Grudging Respect...

Who are the fighters who you really don't like or even hate, but you find yourself giving them respect...no matter how much it KILLS you to do it???

For me...it was always Ray Leonard. I couldn't STAND him! Especially during his pre-retirement years. I became the biggest Duran, Benitez, Kalule and e even Bruce Finch fan when they fought him. And when he beat my favorite fighter ever (Hearns), it became even more personal!!
And when he came back and beat Hagler (and he DID deserve the decision...no matter what some folks think of his game plan) I hated him all over again.

But through it all...I had nothing but respect for his abilities & accomplishments...even if I wanted him to get KTFO in every single fight he ever had.

 

In other words, your least favorite fighters who are still very good or pretty accomplished?

Joe Calzaghe

 

Well...not just that...but the ones who you are forced to admit those things about even though you would rather stick a pencil in your eye than do so.

 

For awhile, it was Lennox Lewis.

 

mayweather

 

Calvin Brock
Danny Williams

 

i generally don't give any credit to fighters i don't like - so this is a tough one for me. ::

 

Lennox Lewis

I guess recently you can add Calzaghe to the list for me as well.

 

Lewis primarily.

Then Leonard too.

 

In no order whatsoever...

Floyd
Chris Eubank
[grits teeth] Sven Ottke
[recently] Junior Witter

MTF

 

Floyd

 

Was it Floyd's brilliant performance against ODLH that made you respect PBF?

 

No,I alway's knew he was the goods!!

 

Pernell Whitaker
Winky Wright

 

Nup, Fraud's defensive system fundamentally consists of illegal impliments, and until the day it's pulled up, and he's forced to fight and beat a formidable hardnosed pressure fighter without them, then he's just a Corey-Spinks level bitchfighter who is desperately overrated by Ex-Jones groupies, and is of virtually the same ilk as Ruiz, who's a mediocre heavyweight, but extremely difficult to beat, due to impune exploitation of the rules - excessive clinching ofcourse being his particular felon.

 

dsimon writes:

Well I don't hate any guys that much but the guys that I don't care for and like when they get taught a lesson in hubris are as follows:

1) Vlad. Feel like the guy was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. All the Ukranians I know are from my family on my mom's side and they are generally stupid, bigoted and uneducated with nothing .... and here comes this guy from there with a doctorate, though a bogus one (phys ed? please!) with his big brother ready to fight if the little faggot cries to mama(Please!!!) his naivete (please) and with a build and natural athletic ability that a fighter like Gatti (who is full of piss and vinegar) would kill for. I feel like the guy is one of Tchakovskie's wooden nutcrackers... like there is nothing real about him .... like he never had to struggle a day in his life and is just born with good genetics and never had to put his ass to the fire to melt some tallow.

2) Riddick Bowe. So fucking overrated... the Vlad complex in reverse. Oh ohh! he a big black guy from brooklyn must be a bad ass!!!!! I mean the guy was big and could punch and everybody saying how he was better than my little English cupcake Lewis? :eeeek: :eeeek: ::. Lets just say I was happy when Lewis exposed what a chump Bowe was, both by beating Ruddock (who actually did have some talent) and by making Bowe avoid fighting him. Let me say though I feel bad for him and what happened to him in recent years, the hate is gone

Here are some guys that I have complex feelings about, or feelings that have changed.

1) Roy Jones. I always liked Roy until after the first Tarver fight. When he got Ko'ed I realized I enjoyed watching him with his eyes rolled back...:: But what I am really angry at is the third Tarver fight. Roy knew damn well he was fighting just not to get Kayooeed! He totally pussed out and cheated his fans by taking the easy way out.

2) Calzighe. Joe taking the easy road and all.... the same critisims others have. I also think he knew he could at least match Kessler punch for punch and that he would get the nod if it was a close one.

 

dsimon writes:

Oh please! Grow up I suppose when Toney shoulder rolls it is illegal also?

 

No disrespect, brother Dsimon, but this rationale has always been funny to me.

