LAMEST Boxing "Injuries" EVER????...

Yes, my point was that he was being critical of Vitali, which I should have known was fake since he would never say a word against the man

And when you pointed out I should have realized it in the first, it reminded me that you too would never in a million years criticize him either

so I did a 2-for-1 and packaged you together -- the Vitali Klit bopsy twins, fighting blind against a world they think is somehow controlled by Max Kellerman and Nigel Collins... projecting that viewpoint onto all people hailing from west of Sligo

 

Well, Vitali is a sustainable suck, but I've tried to ween the Irishman off of Wlad,..for I understand Wlad has some symbolic merits that insidiously weaken his forum enemies, but I declare those have suffered enough now, and we've moved beyond the 'get back' phase ,..

 

:shit:

 

You got to admit though,.. didn't it at all strike you as suspicious that Vitali walked around comfortably in the ring after the fight?.. it didn't look the part of a fighter in agony.

 

Yes, I agree....the conventional wisdom was that he was a big white bitch who got tired of Byrds body-shots. Personally, I think he just wanted to go home early.

http://www.boxing-monthly.co.uk/content/0005/two.htm



I never imagined that, even at my most tangental, I would one day end up quoting Bjork in a fight report but "This wasn’t supposed to happen".

The love affair between the White Hope brigade and Vitali Klitschko may well be over following the massive Ukrainian’s retirement loss to "blown-up super middleweight" Chris Byrd in Berlin on April Fool’s Day. And Byrd certainly made a mug of Klitschko in front of his adopted German public, frustrating the 6ft 8ins giant to the point that Klitschko retired on his stool after nine rounds claiming an injury to his right shoulder.

Without wishing to make light of the pain that a torn rotator cuff, which since has undergone surgery, must have caused Klitschko, there is very little doubt in my mind that this was not the only reason for his amazing withdrawal and subsequent loss of the World Boxing Organisation heavyweight championship.

Klitschko led on the judges’ scorecards by 88-83 (twice) and 89-82. He need only have stood up against "non puncher" Byrd in order to retain his title by decision. But after watching a tape of HBO’s broadcast of the fight (kindly supplied by Dominic Foley), I believe that Klitschko bailed out because he suspected that the final three rounds held nothing but bad for him.

But the 1992 Olympic middleweight silver medal winner from Flint, Michigan, had proved himself to be no respecter of reputations by the time Klitschko’s retirement was announced, prompting a chorus of boos from the German crowd. The fight had reached a point where Byrd fancied the job and Klitschko did not.

Having drawn Klitschko’s sting in the early rounds, Byrd was coming on a bundle and had landed three particularly effective looking body shots in the ninth. These appeared to be crucially demoralising for the massive Ukrainian, who had been showing signs of tiring for a couple of rounds prior.

Klitschko faced a difficult choice. He could fight on and risk the unthinkable — possibly being knocked out by Byrd — or bring to a close his own unbeaten record by pulling out. He chose the latter and faced derision for so doing.

"He doesn’t have the mentality of a champion," said the veteran HBO commentator Larry Merchant. "I can hardly believe what I just saw."

"It’s almost indescribable what’s taking place here," added Merchant’s commentary partner, Jim Lampley.

The indignation expressed by the American commentary team was understandable. HBO had, after all, reached the advanced stages of negotiating a long-term coverage deal with Klitschko’s promoters, Universum Box-Promotion. Had the "I"s been dotted and "T"s crossed, Merchant and Lampley would have found themselves presiding over the demise of their new signing in the very first fight of their contract. Sighs of relief punctuated the exclamations of disbelief.

Until 10 days prior to the fight, HBO had been expecting Klitschko’s network debut to be against Razor Ruddock. But the former contender withdrew with hepatitis, although it has been reported that Ruddock had actually been laid up by the after effects of a reverse-vasectomy operation that went "wrong".

Whatever, HBO found themselves with a new main event and it is debatable as to which of the fighters, champion or challenger, was most adversely affected by the emergency matchmaking.

But Byrd’s attorney and adviser, John Hornewer, has no doubts. Speaking from Chicago, he said: "Who was at a disadvantage? Here’s a guy who was training for Ruddock and he gets Chris Byrd . . .

"We accepted the offer immediately. It had already been offered to a couple of other American heavyweights but they turned it down. Again, Chris Byrd was not the first choice, probably he was the last choice, but we were the ones who accepted the fight. The biggest problem for Chris was that his passport was out of date and we needed to sort that out. Chris was already in training for a fight with Lawrence Clay-Bey on the same night. When Clay-Bey pulled out, it was all long faces. But when we got the call from Germany it was smiles all around."

Hornewer, in particular, had reason to be cheerful. Not only had Byrd avenged the loss to Klitschko of another heavyweight represented by the Chicago attorney — Herbie Hide, against whom Klitschko won the WBO title by second-round KO last June in London — but, at the relatively young age of 40, Hornewer can now boast involvement with three heavyweight champions. (Hornewer was instrumental for most of Lennox Lewis’s career.)

But the real triumph belongs to Byrd, the southpaw who was all-but written off following his loss in five rounds to Ike Ibeabuchi. That defeat, one year before Berlin, had seemed to spell the end of Byrd as a contender. The loss to the erratic Nigerian may be Byrd’s only reverse in 32 fights, but the American’s style of fighting — he’s been accurately described as a heavyweight Pernell Whitaker — had proved unpopular with HBO’s commentary team, Larry Merchant in particular, and one got the feeling that they were glad to see the back of him.

But Hornewer now says: "With hindsight, the Ibeabuchi fight was the best thing that could ever have happened to Chris. Fighting that ‘daring’ style, asking guys to hit him, it actually did Chris good to get whomped by a big guy. Now he employs a lot more discretion when he uses that style. And that’s what the last four fights following Ibeabuchi have been all about. Rather than just sitting back on the ropes, Chris has been going to the centre of the ring, biding his time and then taking people out."

Byrd did have problems of his own, such as his training kit not arriving in Germany, plus a debilitating attack of diarrhoea. But as an experienced former amateur international he has travelled the world, been there, seen and done it, so to speak. There is little out there that can come as a surprise to him.

Still it was alarming to see Byrd willingly go to the ropes and get backed into corners in the early part of the Klitschko fight. True, he was making the defending champion miss, ducking, blocking and slipping shots with a huge degree of defensive mastery. But it was a risky strategy against one with Klitschko’s record for taking out opponents.

But Byrd had a gameplan and, unlike Hide who abandoned his and attacked like a kamikaze, he stuck to it.

"Tony Tubbs [then employed as trainer] advised the same strategy for Herbie against Klitschko – take him to the right and let him tire himself out," said Hornewer. "A big guy like that can’t fight going backwards. It feels bad, it’s like: ‘What am I doing?’ It must be so disconcerting for a big guy to be pushed back by a little guy. But you can’t take the credit away from Chris Byrd.

"The crowd actually laughed when Chris came into the ring. But after about the third or fourth round, people were turning to me and saying: ‘Klitschko’s in trouble.’"

And so he was. Byrd progressively became more proactive in his attempts to tire Klitschko, mixing fast, stinging attacks with his defensive duties. And while Byrd is not a heavy puncher by the standards of the division, the southpaw lefts he had been digging to the big Ukrainian’s body since the opening round must have had a cumulative effect.

This certainly appeared to be the case. From the fifth round onwards, Byrd became more and more able to place himself in the centre of the ring and counter Klitschko’s increasingly cumbersome blows. This, in itself, would appear to lend credence to Klitschko’s claim that his shoulder became damaged as a result of a Byrd punch in round three. Whatever, the complexion of the fight was changing, as was the mood of the 6,000 crowd, who began to show appreciation of the American’s work.

Klitschko might have earned a degree in sports science, but the only science on display on this evening came from Byrd.

It must, however, be stated that Klitschko kept trying until, in his own mind, his cause became futile and lost. He continued to throw the right, even though it often missed by embarrassing distances as the slippery southpaw effortlessly shifted his position.

But those body shots that Byrd dug in during the ninth were his key to victory. At the end of the round, Klitschko was backing up on the ropes, confused and discombobulated. But still it came as a shock when it was announced that he would not be coming out for Round 10.
.

"I think that this was a massive psychological blow for Klitschko," said Hornewer. "He’s damned in a boxing sense because he’s a smart guy, he’s able to reflect on what happened to him in this fight. And he will have big question marks inside his head as a result of the way Chris beat him. The interesting thing is how much effect this will have on his brother, because Wladimir — who has already been beaten by Ross Puritty, remember — now knows Chris Byrd is one difficult guy to beat.


And he couldn’t help but have a dig at his tormentor, Larry Merchant, in HBO’s post-fight interview. When asked whether he thought it was Klitschko’s injury that had brought him a version of the world title, the affable Byrd replied: "I fought Ike [Ibeabuchi] with separated ribs and you criticised me, you know, you called me less than a man . . ." Nicely said. But his gloating did not last long and Byrd continued in reference to Klitschko: "If it was me, if it was the other way around, I’m fighting injured."




"

 

Couldn't blame him if you watched the post-fight coverage,..he stood up, ambled around and looked pleased to be free.

Arabham being wheeled on a stretcher was more of an acoustic raucus. The poor Greco-bop survived THE BEAST as it were.

 

Abraham is what the yanks love. A tough, reliable, loser-Euro. Kojak thought he could go to America and get a fair shake. If Kojak wanted a fair shake he shoulda gone to Mickey Dee's. How about those fan-friendly fighters like Dirrell and Ward? They fight on....injured or not.

 

Ward is my homie coming up to the Froch fight,..and besides, Ward does look more British,..if ever there was a pride of Essex, I'd argue country-wide but, concessions due. :crafty:

 

:shit::shit::shit::shit::shit:

 

I'd have thought you'd find that article rather fanciful?.. :dunno:

 

Not as fanciful as the cunt who wrote it.

Ward is my homie too. I commend his early round KO's and his exciting style. He is a gentleman who comes to fight. He butts but he never ifs.

As for Froch, why that Shylocking bastard has it coming to him. I want to see his beak drip with a vintage crimson, and Billy Goat Andy is just the man to draw such a vintners delight from his Fagan Proboscis.



Good old Ikey Solomons hisself. He'll come a cropper if he tries to pick Andy's silk scarves, I can assure you, me lad.

 

Is Froch REALLY a jew?.. serious question,...no 'Briggs attacked by kangaroo' for this one please. :crafty:

 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......................... it seems Pappa Froach found a nice gentile wrinkle to get stuck in and a few generations down the line out popped old Karl himself, replete with the chin of Golgotha, the balls of David and all the ring-wisdom of the infant Solomon. They should have left him in the rushes in his WBC basket. Froch might be beloved of God, but Ward is the Son of God....and that bodes ill if the big fella is forced to choose between them. Froch would be advised to get 30 pieces of WBC Silver Belt and be content with them

 

::

Well if he was, it would certainly explain alot.

 

Froch is of Eastern-European ancestry, Jewish on his fathers side.

Kellerman just had a fucking Epiphany.