelo ever promised to be. And the stakes are very high.

If Marquez wins, he becomes the sixth man in history--and first Mexican--to win titles in five weight divisions. He should be there now, the reason he isn't is because Pacquiao was robbed in his fight with Bradley. Pac clearly won the fight, and if he'd been given the decision, he would have held a welterweight belt when Marquez beat him last year.

Bradley is undefeated, coming off a slugfest in which he took so much punishment that he had slurred speech and memory loss for several months. He probably shouldn't be fighting at all, but as usual, these elite athletes rarely think of the long-term consequences of what they do.

My money is on Marquez, but he is 40 years old, whereas Bradley is in his prime. Neither fighter is really a KO specialist, and it will probably go the distance. If Bradley does win, it should give him a great chance to meet Mayweather. And I would give him a better chance in that fight than Canelo had.

Good analysis and totally agree on every point. Khan is probably on the list if he can keep his chin in in his next two fights.

Not a Mayweather fan but sort of feel for him. He will quite probably retire undefeated but when you look back to the era of Duran, Leonard, Hearns and Hagler, he won't be remembered with the same reverence.
 
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Ferminal said:
113-115, 115-113, 116-112. Bradley.

Don't think there's too much to be angry about there.

The right decision. It might be surprising to see one judge give it to Marquez but Bradley was just doing enough. He wasn't looking to engage in the inside too often so we know how it is, it does leave this open to happen when it comes to the judges.

Bradley boxed intelligently from distance. Impressive.
 
Wow, this is very unexpected and interesting:

It's rare to have something nice to say about boxing's sanctioning bodies, but the WBC may have taken a bold step forward in making the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao mega-bout a reality by naming Pacquiao the no. 1 contender to Mayweather's WBC welterweight title…

With Pacquiao as his new mandatory challenger, Mayweather will have to eventually face Pacquiao or relinquish the most cherished belt in his possession. The five-division world champ has been WBC welterweight champ or WBC welterweight champion emeritus for much of the last seven years and has favored the organization throughout his career…given that the other sanction bodies are sporting champions that may not make for realistic opponents for Mayweather, "Money" may have to follow the WBC's rules if he wants to keep his status as a welterweight world title holder

Another thing to consider with this move is that, at some point, the WBC will mandate Mayweather-Pacquiao and, assuming that Mayweather doesn't vacate and that both parties still can't negotiate with one another, the fight will be put up to a purse bid. This means that any promoter, anywhere, could win the right to bypass both Top Rank and Mayweather Promotions to stage this mega-bout. If this happens, the ugliness of warring Arum and Mayweather factions would be a relative non-issue as someone else could swoop right in and handle all of the business details.

No way Arum and/or Maweather will let that happen, it would be humiliating, not to mention losing all that money. But this could push them to get real.

Of course, Mayweather could still fight an unsanctioned bout, no title at stake. Certainly been done before (e.g., Pacquiao-Marquez IV), established fighters who don't need another title to prove anything sometimes prefer that, as they don't have to pay the sanctioning body. But if I understand this correctly, Mayweather would not be allowed to have an unsanctioned fight with anyone who currently holds a WBC title.

Further news: It appears that HW champ Vitali Klitschko is retiring. Not officially, but he announced he will not fight before the Ukrainian elections, in the summer of 2015. He's running for President, and if he wins, his career in the ring will definitely be over. (Could we have two former world champs President of their countries in a few years?) But even if he doesn't win, he would have gone three years without a fight. In his early forties, hard to come back from that.

I know he doesn't get much attention or respect in the U.S., but I think that's a shame. He and his younger brother Vladimir have dominated the HW division for the past decade. Vitali is 45-2. His two defeats came in fights in which he was leading in rounds, but the fight was stopped because of injury. Only four of his 45 wins were not by KO (second only to Marciano in KO %), and those were all UD, essentially winning every round. He's never been knocked down.

