Why has boxing died?

[GAME05]

that first round was Calzaghe's fault and not anything special Hopkins did. by the 5th round Calzaghe figured out the strategy and was protecting his left side better and was finally getting his distance to land a few quick shots. sure, not heavy shots, but he was winning the rounds nonetheless, and 10-9 is 10-9 whether you rock your opponent back or not. and to that, i didn't really see Hopkins tagging Calzaghe much at all. sure, Hopkins caused a small cut, but it really never bled, and i'm sure not going to give Hopkins points throughout the bout for opening a cut some number of rounds ago. i just never saw Hopkins' counters as too effective; they were usually blocked and he just didn't get enough solid shots in to alter what Calzaghe was doing.

[SeriesFinale]

that first round was Calzaghe's fault and not anything special Hopkins did.

 

Can you expand on this? He knocked Calzaghe down. Or did you believe Calzaghe when he first tried to claim to Kellerman that he "slipped"?

 

It's like saying that the last few round were Hopkins fault and nothing special that Calzaghe did.

 

Calzaghe did indeed adjust better as the fight went on, but I still feel that Hopkins controlled the pace and I'll take quality over quantity any day. In the end though, Calzaghe did enough to win.

[brettac1]

Calzaghe won this fight with ease. I had the exact same score as Chuck Giampa and Lederman (9-3, 116-111).

 

Hopkins is just terrible. I'm not a big Calzaghe fan (I'm not a fan of volume punchers who have no power). But in Hopkins case, when you are in the best position to win when the fight consists of 16 punches a round, you have an uphill battle against someone who throws and throws.

 

I diasagree that Hopkins controlled the pace of the fight. Maybe in the first round, sure, but in the mid and late rounds Calzaghe had him throwing 45 punches a round, which Hopkins hasn't done for about 15 years. Calzaghe wasn't able to throw his usual 80-90 per round, but it was much closer to his normal fight than B-Hop's.

 

Basically, I thought the fight sucked for the most part. Which is to be expected when Hopkins gets in the ring. I have no clue how Kellerman, Lampley, et al say he is top 5 P4P. There's none of that artistry that a guy like Mayweather, or even Jones, has at this point. It's just dirty tricks and stupid talk. The feigning of the last two low blows were just pathetic.

 

All that being said, I would like to see Calzaghe fight Pavlik, because I like to see Pavlik fight anyone who will trade punches with him. I think that would be a good action fight. Also, with Calzaghe being naturally bigger, he may be able to hurt Pavlik a little, which wouldn't be able to do against any true light heavyweights.

 

If it's Joe vs. Roy Jones, that will be a slightly better fight than last night, but certainly nothing worth paying a $50 PPV price.

[GAME05]

brett, we're in complete agreement.

 

you really think Calzaghe could hurt Pavlik? i wouldn't really see Calzaghe's size being a factor in any fight just for the way he punches. that was my first thought after the fight, too, whether Calzaghe might take on Pavlik. i think he will eventually, and i agree that it would be a great fight to watch, but i think Pavlik would destroy him.

 

that said, i'd bet Calzaghe takes the money of the Jones Jr. fight first. although if he wants to fight Pavlik, he better hurry before he gets any older and Pavlik gets more experience.

[jwill535]

I have no idea what style Hopkins was fighting but some would say brawling but that would be an insult to brawlers. One punch, clinch and cheap shot then repeat is a horrible fight play. As to the "5 minute break", having boxed before in my life and worn a boxing cup(its a larg pad with the cup inside of it, it looks like a huge diaper) i can tell you that the way he was hit(open hand to the beltline) should not have garnered that type of response, anyone can tell that he was just faking it and taking a break. The punches that really hurt are the upper cuts that drive the cup up into you.

 

You could hear Stallone yelling at the ref to stop Hopkins for grabbing on.

[danzig6767]

I have no idea what style Hopkins was fighting but some would say brawling but that would be an insult to brawlers. One punch, clinch and cheap shot then repeat is a horrible fight play. As to the "5 minute break", having boxed before in my life and worn a boxing cup(its a larg pad with the cup inside of it, it looks like a huge diaper) i can tell you that the way he was hit(open hand to the beltline) should not have garnered that type of response, anyone can tell that he was just faking it and taking a break. The punches that really hurt are the upper cuts that drive the cup up into you.

 

You could hear Stallone yelling at the ref to stop Hopkins for grabbing on.

