http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLGE62M6pxA Man, he looks horrible. Sorry if this has already been posted.
At Iran's peak, Barkley and Kelly would have been a toss up. Very few fighters were tougher than Barkely as evidenced by his two wins over Hearns in which he took brutal punishment both times before winning. Barkley's hook vs. Kelly's right hand. I saw Iran whip really tough guys in the 80's like Scypion, Kinchen, and Olijade, he was a very hard and strong man, and a nice guy as well as we hung out in Vegas at the Hilton before the Hearns rematch. Barkley was one of my personal favorite middleweights of the 1980's.
Iran is entitled to his opinion. But how could he or anyone else not be impressed with the fact that Pavlik was on the brink of defeat, only to suck it up and come back to take the title with a clear KO victory. That, in and of itself is enough to impress me,...even if I am not overly impressed with a fighters style and/or skills.
dsimon writes: Yeah Barkley feels like Taylor lost the fight but I don't know... looked to me like Pavlik had to make one hell of an effort to do his thing. I do see Ian's point that Taylor gave Pavlik an opportunity, but i'll be a Kansas City Whore on Sunday if Pavlik didn't take advantage of that opportunity! ::
Pavlik is the real deal. The man has a toughness and heart about him that cant be tought. He may have some green spots here and there, but so what. Boxing is, at times, an on the job training type of profession.
Let's face it,....Iran is a good enough guy it seems. A warrior at his best who never gave up..but was extremely limited in his own right. He lost HIS title to a Roberto Duran who was obviously past his prime and a couple of divisions over his best weight, AND who never won a significant fight after that. What the fuck is Iran talking about "Not being impressed"?