Also an extremely intelligent, educated and classy guy. The first world champ to have a Ph.D, speaks something like five languages.

His place in history is controversial, because of the perceived weakness of his opponents. For the most part, we never got to see how he would do against HOF-level opponents. I think he's one of the all-time greats, but he has a huge size advantage., The difference in weight between him and many of his opponents is comparable, proportionally, to the difference between a super featherweight and a middleweight.
 
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What a fight Maidana vs Mayweather was!Great!


Finaly a fighter who almost found out how to beat Mayweather jr.Only these guys can beat Mayweather,brawlers like Castillo or Maidana,it looks like the only way to erase his superiority (thanks god there is a way,the other way he wouldnt be a human:eek:)
I want to see rematch,personally, I think he has more of a chance to beat M than Pacquiao has (that fight probably is not gonna happen anyway)
Even tho Manny was good with Bradley,month ago!
Khan looked sharp too,nice fight.
 
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Ferminal said:
lol, totally forgot this was on today, same scores as the Alvarez fight but the draw was more justified this time?

Shame on you!:D
Yeah.It was justified,I expected split decision tbh.I scored it 115-113 for Mayweather,that 117-111 judge was too much one sided.Very good fight on Mayweather standards,more like a brawl,but great,better atmosphere than with Canelo,Argentinians were amazing (/LaNocheDeMaidana/ is WW trending no.1 for an hour now):)
Worth to watch.Didnt expect that.
 
Didn't see it, but I'm glad someone gave Mayweather a fight. I used to be a big fan of Floyd's, but he's been so obsessed about being unbeaten that he doesn't put together fights he could. He should have fought Pacquiao years ago for example. The greatest fighters in history all lost. Ali, Robinson, Louis, Leonard, Hagler, etc. etc. It's not the losses you are judged on, it's your wins.
 
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Alpe d'Huez said:
Didn't see it, but I'm glad someone gave Mayweather a fight. I used to be a big fan of Floyd's, but he's been so obsessed about being unbeaten that he doesn't put together fights he could. He should have fought Pacquiao years ago for example. The greatest fighters in history all lost. Ali, Robinson, Louis, Leonard, Hagler, etc. etc. It's not the losses you are judged on, it's your wins.

Thats true,but Manny is the only one who he havent fought against.
He fought everybody who had at least a small chance to beat him...manfredy,castillo,chavez,de la hoya,('hatton,mosley')marquez,cotto,alvarez.All these guys were supossed to beat him or at least win by a slim margin,wrong judging or something;)

Interesting is,that the most problems for him were fighters who werent supposed to win - Maidana and Mosley,Ortiz (both at least early rounds).

IMO if he fights super boxer,he brings his A game (rather A training camp),that happened with Canelo or Marquez e.g..I think he was so superior to Canelo cuz he just was in Terrific form,I havent never seen anything like this before ,ever.
And now there is not a boxer in a light weight,welterweight or light middle who can challenge Mayweather besides Pacquaio,its bad,but its true..so who should he fight next...:(
That obsession you are talking about is natural imo.If you are undefeated at this point of career you just dont want to risk and lose,Pacquaio would have done that too imo.

Anyway,we can talk about that in a few days here cuz it looks like,Golden boy is trying to figure something out with Top rank,so MAYbe there is a chance.
 
ILovecycling said:
Thats true,but Manny is the only one who he havent fought against.
He fought everybody who had at least a small chance to beat him...manfredy,castillo,chavez,de la hoya,('hatton,mosley')marquez,cotto,alvarez.All these guys were supossed to beat him or at least win by a slim margin,wrong judging or something;)

It's not just who you fight, but when and how you fight them. He fought Cotto after the latter was on the decline, not when he was one of the most feared fighters in the welterweight division. He fought Moseley when the latter was a shell of his peak form. He made Hatton fight at a weight he'd never fought at before. He avoided Margarito when the latter was considered a terror. He didn't show any interest in Paul Williams, who was everyone's worst nightmare because of his extraordinary height and reach. He could have fought Sergio Martinez, whose size advantage over Mayweather is not much greater than Mayweather’s size advantage over Pacquiao.

