Boxing in 2023

First topic message reminder :

I know boxing has served up very little in the way of quality matchups at the highest level lately, but along with Davis-Garcia in the Spring we do appear to be on the verge of another exciting announcement as Stephen Fulton will reportedly be travelling to Japan to defend his Super-Bantamweight titles against Noaya Inoue.

I mentioned last year that this was one fight I'd love to see Inoue taking. If you believe the figures being bandied about, Fulton will earn around $3 million for this defence, which might explain why he's travelling despite being the defending champion - but good on him! Fair play to Inoue as well for going straight for the (probable on balance) top man at 122 as he looks to conquer yet another weight class having sewn up all the belts at Bantam.

As a career 122-pounder Fulton is probably the biggest guy Inoue will have fought, but he also brings a superb engine to the table along with a good array of shots and the ability to string them together proficiently. He's good on the inside, can work the high-low and shorten the punches and, although he's not a big hitter, he doesn't waste much as he's aggressive with what he does throw.

That said, he gets hit a hell of a lot and isn't that effective at range, which is going to be a huge problem for him here assuming Inoue's power and timing isn't suddenly blunted at Super-Bantam. Fulton was buzzed once or twice against Figueroa and showed he's tough and can take / regroup from a big shot, but taking shots from Figueroa and taking them from Inoue are two very different things.

Still, if they can get this over the line it will be a proper fight between two high-performing and peak world champions to look forward to.

So interesting reports about the potential Bivol-Canelo rematch.
Hearn's big month seems to have been working overdrive again. Supposedly he suggested an 8 figure payday for Bivol to drop down to 168.
Canelo isn't willing to fight Bivol at 168 and sees no more value in the Russian than the reputed $5m he got paid for the first fight.
Bivol in turn sees no value in schooling Canelo at 175 again...
Always Hearn being a clown...

Can’t say I dislike Canelo at all Truss just a bit irritated because everyone wants to see him fight Benavidez and I’m starting to think the fight’s never going to happen

If I was Bivol I’d hold out, I think Canelo will give him anything he wants

Herman Jaeger wrote:Can’t say I dislike Canelo at all Truss just a bit irritated because everyone wants to see him fight Benavidez and I’m starting to think the fight’s never going to happen

If I was Bivol I’d hold out, I think Canelo will give him anything he wants

I'm not particularly bothered by the Benavidez fight and it's pull is exaggerated by many. Rematching Bivol at 175lbs is the fight I want to see.

Benavidez is far better fight. Bivol can beat him but Benavidez could hurt him. And don’t forget, Benavidez wasn’t allowed to duke it out up close against Plant. As is often the way these days in American boxing

Two contrasting refereeing performances over the weekend.

A lot of people felt Jack Reiss allowed a dreadfully outclassed Steven Butler take too much punishment before calling a halt to his contest against Alimkhanuly. The usual outrage mob seem to be in agreement that the fight should have been waved off after the first knockdown.

I'm not so sure I agree. Have said it many times before, but I think the majority of stoppages these days are premature to varying degrees and for all his faults as a referee, I do like the fact that Reiss tends to give hurt or floored fighters every chance to continue within reason. I had no real issue with the fight being allowed to continue after that first knockdown, however I will cede some ground and say that Reiss should have subsequently got in there a little earlier than he did afterwards. He gave Butler a chance, let him go out on his shield, but there was no real need for the fight to carry on after his second inspection, certainly not to the point of the final knockdown.

On the other side of the coin, that clown Tony Weeks let Rolly Romero elbow and cuff Ismael Barroso all over the ring and then jumped in with a ludicrously early, soft and, let's be honest, downright stinking stoppage in the ninth round to give Romero the WBA Light-Welterweight belt on a plate. It was actually Barroso who landed the best shot of the exchange before Weeks took it upon himself to step in.

Barroso was ahead on all three cards at the time of the stoppage and I'm absolutely astonished that he didn't protest the stoppage more than he did. Romero might hold a title now, but it comes with an asterisk and plenty of guys in and around 140 will be licking their lips at the chance of picking up a belt against him.

