Fight Night Thread - Stub Hub - SPOILERS

[mobilemaster8]

First topic message reminder :

Evening/Morning Gents.

Just watching the Lightweight Title Clash between Figueroa and Estrada and what a scrap it is.....KNOCKDOWN!!!

And Figueroa wins with flurry of shots.

Great fight.

[mobilemaster8]

Thought it was the Phone 4 U arena now?

[monzon]

Brook and Khan will be a stadium fight either Wembley or Emirates, a big fight like that should be in the capital.

Old Trafford is a better venue than either of those. It's also a more iconic boxing venue than either, in my opinion.

Makes no sense to take two Northern fighters to London when it'd be such a huge fight nearer to home. Tickets would go a lot quicker. There'd be a huge amount of interest in a Red Rose v White Rose world title fight. No point getting the London bores involved really.

[All Time Great]

Other than the headbutt, Kell's face looks relatively clean of any damage. It doesn't matter how aggressive you are, if your punches don't land you don't score.

Correct decision from the judges. Would not want to watch that again.

[Marky]

Brook and Khan will be a stadium fight either Wembley or Emirates, a big fight like that should be in the capital.

Old Trafford is a better venue than either of those. It's also a more iconic boxing venue than either, in my opinion.

Makes no sense to take two Northern fighters to London when it'd be such a huge fight nearer to home. Tickets would go a lot quicker. There'd be a huge amount of interest in a Red Rose v White Rose world title fight. No point getting the London bores involved really.

As a Southerner, I have to admit you're right. It has to be up north, probably in Manchester. It's not like Londoners haven't gone to fights in Manchester before anyway.

[Gerry SA]

Good shout Gerry. Direll gets caught a bit but he seems to be very sharp and hit with good power....stumbled Bika a few times and dropped him in December so does carry pop.

Groves does as well but he is quicker and more of a thinker IMO.

I'd probably pick a SD either way or a knockout but couldn't split them really a t this stage. Was thinking the same thing last night.

IMO I think Andre was better than Anthony. But Andre's health problems have probably ruined his career. 

I think Groves' speed might to too much for Anthony.

[kingraf]

Did anyone else notice that Dirrel thanked god BEFORE he thanked Al Haymon? Genuinely found that funny.

[catchweight]

I stopped watching the Dirrell fight after 5 rounds

[Strongback]

PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Can not WAIT to here from Strongy

Suspect his much loved comment about Eddie only sending his fighters abroad to get beat up will not be getting a run out today!

Did you see Barry Hearn's face at the end.  He thought all his birthdays had came together.

Not much hype before the fight on Sky and a pre-rehearsed losing script from Watt.  Brook had to take a title shot as he was smashing the record for longest mandatory in the history of boxing.  Hardly promotional genius from Hearn, more like circumstances.  

Fair play to Brook though........he bucked the trend.

[kingraf]

Only woke in time to hear him thank god myself.

[catchweight]

I think everyone was thanking god that the fight was over

[milkyboy]

Horses for courses. Everyone slating porter's style. He reminds me a bit of aaron Pryor, and most considered him exciting.

Brook tied him up to avoid getting hit by the combination follow ups that porter likes to throw, and that's what made it ugly.... A clash of styles and tactics rather than just porter.

Despite that I didn't think it was as bad a fight as is being made out. Scrappy, yes but not that bad in my view.

[catchweight]

I thought it was it was ugly ass. Way too much wrestling. Brook answered some questions but it depends on what you made of him before the fight. He showed he wasn't a hype job and that he has the grit and physicality to succeed at that level. However if you already rated him as a top welterweight then his performance was only middling. I thought he just kind of dragged himself over the line and could have conceivably still lost the fight. The first 7 rounds or so when Porter was pretty manic Brook did well front up to him. However Porter was essentially gassed for the last 4 rounds and Brook didn't exactly take over or dominate when you think maybe a top fighter would against an tiring opponent in that situation.

[Derbymanc]

The M.E.N sounds like a great name till you realize it was just the name of the first sponsor :-D

It was the Nynex Arena for several years beforehand actually, but it's generally known as the M.E.N due to the length of that sponsorship.