And now there is not a boxer in a light weight,welterweight or light middle who can challenge Mayweather besides Pacquaio,its bad,but its true..so who should he fight next...:(

There's talk of a rematch. I can't see it being competitive again, though. I really don't understand what happened last night, it seems Floyd decided to be more aggressive than usual, then suffered for a while from a headbutt. I can't believe that he has suddenly declined that much. Maidana should have been a piece of cake, not just in terms of talent level, but in terms of style. Amir Khan for the most part handled him with ease. Even a far over the hill Erik Morales did pretty well against him.

Speaking of Khan, he was very impressive last night. I don't think he would beat Floyd, but he has the speed and power to make it a very competitive fight. Khan's biggest problem is his chin, bu Floyd isn't a KO artist. Put Khan in with someone who is really slick but not a heavy hitter, and he shines. He really destroyed Malignaggi. If there's no rematch with Maidana, and the negotiations with Pacquiao continue to go nowhere, Khan would appear to be the best choice for Floyd's next opponent.

I would have liked to see Floyd fight Sergio Martinez before, but Maravilla is well past his prime now. I'm not even sure he'll get by Cotto now, though the latter is also past his best years. As with Pac, this was a fight that should have been made several years ago.

That obsession you are talking about is natural imo.If you are undefeated at this point of career you just dont want to risk and lose,Pacquaio would have done that too imo.

I blame both fighters for not making it happen, but Mayweather a little more, because he is considered the best. Pacquiao can say he fought any challenger who was ranked below him, which is all any fighter can be held accountable for. Mayweather can't say that.

But the biggest obstacle has always been Arum.
 
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Merckx index said:
It's not just who you fight, but when and how you fight them. He fought Cotto after the latter was on the decline, not when he was one of the most feared fighters in the welterweight division. He fought Moseley when the latter was a shell of his peak form. He made Hatton fight at a weight he'd never fought at before. He avoided Margarito when the latter was considered a terror. He didn't show any interest in Paul Williams, who was everyone's worst nightmare because of his extraordinary height and reach. He could have fought Sergio Martinez, whose size advantage over Mayweather is not much greater than Mayweather’s size advantage over Pacquiao.
I like to see that somebody here is a big boxing fan (u are english right?:))
I will add few thoughts on your pretty complete and very fine opinions.

You know its tough to fight against 50% of opponents in their prime,and almost all of them?Thats impossible cuz prime is like 2/3 years in boxer's career and when you fight once a year (which actually was Floyd's case couple of years) its not realistic.Its tough cuz when he fought Marquez Cotto was in his prime,when Martinez was in his prime Floyd havent boxed in light middle yet.About Mosley,I dont have to share my opinion to much cuz you know Floyd was a little kid when he was in his prime years.
Dont think that Hatton would be a thread to him at any weight,same for Williams cuz Mayweather would have pick him apart with his speed (Williams reach is good,but he is slow like Klitschko)
Martinez is one and only good option for Maywether,but only if he beats Cotto...We have to look on the fights from PR point of view too,you know 'Money'
There's talk of a rematch. I can't see it being competitive again, though. I really don't understand what happened last night, it seems Floyd decided to be more aggressive than usual, then suffered for a while from a headbutt. I can't believe that he has suddenly declined that much. Maidana should have been a piece of cake, not just in terms of talent level, but in terms of style. Amir Khan for the most part handled him with ease. Even a far over the hill Erik Morales did pretty well against him.
I think Maidana vs Mayweather II has a huge PR and money potential,you know americans,not so much knowledge 'bout boxing.:D
Like I said before,I think he just wasnt that sharp like with Canelo,and he wanted toe-to-toe fight to do a KO,but he probably didnt expect Maidana to be this good.
You have to give him a credit for this fight (Maidana),he was prepared 100%,very rare imo.
And I wouldnt read too much into his previous fights,he has a new trainer,lot of changes in his life etc.
Speaking of Khan, he was very impressive last night. I don't think he would beat Floyd, but he has the speed and power to make it a very competitive fight. Khan's biggest problem is his chin, bu Floyd isn't a KO artist. Put Khan in with someone who is really slick but not a heavy hitter, and he shines. He really destroyed Malignaggi. If there's no rematch with Maidana, and the negotiations with Pacquiao continue to go nowhere, Khan would appear to be the best choice for Floyd's next opponent.
He was!But imo,he is not a thread for Mayweather.Like I said,I think only brawler can beat Mayweather,nobody has better defense,chin or speed.He lacks only bit of power (still there are only like 5 fighters stronger than him in his class).Khan is fast and has power,but he won't catch Floyd in the ring,no way.
Bad news is that Khan is avoiding this fight now,cuz of September and that Ramadan thing,he said he cant fight cuz of this,so this fight is highly unlikely to happen now unfortunately.
I would have liked to see Floyd fight Sergio Martinez before, but Maravilla is well past his prime now. I'm not even sure he'll get by Cotto now, though the latter is also past his best years. As with Pac, this was a fight that should have been made several years ago.

