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

[surv2syn]

I am about to start doing my top 5 lists and started with Heavyweight. Think I will skip that for now because to think that (with Vitali and Haye retired) the 2nd best HW in the world may be Pulev...



and that I may be forced to put Tyson Fury in my top 5

 

[Newzz]

I am about to start doing my top 5 lists and started with Heavyweight. Think I will skip that for now because to think that (with Vitali and Haye retired) the 2nd best HW in the world may be Pulev...



and that I may be forced to put Tyson Fury in my top 5

 

[SuikodenII]

Jung Koo Chang, The Korean Hawk, was now officially the king of 108. With his all action swarming style, it hardly have opponents time for a breather as he applied pressure throughout all 12-15 rounds of a fight. Chang also had incredible overhand right and lead left hooks that found target and put a hurting on many opponents. Chang's first defense would be a gimmie opponent so this would be the first real test on his journey to a hall of fame championship run. The durable German Torres was up for the task with his second shot at world title glory, going 10-0 (8) in his last ten bouts. Would 2nd time be the charm or would Chang solidify himself as king with a victory over one of the best in his weight class?.....if nothing else, watch part 4......​

 

[mr. smoke weed]

right now for me, the most intriguing thing is...what are Stevenson and Kovalev's next steps. I think they should fight maybe another fight each then sign for a 2 fight deal with option for 3rd match. Even if its no KO, somebody is getting hurt.

I agree they should fight each other eventually, but Stevenson is clearly>>>>>>Kovalev to me right now. Kovalev's best win is Cleverly

 

[Newzz]

VIRGIL HUNTER STATES STRONG CASE FOR AMIR KHAN: "FLOYD'S GONNA HAVE TO FIGHT A DIFFERENT FIGHT"
By Ben Thompson | December 24, 2013

BT: What's up, Virg? I know no official decision has been made yet, but Floyd Mayweather recently said that Marcos Maidana is now in the mix to possibly fight him in May. There's a few critics out there who believe that his performance against Adrien Broner makes him a better option than Amir's performance against Julio Diaz. What are your thoughts on that?

VH: We can't be concerned with how good it looks to the critics. We have to see if we're developing or not. I think in the Diaz fight, that was the first time he got knocked down and didn't go rush back in and do something careless. It's the first time he got knocked down in a fight and he came away winning, which he won a unanimous decision. Diaz only had two moments in that fight, you know. They don't seem to remember the shellacking he took the majority of the fight.

BT: Do you find it kind of ironic that his critics like to point to his last outing against Diaz, yet Diaz fought to a draw with Shawn Porter prior to losing the rematch with him, and Porter went on to defeat Devon Alexander and become the IBF welterweight champion?

VH: Exactly! I think they're making a real mistake on this kid if that fight comes about. We're not going into that fight just to look good and get his rep back; we're going in that fight to win. You have to have a horse that can run the race. I don't care who you have; you have to have the right athlete, and in this case, it is the right athlete, but the thing about Amir is he still has an upside. He still has room for development. If you get a veteran like Miguel Cotto or somebody, he's set; he's at the height of his boxing prowess, so you get him in condition, you get him a strategy, and he can pretty much take it from there. But Amir still has a learning curve; he still has an upside for development, physically and mentally, so when you have a young fighter like that, on any given night, he can take it to another level that you never saw before. People are kind of writing him off at the levels that they have seen him and not the levels that he is going to, and I think that's where they're making a mistake.

BT: Do you think that Maidana's performance against Broner kind of validates Amir's potential and abilities inside the ring given that he was able to drop Maidana en route to winning a decision?

VH: Absolutely! Again, Amir, I understand he has a lot of negative critics and, you know, he's a confident, young man, which comes off sometimes as being arrogant, which comes off as being uppity, but I've personally found that not to be true. He's the only kid that I know that has come off a knockout and didn't lose one iota of confidence. He just has this demeanor about himself that it's not going to get him down, and that's why I say he has a tremendous upside.

BT: One thing that the critics say a lot is that Amir Khan doesn't "deserve" a shot to face Floyd Mayweather. Looking at his resume, he stopped Paulie Malignaggi, he stopped Zab Judah, some people think he deserved the nod against Lamont Peterson, he was extremely competitive against Danny Garcia, he beat Marcos Maidana, and he beat Julio Diaz, who fought to a draw with the new IBF champ Shawn Porter. That being said, do you think he's done enough to warrant a shot at Floyd?

