Boxing 2014

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

lets talk boxing 2014! should be a great year.

where to start?!

canelo-lara is very exciting. credit to canelo getting back in the big fights straight after mayweather defeat. he looked sensational against angulo.

does maidana have anything more than a punchers chance against mayweather? I love maidana, but if mayweathers near best I cant see past a wide UD

froch v groves 2 - potentially fight of the year. should be unbelievable.

and where on earth did the wbo find the latest journey man for wladimir. the fight was a disgrace. he “landed” 10 shots in 5 rounds…allegedly.

2

Dana White is continually saying that boxing is a dying sport… I beg to differ. Perhaps the HW division…

I feel like boxing is making waves in a big way. We all know who the top dogs are, but the match ups you mentioned are reaaallly intriguing… Especially Lara vs Canelo. It’s amazing exposure for Lara and if he wins, goddamn what a fight Mayweather vs Lara would be!

3

[quote]Jarvan wrote:
Dana White is continually saying that boxing is a dying sport… I beg to differ. Perhaps the HW division…

I feel like boxing is making waves in a big way. We all know who the top dogs are, but the match ups you mentioned are reaaallly intriguing… Especially Lara vs Canelo. It’s amazing exposure for Lara and if he wins, goddamn what a fight Mayweather vs Lara would be!

[/quote]

I don’t think boxing is ever going to outright die, for one thing, from a business perspective, there’s so much capital and wealth invested into boxing that you couldn’t kill it overnight if you actually wanted to.

It has however, been a victim of its own internal politics, business practices and competition with MMA.

To give credit where its due, the UFC has made a remarkable product. I’m not talking about MMA, I’m talking purely the product their business has produced. Its well advertised, they have a reality show that shoots up viewership, and its one, central, organization. Not to mention all the avenues they connect fans to the game and really get a locked in audience.

This means its easy to follow, its easy to know about both the big names and the up-and-comers and theres a distinct lack of the bullshit that hurt boxing - namely managers being able to cherry pick fights for their clients. Essentially, while you might have some say in the UFC, you WILL have to fight the best fighters and not wait until the money suits you to do so.

I think we should all appreciate that something like that has been achieved, whether you’re a fan or not.

Boxing has suffered from the problem of greed, too many organizations, too many prima donna fighters, too much of everything. I really think they could benefit from one central organization, one belt for every weight class and perhaps look at cutting some weight classes out. The reality is most guys these days do not fight at their natural weight, so why do we need all these interim weight classes?

I believe Mayweather was talking about maybe funding something similar to the UFC’s setup. The super-six tournament was a pretty good success and thats because it was easy to follow for the regular joe.

I firmly believe any ability of MMA to “kill” (hyperbole or not) boxing, is purely down to how the product is produced to the market, its not that MMA is more “exciting” or “evolutionary”. Because people said the same shit about muay thai and K1 back in the day, and that never went anywhere outside of europe and asia.

4

[quote]Aussie Davo wrote:

[quote]Jarvan wrote:
Dana White is continually saying that boxing is a dying sport… I beg to differ. Perhaps the HW division…

I feel like boxing is making waves in a big way. We all know who the top dogs are, but the match ups you mentioned are reaaallly intriguing… Especially Lara vs Canelo. It’s amazing exposure for Lara and if he wins, goddamn what a fight Mayweather vs Lara would be!

[/quote]

I don’t think boxing is ever going to outright die, for one thing, from a business perspective, there’s so much capital and wealth invested into boxing that you couldn’t kill it overnight if you actually wanted to.

It has however, been a victim of its own internal politics, business practices and competition with MMA.

To give credit where its due, the UFC has made a remarkable product. I’m not talking about MMA, I’m talking purely the product their business has produced. Its well advertised, they have a reality show that shoots up viewership, and its one, central, organization. Not to mention all the avenues they connect fans to the game and really get a locked in audience.

This means its easy to follow, its easy to know about both the big names and the up-and-comers and theres a distinct lack of the bullshit that hurt boxing - namely managers being able to cherry pick fights for their clients. Essentially, while you might have some say in the UFC, you WILL have to fight the best fighters and not wait until the money suits you to do so.