Agreed,I hope he will win and do a match against Mayweather.My most wanted matches:
Mayweather vs Pacquaio
Mayweather vs Martinez
Mayweather vs 'slim' Golovkin:D
Mayweather vs Maidana II
Mayweather vs Bradley (just KO reason)

I blame both fighters for not making it happen, but Mayweather a little more, because he is considered the best. Pacquiao can say he fought any challenger who was ranked below him, which is all any fighter can be held accountable for. Mayweather can't say that.

But the biggest obstacle has always been Arum.
Interesting opinion,I blame Manny (ok,Arum lol :eek:) more because he had 40-60 offer on the table.He just cant ask for more,thats super bs.Mayweather name /brand/behaviour/personality makes fights that big.Nobody can do that,not even that freakin Arum with Pacquiao Bradley II/Marquez VII/alien or whatever.Its ridiculous they didn't accept that.That would have been his biggest paycheck ever in his life (2nd biggest for Arum tho).
 
ILovecycling said:
I like to see that somebody here is a big boxing fan (u are english right?:))
I will add few thoughts on your pretty complete and very fine opinions.

American, actually. I seem to be the rare American who is interested in non-heavyweight fighters. I was never much interested in the sport till I spent some time in the Philippines. I know someone there who is very close to Pacquiao's wife, Jinkee.

It's an interesting story. They were students together before she met Manny, and like most Filipinos, very poor. So my friend used to loan Jinkee money. She told me that Manny was originally interested in Jinkee's older sister, but I guess this was before Manny had made a name for himself, and the older sister didn't reciprocate. So Manny turned to Jinkee, who of course is now one of the richest women in the country. (Or maybe not, I've heard Manny is actually in serious debt over income taxes. Like so many great fighters before him, he has given away most of his millions.)

You know its tough to fight against 50% of opponents in their prime, and almost all of them?Thats impossible cuz prime is like 2/3 years in boxer's career and when you fight once a year (which actually was Floyd's case couple of years) its not realistic.

Yes, but Mayweather made it even harder by his infrequent schedule. He took off almost two years from 2007-2009, and then fought only five times in the next four years. It’s only with these last six fights that he’s agreed to fight twice a year.

Its tough cuz when he fought Marquez Cotto was in his prime, when Martinez was in his prime Floyd havent boxed in light middle yet.

No, Cotto was undefeated and in his prime well before Mayweather fought Marquez. Cotto’s career took a big downturn in July 2008 when he lost to Margarito, who was found to have loaded gloves in his next fight, against Moseley. Mayweather could have fought Cotto before then, except that Floyd retired for two years beginning in 2007. Cotto was arguably never the same after the Margarito fight, and certainly not after Manny destroyed him.

