Boxing

[fidget]

Whyte fails drug test.
Again.

Dillian Whyte has returned "an adverse finding" from a doping test, causing his heavyweight rematch against Anthony Joshua on 12 August to be cancelled.

The Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (Vada) informed promoters Matchroom and boxing authorities of the test result.

"In light of this news, the fight will be cancelled and a full investigation will be conducted," said a Matchroom statement.

Joshua could still fight at London's O2 Arena if a new opponent can be found.

The fight between Joshua and Whyte, a rematch of their 2015 bout, was announced a month ago.

Joshua, 33, knocked out 35-year-old Whyte in the seventh round of their heated British title fight eight years ago, which also took place at the O2, as he avenged a loss to his rival on the amateur circuit.

Whyte, who lost his only world title challenge to Tyson Fury in 2022, beat Joshua by decision as an amateur in 2009 to start what became a bitter rivalry.

Olympic gold medallist Joshua went on to become a two-time world champion.

Joshua gained revenge when the pair met again as professionals in December 2015, being rocked in the second round but recovering to force a stoppage in the seventh.

White had a doping violation charge dropped in 2019 after UK Anti-Doping said the levels of a banned steroid were "very low" and he was not at fault.

He served a two-year suspension from 2012 to 2014 for taking an illegal supplement.

A tribunal accepted Whyte's claim he did not knowingly take methylhexaneamine (MHA) but said he did not do enough to check the supplement's ingredients.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I've seen talk on rawk and boxing forums on how Mayweather v Crawford would fare. I'm probably Mayweather's biggest fan on here but I have to admit it's a 50/50 fight for me. Prime Mayweather that fought De La Hoya, Corrales vs Crawford would be an amazing fight.

As for the fight on Saturday night, it was a flawless performance by Crawford. Spence landed one hard punch the whole fight and it nothing because Crawford was 50/50 balanced and he countered with a hook that was one of the knockdowns.

Spence didn't understand what was happening unfortunately. He is an excellent technician but not a tactician. His coach is also not a good tactician.

I stated previously that Spence looked drained and I know he is talking about fighting Crawford at 154 but he would get smashed again. Crawford is tight at 147 too but not as much as Spence.

The technician vs tactician comment is quite apt.


Physically Spence and Crawford are quite close, in terms of how tight their technique is they are also quite close.

I would imagine in terms of drive, raw determination and heart they are pretty close too ( the lack of quit in Spence certainly bears this out)

But in terms of the tactical, ring IQ, ring generalship and other temd one wishes to toss out there. It was like a guy who is really good at checkers playing chess against a chess grandmaster.


Spence is a wonderful technician in the ring, he has great form (talking technique not track record when I use the word form), great balance, really good on the front foot and a really good instinctive fighter.


Crawford on the other hand is what I called him the other day.

He is a thinking man's boxer, a throwback for the purists. He is constantly working out the angles, constantly laying traps that are two three or even four punches down the line, constantly (and crucially calmly) changing on the fly and never losing track of what punch is coming in two punches time and if something changes that means the slavo he had planned cannot happen he has already switched to Plan B and that series of moves is seemlessly inacted. Plus there is always that beautiful switch hitting ability waiting in the wings.


As for Mayweather vs Crawford, that would be a great fight but at 147 I think Mayweather takes Crawford. Mayweather's defensive game at 147 was godlike and the better a fighter he faced the better and tighter that defence became.

Mayweather is one of the best of all time, maybe even the best, at using defence as a weapon that utterly drained his opponent.


At 147 they are world class vs world class but I think Mayweather at 147 was a different level of world class just as Crawford was a different level of world class to Spence Jr. I do not think the gap between Mayweather/Crawford at 147 would be quite as pronouced as what we saw at the weekend but think it would be enough for it to be a 60/40 or maybe even a 65/35 fight in favour of Mayweather.


If I had to pick a fight from the past to best decribe how I woulkd see it going then Sugar Ray Leonard vs Wilifed Benitez would be the one. Sugar Ray being Mayweather. It would be a very cerebral fight just like that one imo.


You take the younger Mayweather when he was a lightweight and pit him against MCrawford at 135 as well and I think it becomes a slightly more open fight as Mayweather back then would take the fight to the other guy more often but still had that elite defensive game to fall back upon.

Crawford at 135 was not quite as well rounded as Mayweather was at the weight imo and at 135 it would have been world class fighter (Mayweather) vs grat fighter (Crawford). Maybe closer than how I see them at 147 or even 140, mainly down to the fact Mayweather would come forward more at the weight, but still 55/45 in favour of Mayweather.

[marcus50bucks]

I've seen talk on rawk and boxing forums on how Mayweather v Crawford would fare. I'm probably Mayweather's biggest fan on here but I have to admit it's a 50/50 fight for me. Prime Mayweather that fought De La Hoya, Corrales vs Crawford would be an amazing fight.