I'm not a Hopkins fan either, as a fighter or his personality.

I listen to Rome quite a bit and he has had Hopkins on plenty of times over the years. He's just extremely annoying to listen to. Mix in his style of boxing i for the most part find boring, i wish he'd have gone away years ago.

 

[brettac1]

What an absolutely pointless exercise this De La Hoya/Forbes fight was. He could have fought the Steve Forbes from Forbes magazine and it would have had the same impact on my opinion of his chances against Floyd. Mayweather is one of the (if not the) best fighters in the past 50 years. He'll own Oscar just like he did a year ago. It's just a pointless fight. I don't knock Floyd for doing it (which he will), because like he says, "dollars make sense", but it does nothing for me.

 

Oscar should just go and fight Cotto in September, and then after Cotto destroys him, that can set up a Cotto/Mayweather fight, which may actually be good.

[GAME05]

total agreement, Brett. i was yawning at the prospect of this fight from the start and got exactly what i thought we'd get. every single round was exactly the same. oh, but DeLa Hoya is "warmed up" for his Mayweather fight coming up. sure thing. i was never a big De La Hoya fan to begin with, so i guess it'll be fun to watch Mayweather completely destroy him.

 

but Forbes is what he is, fodder for champion fighters. he's the fixture "warm up" opponent. quite the defensive style, throw your arms in front of you and wait until all the punching stops.

 

i kinda feel like we're in the boxing offseason right now. the only fights we have coming up for a while are all just stepping stones to real fights come September-December. i guess Mosely/Judah will be entertaining, but that's really it for a good while to my knowledge. i sure won't order a beer for the Lockett/Pavlik fight, because it'll be over long before i finish drinking.

[burniebrewer]

I turned this one off after about 5 rounds. What a basically meaningless fight.

 

If he wants Floyd, he can surely get Floyd without having to do this little dance, no?

[brettac1]

Yeah, he really did this fight to help the PPV numbers for the Floyd fight. I don't know the logic that leads to that move, because it doesn't make any sense to me. Like, just because he beat a guy that sort of resembles Floyd's style, suddenly this is going to pull the wool over more peoples' eyes and make them shell out the cash for the PPV? What?

 

Like I said, Floyd needs to fight Cotto. I think he were to go and fight him at the Garden during the Puerto Rican Day festivities next year, it would be massive.

 

I agree that this feels like the offseason, and it really is. I expect Mosley to dispatch of Judah pretty quickly, or at least easily. I was shocked when that fight was announced as a PPV. Mosley is still an upper-tier fighter, IMO, but Judah is junk at this point. I am looking forward to watching James Kirkland on Boxing After Dark on the 17th, though.

[GAME05]

wow, i can't believe i was so desperate to see some fighting that i made an effort to go see Tony/Rachman on FSN. it's sort of like when you find that ziplock bag way in the back of the fridge, and it's green and rotten and gross--you know exactly what you have coming, but for some reason you still have to stick your nose in there to see just how bad it could possibly be. and then surprise! it really was that awful.

 

Toney looked like he was trying to punch through Jello, and Rachman was as stiff as an I-beam. I kept hoping the announcer would go "Brought to you by the AARP!!!!"

 

quote of the night from James Toney: "I'm the best heavyweight fighter in the world." sure y'are, James.

[jwill535]

quote of the night from James Toney: "I'm the best OVERweight fighter in the world." sure y'are, James.

Fixed for Toney

 

[brettac1]

I didn't even bother with it. Glad I didn't by the sound of it. I was a HUGE James Toney fan back in his heyday (I highly recommend watching some of his old fights on YouTube - especially the Nunn fight). Too bad that he still feels the need to fight. I hope he hasn't blown all of his money.

 

Fights are really slow right now. Not a lot happening at all. The Cotto/Margarito fight is marginally interesting, but I have always thought that Margarito is massively over-hyped. On the other hand, I think Cotto is top three P4P now that Floyd has retired.

[BrewCrewForever]

Boxing has died beacuse MMA (UFC) is where it's at.

[GAME05]

Fights are really slow right now. Not a lot happening at all. The Cotto/Margarito fight is marginally interesting, but I have always thought that Margarito is massively over-hyped. On the other hand, I think Cotto is top three P4P now that Floyd has retired.

that's why i've been looking forward to the fight for a while. i've heard and read so much about Cotto, and just the fact that Floyd had been ducking him for a while says a lot right there.