The timeline wrt Martinez is also wrong. Floyd fought at 154 lbs vs. de la Hoya in the spring of 2007. Martinez became recognized as a great fighter after his first fight with Williams in Dec. 2009, even though he lost that fight. At the time, Pacquiao had just beaten Cotto, and he and Floyd were in negotiations for a match. When that fell through, Floyd met an over-the-hill Moseley. I can see how he wouldn’t think of Martinez as a reasonable opponent then, but by the end of the year, Martinez had defeated Pavlik and Williams and was fighter of the year. But who does Floyd fight in 2011? Victor Ortiz. And he doesn’t fight again for nearly a year, when he meets a past his prime Cotto. Floyd could have met Martinez, who really had no viable opponents after KOing Williams (who of course subsequently became paralyzed as a result of a motorcycle accident) any time during that period.

I’ll just add that there was no particular reason for Floyd to fight Marquez at all, other than the latter called him out. Marquez had previously passed up a fight with Khan, probably in large part because he didn’t feel comfortable at 140, then meets Mayweather at a catchweight above that, and even then Floyd missed the weight considerably and had to pay him a penalty. Nobody thought Marquez had a chance in that fight. Not only was he much smaller than Floyd, but stylistically it was all wrong for him. Mayweather could have fought Cotto at that time, and when he didn't, Manny did.

About Mosley,I dont have to share my opinion to much cuz you know Floyd was a little kid when he was in his prime years.

Mayweather was already at 140 by 2005, when Moseley was still very good. Even in 2007, Moseley lost a fairly close decision to an undefeated Cotto.

Dont think that Hatton would be a thread to him at any weight,same for Williams cuz Mayweather would have pick him apart with his speed (Williams reach is good,but he is slow like Klitschko)

I agree about Hatton, Williams, who knows. Martinez is or was very fast, yet the first fight with Williams was very close. Martinez won the second with a KO, pretty sure Floyd would not have KOd Williams.

Agreed,I hope he will win and do a match against Mayweather.My most wanted matches:
Mayweather vs Pacquaio
Mayweather vs Martinez
Mayweather vs 'slim' Golovkin:D
Mayweather vs Maidana II
Mayweather vs Bradley (just KO reason)

Yeah, GGG is very interesting, but we need to see what he can do against better opposition. If Bradley had beaten Pac last month, everyone would have been calling for Floyd to fight him, but he’s another one of Arum’s boys, so not much chance of that.

Broner called out Pacquiao last night, but the fight I'd like to see is Pacquiao vs. Maidana, assuming the latter doesn't get a rematch with Floyd. Two of the heaviest hitters in the division, should be a real slugfest. I had thought Manny should fight Maidana instead of Rios a few months ago, except coming off a KO, he might not have wanted to rehab by going against such a fearsome puncher.

Interesting opinion,I blame Manny (ok,Arum lol :eek:) more because he had 40-60 offer on the table.He just cant ask for more,thats super bs.Mayweather name /brand/behaviour/personality makes fights that big.Nobody can do that,not even that freakin Arum with Pacquiao Bradley II/Marquez VII/alien or whatever.Its ridiculous they didn't accept that.That would have been his biggest paycheck ever in his life (2nd biggest for Arum tho).

When did that happen? Floyd offered Manny a flat amount of $40 million, with no share of the revenue. Manny refused, saying he would accept a 55-45 split. Personally, I always wondered why they didn’t have something like 40-40, with the winner getting the remaining 20%.