I'd forgotten about that one Monzon, that takes me back a few hearing that name.
I was a bit peeved when they got rid of the M.E.N name as you knew it was gonna start to change every couple of years

[compelling and rich]

ive only just gotten used to m.e.n from nynex, phones 4 u can do one

gymex is worse!! had loads of different names that one, no idea what its currently called

[compelling and rich]

but then again i still call opal fruits, opal fruits

[ONETWOFOREVER]

Well done to Brook. Not his best performance but he weathered the storm and just picked Porter off.

Don't know about anyone else but I still am not sure about Brook. It was not a eye catching performance but he stood up to Porter's wild antics very well. Against a Khan he may get outboxed, against a Maidana he would get seriously roughed up, against Alexander he would get frustrated, but he could beat a Marquez or Bradley.

[catchweight]

Bradley would not be a good opponent for Brook. I don't see him winning that.

He looks like he might have the beating of Alexander or Maidana on that effort though.

[Derbymanc]

ive only just gotten used to m.e.n from nynex, phones 4 u can do one

g-mex is worse!! had loads of different names that one, no idea what its currently called

It's called the G-Mex, no I don't care what name is on the front it's the G-mex, not ruining my teenagehood by changing all the names (mutter mutter grumble grumble, sponsors weren't like this when I were a lad mumble grumble.)

[Gerry SA]

Well done to Brook. Not his best performance but he weathered the storm and just picked Porter off.

Don't know about anyone else but I still am not sure about Brook. It was not a eye catching performance but he stood up to Porter's wild antics very well. Against a Khan he may get outboxed, against a Maidana he would get seriously roughed up, against Alexander he would get frustrated, but he could beat a Marquez or Bradley.

Brook gets dominated by Bradley. Look at Bradley's résumé, aside from his two defeats to PacMan he's beaten a lot of top class fighters. 

Marquez counterpunches Brook's head off.

[Hammersmith harrier]

Bradley's resume is full of some very good fighters but no top class Welterweights and Brook would physically dominate Marquez at this point in time, he's no longer a 30 year old world class featherweight, he's now an old past it 42 year old Welterweight.

[Gerry SA]

Bradley's resume is full of some very good fighters but no top class Welterweights and Brook would physically dominate Marquez at this point in time, he's no longer a 30 year old world class featherweight, he's now an old past it 42 year old Welterweight.

If PacMan couldn't dominate Marquez, how is Brook going to dominate him?

[Hammersmith harrier]

It doesn't work like that Gerry, he's been comfortably beaten by Bradley since then somebody who is good but nothing special, Mayweather and Pacquiao are a bridge too far for Brook but the rest are more than beatable.

I did also say physically dominate, he's a huge Welterweight and would outweigh both Marquez and Pacquiao by a fair amount.

[Gerry SA]

It doesn't work like that Gerry, he's been comfortably beaten by Bradley since then somebody who is good but nothing special, Mayweather and Pacquiao are a bridge too far for Brook but the rest are more than beatable.

I did also say physically dominate, he's a huge Welterweight and would outweigh both Marquez and Pacquiao by a fair amount.

TBH Bradley's style was all wrong for Marquez. Bradley is a back foot fighter, hard to counter someone who's also pretty much trying to counter you. Plus Bradley's movement troubled Marquez. Brook is a corm forward fighter. Style that Marquez deals with well.

[Hammersmith harrier]

Brook isn't that much of a come forward fighter nor is Marquez remotely world class any more, he's living off past glories and is ripe for the picking.

[Gerry SA]

Brook isn't that much of a come forward fighter nor is Marquez remotely world class any more, he's living off past glories and is ripe for the picking.

Marquez probably isn't world class anymore, but when has Brook ever dined at the top table? Never.

[John Bloody Wayne]

Given the differences in range, vitality and speed Marquez would have serious trouble getting around the Brook jab. Brook's only ever looked bothered when guys get up close and rough n tumble him. An old, small counterpuncher isn't going to worry him right now in my opinion. If I were Hearn I'd get it made as a homecoming if Khan doesn't work out!

Also his head was not made of flesh.

[ONETWOFOREVER]

Given the differences in range, vitality and speed Marquez would have serious trouble getting around the Brook jab. Brook's only ever looked bothered when guys get up close and rough n tumble him. An old, small counterpuncher isn't going to worry him right now in my opinion. If I were Hearn I'd get it made as a homecoming if Khan doesn't work out!

Also his head was not made of flesh.

Haha what does this mean?

Is it from a film?