As for the fight on Saturday night, it was a flawless performance by Crawford. Spence landed one hard punch the whole fight and it did nothing because Crawford was 50/50 balanced and he countered with a hook that was one of the knockdowns.

Spence didn't understand what was happening to him unfortunately. He is an excellent technician but not a tactician. His coach is also not a good tactician.

I stated previously that Spence looked drained and I know he is talking about fighting Crawford at 154 but he would get smashed again. Crawford is tight at 147 too but not as much as Spence.

[fidget]

The second knockdown was magnificent.
Set the trap and Spence didn't even know he was in it til he was on his arse.
I think Spence knew he was outclassed after round 2 and was just praying he could land a lucky shot.

[Doc_Piptorious]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjE5sQ0WcHE

What I love about Crawford is that he tries to place every shot.

He rarely throws a wild shot, rarely goes with a rash flurry. Every shot is calculated and very measured. Is why his connection rate is so high.

You watch him and you can see him figuring out the shot that is coming after the one he is about to throw. Proper thinking man's boxer.

Once the bell goes he is a purist's dream.



Inoue reminds me of him a little bit. Same inevitable come forward style of boxing and the same calculated punching style at times. Inoue throws with a bit more venom maybe though that would be down to him having more power at his weight(s) than Crawford does at his.


Think the difference between facing them, for me anyway, is that Inoue tries to put you down for the count every chance he gets, whereas Crawford breaks you piece by piece round after round until you are there for the taking.

[fidget]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjE5sQ0WcHE"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjE5sQ0WcHE[/ame]

[Doc_Piptorious]

Rematch clause triggered by Spence according to US stations.


@154lbs in December.


Can only see the same result, but the extra weight makes it interesting.

Seems that part of the rematch clause was that the loser takes a massive pay cut for the return bout. Talk is that the rematch clause was pre agreed with the split being 75/25 in favour of whomever won the first fight.

[RichC]

That was an absolute masterclass from Crawford. He’s made an elite boxer looking ordinary and that’s being kind to Spence; he’s was completely outclassed.

I’d picked Crawford but it was a toss of a coin fight for me, that display last night was anything but absolute dominance from Crawford

[spud_gun]

Look at the Compubox stats



As one sided of a beatdown as you're likely to see at that level of boxing.

[fidget]

Light work for Crawford.
Different class.
The little traps he was setting for Spence were incredible.

[Doc_Piptorious]

That was a shocking dpsplay of difference in class.

Spence is a world class boxer, certainly in the top three or four pound for pound boxers in terms of being the very best around.

And Crawford made him look like a jobber. That was a God mode performance. An absolute masterclass in nullifying the other guy's greatest strengths whilst at the same time imposing your own game plan in a flawless manner.

How often do we see all three judges scoring a big fight with the exact same scores? 79-70 was the score on all three card at the time of the stoppage.

That was as close to a text book performance as one could ever wish to see and that oh so rare thing of seeing a world class fighter look out of his depth against a performance that transcending the world class level. He took away Spence's jab round after round and just opened him up at will.

It was a thing of beauty to watch by Crawford. A snapped piston jab, crisp hooks, neat footwork, feints, switch hitting, timed uppercuts, great shoulder and head movement, absorption of shots, the latter was really impressive as Spence is a big hitter and he landed clean a number of times and it was like raindrops hitting a mountain.


All in all it was one of the all time greatest welterweight performances by Crawford given the level of the guy he was up against and the level Crawford operated at for the entire fight. I actually think he might have been able to stop Spence earlier as it appeared Crawford had another level or two in him which is a scary thought.


Glad I bet on a late stoppage (rounds 9-12) as one of my two bets on the fight.


Spence was a proper warrior throughout to give him his dues. He was getting outclassed, out thought and out fought, yet never tried to hide or duck the challenge. Then after the bout he praised Crawford for being the better man on the night.Also said he wants to go again against Crawford in December and at 154lbs.

[marcus50bucks]

This is a one sided beat down but I'm not surprised. Crawford is different gravy.

[marcus50bucks]

Have most likely said this in the thread ages ago, but he is the best switch hitter I have seen since Andre Ward. Ward being the most pure switch hitter I have seen from the past 30 years and maybe one of the most natural switch hitters of all time.

Most switch hitters you can spot their tells ( from the comfort of an armchair or when rewatching their tapes - different story being in the ring with a good one lol ) once you get used to their body rhythm. But with Ward there are no tells even when you rewatch the same fight over and over. You watch so many times you know that he will switch at whatever time in the round, so you watch and watch and he does it at the time you know he will do it at and you still cannot spot any sort of tell. The guy was flawless at it.


Crawford is not quite at that level as you can sometimes spot it coming from him, not often but sometimes, but he is pretty damn close.


