Boxing

[Fivex]

Inoue'd turn out to be a decent boxer.

[Doc_Piptorious]

[Slinky Skills]

Sorry lads spamming the thread. I don't even watch boxing ffs. Lol

[Deano]

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)

[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.

[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.

[marcus50bucks]

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

[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.

[fidget]

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

[spud_gun]

Look at the Compubox stats



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

[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

[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.

[fidget]

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

[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]

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.