Fights You Watched Today

I should say though, I'm not really a big fan of any fights like Pavlik-Taylor. I find Chiquita-Carbajal I, Kelly-Hamed, Zamora-Sandoval, Hong-Carrasquilla and even more recently Wilder-Fury III and Zepeda-Barranchyk. I find them all overrated. They just don't entertain me like fast, clean action.

 

Taylor got his shit kicked at the end, yeah.

Up until then it was close to even. Pavlik was slightly ahead, but it was damn near an even fight.

 

I think REED and I were the only two on the forum who picked Pavlik to beat Taylor. There were others, but I remember we were the main two calling the upset.

 

watched Leija vs. Nelson III and IV. I know some time passed, but such stark contrast between these fights. Both entertaining. Leija was a smooth boxer - fun to watch him work

 

Lejia was a solid fighter, but he never would have beaten a peak Nelson.

 

I have no doubt! Corrales' punches were way shorter and had a lot of snap. He might have gotten caught once or twice but he had the fortitude to get up and land his bombs in return.

 

Just wondering what made you think Pavlik was going to beat Taylor, X? And did the fight play out like you thought it would?

 

Leading up to the fight, Taylor had looked like shit against Ouma and Spinks, and lost in the eyes of most to Winky.

Pavlik was coming in looking like a badass against Zertuche and Miranda, especially Miranda, as Pavlik was expected to lose. Kellerman was on HBO calling Miranda the 2nd coming of Julian Jackson.

 

Rewatched Ernesto Marcel vs Antonio Gomez.

What a clinic.

 

Marcel was something else entirely man. Absolutely phenom.

 

He was quite talented.

 

I've seen his fights with Duran, Shibata, Gomez and Arguello.

Are there any other fights of his available?

From those fights, he looked amazing and this is probably his best filmed performance although I love his performance against Arguello too.

 

Rewatched Khan-Malignaggi.

By far Khan's best career performance.

 

He doesn't have any more filmed fights, sadly.

 

I just rewatched Delahoya vs O'Neal with the volume turned down so I wouldn't be influenced by the bias commentary. It was one of Shaq's better performances. Eventhough it was non title fight Freddie Roach put together a good game plan for Shaq to use his height and reach advantage and keep the fight on the ropes. The first rd was kind of a feel out rd that I gave to Oscar based on his work rate down stairs and his piston like jab that set the tone and allowed him to keep the fight in the center of the ring. Overall it was Enjoyable fight between two legends but I did think Oscar hurt Shaq on more than one occasion and did enough to get the nod. If Shaq was 10 years younger I could see him giving this version of Roy Jones a run for his money.

 

Rewatched Moon vs Konadu II.

Moon at his very best. Vicious little motherfucker, he was. I think he belongs in the Hall. Too bad he'll never make it.

 

Rewatched Golovkin-Canelo 2.

Canelo definitely did better but I still don’t see him WINNING this fight. He had no answer for GGG’s jab and whenever he was backed up, he was ineffective. Golovkin won 7-5 rounds or arguably 8-4.

Good scrap, though.

 

watched randall vs. pendleton II. good fight. pendleton as always performed better than expected. randall seemed to underperform, kind of falling for pendleton's tricks.

 

Rewatched Rodrigo Valdez v Bennie Briscoe 2.

A great fight - lots of clean punching, furious flurries and a dynamite KO at the end (technically a TKO but still).

 

Used to be one of my favorite fights to watch. I legitimately used to rewatch it like twice a year, every year.

I haven't seen it in maybe like 4-5 years, so I might rewatch it today.

Valdez was a bad ass.

 

Kelly Pavlik is only 39 years old. He's three days older than GGG. Wtf

It's like when I found out Manny Pacquiao ended up weighing more than Oscar De La Hoya on fight night. You're just left wondering wtf

 

24 hour before a fight weigh in is probably the single boxing rule I hate the most. A perfect example of this was when Mayweather fought Marquez. Not only did Mayweather come in 2 pounds over the limit but by fight time he had already gained back about 15 more pounds. That's a welter against a middle weight. Total bullshit and mismatch.

 

Just watched Whitaker-Jones. Good little fight, one of Whitaker's more action packed title defences, if a little bit of a sloppy performance.

 

Whitaker-Pineda has always been my favorite Whitaker performance. Also his most slept on performance, for some reason.

 

Watched the British Feed of Benn-McClellan Thru its Entirety; Pre-Fight, Ringwalks, Post Fight and an Accompanying Documentary Called "The Fight of Their Lives"...

REED Saw the Showtime Telecast in Real Time, But Only Rewatched the Fight 1 Other Time Since it Happened, STOPPING the Recording Once McClellan was Counted Out...Had No Interest in Seeing What Became of McClellan in the Immediate Aftermath or the Ensuing Years, But REED Finally Felt He OWED Him That Much, as a Boxing Fan...

Random Observations...

The Documentary, While Entertaining, is a Study in Finger Pointing, Practically EVERYONE Looking to Assess Blame Elsewhere....Blaming the Ref, McClellan's Corner, the Ringside Physicians, McClellan's Family for Removing Him from the British Hospital...SAD to Watch, All Around...