Crawford also reminds me of Ward in terms of ring IQ. So clever in there and knows exactly what to do at all times. Seems to have that same knack of almost slowing time down around him so he can pick his next move and then have two more lined up depending on what the outcome of his first move was.

Is a damn shame that a fighter like Crawford never became a true household name because he is one of those guys who is good enough to have stood amongst the best of any era. Spence as well to a degree.


If Crawford had been around in the 1980s or late 1970s he would have been a household name like Sugar Ray Leonard. But then again back then the best were known because they were the best.


Nowadays the bums are the household names that get recognised on the street and the best of the bests tend to be only known by hardcore fans.

I agree but I also think Crawford was a better fighter than Ward. And I mean as an all round fighter. Plus he has fought overall much better competition imo. Ward fought Froch and Kovalev. I always felt Ward was a massive cheat in almost all his big fights.

[Doc_Piptorious]

FWIW, I think Fury takes Usyk,I just don't think the purse ist enough for Fury even in the ME to take it, he's after a one big payday to go and win, its all about the dollar for Fury.

On AJ, he gets bulldozed if if fights Wilder - Career over (again)

Fury might beat Usyk, Usyk might beat Fury. Both at peak fitness and sharpness and it is a 50/50 fight.

But in order to beat Usyk Fury would have to train harder than he has ever done and fight harder than he ever has, and I am not sure he has the stomach for that. Usyk saps the mind as much as he saps the body.

Much easier to just duck Usyk and keep shouting crude rubbish about Usyk, rubbish about being the best of the best and then go fight no marks for massive money ( and less training) instead.



Not sure Joshua being bulldozed by Wilder would be a certainty. Two very flawed fighters and the L could easily go either way if they ever met in the ring.

Joshua is still to me what I call him in this thread many years ago and that is a much bigger and slightly more robotic version of Bruce Seldon. And he has very much reverted to looking that way the past few years.


Wilder on the other hand is, when against anyone with a pulse, nothing more than a guy trying to land a big shot and has nothing else to him. Crap footwork, crap movement, crap ring IQ, crap fundementals.


Wilder vs Joshua boils down to who wanted to lose the least rather than who wanted to win the most imo.

An aggressive Joshua puts Wilder down as Wilder has nothing at all to him when the other guy can box and can physically out muscle him. Joshua's record, save for Fury, has nothing on it bar guys really over the hill and guys who are no marks. It is an amazing record for a former world champion as he has yet to beat a genuine (by this era's standards) top heavyweight.


A timid Joshua gets sparked as soon as one of Wilder's windmill shots hits him as timid Joshua runs back into his shell when hit hard.

[Le Chef]

Joshua gets no more or a pass than Wilder for me. The Ring rankings are pretty worthless on that front because Whyte is utterly shot now and should not be anywhere near the top ten rankings on wins/losses alone.

Joshua is just another that talks a lot about others taking easy fights and how they duck others instead of just getting on with things, training right and working his way back through the ranks.

Instead he just looks for an easy fight to be followed by a title level fight.

Too many of the "top" modern heavies seem to think that once they have had a title, or even just a title shot, that they should automatically stay in the title picture regardless of losses. Hell you can lose a title and then still be ranked number one or number two.


Usyk is the guy none of them, Fury included, want a piece of now.

My own take on that is it is not down to Usyk being this impossible to beat but rather that to face Usyk you know you are going in against a guy who will have trained properly, a guy who is unfazed by mind games, a guy who does not get flustered in the ring, a guy whose in ring mindset is like concrete, a guy you will not simply out box and a guy that you are not taking out early unless you land a hail mary shot.

Basically you face Usyk and you know he will be at 100% and that you are in for a hard night win or lose.

And that means you yourself have to work harder than ever in your own training, you have to get your own head space just right and you have to have yourself at 100% just to then get into a war.

Joshua found out twice he is lacking when it comes to matching Usyk when it comes to that concrete in fight mentality.


Wilder is just full of **** and knows all he has regarldess of training is a puncher's chance and most likely would get out boxed and then stopped late by Usyk.

Fury knows he would have to work really hard in training and then have to have what would be close to a 50/50 fight. He is the only one of Joshua, Fury and Wilder that would not have to rely on a fluke shot to beat Usyk imo.

So rather than be fighters they will all avoid Usyk and take on guys that they have to train less hard for, guys that are either shot or not boxers at all, and still make millions from doing so whilst still being able to chat rubbish about how they are all the best guy in the division.

Usyk in the meantime will continue to face whomever the mandatory challengers are for less money and just get on with things.

From a business POV you could say the other guys are smarter than Usyk as they are making millions from muck, but from a fighting pov Usyk is the only one that is a true fighter and champion from the current crop of "top" heavies.

FWIW, I think Fury takes Usyk,I just don't think the purse ist enough for Fury even in the ME to take it, he's after a one big payday to go and win, its all about the dollar for Fury.

On AJ, he gets bulldozed if if fights Wilder - Career over (again)