I think we should all appreciate that something like that has been achieved, whether you’re a fan or not.

Boxing has suffered from the problem of greed, too many organizations, too many prima donna fighters, too much of everything. I really think they could benefit from one central organization, one belt for every weight class and perhaps look at cutting some weight classes out. The reality is most guys these days do not fight at their natural weight, so why do we need all these interim weight classes?

I believe Mayweather was talking about maybe funding something similar to the UFC’s setup. The super-six tournament was a pretty good success and thats because it was easy to follow for the regular joe.

I firmly believe any ability of MMA to “kill” (hyperbole or not) boxing, is purely down to how the product is produced to the market, its not that MMA is more “exciting” or “evolutionary”. Because people said the same shit about muay thai and K1 back in the day, and that never went anywhere outside of europe and asia.

[/quote]

x2

5

I’ll talk about the fights later on, but a quick comment - boxing will never die. Never. Everyone can say all the things they like about that, but boxing trudges on, as it always has, always will, forever.

People been boxing since since 2000 BC. Who the fuck is Dana White when you’re talking a timeline that long?

6

Speaking of fights

I’m very excited to see Canelo fight again, so soon, and against a big name. Piss on the old adage that you’re only as good as your last fight, Mayweather is a master of his craft, Canelo is a young buck who is not quite ripe yet. I don’t think anyone should be surprised or think less of his ability that he couldn’t catch Mayweather.

I don’t think Maidana has a real chance against Mayweather. Ive seen people using Broner as a measuring stick and that’s retarded to me. It should be all but crystal clear now that Broner is not Mayweather, not even close.

Froch vs Groves 2 - not really a fan of Froch, but he’s always game for a fight so it should be fun to watch none the less.

And yeah, the Klits-Leapai fight was an embarrassment.

7

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
I’ll talk about the fights later on, but a quick comment - boxing will never die. Never. Everyone can say all the things they like about that, but boxing trudges on, as it always has, always will, forever.

People been boxing since since 2000 BC. Who the fuck is Dana White when you’re talking a timeline that long?
[/quote]

Exactly. Boxing is an Olympic sport. It may be “dying” on SpikeTV, but you don’t see a lot of soccer on prime time TV either but it’s the biggest sport in the world.

8

Guillermo Rigondeaux is a master craftsman; perhaps parallel with Sweet Pea, but impeded even further by the language barrier.

For me Pacquiao is well past his best and unfortunately just a cash cow until his next KO defeat*

Canelo is what makes boxing great. I just don’t want to see another Vargas scenario.

GGG is a potential ATG. All he lacks is opposition and media exposure. He is our generations Mike Tyson. Only better.

Martinez vs. Cotto is a tragedy imo. Perhaps Cotto is being used as a tune-up for Sergio. This is hard to take.
Cotto was a greater action hero than even Arturo imo.

9

[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:
Guillermo Rigondeaux is a master craftsman; perhaps parallel with Sweet Pea, but impeded even further by the language barrier.

For me Pacquiao is well past his best and unfortunately just a cash cow until his next KO defeat*
[/quote]

Totally agree on both.

Sometimes I think people give me funny looks when I say he’s the next superstar. But seriously - kids got the whole package. He’s the next De La Hoya as far as I’m concerned.

Yup. But Cotto just might shake things up… never count him up. He’s the Puerto Rican rocky.

10

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Yup. But Cotto just might shake things up… never count him up. He’s the Puerto Rican rocky.[/quote]
You’d just never know with Miguel Cotto.

Of our generation, I think he deserves to be remembered.

11

I’m excited for Collazo vs. Kahn.

Its potentially a very awkward matchup, but its a contest that Collazo has deserved in terms of pay & recognition.
Despite his recent exploits Collazo is much more a boxer than a puncher.
Kahn is by nature an aggressor with blistering speed; I doubt he has enough time with Hunter to change that.

Collazo’s counter’s and Kahn’s chin make this one interesting for me.

