Gooner

It's such a hard fight to call between Cotto and Martinez. How will Cotto deal with going up against someone bigger then him? Is Martinez good enough to out box Cotto? Does Cotto have enough power to trouble Martinez? I'm really not sure what is going to happen. Martinez is 40, has been hampered by injury and didn't look good in his last fight against Murray, he had knee surgery too near end of last year and that could also play a factor. Cotto trying to make history, he seems to think he is much better now since joining Roach, but he only had one fight and that was against an average fighter. Of course he fought well against Mayweather when he lost, but don't forget after that fight Trout schooled and beat him easy at 154lbs couple fights ago. I would like to see Cotto win at a push, but my gut instinct points to Martinez winning on points, so I will go with that. It should be a great fight, very much looking forward to staying up and watching.

Chavez JR already came up and fought at 168lbs against Vera in their second fight and his last fight. Froch beats Chavez easily, perfect fight for him to fight in Vegas, earn decent money and get the W. He will not fight Ward again unless he offered biggest purse of a lifetime and that won't happen. The second fight against Groves secured him financially in more ways then one.

I was surprised before the first Froch vs Groves fight why Groves seemed to be hated by a lot of people for what he was saying, especially on that Ringside show that will go down as one if not the best one in history. He may have taken it a bit far with the "he looks like he is going to cry" comment but for the most part he was spot on and Froch couldn't handle it as he can't take criticism. Obviously in the fight most fans saw Groves in a different light and now the public perception has changed towards him by some. I'm a big fan of both, I got a lot of respect for Froch, for what he has done in his boxing career. He has barely ever taken a step back, fought every other single top guy out there that he could at 168lbs and no matter what happen this forthcoming Saturday night will go down as one of the best fighters to have come out of Britain. I picked Groves for the first fight and I'm going to go with him again here. I think it will be similar to the first, both will fight better, Groves to be the more dominant guy in the early stages, Froch to come on strong in the later but Groves to withstand what is thrown at him and take the title on a points decision. It's crazy to think we are six days away from this fight, it's flown by since it was announced, looking forward to going and hopefully it's as great a fight to watch as the first one was and that in the end there is no doubt over the final outcome.

Has King Mo ever beat anyone of note?

 

He dominated Gegard Mousasi in 2010. That was his best win. I think the thing with Mo is, people feel like he's more talented than he shows. You see brief flashes of it but he never seems to be able to put it all together. Add to that his horrible history of injuries and health issues. Plus some questionable career choices (going mental at that commission lady and calling her racist, the disjointed camps and moving around gyms etc) he's just never seemed to be able to find consistency.

 

Ortiz suddenly thinks he is special again for beating a guy who weighs 20lbs less than him.

 

Ah let him have his moment...actually fuck that. Did anyone see the post-fight press conference? Jesus Christ. Fair enough, it was a nice moment and a lot of fans are happy for him, but fuck me, his little speech at the presser. I say little but it went on forever. I forgot how much bollocks he talks when he wins. It's been so long.

Is Mousasi that good though? I only saw him a few times in Strikeforce and the UFC and I wouldn't say I saw anything special in him. He's a strange one as I have heard of Mo for years and was surprised at the least amount of fights he has had, but makes sense with you bringing up about him having a lot of injuries and health problems. He done better then what I thought he would, but then again maybe I was expecting too much of Rampage.

I give Ortiz his due he has done well marketing himself during his career. He just loves to recycle the same nonsense every time I ever hear him talk after a fight whether he wins or loses. Him against Rampage would be about five years too late, but I'm sure some would still tune in and want to watch the fight. I would think that be the biggest money making fight Bellator could make with the roster they have.

Has King Mo ever beat anyone of note? Rampage is completely washed and oh no, Ortiz suddenly thinks he is special again for beating a guy who weighs 20lbs less than him. I thought the show overall was good, I don't watch much Bellator but they done well here.

Marquez had been talking about Pacquiao quite a lot in the build up to this fight during the week, so was strange to see him be so quiet about it post fight. He wants to win that world title and be the first Mexican to do so in five different weight divisions badly, but at same point he doesn't want Pac again so it is going to come down to what is most important and means the most to him. Marquez put in a very good performance, had too much skill for Alverado, was fun in parts.

Khan's problem with Ramadan is that he'll be fasting for a month. Don't think it's got anything to do with training, more that he'll be nowhere near full strength.

He can still easily get six weeks of training in after Ramadan finishes. It's not ideal but he was out of the ring for over a year and if he is offered the fight in September he should take it. I'm not sure he even will to be fair as it looks more likely to make the rematch happen straight away, rather then delay it to make the Khan fight happen. If he has to wait till May next year, he can't not fight like he did last time and if he fights a proper live opponent he could come unstuck and never get that big pay day.

I don't think he deserves a shot at Mayweather due to a good win over a guy I wouldn't put in the top ten at the weight anyway, but we know you don't always get what you deserve and likewise sometimes you get what you don't deserve in boxing.

I give credit to Maidana, I didn't give him much hope but he bought the pressure, was dirty at times and tried to throw as many punches as possible. Mayweather seemed to be caught off guard and tried to fight Maidana fight which in the end he showed he could do and win. I had him winning by three and if there is a rematch I can only see Mayweather winning a lot more comfortably as not much difference Maidana can bring to the table.

Khan could train at night, Hamed done it before during Ramadan. He needs to be careful as he will have to wait till May 2015 to have a chance at getting Mayweather and that would mean having a fight beforehand around November or December time. Now you would think that would have to be against a higher ranked guy then Collazo was and that could spell Khan losing.

Also said Maidana wore them in his last fight against Broner, those gloves were terrible, don't blame Mayweather for making them be changed.

Garcia said the same thing about Rios before he fought Pacquiao, it didn't work out too well. Mayweather is far too good and skillful for Maidana to handle. Maidana jab has gotten better since he joined Garcia's team and I don't think he will have any fear as he knows what it is like to lose and can go out on his shield. I just look backto his fight against Alexander as the significant fight for why I see Mayweather completely handing out a schooling lesson and take a wide UD or win by late stoppage.

Late with this but sod it

 

Marquez still wants to create history and win the world title at 147lbs, but you can tell full well he doesn't want to face Pacquaio again and I don't blame him, he couldn't have dreamt of a better ending to the forth fight, perfect way for him to end their history and also I think Pacquaio wins the fifth fight.

 

Yeah I actually was hoping Marquez would just retire after that fourth Pacquiao fight. How can it get any better than that for him at this point. That'll be the moment his career is remembered for when he's retired.

 

I also think Manny would win a fifth fight. Since their last fight I think he's actually looked the better of the two. You just never know with Pacquiao and Marquez though. Pacquiao seems to bring out another side of Marquez. And I thought Pacquiao would win the third and fourth fights going in and it didn't exactly play out how I expected.

 

I'd actually be well up for Pacquiao vs Marquez V. Fuck it. I saw Dana White at last week's UFC on FOX media scrum acting all outraged at the possibility of a fifth fight but I actually wouldn't be against it. If we're not getting Pacquiao vs Mayweather, a fifth go around with Marquez wouldn't offend me.

 

The thing is, say they fight again and Marquez wins - then they're 2-2-1. Evens. Would they then do a sixth fight? Fuck me.

It would have been a great way to bow out after what has been a fantastic career he has had in the sport, but he badly wants to be the first Mexican to win world titles at five different weights. It's why he went after the Bradley fight the first time around and wanted a return fight and refused to fight Provodikov at 140lbs for the WBO title. I would never be 100% confident in a Pacquaio win as history has shown how close their fights have been. If Marquez gets past Alverado(which I fully expect him to do so it will be interesting to see whether he will go for the Pacquaio fight as there is no where else for him to go unless he goes over to Golden Boy, but I think he got one more fight left with Top Rank after the next fight. I think the fifth fight will happen because of Marquez sheer desire to want to make history. More than likely would be a sixth fight too knowing those two lol.

Guess who's back:

http://www.rp-online.de/sport/boxen/wladim...k-aid-1.4190209

Briggs sure wants that pay day and schooling that Wlad would hand out to him. He was saying something about Mickey and Rocky, I couldn't understand most of what was said, just Briggs likes taking his shirt off, saying the word "what" and that he will fight now.