I don't see Khan v Brook made straight away tbh. After being a top contender for so long I just don't see Hearn throwing him into the ring with another top ten candidate. I see someone like Joseto Lopez or maybe the Ghost getting a look in. I even doubt they will go for an old Marquez who may be on the decline but anyone who can take a savage beating from Manny and still win via KO is still a threat and as Floyd and Hopkins have shown age does not have to be a factor.

[88Chris05]

Watched it with no sound until the eleventh - and just the last two rounds of commentary alone were enough to convince me that Halling needs to be taken outside and shot (in a broadcasting career sense!).

Had Brook nicking it so no qualms with the overall outcome - but the individual scoring doesn't sit well with me. The 116-112 strikes me as dubious to say the least, and the 117-111 was absolute hogwash in my opinion. But as I said, for me the right man just about got the nod and all credit to Brook for making good on his promise and correcting the faults from his past regarding conditioning, because no other version of Brook we've seen so far would have lasted the pace here, for me.

I thought it was a dready, scrappy fight in general and wouldn't want to see a return - but if there was one, I see Brook winning it more convincingly second time out, as it goes. If anything, I actually think he gave Porter as good a chance of retaining his title as he could, as Kell didn't always use the jab as much as he should and spent a little too long at times reacting to Porter's raids rather than initiating....And still Porter couldn't get it done.

Porter's obviously got great physical presence and is a tough, robust lad, but he's one-dimensional (even more than I thought given how last night's fight unfolded) and Brook really cashed in on that.

Anyway, brilliant result for Brook, so we can forget all the low-rank opponents, weight issues and fight postponements - they don't matter anymore. On to bigger and better things now and a mandatory back in England followed by a Khan fight is a real possibility.

[John Bloody Wayne]

A film? I don't even know what a film is. You can take my remark at face value.

[catchweight]

Watt is worse than Halling because he is supposed to be the guy who knows what hes talking about. Hallings job is to just provide colour and translate what Watt says in a way that engages the average fan. He will pretty much just tow the line for whoever is commentating with him. Watt should be replaced.

[milkyboy]

Interesting how crude and limited porter has become overnight. I had the fight really close, but I'm giving brook plenty of credit for standing up to the tidal wave of assaults and pressure porter put him under. Yeh he could have jabbed more etc, but he did a pretty good job of riding the storm. I was very impressed with his composure under pressure last night, and my serious doubts about his conditioning have been laid to rest.

Porter might be 1 dimensional but its a very difficult dimension to deal with. A few cheap shots coming his way, but if porter looked bad, let's give brook some credit for making him look a lot worse than Alexander and malignaggi could make him look.

[Sugar Boy Sweetie]

Have had a hectic day but skilfully managed to avoid the result and just watched the fight this evening. I had Brook by 2 rounds, as others have said Porter was busy but not that effective. Was highly impressed with Brook, showed skill & clean punching, strength & conditioning and heart to force his way back into the fight after a slow start. When the scores were being read out I was deflated as I was expecting to hear 'and still' with Brook being shafted, great feeling to hear 'and the new'!

Think a routine first defence for Brook followed by Khan in abig UK arena next May would make sense. For me Brook wins, he's stronger at the weight than Khan, has good accuracy and Khan is relatively easy to hit and if he lands a few of the shots on khan that he caught Porter with then it's chicken dance time again, Brook TKO in my opinion. Great night for British boxing.

[Strongback]

Interesting how crude and limited porter has become overnight. I had the fight really close, but I'm giving brook plenty of credit for standing up to the tidal wave of assaults and pressure porter put him under. Yeh he could have jabbed more etc, but he did a pretty good job of riding the storm. I was very impressed with his composure under pressure last night, and my serious doubts about his conditioning have been laid to rest.

Porter might be 1 dimensional but its a very difficult dimension to deal with. A few cheap shots coming his way, but if porter looked bad, let's give brook some credit for making him look a lot worse than Alexander and malignaggi could make him look.

I'm with you on it being a close fight. I saw it that Porter bullied Brook in the first half and at times Brook was feeling the body shots. He definitely didn't look comfortable defending the Porter attacks early on to my eyes. Brook landed the more eye catching shots fair enough but they were few and far between.

The second half of the fight was a different story, Brook won it well for me and did enough to get the nod by a very close margin. 116 - 112 which some people have called I just can't justify.

[RanjitPatel]

Chuffed for Brook, thought he edged it too on balance without scoring it. Have to echo the sentiments on the sky commentary also, had to mute it.