VH: Well, no doubt he does. I mean, you just can't take that away from him. People forget he had Maidana on the floor, and it's debateable whether that fight could've been stopped in that round. So just as much as they say, "Well, the ref saved him," which how can the ref save you? If you hurt, you hurt. The ref can't save you. He just kept his head about him and he was able to survive the fight because he has the athleticism to survive the fight. He took a hellacious punch from Danny [Garcia], but he got up. He just made some bad decisions after he got up, and those are the things that we're addressing in camp; some of his decision making because of his carelessness and his desire and courage to fight. He has a tremendous amount of courage and he will fight, so if you hurt or knock him down, he becomes even more aggressive. What he's understanding is you have to pick your spots where you become aggressive. You have to make sure that you're aggressive at the right time and just not any time because you feel like you're hurt and the crowd is going on. I agree with you. I put his resume up against anybody's, even Canelo's, for the simple reason of who he's beat. And let's not forget, he was handing Danny a sound defeat. And that's not taking anything away from Danny. I think he and Angel deserve everything they get; he's a tremendous champ, but we still can't take away the fact that until he made a couple careless decisions with a big puncher like Danny, he was beating him soundly, and didn't mind fighting him again. I think when they write him off, I think they're really underestimating a fight that's going to catch the world by surprise.

 

[Newzz]

BT: I think the one thing that does make Amir Khan an intriguing opponent is the fact that he brings a different style to the table that Floyd hasn't seen in awhile. A lot of the guys that he's faced recently have had similar styles and similar game plans.

VH: I'm in 100% agreement with you, and the cold part about it is I've seen him do some things that can leave you just kind of spellbound that he hasn't even shown in a fight yet. That's why I go back and say he has an upside, he has a development side that hasn't even come to fruition yet. Like Andre [Ward]. I always say Andre's right around 80% of what he's going to be and he still has that upside. Well Amir still has that upside also where there's so much room to get better and better and better. And he was just a few understandings away from taking his game to the next level. He's ready for it. As he and I discussed, he's gone through his two fights where we worked on some things. We promised each other that we wouldn't listen to what the critics say, that we would stick to the plan in these fights, and this is why we picked these particular opponents. And let's face it, Diaz wasn't no slouch. Diaz is proven, with the exception of the Kendall **** fight and some earlier problems he had making the weight and his lack of dedication as a lightweight. When he made his mind up, just like most veteran fighters that come from a pedigree like his, when he makes his mind up that he's going to be serious about it, he's going to formidable for anybody. And it's amazing to me how they can say, "Oh, he's a lightweight. He came up to welterweight from lightweight." Well nobody had a problem with Manny [Pacquiao] coming from, what, 112? He brought his punch with him, so why can't Diaz bring his one weight class up. One weight class up, he's blown up, but everybody else can bring there's several weight classes up. But when it came to Diaz, he didn't get that luxury. They minimized Diaz just as much as they criticized Khan.

BT: Another criticism that the naysayers like to bring up is the fact that Khan hasn't really had a true fight at welterweight yet. Does that really matter at all considering that Floyd isn't a big 147-pounder to begin with?

VH: We're looking at a division, 147, 154, and 140, they do more flip-flopping than any other divisions; those three divisions right there. I mean, you know, up until Canelo fought Austin Trout, he never fought a jr. middleweight. He always fought welterweights and jr. welterweights, so what's the big deal? Amir's a big kid. He began struggling with the weight. He's got middleweight height and middleweight length, so it's quite natural that he's going to grow into his body, but why can't he? So he's never had a fight at welterweight; well, Matthew Hatton never had a fight at jr. middleweight either, but he came up and fought Canelo for the title, so they can squash that right there. He moved up to 54, got a number one ranking and was able to fight for the title, and he had never even been in the top 10 at 147. He never was even in the top 10 and hadn't beat anybody of significance, but he was able to get a title shot, so they can just squash that. It don't carry no weight.

BT: The main thing that critics constantly say about Khan is that he has a "glass jaw". I know you've addressed this several times in the past, but one more time, explain why that's not an issue as far as you're concerned.