Whichever boxer wins, he deserves credit.

12

Most people don’t know shit about boxing

13

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
I’ll talk about the fights later on, but a quick comment - boxing will never die. Never. Everyone can say all the things they like about that, but boxing trudges on, as it always has, always will, forever.

People been boxing since since 2000 BC. Who the fuck is Dana White when you’re talking a timeline that long?
[/quote]
If the UFC gets big enough to start paying top fighters a lot then I could see boxing slowly start to fade.

14

It’s a good point that the structure of the UFC is a massive plus for it. Having one league makes it much easier as a fan to keep on top of rankings, titles, p4p. Not to mention all the top fighters fight each other.

I only watch the UFC in passing, I’ll take boxing every day of the week. But it suffers from the lack of structure, which the UFC (being formed recently) has been able to do a lot better.

15

Pretty interesting weekend just past.

I’d be really interested to see how many people think that Maidana has a legitimate case for the win.

For me Mayweather was almost reflective of Whittaker in this fight. Defensively sublime with educated counters.
But like Sweet Pea; he just didnt extend himself. He did what was required to get the job done.

Amir Kahn - I am not a fan, but he boxed a terrific fight against Collazo.
I thought Collazo opened with entirely the wrong gameplan and stuck with it too long to adjust.

As a sidenote; I found it alarming the number of times action was prevented or interrupted by one fighter shoving the other down.
Between low blows, butting, elbowing the throat, shoving down and pushing, I was agast at the sheer number of fouls.

16

No case for the win imo. I don’t like scoring a fight on aggression and “activity”. Floyd was far more accruate and far classier and landed the better shots. He pulled away in the late rounds. I thought chino did well. But Floyd stood there and allowed him to. He wouldn’t do
That with a better boxer like canelo, who has power like maidana but far better speed and technique.

17

GGG better than Tyson? :o

Not convinced. His fans are calling out ward. Last time I checked he hasn’t cleaned up 160. What basis does he deserve a shot at the #1 in the division above.

I like him. I think martinez would be a potential foty. Martinez is still a p4p fighter but age has cought him. And if he can land a Paul Williams 2 -esq left hand then it’s good night gennady.

18

Khan for all his faults, is a world class operator. And collazo isn’t. I’ve made many wrong predictions, I aren’t trying to be a know it all lol but I predicted khan to stop him and win convincingly. He did the latter. I don’t think any game plan wins collazo that fight.

19

[quote]CarltonJ wrote:
GGG better than Tyson? :o

Not convinced. His fans are calling out ward. Last time I checked he hasn’t cleaned up 160. What basis does he deserve a shot at the #1 in the division above.

I like him. I think martinez would be a potential foty. Martinez is still a p4p fighter but age has cought him. And if he can land a Paul Williams 2 -esq left hand then it’s good night gennady. [/quote]
I think he’s the physical equivalent; but technically better than Tyson. His Ring Generalship is up there with FMJ for me.

I think the Ward fight is a ridiculous prospect. Massive size difference.
GGG is a small middleweight.

20

[quote]donnydarkoirl wrote:

[quote]CarltonJ wrote:
GGG better than Tyson? :o

Not convinced. His fans are calling out ward. Last time I checked he hasn’t cleaned up 160. What basis does he deserve a shot at the #1 in the division above.

I like him. I think martinez would be a potential foty. Martinez is still a p4p fighter but age has cought him. And if he can land a Paul Williams 2 -esq left hand then it’s good night gennady. [/quote]
I think he’s the physical equivalent; but technically better than Tyson. His Ring Generalship is up there with FMJ for me.

I think the Ward fight is a ridiculous prospect. Massive size difference.
GGG is a small middleweight.[/quote]

GGG is an average sized middleweight I would say, did u mean super middleweight? Ward is more like 175 fighter anyway. I think there are more sensible fights.

I know what you mean about GGG, hes much more than a power puncher. hes slick, cuts off the ring well and can throw every punch in the book. I’m excited to see more but think his opposition needs stepping up.