If it was YOU in the ring KNOWING Tarver can hurt/stop you, has stopped you clean in the past, and has hurt you already...what would you do?

Say "screw it" and launch yourself at Tarver knowing you're going to get KO'd and LOSE the fight....

Or try to potshot and move your way to victory and use whatever advantages you retain?

Sure, it was survival....but at least that survival gave him some chance to win.

You think it'd really be more courageous to simply get KO'd -- or to try to go the full 12?

I dunno....I think we're way too black & white sometimes.

Peace.

 

Kauki's stance on Mayweather is quite simply irrational.

The most illegal think PBF does is use his elbow to push off.

Peace.

 

Most certainly it is. You can't hit your opponent in the back, or in the back of the head, so consequently, you can't turn your back to defend yourself unless your opponent is allowed to hit you in those particular places. Fraud also rests his head below belt level at the end of the two part 'twist and duck' sequence, so unless there is a technicality that stipulates "You can hit the head if it's pulled below belt level" then it makes the ENTIRE shoulder sequence illegal.

Flicking of the elbow, Palming/Pushing of the head, and forearms to the throat are also fundamental, totalitarian components of Fraud's defensive system under pressure.

Examples of some contemporary "LEGAL" defensive geniuses are within styles employed by Winky Wright and Joshua Clottey. :nono:

 

Here Kau, because you love this style so much.

 

Antonio Tarver after the Jones rematch.

 

Yet YOU Lust Over Fighters who SPECIALIZE in Excessive QUITTING...

REED::

 

Same here.

I hated Tarver because of his crying about being "robbed" against Jones, when it was his own inactivity and leeriness of Roy's bodywork that cost him the fight.

I had to give Tarver credit for KOing Jones after that.

 

Oscar De La Hoya after the Vargas fight

 

Paulie Malignaggi after the Cotto fight

I always thought this guy was a clown. He reminded me of of the siblings from Growing up Gotti.::

He reminded me alot of Hamed - all talk and nothing but a flashy mediocre fighter minus the power.

But He showed alot of heart in the Cotto fight and did well for alot of rounds. I was surprised.

I'm not a fan of the guy but I enjoy watching him and I consider him the best after Hatton at the 140 division.

 

Agreed on Malignaggi. Perfect example.

 

Bowe is the first one I thought of. For the reasons you mention and especially for his beating little Holyfield, duck Lennox, Dokes, Ferguson (!), and then fight Holy again. For a long time, Bowe was the only guy that could get me to root for Holyfield, although I still thought he deserved the decision in their 2nd fight.

And then Bowe got lucky as hell against Mathis. No contest, my ass. That was a loss. And then he acts like a complete cocksucker against Donald with the sucker punch. But then he dominates Donald, then he beats my guy Hide, then he is a cocksucker again in the prefight against Jorge Luis Gonzalez but completely kicks his ass in the fight, then Holy 3 (which I didn't watch live on purpose), but then he fights Golota twice.

This whole stretch of fights from Donald to Golota, ironically when he wasn't a champ (the wbo heavy belt was clearly #4 at this time), showed Bowe had some balls. It also tended to reiterate how hittable he was and how pathetically he got into shape for some of these, but it also showed that he had a huge will to win. Huge. Even the Zumbrun fight showed it. I still think Lennox's power, combined with Bowe's hittability = a Lennox win even against an in-shape Bowe, but it really is too bad we didn't see an in-shape Bowe.

 

dsimon writes:

Frankly Donny I think Roy should have just not taken the fight:dunno:. He was 1and1 with Tarver , there is no shame in that. Part of Roy's problem imo is that when guys learned he was not so untouchable he got in trouble and I think he figured... correctly... that Tarver had no intention of taking any great risk, after his spectacular KO (why risk retribution?) so he knew if he played it safe he could save face.

I know that Mayweather has done the same thing, with De La Hoya for example, and I don't like it any better when Floyd does it.