That's the problem with Top Ranks 140lb & 147lbs divisions. Its the same fighters against each other. Pacquiao, Marquez, Bradley, Provodnikov, Rios & Alvarado. Pacquiao has faced them all except Alvarado & Provodnikov. I was reading earlier that Manny only has one more fight on his contract before he can do whatever. That was Bradley's mistake resigning with Top Rank. He's made a lot of money off the 2nd Pacquiao fight, but now he's going to be stuck facing the above over again. If he went over to Golden Boy he's got Danny Garcia, Adrien Broner, Robert Guerrero, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana, Floyd Mayweather, Paulie Malignaggi, Lucas Matthysee, Victor Ortiz, Jesus Soto Karass & Keith Thurman to choose from.

I'm guessing Bradley thought it be worth it to get the second Pacquaio fight and also with the prospect of if the worst came to the worst and the decision didn't go his way he might also get a third fight(I sure hope that doesn't happen, but with HBO calling for it and with the limited amount of other fights out there for both fighters, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest) I can't see Pacquiao leaving Arum, he should just to maybe give the Mayweather fight another chance, but even if he did I don't believe it would ever happen unless Pacquiao gave full control and agreed to every Mayweather demand which isn't going to happen. Marquez still wants to create history and win the world title at 147lbs, but you can tell full well he doesn't want to face Pacquaio again and I don't blame him, he couldn't have dreamt of a better ending to the forth fight, perfect way for him to end their history and also I think Pacquaio wins the fifth fight.

I had it 116-112 for Pacquiao. It was closer than that first fight but Bradley got his strategy wrong with trying to knock him out. I thought Pac thought a smart fight, Bradley has been goading him throughout to try and come knock him out in the hope Pac made a similar mistake to the one made against Marquez and he could get similar reward. He hit a few good shots in round four and was busy but not enough. I hope there isn't a third fight, I know it goes down in history as 1-1 but I think we all agree Pacquiao won both fights pretty clearly. I would assume it will be Pacquiao vs the winner of Marquez/Alverado. After that I can only possibly see him facing Provodiov but with them having sparred in the past and being close I'm not sure they would fight one another. He was talking that he has a couple of years left in him, Mayweather has similar so maybe, just maybe lol.

Bradley is trying really hard to get in to Pacquiao's mind with the whole "you're not the same, you don't have the eye of the tiger, the same killer instinct, that you're just too nice" Now a lot of it I agree with as since Pac admitted his gambling, drinking, womanising and gave himself back to god again he hasn't had the same fire inside, he has been soft inside the ring, showing compassion, add that to all the work he has to do in the Philippines and the devastating knock out to Marquez and it's hard to argue, but that doesn't chance the fact that basically everyone had Pacquiao winning the first fight and by quite some margin. Bradley telling him "you have to knock me out to win" I give him credit for trying really hard to get inside the mind, but I don't see it working. I'm going with Pac by late stoppage or a clear UD.

Appropriate time for Stevenson to rip in to Kovalev and say how he will does this, and do that to him when he knows it's not going to happen. Before that the name Kovalev barely left his lips, I know why he has done what he has done, but it's a duck and sucks as was one of the fights I was really looking forward to seeing happen in 2014.

Kovalev done as expected, beat up his opponent in every round before winning by KO in the seventh round. I was worried about Stevenson's last fight that he might try and duck Kov with the way he was acting and looks like he has done just that. Kovalev at end of the fight "Adonis Stevenson is a piece of shit, oh, sorry for my English" comedy gold.

I think Groves would have still won the lions share of the rounds even if the knockdown had not occurred.

Crazy thing is up to the end of the eight round, all three judges had Groves in front, one by five rounds and the other two by only one round which is a scary thought as based on their scoring, take Groves knock down from round 1 out they believe the fight was even after eight rounds. With it being independent referee and judges this time round you would hope the scoring is much more accurate and in tone to what was really going on in the fight.

Big day of fights on Sat with Burns vs Crawford live on Sky Sports from 19:00 PM and over on BoxNation from 02:00 AM it's the rematch between Chavez Jr vs Vera and the WBO title fight between Salido and Lomachenko.