VH: Well, I've said it time and time again, every big punch that this kid has taken, he's gotten up. He's never finished a fight on his back if you stop to think about it. He got up from two hellacious hooks from Prescott; he was hurt, but he showed you his resolve. He showed you his determination. He was hurt, but he kept trying to get up to finish the fight on his feet. Against Danny, he was on his feet when they stopped the fight. He got up. But I will watch his recuperative powers against anybody. Amir and I have talked about this time and time again. He understands that he's made some decisions after he's gotten knocked down, not giving himself time to clear, regroup, and get back to understanding that, hey, I've already lost this round, let me regroup, let me go into my prevent defense so this guy can't get another punch through, I'm in great shape and I should be able to clear my head in a matter of seconds. So that was my job to teach him, in case he keeps going down, to survive. We had a situation in England when Diaz knocked him down, although he wasn't hurt from that knockdown. Their feet got tangled up really is what happened. Julio, being the veteran that he is, he punched while Amir was trying to free his feet, so he did catch him and he caught him flush, but he was up and he survived the round and wasn't in anymore danger. He got into a little trouble again I believe in the 10th. He ran into an uppercut; never saw the punch. And that's another thing, Amir gets hit with punches he never sees because of his tendency to rush in with his head up, so we know what we need to work on to correct that. So I'm saying, wow, he's getting hit by these hellacious punches, and he's getting up, so I'm confident that once he understands his distance, his range, and his points of attack, that even if he does gets caught with a punch, which is evident in boxing, he'll be able to deal with that punch because he'll be able to see it, and those are the things that we're working on and he's committed to that. This is the first time he's committed to coming to camp in between fights and working on his game, and the improvement is dramatic, so we're looking forward to this fight and we're looking forward to winning that fight. And I think that fight is gonna be much more dangerous for Floyd than maybe they realize. Floyd's gonna have to fight a different fight than what he's been fighting. Is he capable of doing it? Yes. We're talking about Floyd Mayweather here and he has all of my respect, but that don't mean I don't want to beat him. I want to beat him. He has all of my respect and you can't take anything away from him, but I do want to beat him, and it would be great to see. I believe that I have the horse that can do it. I believe that I have the kid that can do it.

 

[yoyoyo1]

I completely agree.. I've always thought Khan would give Floyd the most problems (I've must've posted this like 5 times in the span of the thread)

but he's looking too chinny. you never know though. its all mental, and a massive fight could really help.

 

[Newzz]

Trainer on Adrien Broner: 'He'll be back'
by Lem Satterfield
Dec 23rd, 2013
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RingTV.com spoke to trainer Mike Stafford a week after Marcos Maidana's unanimous-decision win over his fighter Adrien Broner for the WBA welterweight title on Dec. 14 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Maidana (35-3, 31 knockouts) floored Broner (27-1, 22 KOs) in the second and eighth rounds over the course of what was a brutally physical bout which tested the loser's resolve in only his second fight in the 147-pound division after having jumped two weight classes.

In a Fight-of-the-Year candidate, Broner endured what the Cincinnati-based boxer initially thought, in error, was a broken right jaw.

"Adrien was fine. He panicked as far as he thought maybe something was wrong. He was hurting, so, naturally, he had never felt that kind of pain before. So he thought it was broke with the head butt," said Stafford, referring to Maidana's being penalized for what referee Laurence Cole called a fllagrant and deliberate intention to hurt somebody outside of the rules of boxing.


"That was not with the punch, the head butt. But Adrien was just able to fight his way through it, and that made it worse. He got elbowed and there were different things. He went to the hospital, but the CAT Scan and everything were negative. He had 500 or 600 people there for him at his welcome home party, so he was able to do a little rapping. That was Tuesday after the fight."

Broner's performance won praise from his mentor and No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound boxer, Floyd Mayweather Jr., who suggested that the 24-year-old's "fight with Maidana should be nothing but a minor setback for a major comeback."

Although Broner has stated that he wants a rematch against Maidana, Mayweather advises against it.

"I don't think he should be focused on chasing the Maidana fight. I think what would be a good move for him is this. May 3, fight on my undercard," said Mayweather, 36, who is widely speculated to be ready to announce that he will face England's Amir Khan in his next bout soon. "You know, fight a solid guy at 140, get back on track and get your career in order. That fight with Maidana should be nothing but a minor setback for a major comeback. But as far as Adrien is concerned, he still has a lot to learn."

Stafford agreed.

"It wasn't no bad night, it was a bad first round. It took him quite a bit of time to recoup. I had to settle him down because he had never been in that territory before. He had never gotten hit like that, and when he did get hit like that, it was like, 'I want to retaliate and make it a street fight,'" said Stafford.

"I didn't want him to be in ho street fight right away. I wanted him to use his skills. But he just couldn't get it together in that length of time. By the ninth and 10, when he had to try and go get him, then it had to be a street fight, because he knew that he was in a hole. So he still had enough time earlier if he would have just been able to settle down, but he just couldn't get himself together."

