Froch-Abraham starting time AKA SPOILER THREAD

When I was watching AA in the fag-end days of his time at 160 {to which he will now surely return} many of the traits which have cost him so dearly were already evident.

Your analogy of the duck hunter makes sense. A cheetah is the same. It's a day spent lurking, and loitering, and stalking....followed by an explosive burst. If the burst doesn't work, the cheetah is jaded and needs time off. The more bursts he makes, and the more often they fail, the less effective the cheetah becomes.

That's Abraham. A man of diminishing returns. Every failed burst diminishes the effectiveness of the next. In the meantime, he is going hungry/getting hit. When he has KO'd guys late it's because he took more out of them than they did out of him.

In the late rounds of the Taylor fight, Abraham was sitting in his corner and he let out this breath that would power a fucking Tea Clipper. He doesn't like to work when his work doesn't work. And that was a fight he was winning.

It's a style which was better suited at 160 as men were smaller and could be got at a bit more often with greater results. His bum-rushes had greater effect, which diminished the output of the opponents, allowed him to take a minute off, come out, do it again, ad infinitum.

He's just a limited fighter, out of his comfort zone. This "bum" nonsense has to end though.:shit:

 

Read my next post. Or the last one after I post this. I couldn't disagree more.

 

luckily i think dirrell is through. i at dr.whatshisface

 

The thing that surprised me the most was Frock's jab and timing.

They were meaty, accurate jabs that discouraged Arabham. Arabham didn't even get close enough, often enough, for Frock's strength to play a role.

Either in anticipation of, or in reaction to Arabham's punches, Frock would just stuff a meaty jab in his face and step to the side, over and over again. Arabham would end up missing and eating a jab.

Then sometimes let rip with some body/hewad combos which took something out of Arabham and ensured that he gassed more than Frock did given his extra activity.

 

Gotta love Froch. Him and Ward will be a worthy final. :bears:

 

This tournament sucks.

Ward will win it easily.

 

The guy has zero versatility. He has a workable style against certain guys in certain circumstances though. Froch isn't so much better than him as this fight suggests. There are guys Abraham's would beat that froch might not. Their respective fights against Dirrel & Taylor show them to be fighters on a similar level, IMO.

But agreed 100% Abrahams needs to get back down to 160, because if he can't physically outmuscle a guy over the course of 8, 9 10 rounds he has NOTHING.

 

OK so how big a chance do you give Frock against Ward?

I think he has a reasonable chance. He's a legit, proven fighter.

Ward obviously was far more impressive against Kessler, but I do think it was a better version of Kessler that showed up against Frock.

Ward should be the favourite, but not by much.

 

Agreed. Ward is by far the best fighter in this thing. Ward is right there beside Martinez behind Floyd & Pac, IMO.

 

I think Ward-Froch is gonna be one UGLY ass fight.

I'm not a fan of either, so I dont give a fuck who wins. But if Froch somehow KO'd him... I'd laugh.

I wanna see Ward OUT COLD.... P-Dub style.

 

'meaty' being the operative word. Had they been less meaty they wouldn't have discouraged Abraham's like they did & let him occupy the centre ring round after round. That's exactly what Im talking about here.

 

I thought the fight was all about physicality, Froch pushed him back with his jab and that right rake to the body, pinned him to the ropes for periods, and bumped him off when Abe got too close or tangled, it was all about Froch being the bigger man...plus Froch showed pretty good stamina and kept his shape late, I thought he was going to punch himself out after 5, he was the only one throwing for large portions

 

Like Vitali, Froch is a killer if you let him set the pace. He is not a Tony Sibson, he is not some short-armed midget with all the height and reach of a bonsai tree.

In that regard he is totally different to the multitude of former British-origin fighters like Tony Sibson etc. He has a style and a size which allows him to work at a pace which suits him. Get him out of his groove, like Kessler did, and you can mess him up.

But tonight, he just, as McGuigan would say..."done what he liked"

 

Why do you hate Ward?

Like I said to REED, there's something about him that's dislikeable, but hard to pinpoint.

I actually think this is going to be a close fight, but yeah, ugly.

 

"You can't stand in front of me with your hands up like that. I hit people with 18oz gloves and breaks ribs, damage eyes and perforate eardrums...

This is a direct quotation from Froch taken from Boxing News this week. The man is fucking deranged, but immensely entertaining.

MTF :bears:

 

That's the natural power of a good sized super middle, not physical strength.

Was it part of him being a bigger man? Sure, but it was power and reach that played more of a role than strength.

This was not a physical fight even to the extent that Floyd against Hatton was, or well, most of Hatton's fights, or most of Castillo's fights etc.

That's because Arabham didn't force him to be physical. He never does actually. He is not a grappler or an infighter, he looks for mid range bombs.

 

Abraham is not very good. Mex is bang on. I have said this fight would go like it did from the day this tournament was announced.

 

The Christian schtick gets on my nerves, all the God's will and savior bollocks

 

Yep. If Froch was 5'10" it would have been different. But that's not Frochs fault. He did what he had to do and it worked a treat. It was one of those fights where the man throwing tired less than the man taking, principally because Froch, a la Vitali, was doing his thing, and can do his thing all night.

Fighters who control the distance set the pace. Fighters who set the pace stay fresher for longer as they are using less gas.

It's like a car chase. The guy in front has the advantage as HE knows what way he is going to turn and you don't. You can only respond to his moves.

Against Kessler, who matched up better physically and stylistically, Froch suffered the right hand to the body and with the net result it was a totally different fight.

 

I'll give Froch this... as far as Brits go, he's easily better than the frail faggot Khan.

Khan has a bigger test ahead of him though. Unlike AA, we KNOW Maidana is gonna let his hands go.

 

There's only 4 of us who call it like it is on Arabham, and have done for ages.

Me, you, steve_dave and FreeIke.

 

Of course, it's intensely annoying, but something more than that.

For example HOlyfield does that but gets away with it, he's still somehow likeable to most people.

 

Get down to Xaviers on Gardiner Street and say your prayers ye bollix!!!:shadow:

Yes, I agree though.....God loves him so much he appeared to "Son of God" and told him to stay in Oakland and throw headbutts and God would reward him.

And so it was. God sent his only spare Angel to put a terrible hex on Andre Dirrell.

 

'Size', 'Power' 'Strength', here it's all one and the same thing. Froch was the bigger stronger man who's punches backed Abraham's up consistently. Had Froch punched less hard (or had Abraham's been more immune to his power) the fight is different. Subtly different at first but by the middle rounds starting to look very different. And I believe it has a different outcome.

Like i said in my first post in this thread during the 4th or something Abraham's had more respect for Froch's power than I or preseumably he anticipated and it dictated the geography of the fight. It allowed Froch to stand his ground, occupy centre ring and stopped Abraham walking him down and applying the pressure his game relies on. That's the key variable.

Of course Froch could outbox Abraham's from the outside. That point was obvious going in. It's like saying 'hey Bernard Hopkins is taller than Tito - that's why he won'.

 

Yep, from day one mate. I'm like you, I didn't get the hype whatsoever

 

i think ward froch is 50/50 unless ward decides to run

 

This is gonna be one of the FEW nights where HBO outshines Showtime.

We all know Ward-Bika is gonna be a bore-fest.

 

Thay Shaw or some shit...:dunno:

 

Hi-Shaw.

 

Froch is the best British fighter currently active by a long way IMHO, and has been for at least eighteen months. He fights consistently at elite level and is consistently successful in that company.

He's such a strange little fucker, with only two really clear 'world class' attributes- his chin (I'm still unconvinced about this mind) and his toughness/determination/will-to-win. In almost all other aspects he looks and seems all wrong. Yet he is proven at world level and there is now a strong argument to be made that he has surpassed Calzaghe's (many people's number.1 UK fighter ever) career in almost half as many fights.

MTF