Anyone watching Taylor Cameron... got it 3 nil to Cameron after 3 rounds myself. Don't know what the DAZN commentators are on about it being close.

4 nil Cameron.... Its clear everyone wants a swizz, but Taylor is short in everything.

I hope they don't shaft Cameron, she's won easily, and I mean proper easily.

95 95.... It was more like 98 92... Anyway, Cameron got the result she deserved. Fought on the front foot with a big jab and I don't think we see enough of this.

The scorecards lmao. Cameron won easily.

Devin Haney d Lomachenko UD

Really tight fight. Gotta give it to Haney, for all the questions about his chin, he survived his head being used like a piñata for two rounds at the death there. I had it Lomachenko 115-113, but I don't think the reverse is a particularly glaring result.

Haney doesn't seem to have an answer for the straight left, as he struggled with it vs Diaz too. In most divisions, this wouldn't matter too much, but at 135, with Tank AND Shakur being southpaws, it might be a fatal flaw.

American boxing is becoming almost unwatchable its so corrupted

Just watched the Lomochenco v Haney fight. I knew the result was a unanamous win for Haney so was expecting to see Lomo being out boxed by the younger man, but though Lomo did give away early rounds, he came good towards the end and definitely won the last two rounds. I could have accepted a draw, but even though Haney looked a promising future prospect I think he was gifted that win.

Jeff Navarro wrote:The scorecards lmao. Cameron won easily.

As an Irishman, I really wanted Katie to win but she was outclassed and outgunned by Cameron. I too thought the scoring seriously flattered Katie as personally I felt Cameron walked it.

That said, fair play to Katie for taking this on in Ireland and she can be proud of her performance but what impressed me the most was how dignified she was in defat and managed to calm the booing crowd (which I thought was very poor).

eirebilly_01 wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:The scorecards lmao. Cameron won easily.

As an Irishman, I really wanted Katie to win but she was outclassed and outgunned by Cameron. I too thought the scoring seriously flattered Katie as personally I felt Cameron walked it.

That said, fair play to Katie for taking this on in Ireland and she can be proud of her performance but what impressed me the most was how dignified she was in defat and managed to calm the booing crowd (which I thought was very poor).

Thought Cameron looked a lot bigger.......Had her winning a relatively close fight.......6-4..7-3....ish

As for Haney v Lomo being a robbery as earlier alluded to.......Do me a favor.......Watch Ramirez v Whittaker or Lewis v Holy 1 to see robberies.....

Could have gone either way..

Herman Jaeger wrote:American boxing is becoming almost unwatchable its so corrupted

One of the judges had Haney winning five of the last six rounds including the 10th which was one of Lomachenko's best rounds.

No name Bertie wrote:

Herman Jaeger wrote:American boxing is becoming almost unwatchable its so corrupted

One of the judges had Haney winning five of the last six rounds including the 10th which was one of Lomachenko's best rounds.

See this is why I'm not sure it's corruption instead of outright incompetence. The first 6-7 rounds were incredibly tight, so logically, if the fix was in, it would make more sense to give Haney the bulk of the first seven rounds, instead of having them tied after six. Also, there's the fact that of the two fighters, Lomachenko is still on Top Rank's books, Haney has fulfilled his contractual obligations. If you're gonna fix the fight, fixing it for Haney doesn't make a lot of sense

I had it 115-113 to Lomachenko, which seems a pretty popular score amongst fans judging by the post-fight reactions I've seen. I could see 114-114 as well, but think Haney getting it outright is probably a shade generous to him. A slightly dubious verdict for me, especially the ridiculous 116-112 card in his favour. But he was always likely to get the nod if the fight was close, sad to say.

Haney did a good job of offsetting Lomachenko's accuracy (albeit Loma has always been a shade overrated in that area, for me) with good anticipation and an active guard, and was the much better body puncher throughout the fight. He obviously struggled in the late rounds and was forced into a lot of ineffective backfoot pot-shotting for long periods. Also did quite a bit of fouling (nothing too awful) and was maybe a shade fortunate to get through three separate warnings without losing a point.

Lomachenko looked 35 in there at times and yet another slow start proved his downfall. Similar to the Lopez fight, his obsession with "downloading data" as he calls it in the first half of the contest left him with a lot to do. There were shades of his best days in there now and then with the straight left down the pipe doubled up, complete with that walk around, but he was so inconsistent with it and didn't make his better inside work count for as much as he should have.

Assuming he doesn't pull up any trees from here on in, it'll be a difficult career to rate when people look back on Lomachenko. 17-3 in the pro ranks with the caveat that a large proportion of them were against top ten rated guys and he was challenging for a world title in his second fight, and winning one in his third. At least one of those defeats (two if you count Salido - not so much for the scores but for the dirty trucks Salido got away with) are contentious, too.

If he'd been just another Olympian his career would be considered a huge success, but the hype around him turning professional was so enormous that I imagine it'll be seen as a bit of a disappointment in some quarters. Have to remember that some fans and decent pundits have opined, genuinely, that we were looking at the best pure and most skilled boxer in history here. I never subscribed to that, but nevertheless a reasonably sizeable minority did, especially in this era where amateur stats are often used to inflate a fighter's reputation in the pro ranks.

For me, he never looked all that hot once he moved past Super-Feather and there's an argument to be made that, as someone who's never been a big weight cutter, he should have spent his pro career entirely between 122 and 130 max, given that in the era of day-before weigh ins he's often been giving away a lot of weight come fight night. But he knew that was always likely to be the case, so that's on him and nobody else, I guess.

No doubt that Usyk's professional career has been way more impressive. I wonder if Lomachenko will ever be remembered as a great by fans in years to come.

Lopez predictably stops Conlan with ease; it's very difficult to get your career back on track when you were stopped as devastatingly as Conlan was against Woods. The division is lacking in real top level talent at the moment but lower quality does tend to equal more excitement.

Lara looks like a Welterweight!

Close first round, could have gone either way. I would edge toward Woods better ringmnaship, but a close round.

Inventing Johnson Klute wrote:Lara looks like  a Welterweight!

I was actually thinking that despite the weigh in that Wood looks bigger. That in itself could be a problem having made weight.

Wood has won 2nd and with a KD

Nice uppercut there; still think Lara will stop him but Wood is everything right about boxing.

Could work either way Soul. Has Lara sacked his training off and got lazy, or is he working hard and just naturally getting bigger.

Lara started boxing half way through the 3rd. Tough round to call.

Inventing Johnson Klute wrote:Could work either way Soul.  Has Lara sacked his training off and got lazy, or is he working hard and just naturally getting bigger.  

You'd have to give the edge to the guy not making weight especially when he looks the smaller man; it looks like Wood has to put a lot of work in to make weight, he's a big featherweight.

Okolie down twice and lost two points for hugging...
Jeez this dude is woeful to watch...

I like Woods 5th round. He is deffo ahead. At least by three, but you do feel this fight is on a knife edge

Jeff Navarro wrote:Okolie down twice and lost two points for hugging...
Jeez this dude is woeful to watch...

Decided not to bother watching but sounds like a standard Okolie fight. It would be less frustrating if he didn't have the ability to be so much more.

Inventing Johnson Klute wrote:I like Woods 5th round.  He is deffo ahead.  At least by three, but you do feel this fight is on a knife edge
 

Lara is as basic as they come but obviously has power so is dangerous throughout.

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Okolie down twice and lost two points for hugging...
Jeez this dude is woeful to watch...

Decided not to bother watching but sounds like a standard Okolie fight. It would be less frustrating if he didn't have the ability to be so much more.

He's a very strange fighter. He's most definitely not a 'bum'...but fights in such a terrible way.

I can't figure out if Lara is laying traps or if he just thinks he 'knows' he's going to get get to wood ar some point

Inventing Johnson Klute wrote:I can't figure out if Lara is laying traps or if he just thinks he 'knows' he's going to get get to wood ar some point

I don't think he's got the technical prowess to lay traps, he looks like he's hoping to get lucky and land one big shot again. If it works then fair enough.

