[Archived] Boxing Thread

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Excellent win for Calzaghe. I was surprised he won the fight considering it was pretty close throughout the fight and the fact that the Vegas judges are renowned for being a bit crazy...but thankfully this time in Joe's favour! Hopkins certainly looked more like a guy in his 30s than in his 40s but still used all the dirty tricks in the book. I'm glad he lost though as made the contest into more of a bar room scrap than an exciting encounter between two of the worlds greats. Saying that, some of his shots were superb and Joe at times looked dazed and heavy footed. It only really got going for Joe when he changed his tactics and started to jab more.

It will be interesting to see who Joe fights next...or if he decides to hang up his gloves. I can see him possibly fighting a couple more fights. Another big fight in America and another at the Millennium Stadium to say farewell.

[1864roverite]

If you knew SCOTTY, then you would KNOW that the bitter he drinks is actually a minimum of 4.2%, he drinks like a fish and can easily drop a cool 25 pints in an afternoon session and then after he has had his chippy tea, he can easily add another 10 pints before 9pm.

Everyone knows Scotty wouldnt dream of lowering his standards and revert to 3.2% bitter

The man, to simply put it, is a drinking legend

[blue phil]

Wow . My opinion of Scotty has changed markedly . If you tell me he sups the "real" stuff I'll never call him again .

As for the fight - it was a real let down . I watched it on tape this morning without knowing the result and felt Calzaghe won it by a short margin with a very poor performance by his majestic standards . The commentators on Setanta were far too cautious and erring on Hopkins side for my liking .

There's just no way Hopkins could be allowed to win a fight like that with little or no attempt at forward aggression . I had the feeling that if he had come out and really had a go , rather than pacing himself , he could even have won it .

[American]

I'm not saying Joe didn't win but it was very close, he was definitely 4 points down after 3 rounds and there wasn't really a round when he was consistently landing good shots on Hopkins. The Judge who scored in 116-111 and gave him 9 rounds must have been on something much stronger that 3.2% bitter.

The interesting thing is that 116-111 was exactly the score that Harold Lederman, HBOs scoring guy, had it as. They show his scoring after each round and I didn't think any of the rounds were "off". There were just a lot of rounds that could have gone either way, and he and the other judge went with the aggressor, and the one who landed more punches.

[bellamy11]

[Tim Southampton Rover]

That had me in stitches! I actually woke my girlfriend up in the early hours to watch the replay of that...

...hoping she'd take the hint!

[American]

So, did you play Hopkins and have her pull out the str... Ah, forget it!

[Billy Castell]

Just heard on the radio that Joe's last fight might be against another US coward-Roy Jones Jnr. A full Cardiff Arms park to watch this would be great.

[LeftWinger]

Cortez: "Oh my god they're punching each other!"

[T4E]

Just heard on the radio that Joe's last fight might be against another US coward-Roy Jones Jnr. A full Cardiff Arms park to watch this would be great.

Huh?

[Billy Castell]

US fighters tend to run away from decent British fighters, and make ridiculous pay demands to scupper any fights. They usually run away. I'm sure Hopkins, and/or Jones Jnr. have been sounded out by Joe many times, and they demand $50m and the choice of judges or whatever.

[tucker]

Whilst Jones Jnr seems to be the money fight, I really hope JC takes on Kelly Pavlik so he could shut those critics of his up who claim he has never fought a top ranked prime fighter.

[T4E]

Junior Witter just lost his World Title to Tim Bradley. What small chance he had of a big pay day vs Hatton has just slipped through his hands.

Hopefully Froch can do the business next and set up a World Title chance himself.

[1864roverite]

Did anyone else watch the MMA cage rage on sky ? Thats entertainment

[LeftWinger]

Did anyone else watch the MMA cage rage on sky ? Thats entertainment

Cage rage just looks like some kind of homosexual activity to me Warren. Boxing is an art, but cage rage just looks like men grappling on the floor in their pants.

I was delighted Witter lost - maybe he'll shut up about Hatton now.

As for Froch - made the best of a bad situation. The guy he ended up fighting had a granite chin, and took some great shots, fair play to him. I really hope the cobra gets a shot a Kessler - and I think that'll be an excellent fight.

[LeftWinger]

Ricky Hatton has a chest infection - just 11 days before his fight with Lazcano!

He's had to send his sparring partners home, but has turned down the chance of a postponement.

I think he's mad - if he loses he can forget the big fights to finish his career.

[Eddie]

More to the point, if he loses his record will be severely tarnished. A defeat now would mean he would drop out of the top-class fighters of his generation as far as history was concerned.

[M-K]

More to the point, if he loses his record will be severely tarnished. A defeat now would mean he would drop out of the top-class fighters of his generation as far as history was concerned.

Maybe the beating he took from Mayweather already did that. Hatton didn't face a really good opponent until his 39th fight, and then it turned out Tzyu was in serious decline and hasn't fought since.

[Eddie]

I certainly think he won't be remembered forever as a "great", the Mayweather fight was really going to decide which one of them would take that, but if he loses this one I think he'll even fall out of that top tier (at the moment he's towards the bottom of that anyway). As I said just after the Mayweather fight, the only way he could really achieve anything was to have a rematch, which was never going to happen, these are just paydays.

[vintageadidas]

Junior Witter just lost his World Title to Tim Bradley. What small chance he had of a big pay day vs Hatton has just slipped through his hands.

Hopefully Froch can do the business next and set up a World Title chance himself.

Hatton has categorically stated he would never fight Junior Witter, who by the way is a very average fighter and defeat would be certain. He was purely after the £££.

[LeftWinger]

This was taken from the Daily Mirror:

Hatton's father and manager Ray said: "Four weeks ago Ricky said to me he was willing to fight him, but then Junior Witter said that because he was fighting on ITV, he would get the whole country behind him and force Ricky to fight him.

"Witter stupidly calling him out like that was too much for Ricky. Now Ricky is tied up until August next year with his next four fights."

Hopefully Witter will shut up now - although I'd imagine he will get a rematch with Bradley.

[LeftWinger]

Well I'm going for Hatton by TKO in round 7 on Saturday. I hope that annoying voiced Yank loses - but see him beating N'Dou on points again.

This taken from SkySports:

Hitman and Lazcano both under 147lbs ahead of The Homecoming

Ricky Hatton has weighed in inside the limit ahead of his fight with Juan Lazcano.

The Hitman, boxing back down at light-welterweight, tipped the scales at 9st 13lbs 11oz ahead of their IBO light-welterweight title, live on Sky Box Office.

It means Hatton is five ounces inside the 147lbs-limit, dispelling the lingering concerns about his problems making the weight.

He looked in fine physical condition and relaxed as he stepped on the scales in front of thousands of fans at Manchester's Trafford Centre.

Lazcano looked comfortable as well as he weighed in at exactly the same 11st 13lbs 11oz, as MC Michael Buffer introduced them both to a packed crowd.

Hatton really would have had problems making the weight if this journalist was doing his diet rather than Kerry Kayes. Yes they both weighed in under 147lbs - but they're fighting at LIGHT WELTERWEIGHT!!

[captin_of_the_silverbullet]

Anyone know what time Hatton's actually fighting tonight?

Cheers

[ABBEY]

well ive never seen anyone have a haircut in between rounds before and look better

[ABBEY]

HATTON = LEGENDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

HATTON @ RIGHT WEIGHT

RICKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKY

RICKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

HATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTON