I think both were really overrated, even though i was fan of them. Prov performance was epic, but if they fought a 100 times, I don't think hw could replicate it
I think they were overrated 8-10 years when they were in their primes, but might be a bit underrated now. Both Matty Ice and Provo would have KOd Jose Ramirez, and Ramirez just fought for the undisputed title.
To be honest, nobody really rated ramirez highly, even before the taylor fight. The number 2 guy at 140 is clearly prograis
I think that's an unfair indictment on today's division. In reality, on fair cards, Ramirez should've lost two of his defences before Taylor, and everyone knew he wasn't as good as Prograis. Plus, he's at a massive style disadvantage vs those two.
provo was definitely limited and looped his punches too much. but he came close to beating mathysse imo.
Also rewatched Watanabe vs Ballas. This was Watanabe at his very best IMO. This version of him might have been the best super flyweight ever.
Speaking of Watanabe, I just found out that Chris Eubank was extremely high on Watanabe. He called him better than Pac and Loma. I dont agree that he was better than Pac, but I do he was better than Loma. He was every bit as dominant as Loma, and over better guys.
I don't think there's a noticeable difference in quality between Watanabe and Lomachenko's opponents. Both left a lot to be desired.
There was a bit of controversy in this bout because - you've heard the expression '2 left feet' - well this was true in this case. I don't know if that was all available, but Ballas fought the bout wearing 2 left boots. I had it 78-75 for Jiro after 9 rounds and found the stoppage questionable. The ref stopped the bout AFTER the bell rang ending the round. Why wouldn't you give the corner the chance to go to work? He seemed to have his wits about him.
Ballas was nothing special. Fits definitively into the 'good' category. Same level as Linares or Russell. Ballas, Pedroza and an old Oguma isn't a good résumé. Loma's is on a very similar level.
I rewatched Plant vs Uzcat. Nah, Caleb has no chance on Sat. I didn't realize how much Uzcat hit him, and I had forgotten that Uzcat cut him above his eye. I don't think Plant is gonna see 12 on Sat.
Just watched Zaragoza vs McCullough, the fight was excellent but what really made things stand out at the end for me was when Larry Merchant threw McCullough's manager back about 5ft with a full on body slam to get in his post fight interview with Zaragoza.
I remember that. "He was Robbbbbbbed....My.....suhfsfysf7s..............SHOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEEDDDD" https://twitter.com/punchzonearis/status/950431665276547074
Cuevas vs. Weston Awesome fight. Cuevas' beautiful technique on display. Weston with some savage bodywork.
Leonard vs Mayweather. Ray beat the living hell outta Senior. He easily made adjustments to that shoulder roll/Philly shell guard and Floyd just had no real answers. Young Leonard was something else.
I saw a video of Duran explaining how to break the Philly Shell to some British boxers. He also said if he fought Mayweather he would be punching his arms and busting up his ribs so by round 7 his arms would be useless. He said the error fighters made when fighting Mayweather is they allowed Mayweather to get in their head. So by fight time they were trying to take his head off ignoring arms and body. Duran was a true legend.
Watched the two Juan Estrada-Carlos Cuadras fights. Both were brilliant - will post my cards and comments in the scorecard thread.
Watching this one at the moment and scratching my head over why Rungvisai decided to fight orthodox. He's like Hagler against Leonard but even more so. Crazy.
Just been catching up on the whole Chocolatito-SSR-Estrada-Cuadras rivalry over the past week or so. Watched: Estrada-Cuadras 1 and 2 (both great fights) SSR-Gonzalez 1 (very good) and 2 (brilliant KO) Estrada-SSR 1 (top fight) and 2 (weird fight from Rungvisai) Have watched Gonzalez-Estrada 1 previously and started watching the second fight but Dailymotion was shoving an ad randomly every few minutes so had to pause watching that one and carry on with the others in the series I hadn't seen. Still need to watch Cuadras-SSR and Gonzalez-Cuadras as well.
watched valero vs. mosquera again. this fight makes gatti/ward seem civilized. just absolute brutality. the uppercuts mosquera landed to valero's belly were just sickening. meanwhile, valero is bouncing mosquera's head like a tennis ball.
This is really weird. I actually thought about rewatching this fight tonight. I didn't, but I thought about it.
do it! was even better than i remember. pretty amazing that valero managed to win that fight after mosquera's body attack.