As Warren took the extra slow route with Brook (as he does with all his fighters) I thought there must be something lacking when he arrived at this level but fair play to him, he does look a class act. As he's done for Hearn I may add.

[Mayweathers cellmate]

Watt formed an opinion through the first 4 rounds that Porter was bossing Brook and was too stubborn to change it. A blind man could see that Porter was largely ineffective over the second half yet Watt would rather try to convince everyone otherwise than accept being wrong.

[Dipper Brown]

It's really frustrating to listen to. They seem to have the narrative decided after the first round and twist whatever is happening around that to suit the argument. It's absurd really.

Rarely will you hear Watt describe a close fight, generally he'll 'prefer the work' of one guy and go on to talk you through his master class.

[TRUSSMAN66]

Some unwarranted negativity on here.........

Thought Brook was absolutely brilliant.....In the Champion's backyard he stuck to his boxing beautifully, never flustered, countered enough to win rounds and made Porter look distinctly ordinary......Best I've seen him and his tank was excellent kudos to the conditioner !!

One of the best performances from a visiting Brit since Honey dethroned Curry......

Credit to Kell he takes a lot of flak on here........But he was brilliant and who cares If he may struggle with Thurman.....(I think that's 50/50)...Enjoy the moment Son and be proud of yourself...

One drawback was the awful, awful commentary from the 8th round on by the over the top T****r/Cheerleader Halling................For sure Alex Wallau and Chick Hearn could be biased back home but not to this extent...

He is awful !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's another story..............Well done Brook...Deserving champ and I scored it.............116-112..

[Dipper Brown]

That's a good point actually. Think it showed real guts to stick to his boxing when he was getting roughed up early doors by a boxer who was throwing the higher volume of punches.

Clearly felt he could counter, land the cleaner shots and outlast him down the stretch. And he was right.

[milkyboy]

Agree dipper, it was a good point I made repeated by truss 

[TRUSSMAN66]

You definitely have been smacked by a heavy..

[Dipper Brown]

Ha, so you did. Bloody hell, is it really only Monday?

[milkyboy]

Only a little joke. Truss likes to say 'good post' to anyone who has just agreed with him. Generally it's one of his aliases. 

[Guest]

Difficult to watch the repeat properly with screaming kids around but like many, have no compliant with Brook getting the nod although I agree the scorecards were crazy

[TRUSSMAN66]

Only a little joke. Truss likes to say 'good post' to anyone who has just agreed with him. Generally it's one of his aliases. 

Lost ONETWO now...So I'm down to the bare minimum..

Wasn't the Bika - Dirrell awful...Fast forwarded to the decision..

[KingMonkey]

Was Porter ever really that good? I mean, Devon had been there for the taking for some time and Paulie is getting on a bit now. I didn't see the miniature version of Mike Tyson a lot of others did (power? What power?!) but acknowledged it'd be a tough fight, especially away from home.

Kell was superb, his defence excellent, footwork splendid. With a bit more confidence he probably would have started more positively too.

[TRUSSMAN66]

Like all good fighters Brook took time to assess what he was in with.....

Disagree with you Mate.

[catchweight]

I thought it was a good performace but certainly not a great one. Brook answered some questions. He shows he belongs at that level and has the physical toughness and mentalilty needed but I don’t think it was a distinguishing performance. It was a messy fight and Brook was able to get himself over the line in dogged fashion more than anything else. Its was one individual fight against a particular stlye that was probably thought of as being unfavourable to him so it bodes well he was able to get the job done considering the questions marks over his stamina and ability to fight a physically demanding contest.

[TRUSSMAN66]

How does anyone look great against Porter ??

[catchweight]

It would depend on the fighter in question. I would favour plenty of top welterweights to be able do a far better job on Porter than Brook managed. Especially when Porter was gassed in the later rounds.

[milkyboy]

Only a little joke. Truss likes to say 'good post' to anyone who has just agreed with him. Generally it's one of his aliases. 

Lost ONETWO now...So I'm down to the bare minimum..

Wasn't the Bika - Dirrell awful...Fast forwarded to the decision..

Saw a bit of their first fight... Had no appetite for the rematch .

Re the 'how good was brook, was porter all that anyway' debate...
Brook answered a lot of questions but as is always the case in doing so he raised a few questions about porter. It tells us brook is worthy of a seat at the top table, but not whether he's going to get to bang all the bridesmaids.

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