This weekend's fights

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]Robert A wrote:
FightinIrish,

I do not follow boxing as closely as I used to. I am not claiming a position of authority with boxing compared to you.

Still, I have to ask: How much of this bile was actually earned by Khan and how much is splash from your hatred of Roach/Pac-man?

I think Khan is a good to very good fighter. I do not see him ever being one of the “Greats”, but he holds a title. I would not characterize him as possessing a “glass jaw”, but rather an “average” jaw. The problem is that he is swimming in waters where anything less than a stellar chin means you can get KO’d at almost any time.

Who do you put above him in the 140 class? I am thinking Bradley and Alexander for sure, but who else do you put ahead of him?

Regards,

Robert A [/quote]

Partly it’s caused by my intense dislike for Freddie Roach, and partly (even moreso) it’s caused by my intense dislike for most British fighters (Ricky Hatton and a few others aside) most of whom cherrypick their opponents and fail miserably when they come on a real challenge. As I’ve stated numerous times, the British press doesn’t help - I despise them and their lack of boxing knowledge and their insistence that the next British champ is actually worth a damn when, before Ricky Hatton, their last good fighter was Nigel Benn (although I like Lewis, even with his own shitty jaw).

He doesn’t have an average jaw. An average jaw is someone that takes a lot of punishment, and can be knocked out but you’ve really got to wear them down and land a lot of hard shots to do it. Khan’s is totally glass - one hard shot and you’ve wrecked him, his plan for the fight, and you might knock him out.

He’s better than Alexander maybe, but not better than Bradley. And at 147, he could get kayo’d by nearly any fighter, and his own power may not carry up. Going to welterweight is a dangerous prospect for him… but I’d like it because I would love, LOVE to see him fight a guy like Ortiz or Berto. You think fucking Prescott has power? Let these guys get him…[/quote]

Khan has at least an average jaw at 140. He took all of Maidana’s (the biggest puncher at 140) shots and even when he was hurt in the 10th, he wouldn’t go down. Maidana was able to take Ortiz down 3 times so I guess Ortiz has a glass jaw then, right?

Ever think that Khan was weight-drained at 135 when he fought Prescott? He’s a huge 140 lber. Remember Cotto fighting at 140? He would get wobbled all the time but as soon as moved up to 147, his punch resistance improved a lot.

Better than Alexander maybe? Who the hell has Alexander beat? He robbed Kotelnik who Khan dominated. He clearly robbed Matthyse. He quit against Bradley.

Like someone else mentioned, the only guys I see beating Khan at 147 for sure are Floyd and Manny. Berto has only a puncher’s chance. So does Ortiz. People forget that Lamont Peterson even drew against Ortiz. Khan will outbox them, unless they get lucky. Mike Jones is a big sleeper but he hasn’t fought anyone yet.

[quote]goldengloves wrote:

[quote]duffyj2 wrote:
@Robert: Probably sixth. I thought he lost that fight against Matthysse, but it was a close call against Tim Bradley.

EDIT: Apparently he’s a welter now. So much for my ranking.

@gg I don’t think that Bradley is in any way afraid of Khan, but I think he would lose by a fairly respectable margin if they fought (say 4-6 rounds). I heard the story was that he thought he was in with a chance at Pacquiao?

Oh, and did you here that Golden Buy and Top Rank are burying the hatchet for Gamboa v. Ponce De Leon?[/quote]

I don’t think there was ever a hatchet significant enough to prevent them from doing business, it’s a convenient excuse to force them out of deals.

Bradley has been wanting to leave Shaw after Shaw sold him out to put his fight with Alexander in the Silverdome. That and Shaw can only do so much since he lacks the connections Top Rank and Golden Boy have. Personally, I think he’s just waiting for his contract to expire. He owes Shaw and Thompson so he’ll have to pay them off but Golden Boy or Top Rank will get him a fight to help him recoup.

I think Khan has a lot of problems with Bradley. Bradley can apply constant pressure while making him miss. I think it’ll be a humbling fight for both fighters but Bradley wins by a close margin.[/quote]

I know that Bradley’s constant pressure is at least part of the formula to beat Khan but I think his lack of punching power would really work against him. I would expect Khan to do enough to win on the outside and hurt Tim enough with body shots on the inside to quell a lot of the Desert Storm’s workrate.

That said, I do not like the way he’s getting fucked over at the moment. Seems as though the heinious WBC are planning on foisting his strap onto Morales and providing the englishman with a nice unification fight.