Stafford said he felt Broner was coming on until being dropped for the second time in the eighth round.

"The eighth round did him in. That's when I told him that he needed the knockout. Not no 10-8 rounds, but the knockout to win the fight, because I knew that they weren't going to give it to him," said Stafford of Broner, who, with the penalty, lost the round, 9-8.

"The way that Maidana was fighting, he had the bigger shot. Adrien has some big shots, too. With the crowd being for Maidana, that really swayed the referee. But all in all, Adrien got right back up. It was really just the one shot that made that a 10-8 round."

Maidana's trainer, Robert Garcia, had transformed the Argentine from the hard-nosed, hammer-fisted determined fighter , who was coming off a one-sided unanimous decision loss to Devon Alexander in his 147-pound debut in February of last year.

Garcia tinkered with the footwork of Maidana, who went on a tear by scoring knockouts in the eighth round over Jesus Soto Karass, the third against Angel Martinez,and the sixth opposite Josesito Lopez in his previous three bouts before facing Broner.

"I think that he was more elusive than I had ever seen him and more powerful than I thought that he was. With Adrien, he came inside and he got inside where he wanted to be, and we practiced distance, and with him getting inside, that's where he's good at doing what he does. He scored. You keep him on the outside, and he can't score. But, he was able to get inside and score. We practiced for distance and keeping him at a distance," said Stafford.

"But Maidana was able to get in during that first round, and that pissed Adrien off. I think Adrien was more pissed at himself than he was at anybody else. He was the same guy, but Devon didn't let him get inside. Devon was able to move and to carry him into the later rounds, and that's what we wanted to do. We knew that he was going to be strong for six or seven rounds, but we had him out a few times, and Adrien just didn't pull the trigger. Definitely in the 11th round. I thought that maybe we could have had him out in the 12th."

Broner had earned title belts over three weight classes, taking the WBO's junior lightweight belt by third-round knockout over Vicente Martin Rodriguez in November of 2011, and the WBC's lightweight title following an eighth-round stoppage of Antonio DeMarco in November of last year.

In his previous bout in June, Broner jumped two weight divisions for his 147-pound debut with a split-decision victory that dethroned Paulie "The Magic Man" Malignaggi for the division's WBA's belt.

Does Stafford agree with Mayweather concerning Broner's return to the ring at a lower weight?

"A lot of people say they want him to fight 140, or 135. He don't have no problem making 140, but I don't think that it will be at 135," said Stafford.

"Adrien is going to find anybody that's going to be pay per view. He wants to get on pay per view to show everybody that he had a bad first round. I just want him to get himself together. He's good, and he'll be back."

Sounded like they had a plan but with Maidana coming out as fast as he did, it threw AB off the gameplan. By the time he "settled down", it was too late in the fight, plus with the 8th round knockdown....it was all bad.

 

[krackdagawd]

A fighthype article/interview agreeing with everything Floyd does/says.

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

the thing is that khan is with hunter and learning a different method, and this is near the end of his career. Khan got those victories with wild card and also took that big L against Garcia. This more relaxed and flat version amir will be ridiculously easy for Floyd.

 

[SuikodenII]

Hunter and Stafford

 

[vybzinc]

Nothing Can Get Floyd Mayweather to Fight Manny Pacquiao; Now We Know Why

http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/nothing-can-get-floyd-mayweather-fight-manny-pacquiao-now-know/

By Ivan G. Goldman

The things Floyd Mayweather says are frequently at odds with the things he does, so predicting his moves based on his comments can be a foolish task. But a recent interview with “Fight Hype”makes it abundantly clear he won’t fight Manny Pacquiao next year or any other year, not even if pressured by boxing godfather Al Haymon, his manager/advisor.

It’s obvious that Pacquiao is very much on Floyd’s mind. He, not the interviewer, raises the issue: “We all know the Pacquiao fight, at this particular time, will never happen. And the reason the fight won’t happen is because I will never do business with Bob Arum again in life.”

He goes on to say, still not asked about the subject, “I will give you two reasons the Pacquiao fight is not going to happen.” First he repeats his pledge never to do business with Arum, and then he adds, “And I want to see Manny Pacquiao’s real pay-per-view numbers.” Get the numbers, he says, “from his last fight and compare them with my pay-per-view numbers with Canelo Alvarez.”