Crawford comes into the fight against Burns as the fav, but it's his first time fighting outside of America and hes going into the Lion's den by facing Burns in Glasgow. Hes a good fighter who was impressive as a amateur, but in the pro ranks his biggest win was against Prescott in his last fight and he moved up to 140lbs from 135lbs in that fight. Burns hasn't looked too good in his last couple of fights, suffered bad jaw injury in his last one and was lucky to have it scored a draw where most felt he lost. I can see good arguments for why both guys will come out with the W, but I'm going to go with Burns to grind out a victory on a close points decision.

I'm not too fussed by the Chavez Jr and Vera fight, their last one was close but I expect Chavez Jr to fight a lot better this time and win by either last stoppage or via UD.

Lomachenko vs Salido is one I'm really looking forward too. Lomachenko attempting to win a world title in only his second pro fight is something incredible, but he's going in against someone in Salido who is a tough Mexican who has years of experience in the pro ranks, strong work rate,been in with a lot of very good fighters and can bang. It's such a interesting fight but Lomachenko is something very special and I expect him to come through with a stoppage between rounds 7-9.

I said months ago he would wait for the superbowl before announcing the fight, guess this is close to that with a choice. Loads of rumours last night during superbowl that Mayweather had put about $13M dollars on Broncos to win, superbowl finishes and then bang he says he will let the fans decide his next fight. Trying to milk his next PPV for everything he can against two guys he beats easily.

If it's Khan be very surprised if it isn't Mayweather's first stoppage win since the Hatton fight all those years ago.

Mayweather says fans can choose next opponent! Go Vote!!

http://instagram.com/p/j8N0QnR3Vp/

Shame there isn't a third option that says neither. He would school Maidana too hard and win comfortably, I think he knocks Khan out so I go with Khan as I wouldn't mind seeing that happen.

Cheers for the heads up, had to rush back to watch it. GGG already starting quick, putting Adama down right at end of first round with a great overhand right.

That was a bad loss for Ortiz, hard to see where he goes from here. There were some good shots from Collazo right at the end of the second round, Ortiz was doing alright in the first round but after that became a little wild and could even say after the few blows he took, he went down on his knees and took a ten count, basically quit. Collazo was saying afterwards that Ortiz told him afterwards he would be retiring from the sport, so will have to wait and see what happens, I'd be surprised if he doesn't fight again.

So we got Golovkin vs Adama tomorrow night, fight due to start around 20:45pm UK time on BoxNation. Adama isn't a bad fighter, took Geale who was IBF champ until he lost to Barker last year to the distance too, but obviously GGG is a different beast altogether. Adama do very well to hear the final bell in the fight, can't see it myself, I think Golovkin takes his time like he did in his last fight and then takes him out of there somewhere between six-eight rounds.

Groves was saying the offer came with many stipulations and options he felt were unsatisfactory and that he was unsure why Froch issued that statement as he was under the impression they were still in negotiations, he also was saying he was hopeful IBF would agree with his request and tell Froch he has to fight Groves within 90 days or be stripped of title, based on what poster above said Groves has got his wish and that benefits him much more then it would have if the IBF refused.

Looking forward to Pac/Bradley II.

Regardless of how the first fight went in terms of scoring and the guy getting his hand raised not deserving on the night, I can't see lightning striking twice, Pac to win again on points, only this time his name gets read out instead of Bradley when verdict announced.

Boxing News magazine did an article on their 20 most wanted fights of 2014.

20. Sergio Martinez vs. Gennady Golovkin @Middleweight

19. Marcos Maidana vs. Lucas Matthysee @Weltwerweight

18. Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury @Heavyweight

17. Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Vaysl Lomachenko @Featherweight

16. Marcos Maidana vs. Ruslan Provodnikov @Welterweight

15. Roman Gonzalez vs. Juan Francisco Estrada II @Flyweight

14. Amir Khan vs. Adrien Broner @Welterweight

13. Sergio Martinez vs Miguel Cotto @Middleweight

12. Vaysl Lomachenko vs Orlando Salido @Featerweight

11. Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Leo Santa Cruz @Jr Featherweight

