Maximus Decimus
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Posts posted by Maximus Decimus
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34 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:
Yes, that’s a valid criticism of Yarde although I think he is number one contender now (need to check this really).
To be honest, the fact that Yarde hasn’t fought anyone of great note might make Kovalev’s people take the fight more readily.
It would be a good one for the paying punters.
It's not a criticism of Yarde, he's not the only one who has such one sided fights it just seems like a huge step up. I might be way wrong but I thought him an Buatsi were heading for a showdown?
Talking of mismatches Loma vs Crolla is coming up soon. It's a mandatory so no one is to blame but no doubt it'll be a good one for all the Lomachenko highlight reels.
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1 hour ago, Gerrumonside ref said:
I think Wilder and Joshua will dance around the handbags a little while longer, but if you can get them both on DAZN then at least they’re at the same disco.
I’d really like Callum Smith to get a stadium gig against GGG or Canelo, or at least see another matchup between those two greats.
I think on BT we are looking at November/December PPVs between Yarde-Kovalev and also Dubois-Gorman.
Kovalev would be a huge step up for Yarde. Someone pointed out the odds of his opponents and they've all been 100-1 on fights.
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It looks like there might be one upside to the whole Fury signing for ESPN.
They have sufficiently annoyed the Wilder team that it looks like they've gone from trying to freeze out Joshua to seeing AJ as a way of getting back at Fury.
There were a few tentative signs in the last couple of weeks. Suddenly from nowhere they were talking about AJ and even Wilder talked about knocking him out. This might not seem odd but he literally has never talked about the fight. Something felt different.
Now there are big rumours that Wilder might be about to sign with DAZN. This would be huge for boxing and for DAZN especially as GGG signed with them today.
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1 hour ago, Gerrumonside ref said:
There were a couple of low looking shots in the build up, but Dubois blasted out an opponent in two rounds that had taken Joseph Parker the distance in a World title fight.
Talk of him fighting Nathan Gorman later in the year.
Daniel Dubois looked the real deal with that finish.
I watched his last fight and basically wrote him off. I must admit he looked quick and dangerous tonight.
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23 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:
Some rare Friday Night Boxing on BT tonight featuring heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois and lightheavyweight Anthony Yarde.
On 360VR? Don't mind if I do!
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So it's official, Fury - Wilder 2 is off.
Think this is a real bad look for Fury and he'll get slated for this. When you consider the back and forth there has been with Wilder and AJ and the accusations that continue to this day, Fury is likely to get worse.
The key difference is that Wilder was unable to duck this fight without losing his title. The possibility of purse bids guaranteed Fury a relatively decent split. This means that Fury had the fight if he wanted it, it was all his decision to not go ahead with it.
I'm sure Fury's fans will say he won the first fight but the manner of the 12th round makes it look like he's decided against it.
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29 minutes ago, Bedford Roughyed said:
Really enjoyed Alan Partridge and his welcome return to the BBC.
I similarly loved it. What's so good about Partridge is that it's a coherent narrative that's been going on for over 25 years.
There was quite a bit of pushback online but if you're a Partridge fan like me it fit in perfectly with how he's evolved over the years. It seems like a lot of people were expecting a second series of knowing me knowing you.
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8 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:
Eubank won on points by a wider margin than a couple of the judges’ actually gave. Although he had a point taken off late in the fight for body slamming DeGale he caught him many times trying to come with big rights and floored him twice. I think another fight with Billy Joe Saunders would be the logical choice next if it can be made this year.
As for Joyce, his opponent came in overweight and pretty flabby round the midrift. The fight was finally stopped midway through the bout after Joyce had landed a succession of shots leading up to then although none of them could be described as concussive - Stiverne had taken a lot though and was throwing less and less back. Joyce actually walked onto shots early on in the fight before eventually putting down Stiverne due to sheer volume of accurate blows which Groves would describe later as mainly ‘arm shots’.
I’m not sure it’s a performance that will propel him into a big fight with one of the big three this year, but he may well get a shot at Manuel Char’s ‘regular’ WBA heavyweight belt.
