Essential The Official Boxing Random Thoughts Thread...All boxing heads ENTER.

[GREENandYELLOW]

its because the high percentage of someone getting KOed...and even higher percentage of them getting hurt within a 12 round fight. In lower weights there is no guarantee someone will be seriously hurt or KOed...even with big punchers. Look at Garcia/Matthysse. Two good punchers. A lot of people were surprised that fight went the distance. A lot of us were waiting for 12 rounds for that one shot that would basically turn it to a life/death type of fight. It was still a highly entertaining fight but a lot of that was due to both were big name fighters with exciting styles. HW fights used to be almost always entertaining even if the fighters werent highly ranked. HWs just have that bonecrushing power and it diminishes as you go down. Just think Lennox for example. His biggest and best fights were where he was knocking somebody out or getting knocked out himself. Likewise with Tyson. Holmes was one of the few greats who was feared more for his boxing ability than his KO power but even still, when he got you in trouble...you were food.

Yeah, I get that and the aspect that although we may not rank HW's P4P the best, it is not like lower weight classes are going to come up and beat them (RJJ aside). They are the biggest and baddest men in the sport.
I guess my preference for HW has taken even more of a slide now that we are watching these 6'6" 250 lb goliaths...because 1, they are so hard to relate to most of us, and 2 because I thought HW sized fighters of the 90's were slow and plodding at times, it is more so now. When it came to HW I definitely preferred the Holyfield/Tyson sized guys because they were still "small" enough to have athletic movement and what seemed like higher work rates.

For many reasons the HW division gets people juiced up, I have never been as interested, so I find hearing people's thoughts on it interesting since I haven't really got excited in that way.

 

[surv2syn]

the bolded was the truth....I didn't like watching too much of lennox in his prime...dude never showed the fire unless someone tagged him and had him in trouble early like Shannon briggs or could take his punches and give back in kind like ray mercer did

right. its like we say about guys like Dawson. he never showed urgency with Pascal until the cut. he likes to coast. he wont really get going unless there is a threat. if Dawson ever moved up to HW he'd be stretchered because by the time u realize the threat you've got doctors standing around you with flashlights in your eyes. Guinn was the same way and I think thats why he underachieved. No way a guy with over 300 amateur fights finds as little success as he did. he fought his best when he was threatened. that was usually against big punchers. there really arent as many big punching heavyweights today as there used to be. I mean big punching with technique. couple that with the fact that little guys are hitting harder and you can see why the HW scene is so dismal.

 

[surv2syn]

Yeah, I get that and the aspect that although we may not rank HW's P4P the best, it is not like lower weight classes are going to come up and beat them (RJJ aside). They are the biggest and baddest men in the sport.
I guess my preference for HW has taken even more of a slide now that we are watching these 6'6" 250 lb goliaths...because 1, they are so hard to relate to most of us, and 2 because I thought HW sized fighters of the 90's were slow and plodding at times, it is more so now. When it came to HW I definitely preferred the Holyfield/Tyson sized guys because they were still "small" enough to have athletic movement and what seemed like higher work rates.

For many reasons the HW division gets people juiced up, I have never been as interested, so I find hearing people's thoughts on it interesting since I haven't really got excited in that way.

you just missed an exciting era. it sucks today. I dont know how old I was but I will never forget when I saw c00ney annihilate Norton on TV. I was a lil boy...but I can still see that image in my mind today. When I was growing up...there were exciting fighters like Hearns, Leonard, Pryor, Saad Muhammad. Although they were making good money, it was nothing like the HWs. When forgettable HWs like Weaver and Dokes would get in the ring....they would get paid and people would tune in. Even though you had guys like Donald Curry, Terry Norris etc...being hailed as P4P. Skills went to the little guys. They just didnt bring the popularity and when they did, like SRL or Oscar, it had to be more from a marketing perspective as opposed to all out action and KOs.

 

[GREENandYELLOW]

you just missed an exciting era. it sucks today. I dont know how old I was but I will never forget when I saw c00ney annihilate Norton on TV. I was a lil boy...but I can still see that image in my mind today. When I was growing up...there were exciting fighters like Hearns, Leonard, Pryor, Saad Muhammad. Although they were making good money, it was nothing like the HWs. When forgettable HWs like Weaver and Dokes would get in the ring....they would get paid and people would tune in. Even though you had guys like Donald Curry, Terry Norris etc...being hailed as P4P. Skills went to the little guys. They just didnt bring the popularity and when they did, like SRL or Oscar, it had to be more from a marketing perspective as opposed to all out action and KOs.

Yeah, when I started watching boxing it would have been late 90's. Some some Tyson and Holyfield, but very little. Mostly Lennox, Rahman, Golata and whoever HBO had.