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Okolie down twice and lost two points for hugging...
Jeez this dude is woeful to watch...

Decided not to bother watching but sounds like a standard Okolie fight. It would be less frustrating if he didn't have the ability to be so much more.

He's a very strange fighter. He's most definitely not a 'bum'...but fights in such a terrible way.

Against Glowacki he looked genuinely impressive but aside from that he's been horrible to watch; that fight against Askin was horrendous.

Wood deffo wom 7, landed more and better shots and also defended well. After 7, at a push, I would call 5 1 1 Wood and ai with a KD Wood up up by 5.

Chris Billam-Smith beats Lawrence Okolie 112-112, 116-107 and 115-108 - and new WBO crusierweight champion.
The 112-112 judge should never score a fight again.

8th is deffo Wood round.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Chris Billam-Smith beats Lawrence Okolie 112-112, 116-107 and 115-108.
The 112-112 judge should never score a fight again.

112-112?

3 knockdowns and 2 points deductions, that equates to 116-112 Okoli somehow

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Chris Billam-Smith beats Lawrence Okolie 112-112, 116-107 and 115-108.
The 112-112 judge should never score a fight again.

112-112?

3 knockdowns and 2 points deductions, that equates to 116-112 Okoli somehow

I genuinely have no clue what these judges are watching at times...

Closer round but I would still call it for Wood

Jeff Navarro wrote:

Soul Requiem wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:Chris Billam-Smith beats Lawrence Okolie 112-112, 116-107 and 115-108.
The 112-112 judge should never score a fight again.

112-112?

3 knockdowns and 2 points deductions, that equates to 116-112 Okoli somehow

I genuinely have no clue what these judges are watching at times...

I can't remember the last fight that didn't have a shocking scorecard.

Wood had won 10 clearly...its got wide, he just needs to make the finishing line

Woos won 11 for me. As long as he falls over the line he's a world champion

Beautiful performance from Wood but what the hell was that from Lara?

Wood has won 12 also, not remotely close and Leigh Wood should win this by 8 plus. He has really progressed over the last 5 years and he deserves to wi his title back

Wood reminds me of Jamie McDonnell; works so hard for everything and deserves everything he gets. I'd like to see him in with Lopez next, a dangerous fight but one i'm sure he'll go for.

Watched 7 rounds of Okolie and that was all I could stand....Glad he lost..Awful fighter to watch...

Saw Conlon stopped and it reminded me of Cowdell v Nelson......The guy didn't respect his power and just walked him down...

Well done to Wood and hopefully he can beat Warrington next.....

I'm pleased for Wood, but Lara was absolutely appalling. So bad that it makes it hard to properly judge Wood's performance, for me. He didn't pull up any trees....But he didn't have to.

Catterall, on the other hand, looked very good for the most part. The only slight blemishes were the bits of dirty fighting which he's prone to, and his failure to get the stoppage which looked on the cards before he appeared to punch himself out a little in round nine. But he was very sharp and had some devil in him with the body shots and extra aggression when he needed it.

Conlan fought a disastrous fight. No idea why he was trying to duke it out with Lopez like that. Hands way too low and just never even tried to make his skills count. Was only ever going to go one way, which sure enough it did. Maybe it was the emotion of the moment, fighting for a world title in front of his home crowd, but Lordy he got it badly wrong there. He's got talent but seems to be lacking ring smarts, and he's a little on the chinny side as well.

As for Okolie being dethroned....We can but give thanks! The guy is unwatchable and was one of the luckiest world title holders in the sport. Never fancied him one bit against the likes of Briedis or Opetaia, much less the Heavyweight titlists who some were speculating he could potentially upset! Anyway, Sky don't have all that many options so I'm sure they'll do their best to keep him at front and centre, but they'd better hope that this first defeat prompts a serious change in his approach.

Good fight tomorrow night. Who have you got? Who do you fancy? Looks like a great fight if Lopez can get back to his Loma form and Taylor can get back to the Prograis form. Had bad style matchups in their last fight but these styles will gel. Best fight in a while