Yeh fair play to Eubank, I had him losing this match initially but he physically dominated the fight coming close to finishing him a couple of times. Got to think De Gale will retire from here.
God Joyce is so slow but Stiverne was clearly just there for a payday. I only switched on in round 2 and he looked like it was the 12th round.
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3 hours ago, DavidM said:
Crolla v Loma confirmed for April . At least he can say he shared the ring with a true great and dine out on that
This is the sort of calibre of fight that Tyson Fury can look forward to with Top Rank then
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5 minutes ago, DavidM said:
Could they do a deal with showtime ? On both networks or two fights . For the money and demand involved you must feel all this has been discussed before this deal
Finkle has confirmed that they knew nothing about it. Also, Arum and Haymon (Showtime) are renowned for hating each other.
It's not that it couldn't happen, it just seems much less of a certainty than a few hours ago. Especially when you consider that Fury has now moved to 'it won't be the end of the world if it doesn't happen,' and talking how he won't be screwed over in negotiations again.
All sound very familiar.
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The more I think of it, the more ESPN must be expecting Fury to be fighting Wilder and AJ on their network. The deal is worth a reported £80m for 5 fights.
If he doesn't fight Wilder next who is there he could fight in the US to be worth £16m? There's no-one they could even consider putting on PPV, Ortiz is about the best shot and he's never been a PPV fighter.
They might also struggle if his non big-3 fights stink which they very well might.
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20 minutes ago, DavidM said:
Not just pro boxing .... mayweather reckons he can 80 mil doing exhibitions ! Money is the daddy , not knocking that for what they do and the risk , although I must say I’m a naive traditionalist and value belts ( proper ones ) and unification fights . I think folk still remember those achievements most
I do think things have taken a turn for the worse too. The most famous example that didn't happen is of course Bowe-Lewis but this was quite an isolated example.
The turning point might prove to have been Mayweather-Pacquiao and the public nature of the negotiations. This is something that social media has made even worse and I think Hearn is bad for this.
The wider awareness of cuts/splits seems to mean that fighters are more likely to not take a fight because they feel slighted.
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Just now, Gerrumonside ref said:
I don’t believe the governing bodies will ever hold that kind of power over the fighters to be honest.
At the end of the day any attempt to try and box them in that way would lead to breakaways by fighters.
Money doesn’t talk in pro boxing, it screams. You just can’t compare it to anything else.
I agree, I just think it's killing the sport. I'm incredibly unlucky in the two main sports I follow being boxing and RL!
It'll be interesting to see how MMA manages going forward. They've been fortunate in how UFC has had complete control but as the money gets bigger and the names get bigger, I wonder whether they'll be able to keep a lid on things. Especially when you consider that there are other organisations out there.
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29 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:
I think it’s always been about the money.
I think the belts are a means to an end.
Quite right too in my opinion as these guys are putting their lives at risk every time they step into the ring.
This is of course true to a point but if it was purely about money Wilder or Whyte would be fighting AJ now.
Politics and ego are sadly just as big an issue which is why there should be a governing body ordering the fights.
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20 minutes ago, DavidM said:
Haymon and Arum can’t stand each other so god knows what happens now . The tv/ promotional shenanigans often mean the fights the people want to see don’t happen which is a crying shame . Throw Eddie into the mix ... and warren . The three best heavyweights in the world should be fighting each other , not skirting around with fringe contenders . This is the kind of politics in boxing that gives it a bad name and turn folk off . The fans don’t care they just wanna see the best fights
Arum has already said something very disparaging about Showtime being cockamemie. Finkle has admitted he knew nothing about the deal which doesn't sound promising.
The sad thing is that things appear to be getting worse. As the amount of money goes up and boxers hear about what other fighters make they are only bothered about that one thing. Gone are the days when it was the belts that mattered.
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So to throw a spanner in the works Fury has signed a huge deal with ESPN in America, which has cast doubt over the possibility of a second Wilder fight as he is on a rival network (Showtime). They're still talking about trying to make a deal but the way they are talking (for instance entertaining other possibilities) suggests that it is nowhere near as close as previously thought with some speculating it would be announced today.