 

[surv2syn]

Yeah, when I started watching boxing it would have been late 90's. Some some Tyson and Holyfield, but very little. Mostly Lennox, Rahman, Golata and whoever HBO had.

even that was better than now because a guy like Arreola would be a journeyman for real back then. he couldnt come in out of shape even agains a Golota. Mercer, Morrison, etc...they would be champs today and probably reign. the HWs today are either highly skilled yet too small or massive physically with no skill.

 

[surv2syn]

I wish like hell we could have a dominant American heavyweight come up now. It would do so much for boxing. We just dont have it though. The only one that truly has superstar marketability is Wilder and he is just a physical specimen who's boxing ability sucks.

 

[MIAlien]

So Canelo orders GB to make a Cotto match and Martinez for next year........... Interesting


It'll be comical if Golden Boy strong arms Sergio Martinez from HBO he cant fight til next year, and his contract ends next summer anyway............

Dan Rafael said Martinez actually isn't under contract with HBO and the only thing keeping him from jumping ship is loyalty.

And Canelo is smart to push for Cotto now and Martinez later. He'll lose out on one if he sits around and watches them fight. If he takes Cotto now, he doesn't risk Martinez beating the 4th biggest draw in boxing before he can. Who knows if Cotto retires after one more loss. And he can catch Martinez after Sergio takes a tune up or rests some more.

 

[LauderdaleBoss]

Back in the day every other heavyweight fight was usually pretty entertaining. Now you're lucky if you get 1 good heavyweight fight a year.

I mean if I was to think back in the last 10 years or so......there's only a few heavyweight fights that come to mind that I can remember being entertaining as well as competitive and not just a couple rounds, but the majority of the fight.

Vitali/Lewis
Brewster/Liahovich
Bryd/McCline
Arreola/Stieverne
Fury/Cunningham

I know there's a few more, but even those were usually years apart from each other.

 

[Big Boss]

kimbo slice should have became a heavyweight boxer

 

[surv2syn]

Cleverly returns on Nov 30th as a CW. He doesnt even look to have a frame like that. Kovalev ran him out of LHW so fast. I think he is asking for it by going to CW. Those guys are well known but hungry.

 

[LauderdaleBoss]

kimbo slice should have became a heavyweight boxer

He did and he fukking sucks... Dude was constantly having struggle fights against tomato cans in the middle of nowhere until he finally seemed to fade into Boliva.

The dudes who were managing him knew fukk all about boxing and promoting. They could have easily had him fight a bum of the month club against local nikkas down here and he could have caked off the live gate doing that at the Hard Rock and BBT center in Sunrise since he had a name. Instead they fly him out to the mid west to fight scrubs in half empty gyms.

 

[surv2syn]

He did and he fukking sucks... Dude was constantly having struggle fights against tomato cans in the middle of nowhere until he finally seemed to fade into Boliva.

The dudes who were managing him knew fukk all about boxing and promoting. They could have easily had him fight a bum of the month club against local nikkas down here and he could have caked off the live gate doing that at the Hard Rock and BBT center in Sunrise since he had a name. Instead they fly him out to the mid west to fight scrubs in half empty gyms.

yeah, he didnt have a smart team. he couldve been bigger at least for a short quick run. he couldnt have been a worse fighter than Butterbean. Bean caked off though. Even got to fight a 50 year old

he did get shutout though.

 

[King P]

I remember when Larry Merchant tried to say Cris Arreola was the best American HW prospect since Riddikk Bowe

 

[LauderdaleBoss]

yeah, he didnt have a smart team. he couldve been bigger at least for a short quick run. he couldnt have been a worse fighter than Butterbean. Bean caked off though. Even got to fight a 50 year old

he did get shutout though.

Exactly, but the dudes who were managing him got rich off making porn and new jack shyt about boxing. shyt seemed logical as fukk to promote him down here in south Florida where he has a following. They even fed him the bummest of the bums and he still struggled with them cans. He even fought a nikka who's name was Canny McCan Some of these guys were blown up cruisers in their 2nd or 3rd fight and they'd be putting Kimbo on roller blades. They tried to put the training wheels on his career to eventually get some sort of money fight, but that shyt was hard as fukk since he wasn't made into a household name nor have good enough skills to dominate the D level cats he was fighting. He could have become a lil regional attraction making money, but he was with the wrong folks. I think he's back to doing security now, cuz I haven't heard shyt about him in a while. I guess nikkas quit on that dream.

 

[InvictusAeternusEternus]

HWs are big with the casual fan because they are larger then life and are basically a freak show, or real life boogeymen who captured the imagination. Nowadays with all the hormones in our food these "giants"
Aren't so rare anymore