 

is a little sad right now that the biggest news in boxing is who's going to be next to get to beat up DeLaHoya. it wasn't just that Steve Forbes is a terrible boxer, but dlHoya looked pretty bad himself.

[GAME05]

ok, Brett, I know you saw this one.

 

just that whole card was incredible. that comeback win by the Colombian was awesome to start with, leading up to a great title fight. i actually hadn't seen either Cotto or Margarito fight before and knew them only by their histories. it sure seemed like the way Cotto has been fighting that he'd destroy Margarito, or at least win by 4 or 5.

 

Margarito is a flippin freight train. the last three rounds Cotto was starting to wear down, and i can only imagine how frustrating it must have been that each time he's looking up from his gloves that Margarito was right there waiting for him. each round was fairly close for the most part; I had Cotto by one after 10, though my buddy had it even. Margarito would get in a good barrage, though not many came in that clean, and then Cotto would finish Margarito's flurry with a solid left or right hook. looked like by about the 8th that Margarito found that his uppercut was finding its way through and starting to do some damage.

 

just a completely entertaining card all the way through.

[brettac1]

Just a great fight. I actually had Cotto up 7 rounds to 3 going into the 11th, but it became a totally different fight in the 7th. Margarito just hammered on him and he somehow never got tired.

 

I thought Cotto was really dominating the fight with his left hand for a long time, be it the jab, hook, or uppercut. Margarito never had a defense for it, other than he has an amazing chin. But Cotto also had to keep running and it just wore him out. For a while it reminded me of Oscar and Floyd, except that Cotto's not quite as good as Floyd, and Margarito actually did something when he walked Cotto down.

 

One of the best fights of the year, without question. Not Vazquez/Marquez good, but really solid and at the very top of the sport it doesn't happen like that too often anymore.

[GAME05]

i wonder who Margarito will choose to fight next, if he'll go with more of a tune-up guy, if he'll have an automatic rematch against Cotto, or if he'll try to avenge his loss to Williams.

 

it's double-rough for Cotto, not only losing his belt, but maybe now DeLa Hoya will choose to fight Margarito instead, which of course would be a gigantic payday.

[GAME05]

DeLa Hoya is just a joke. He looked equally old and pathetic against Steve Forbes, but i'd figured it was just because he was fighting Forbes and didn't need to try to get that win. but he just stands there and takes the punches, tries out a few pathetic jabs that never landed after the 1st, and apparently had a strategy of going for Pacquiao's body, which just meant he stuck his face in front of Pacquiao's gloves.

 

and i wish i could say that there was even one undercard fight that was any good, but what the heck? i only paid $10 to see it, but i even want that money back. sure glad i didn't shell out the $50.

 

was it a great strategy by Freddy Roach? Is DLH really that pathetic? Is Manny just that good? All three?

[trwi7]

I know nothing about boxing, but the ESPN boxing analyst guy said that DLH never wins big fights and thought he would get smashed tonight. Looks like he did.

[brettac1]

Yes, DLH is pathetic. His rapid decline has been covered up by his inactivity - like Roach said on one of the 24/7's, Oscar is a part-time fighter. Pacquiao is the best P4P right now, without question. I really hope that they can throw enough money at Floyd to make him come back to fight Manny next summer or fall. If Manny fights Hatton, it will be even more of a joke than the DLH fight was. Sadly, though, it looks like that will happen.

 

And yeah, most horrible undercard EVER.

 

I think that Mosely/Margarito might be a very good fight next month. I expect Margarito to win, but it could really be action-packed.

[GAME05]

the original question was Why has boxing died, and it sure doesn't help that the biggest draw in boxing puts together a show like that. but i guess it at least helps promote an exciting fighter like Pacquiao.

 

Mosely looked decent in his last fight, but yeah, i can't figure how he could beat Margarito, either. Margarito's fight against Cotto made me a huge fan and i can't wait to watch his next fight.

 

don't forget we've got the Holyfield slaughter on the 20th already. what a sad affair that whole thing is. i'm actually thinking of retaining the good memories of Holyfield I have and may skip the fight, just because I really don't want my last memory of him to be his dying in the ring.

[brettac1]

I cannot believe that Valuev and Holyfield are fighting. It is sad.

[aracko]

Boxing died with this man.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBy4uNPyL9U

 

Now you can find better entertainers on Channel 18.

[PaulRigdon]

Anyone watch the Mosley Margarito fight?

 

Wow! I am stunned!