I hope the fight can still be made because if it isn't it represents a very sad day for boxing IMO. You'll have the 3 big fighters all on rival networks meaning the very real possibility that they won't face each other. Warren is already saying that they'll have to go on ESPN if they want to fight Fury which is exactly what Hearn says about AJ and DAZN.
If Wilder and Fury don't face each other it makes it borderline ludicrous that they didn't take the AJ fight; they have been given a free pass largely because it was presumed they would face each other and this was seen as fair after the first fight. Instead we have the big 3 fighters with no other obligations but unable to get in the ring with each other because of politics.
From an ESPN perspective, it makes little sense IMO unless he fights the AJ or Wilder. Fury is a great fighter but he can be terrible to watch. His best two fights have been situations where he has schooled a big name unexpectedly. It's a different matter and much less interesting when he's expected to win.
The only winners in this are the UFC, who will again win due to boxing's pathetic governance.
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1 minute ago, DavidM said:
Yes I’d agree . Wilder talks the talk but doesn’t seem to want to walk the walk , instead shouting venom from an ocean away . Fury is a fighter he’ll take on anyone and him and AJ will be the biggest fight and money spinner probably ever here
AJ-Fury over here would be humongous. I still have a preference for AJ-Wilder though as it'd be a more exciting fight because they're both knockout artists.
I just hope Fury-Wilder II is so conclusive that it puts to bed any talk of a third fight. Naturally I want Fury to win, but I won't be disappointed if it leads to a Joshua-Wilder mega fight.
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5 hours ago, DavidM said:
Yes , looking at the general vibe on various boxing sites from fans there they do disparage big Josh a lot . I think a lot of it is simply he isn’t American . To me despite everything he is still the best heavyweight in the world , as well as a genuinely nice engaging guy . Maybe Americans struggle with that to , tbh the level of odious offensive juvenile bad mouthing and antics from boxers there turns me off . But it’s accepted there and even welcomed far to much . I believe Josh will do a job on Miller , I’m reminded of Lennox and Tua for some reason . I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a 12 round boxing workout from the outside , but a KO on his big American gob would be sweet and hopefully win over some doubters . Then the Wilder or Fury fight simply MUST HAPPEN . No more excuses , Josh needs it boxing needs it
Boxing definitely needs it but I'm not hopeful it'll happen. Because Fury-Wilder is going to be at MSG too, there is a part of me that thinks this'll be seen as two eliminators.
The problem is their egos and money and it is killing the sport long term. The expectation is that AJ should back down and give them more than they're realistically worth, but I can understand the AJ/Hearn perspective that they should take less for the opportunity to become number 1.
I think there's little to suggest that Wilder is genuine in his desire to unify. Hopefully Fury beats him because I think he would want the fight and it would happen.
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17 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:
Think Anthony Joshua will need a convincing victory to win over the American public as his reputation there has been trashed by all accounts.
As we all know, Madison Square Garden is a tough crowd particularly if the action doesn’t really hot up from the opening bell.
I believe Hearn has mismanaged the last six months of Joshua’s career, allowing Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder to outmanoeuvre Joshua in terms of status in the critical US market.
As I said earlier, the drama of the Wilder-Fury fight was a godsend for them and has allowed them to get one over on AJ.
The reality that Wilder thought a 60% Fury would be an easy chance to boost his profile and record was forgotten when Fury got miraculously got up in the final round. Now the narrative is that they are the best fighting the best while AJ is ducking.
Since this Wilder has used his newfound power to try and destroy AJs profile. A sold out MSG demonstrates just how hard this will be to achieve.
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AJ-Miller has broken the record for pre-sales at the MSG and could sellout as early as today or tomorrow.
This is pretty damning when you consider that despite being an American Heavyweight champion, Wilder only sold 13,000 (with an additional 4,000 freebies) for his fight against Fury.
I suspect most of these are Brits but it will still confirm the idea that AJ is the real global superstar of boxing. It's not going to help Wilder in his attempt to freeze AJ out and pretend he doesn't exist.