Not defending Manny here. There was a tremendous amount of BS from his side, the blood tests, the stadium they supposedly were going to build in Vegas, moving the date of a proposed 2012 fight so that it would conflict with Floyd’s going to jail. But again, I think Floyd needs the fight more for his legacy than Manny needs it for his. Manny had those peak years when he not simply defeated but dominated a series of much bigger fighters, de la Hoya (Manny jumped to 147 after never having fought above 135, and there only once), Cotto, Clottey, Margarito. With the exception maybe of Clottey, there was no question he was facing the best outside of Mayweather that he could.

P.S. - A very interesting article on Floyd's jail time. Apparently he was really depressed about not being able to work out, and refused to eat almost all food that didn't come in a package for fear of being poisoned. He paid off another prisoner to get extra time outside of his cell, and had some run-ins with guards.

Mayweather quickly figured out the internal economy and politics of jail, the records suggest. After only five days in the facility, officers suspected that Mayweather, named as the world's highest-grossing athlete by Forbes in 2012, was bribing inmates in exchange for favors. During one hour-long session of free time, Mayweather was overheard yelling to an inmate named Paul Lopez, who pled guilty to murder last year and was then serving time for gang-related charges. According to newspaper accounts, Lopez and his co-defendants were indicted for beating a man to death with a bat.

"I am putting $500 on your books -- thanks for looking out," Mayweather told Lopez, the report states. The jail's internal investigation reported that $500 had been placed in Lopez's account by a third party, a person who had also deposited $200 into inmate Nicholas Howard's account. When asked about the payment, according to the report, Howard smiled and said, "It is what it is." The investigating officer then had a conversation with Lopez, who asked the officer if he could trade his privileges with Mayweather. "I want to give him my half hour in the dayroom, and I'll stay in the multipurpose room for my free time," Lopez said, according to the report. Ultimately, no disciplinary action was recommended.
 
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I thought that nowadays Americans are really into middleweight and lightweight when there are no Great boxers in heavyweight no?
Interesting story from Phillipines,thanks for sharing,if I would spent time there like you,I would prabably have been Pacquaio fan.:DIt has to be a interesting atmosphere there when he boxes (I imagine something like in Colombia listeningTdF):)

That Cotto fight was almost impossible cuz of Floyd's retirement like you said (maybe 2007,but there was a golden boy),so I agree.
Look,that Ortiz fight was a strange decision I agree,but he got KO,that was good for his PR to next fights (he wouldnt have done that with Martinez).
So it was better choice to fight Ortiz than Martinez (that Mosley fight was just for pure legacy of Mosley before he hits utter bad level, and he just couldnt fight him in 2005 like you said,he was too weak and young and maybe even Mosley wouldnt have accepted this fight)
We have to look on his fights from money-point-of-view too,I know that s.cks but its how it is.

About Marquez...there imo you are a bit overlooking Pacquiao aspect.Marquez was a good opponent for him cuz he fought Pacquaio two times before he met Mayweather,so Floyd had a reason why to fight him.Catch weight always s.cks,but it is a mistake from opponent's team.And most of the worldwide audience doesnt know what is the difference (how big) between 135 and 142 e.g. for them Mayweather still easily beat Marquez.
Mayweather wants to be a TBE in eyes of the World,not in eyes of ex-fighters and boxing 'experts'.(of course he wants this too,but its too dificult,maybe impossible cuz of great heavyweight boxers)

Of course I mentioned only Mayweather's possible fights.I would like to see Pacquiao Maidana too and I have my other dreamed matches from various weights...

As of Pac-Floyd...Sorry I forgot it wasnt a share,my bad...
Of course when I look on their fights,Pacquaio had more 'ideal' fights,maybe more proving,but he has losses (especially that Marquez KO,wow that was a mistake!I know it can happen to anybody,one punch - on the canvas,but it just didnt happen to Floyd,never),then you have draw with Marquez,Morales UD loss and I dont count early career losses and Pac-Bradley I. of course...
And he too had some 'nonsense' fight like Floyd had (Pac had less of them tho,thats true;)) e.g. De la hoya,Clothey,Mosley,Rios,Hatton and 3rd Morales of course...These were fights with fighters after their peak or never on his level.
I admit,like I said before,he had more proving fights,but not that MUCH better than Floyd,people who dont like Floyd always forget this.