1. REED Absolutely BLAMES the Ref for Allowing Benn to SURVIVE Round 1; the Count was Looooooooong Per Benn's Own Corner and the Ref SPARED Benn from No Fewer than 5-10 ADDITIONAL Shots He'd Have Most Assuredly Gotten Drilled w/WHILST HURT, if Not for Intervening Incompetently...

McClellan Literally SHOVED the Ref Out of the Way and/or Gave Him Looks of Dismay @ Least 3 Times in the 1st Round Alone...But w/That Said, REED Doesn't Blame the Ref @ All for What Would Eventually Proved to Be McClellan's Fate, Several Rounds Later...

2. As Early as Round 2, McClellan was Visibly Breathing from the Mouth, Poking Out his Gumshield to Allow for MORE Air to Get Into His Lungs...Knowing McClellan Likely Punched Himself Out in the 1st and was Basically "Training Himself", Per Reports, It's EASY to Fathom a LACK of Oxygen Reaching the Brain, as a Major Factor...

3. The Accidental Headbutt was Another Factor...Nigel Was Wild, Rugged and Basically Told He HAD to Be Victorious Over McClellan for the Sake of His Career, So he FOUGHT Accordingly...Proud, Desperate and Perfectly WILLING to Go Out on His Shield...But Yeah, the Accidental Headbutt CLEARLY Had a Negative Impact on McClellan and Some Rabbit Punches for Good Measure Certainly DIDN'T Help...

4. The Post Headbutt Eye Blinks were a Sign SOMETHING was Wrong, After the Fact...Easy to Say in HINDSIGHT the Corner or Ref Should've "Saw Something", But in a nap and Tuck Bout as Such, 2 Explosive Punching Men, REED Understands WHY it Wasn't Stopped...

5. McClellan Absorbed MUCH Harder Shots Thru the Course of the Fight Than The One's That Dropped Him To a Knee...Particularly on the Final Knockdown, McClellan Had the LOOK of a Man That KNEW Something was Wrong, Like He Wanted to Get OUT of His Own Body, But was Helpless...

6. Watching McClellan Walk Back to His Corner, Slump to the Canvas and Eventually Require the Aid of a Stretcher to Leave the Ring, was CHILLING AF...Literally Witnessing the Last Remnants of NORMALCY Leaving McClellan's Body Doesn't Get Easier Over Time...

7. It's No Secret McClellan Cut LARGE AMOUNTS of Weight in Training Camps for Fights, Another Possible Contributing Factor to LESSENING the Amount of Fluid/Oxygen Getting to His Brain...

8. No One Should Feel BAD for Accusing McClellan of QUITTING, In the Moment...That's Exactly What it LOOKED Like he Was Doing...Knowing What We Know NOW, There was Something Much More DIRE Taking Place, But IN the Moment, That's How it Looked...

9. Benn Shouldn't Be Ostracized for the LACK of Sympathy He Showed McClellan in the Immediate Aftermath...Don King Basically Brought McClellan to the UK to BURY Nigel Benn; He Was in a FIGHT or FLIGHT Mindset and Fleeing Wasn't an Option for Nigel....

10. "Pleasantly" Isn't the Operative Word, but REED was Admittedly SURPRISED at the State of McClellan, as Shown in the Documentary...His Life Has Been Compromised Undeniably, But REED Wasn't Aware of His Ability to SPEAK and RECOLLECT to the Degree That He Can...REED Had Only Seen Still Photos and ASSumed McClellan was Reduced to Moans and Grunts, in a Near Vegetative State...He Appeared "Better" Off Than That, if Not Much...

11. Making Peace w/Benn and McClellan's Sister Finding Her OWN Peace w/the Reunion was Cool to See...McClellan Seemed to ACCEPT it for What it Was, the Risk of their Chosen Trade...And McClellan's Sister Got to See Just How PAINED and TROUBLED Benn Was Over What Happened...

What Should Have Been His Crowning Achievement Became a Point of Contention for Benn...

REED Will Likely NEVER Watch Benn-McClellan Again, But He Doesn't Regret the Time He Invested Over the Christmas Holiday to the FULL Fight Telecast and Documentary...






REED

 

I've got that on my watch list. Along with Whitaker vs Nelson and finishing off the Pendleton fight. He looked incredible vs Brazier at 140.

 

watched czyz vs. williams again. good fight.

 

Excellent write up, Reed. It was a great fight but the aftermath makes it hard to watch for me now. At the time, though, when I watched it live it was one of the very best fights I’d seen.

 

Mosley-Holiday; it was a good fight, and the styles gelled together well and made for a of Figueroa-Fulton type fight. I liked Mosley's right cross and uppercuts to the body. He showed a good chin and blazing hand-speed, but it was clear Mosley didn't have the inside game to really hammer Holiday like a true elite should. I think this fight highlights how Mosley gets overrated at 135, in that the only time he faced somebody his own size he looked nowhere near as spectacular as he did in his other title fights. He wasn't more special at 135, he was just facing smaller guys IMO.

Holiday was an entertaining fighter. Tough, too.

 

Watched Joffre-Harada 1 again. Obviously a brilliant fight. Maybe the best full fight on film between two legit ATGs facing each other in their primes?