This declaration is ridiculous, misleading, and downright false. It also insults the intelligence of fans. You don’t tell a fighter to quit his promoter and then maybe you’ll fight him. That’s like saying, “I may fight you if you lick the soles of my shoes. On camera. Naked.” What he’s really saying is “I won’t fight you.”

Why all this outrage with Arum? Mayweather doesn’t claim Arum stole any money from him because if he did he’d be sued and lose plenty. I don’t like everything Arum does, but I know of no instance when he’s been sued by anyone claiming Arum shorted-changed him on the money. Doesn’t happen. He honors his contracts. So what’s the problem? We’re supposed to believe that because you don’t like just one guy in a fighter’s considerably large entourage that you refuse to fight him and pick up $95 million or more?

Sugar Ray Leonard never said anything like that. Nor did Tommy Hearns or Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez. You could go on and on naming great champions. We’re barely aware of who promoted their fights. That’s because they weren’t looking for excuses to duck anybody.

Now about those pay-per-view numbers. Apparently in the two fights Mayweather named, Floyd came in around 2.2 million buys and Pacquiao a bit less than 500,000. Quite a difference. Part of the reason is that Pacquiao’s fight was in China, making U.S. marketing a nightmare.

But let’s pretend the comparison is completely apt. Let’s go farther. Let’s also pretend Floyd’s numbers are three times better. Then ask yourself what were the pay-per-view numbers of Canelo Alvarez or Robert Guerrero before Mayweather fought them. Answer: There weren’t any. The fighters weren’t at the pay-per-view level. So Floyd’s excuse is just that – an excuse, not a reason. In fact, there’s nothing reasonable in those remarks. Does Mayweather honestly believe he can make more money fighting Marcos Maidana than Pacquiao? Of course not. So why dies he bring up the PPV numbers at all? Could it be because he needs a smokescreen?
It’s not Haymon who’s preventing the welterweight fight that the whole world wants to see. Or Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer or Oscar De La Hoya, or Manny Pacquiao, Arum, HBO’s Ken Hershman, Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza or anyone else other than Floyd Mayweather himself.
Mayweather’s position is reminiscent of heavyweight “champions” back in Jack Johnson’s time who wouldn’t let a black man fight for their title. That wasn’t really about race. It was about their fear of Johnson.

Floyd’s latest utterances are proof that it’s never been about PEDs or the money split or the timing. The truth is that the man who calls himself “Money” and the best of all time isn’t so interested in making the most money when he doesn’t like the risks, and he sees Pacquiao’s combination of speed, power, and ability too great a risk to his health and undefeated record.

Good luck with your legacy, Mayweather. But I promise you it won’t be what you hoped for. Thanks to you, the name Pacquiao will forever be entwined with yours. And not in a way that’s flattering to you.

 

[vybzinc]

Breadman dropping some knowledge.......

http://www.boxingtalk.com/pag/article.php?aid=25762


As for the Mayweather vs Pacquiao great debate. All you have to do is find out who keeps adding obstacles in order for the fight to get made. It’s Floyd. It’s really that simple. Pacquiao will just counter offer Floyd when something comes up. It’s always seemed to me that when one thing is no longer an issue then Floyd comes up with something else. If he doesn’t want to do with business with Arum then you don’t offer an Arum fighter 50/50, then 60/40, then a flat 40 million, then cut off days, then blood testing etc etc. By making these offers you are in essence doing business with a Bob Arum fighter. Pacquiao was a Top Rank fighter in 2009 and he’s a Top Rank fighter now, so… I guess those offers were in vain. Who knows… I will stick by my guns and let’s move on. The fight has been overcooked for 4 years now. Hopefully the next time we get the best two fighters in the world, in their primes at the same time, in the same division, we will get the historically defining fight.

See how I judge everything on an individual basis. Easy work.

 

[Newzz]

ask yourself what were the pay-per-view numbers of Canelo Alvarez or Robert Guerrero before Mayweather fought them. Answer: There weren’t any. The fighters weren’t at the pay-per-view level. So Floyd’s excuse is just that – an excuse, not a reason. In fact, there’s nothing reasonable in those remarks. Does Mayweather honestly believe he can make more money fighting Marcos Maidana than Pacquiao? Of course not. So why dies he bring up the PPV numbers at all?

Good luck with your legacy, Mayweather. But I promise you it won’t be what you hoped for. Thanks to you, the name Pacquiao will forever be entwined with yours. And not in a way that’s flattering to you.

This is EXACTLY what I was saying in the other thread

 

[GzUp]

floyd has real pop, he knocks out khan early if he wants.