At the end,thanks for that article,very interesting but not surprising for me,unfortunately:D
 
Like many other threads, I have to agree with you Merckx.

Never the less, if Mayweather and Pacquaio fought, I think Floyd would win a unanimous decision, something along the lines of 8-4 rounds. Unless Manny were able to get a very good shot or two in, early. That would change things, because it would cause Floyd to fight a little different mentally. But even at their peak a few years back I thought Floyd would probably win, because of styles, and size. Now, I think it's more likely. What's even more likely is that Floyd will fight Maidana again, win a unanimous decision, then wait another year and fight another average fighter, then by the time Pacquaio is a shell of his former self, he'll finally fight him and retire, proclaiming himself the greatest fighter ever, since he never lost.

2013-real-estate-crystal-ball.jpg



BTW. We Americans used to love boxing. It was huge in our country from the 1920's through the 1980's. Then a mixture of greed, too many weight classes, too many governing bodies, too many belts, people like Bob Arum and Don King, etc. and now, as Larry Merchant says, the great American heavyweight boxer is playing linebacker in the NFL somewhere.
 
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Alpe d'Huez said:
Like many other threads, I have to agree with you Merckx.

Never the less, if Mayweather and Pacquaio fought, I think Floyd would win a unanimous decision, something along the lines of 8-4 rounds. Unless Manny were able to get a very good shot or two in, early. That would change things, because it would cause Floyd to fight a little different mentally. But even at their peak a few years back I thought Floyd would probably win, because of styles, and size. Now, I think it's more likely. What's even more likely is that Floyd will fight Maidana again, win a unanimous decision, then wait another year and fight another average fighter, then by the time Pacquaio is a shell of his former self, he'll finally fight him and retire, proclaiming himself the greatest fighter ever, since he never lost.

2013-real-estate-crystal-ball.jpg



BTW. We Americans used to love boxing. It was huge in our country from the 1920's through the 1980's. Then a mixture of greed, too many weight classes, too many governing bodies, too many belts, people like Bob Arum and Don King, etc. and now, as Larry Merchant says, the great American heavyweight boxer is playing linebacker in the NFL somewhere.

Hi mate,
@bolded part:Interesting tactics,you are probably right.On the other hand I'm not sure it would be UD,I think that it would be a stoppage.I know,really bold but imo after these years of ducking,doing a contract etc. it would be a rough fight!Probably a stoppage cuz of superiority of one fighter,cut or something like this,not a regular KO of course.Both riders wouldnt risk a point fight,it would be a fight of their lives and everybody would say to the winner - YOU are the best boxer in the world,best of you era etc. thats why I think both would try to heavily outbox the other to have a sure win and thats a situation for TKO.
I have a question for you,in your opinion,what should Floyd do to be a 'greatest fighter ever'(ok,its almost impossible,but to be close to this)?

Second part: why the heavyweight is so bad in USA?And do regular american people follow at least middle and lightweights?(good fighters of course)
 
ILovecycling said:
Hi mate,
@bolded part:Interesting tactics,you are probably right.On the other hand I'm not sure it would be UD,I think that it would be a stoppage.
Very possible considering the way Manny was KO'd buy Marquez. By the time Floyd gets around to fighting Manny...
I have a question for you,in your opinion,what should Floyd do to be a 'greatest fighter ever'(ok,its almost impossible,but to be close to this)?
It's not possible at this point. He avoided too many fighters at their peak, and picked and chose opponents too much. I can't completely blame Floyd for this. The sport itself let him do so, almost encouraged it. There are too many belts, too many weight classes, and managers and boxers are so often allowed to make fights, not governing bodies. And with Floyd his own promoter, what's the incentive to take any risks?