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9 hours ago, DavidM said:
Interesting seeing the reaction to this fight. AJ’s star seems to be waning a little among many fans who aren’t to chuffed with the way he’s going , and of course following the Wilder - Tyson bandwagon. Miller is a hyped fat lump who’s done nothing of note but coincidentally is under Fast Eddie also . Yes he’s got decent movement for a fatty but he’s going up a huge amount here . To me Fast Eddie is messing up AJ . Fighting between Sep and Apr was ridiculous enough , but Sep to June is crazy . He should be fighting three times a year as the heavyweight champ . The fighter everyone wants to see and everyone wants to fight . And he’s a young fit guy who’s hardly exerting himself . But Eddie has turned him into a PR money making commodity , and the rarer his appearances the more his value increases and the more folk will pay to see him . Simple as that , not about the boxing public at all . This is another PVP cash cow which doesn’t really merit it . That camp has to be careful where it’s going with AJ or they’ll lose good will
I certainly see this differently; in my opinion his opponents are playing a blinder. There's no doubt that the way the Fury-Wilder fight went has shifted the dynamics in the heavyweight division considerably.
I think they've struggled to get a fight at all for AJ this time around. Wilder just isn't interested and Fury has decided he wants to do the rematch with Wilder's team. The next obvious candidate - Whyte - has also decided not to take it. Even Miller played hardball and was by no means a guarantee. I think under the circumstances, the Miller fight is a decent result as it opens the gate to fighting in the US against an opponent who will do a good job of talking it up.
The proof of this is in the way things have gone since his last fight. They have spent the last few months trying to bring Wilder to the table including AJ doing so publicly a number of times. Then as it became clear that it wasn't likely to happen, AJ rather embarrassingly appeared at the Whyte fight (where he got boo'd) trying to sell the idea of AJ and Whyte. Allied with the fact that it will likely have cost a lot to cancel Wembley, it doesn't seem to be how you would act if it was planned.
AJ/Eddie Hearn are being heavily criticised for their offers but not enough attention is paid to the other fighters IMO; A-sides playing hardball is nothing new. Take Whyte, he has turned down more money than he could ever get on his own with 3 World titles on the line to become the mandatory for Wilder/Fury (where he will almost certainly earn less). You'd think he'd be biting his hand off to get a world title shot but he's more bothered about what percentage he feels is right. It's the same with Fury and Wilder, they are more bothered about their split than trying to take 75% of the belts and/or become undisputed champion for more money than they get fighting each other.
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1 hour ago, DavidM said:
Typical Broner fight of recent times . Lazy , bemusing performance . Thoroughly beaten by a guy looking way off his peak himself then the odious , deluded reaction of a man who needs serious help .
By the way what about the cut Badou Jack got . Geez remind me never to go see that doctor
His reaction was just bizarre; how you can average less than 8 punches a round and think you won is beyond me.
That said, Pacquiao clearly isn't quite the fighter of old and it certainly didn't whet the appetite for a second Mayweather fight. He found it hard to catch Broner and reminded me of Mayweather a bit, he's too small to close the gap against a decent mover. The difference with Broner is that Mayweather throws enough to win.
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Big news recently is that Khan has took the fight with Crawford in America over the Brook fight. I can understand the logic but I think not facing Brook will overshadow his legacy.
Also, Canelo has took a fight with Jacobs which should be a good fight. I was impressed with Jacobs against GGG.
Most of the recent news is dominated by the ongoing sagas between the heavyweights. Wilder-Fury II looks likely but is not guaranteed and Whyte looks like he's had enough; he's annoyed at AJ for a low offer and is hinting at leaving Hearn. Wembley is booked for April 13th and currently it's looking unsure who AJ will be facing.
Huge rumours abound that Klitschko is coming back. He denies it but Whyte has said he definitely is and they were in talks about a fight
Interesting times.
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2 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:
Just a heads up that the Manny Pacquiao vs Adrien Broner world title fight from Vegas is being shown live on ITV4 in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Should be a good one.
Wow surprised by that, thanks for the heads up.
Boxing
in Any Other Business / Any Other Sports
Posted
Fair play to Garcia, he's got some balls to take a fellow highly ranked P4P fighter who is much bigger than him.