A fight, and win, over Martinez would help give some real credibility, a good win to retire on. But Martinez is older than Floyd even and that fight should have happened years ago.

I suppose if Floyd decided to go up in weight and fight Ward, and somehow won such a fight impressively, that might put him in the same breath as the others he wants so badly to be compared to. But despite some talk months ago, that fight will never happen. Ward is too big, too good, and Floyd would never even consider it.

Second part: why the heavyweight is so bad in USA?And do regular american people follow at least middle and lightweights?(good fighters of course)
First, like I said, quoting Larry Merchant, all the attention in the US is on sports like NFL football. While a boxer can make more money, most of the US super athletes that are big, aimed for careers in football really. Maybe the NBA.

As to why we follow lower weights more? I guess this goes back to the 80s, when Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran (and several others) made boxing so exciting. Gil Clancy used to say fans loved heavyweights because anything could happen at any moment. There was a knock for years (at least in US minds) that "little" guys didn't hit hard, so fights weren't as interesting as the heavyweights. One could say Tommy Hearns single handily changed that perception, and it's since stuck.
 
Aug 4, 2010
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Alpe d'Huez said:
Very possible considering the way Manny was KO'd buy Marquez. By the time Floyd gets around to fighting Manny...

It's not possible at this point. He avoided too many fighters at their peak, and picked and chose opponents too much. I can't completely blame Floyd for this. The sport itself let him do so, almost encouraged it. There are too many belts, too many weight classes, and managers and boxers are so often allowed to make fights, not governing bodies. And with Floyd his own promoter, what's the incentive to take any risks?

A fight, and win, over Martinez would help give some real credibility, a good win to retire on. But Martinez is older than Floyd even and that fight should have happened years ago.

I suppose if Floyd decided to go up in weight and fight Ward, and somehow won such a fight impressively, that might put him in the same breath as the others he wants so badly to be compared to. But despite some talk months ago, that fight will never happen. Ward is too big, too good, and Floyd would never even consider it.


First, like I said, quoting Larry Merchant, all the attention in the US is on sports like NFL football. While a boxer can make more money, most of the US super athletes that are big, aimed for careers in football really. Maybe the NBA.

As to why we follow lower weights more? I guess this goes back to the 80s, when Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran (and several others) made boxing so exciting. Gil Clancy used to say fans loved heavyweights because anything could happen at any moment. There was a knock for years (at least in US minds) that "little" guys didn't hit hard, so fights weren't as interesting as the heavyweights. One could say Tommy Hearns single handily changed that perception, and it's since stuck.

1)Then you should watch the press conference after The Moment, he talked about Ward,he is back with Showtime and it looked like he has some intentions with him,so who knows,it would be awesome:eek:.On the other hand I dont know if this fight has a PR potential to make 1,5M+ PPV,hard to say...

2)lol I dont understand why,popularity or what?Boxing had huge popularity years ago (its not that bad with lighter wights nowadays,but still worse) so I dont understand why people dont do that in US.Weird.

btw
Looks like Clay is trying to force Mayweather and Pacquaio to fight,nice:)
 
Jul 10, 2010
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Alpe d'Huez said:
. . .

BTW. We Americans used to love boxing. It was huge in our country from the 1920's through the 1980's. Then a mixture of greed, too many weight classes, too many governing bodies, too many belts, people like Bob Arum and Don King, etc. and now, as Larry Merchant says, the great American heavyweight boxer is playing linebacker in the NFL somewhere.

I am not so sure this is quite the case. After Marciano, boxing went into a steep popularity decline. Then came Cassius, aka Muhammad Ali. And boxing popped back up. After Muhammad, came a lot of over-hyped unexciting fighters. Some of whom were very good, but the hoop-la-la died down. The excitement went away. Sugar Ray Leonard provided a secondary spike in ratings - but it was secondary. Watchers drifted away to other sports or to MMA.

That is a nutshell version of the history. But boxing has waxed and waned often since the end of the 19th C.
 

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