10. Danny Garcia vs. Timothy Bradley @Welterweight

09. Wladimir Klitschko vs. Deontay Wilder @Heavyweight

08. Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao @Welterweight

07. Mikey Garcia vs. Yuriorkis Gamboa @Jr Lightweight

06. Scott Quigg vs. Carl Frampton @Jr Featherweight

05. Carl Froch vs. George Groves II @Super Middleweight

04. Miguel Cotto vs. Saul Alvarez @Jr Middleweight

03. Adonis Stevenson vs. Sergey Kovalev @Light Heavyweight

02. Manny Pacquiao vs. Ruslan Provodnikov @Welterweight

01. Floyd Mayweather vs. Gennady Golovkin @Middleweight

Stevenson vs Kovalev should be happening at some point for sure in 2014 as HBO put it in Stevenson's brand new contract with them, the rest if we could get say at least four out of the remaining 19 fights I'd be very happy with that. Hopefully 2014 in the sport can live up to what we saw in 2013.

The fight did 900k buys according to what Showtime said, they gave him the 200m dollars for a 6 fight contract, I can't see why they would lie. The PPV figures for Pacquiao are redundent as he isn't American, he will never be bigger in America then Mayweather, fact he fought his last fight in China says it all. His figures before when he fought in America before were much bigger then anyone Mayweather has faced in his career. His problem is looking for excuses, giving reasons why he doesn't need to fight etc I've been over the whole May/Pac debate to last me a lifetime, I'm a huge fan of both, been more a Mayweather fan to be honest since 96 when he competed in the Olympics, I hold the both of them to blame on this, you can take a pick on who's to blame most, I don't believe either have done or wanted the fight enough to make it happen. Easier fighting guys you know you will beat for huge sums and taking it easy.

 

It is a power thing it always has been, I think that's more between Mayweather and Arum. There's an issue there from years ago and it has resulted in this stalemate where both sides want full control. I blame everyone involved in this whole situation, they ruined it for the fans and basically screwed us out of the biggest fight in boxing history.

 

Would not surprise me in the least bit of Pac has tax problems, Mayweather had them too, that has no barring on why the fight hasn't taken place so far or is likely to happen. Mayweather is bringing up a lot of things lately to justify not taken the fight, that's all well and good, problem is if he goes on and faces Khan next, his arguments are null and void.

 

I was told by Tris Dixon of the Boxing News that the final numbers were roughly 1 million when I was at a Boxing writers awards show a couple of weeks ago. I'm not saying that to try and make myself sound great, but just to show I'm not just pulling it out of my arse. Not much difference in 900 and 1million anyway i suppose.

 

The PPV numbers are relevant because it determines each guys value, in this situation anyway because the fallout was over the purse split everytime they held discussions along with the Random Testing. Pacquiaos nationality was never brought into it.

 

Which PPVs did you mean having done much better than Mayweathers? Because I don't believe that to be the case at all. Although it's somewhat of a murky issue regarding Top Rank and HBO because they rarely announced official numbers.

 

Pacquiao fought in China because he didn't want to pay the heavy Nevada state taxes anymore. The location of the fight shouldn't of made a difference to people wanting to buy it because it was still on live at the same time it would've been had it been in Vegas.

I'm just going by what came out from Showtime, but as you say whether 900k or 1m it doesn't matter. it's okay, I didn't think you were, lucky you though, how was it?

If you base it on PPV buys both guys were similar bar if you take out the De La Hoya/Mayweather fight which did record numbers, but we all know De La Hoya is a cash cow, you will always do big numbers for him, but no doubt those numbers blew people's minds. His PPV numbers didn't do bigger then Mayweather's, what I meant was Mayweather has used recently that Pacquiao doesn't deserve to fight him as his PPV numbers are low, my point is take out De La Hoya and Pacquiao had done bigger buys then any other guy Mayweather has faced in his career. It's a poor excuse from Floyd to use that as a means to not make the fight happen. Before it was Pacquaio wins don't count against De La Hoya/hatton because he had finished them, when he beat Cotto is what he made Cotto come down to 145lbs instead of fighting at 147lbs, he beat Marquez easy, Pac always struggled so that means i beat him easy, then it's drug testing, money and finally it comes down to it never happening because he won't work with Arum. The same guy who been involved in this entire thing since day one. He's came out and called Pac a cheat(got sued for it and had to pay compensation) he has been seen on videos in the past saying he's a coward but a rich coward, you see the way he went through Cotto and destroyed him, come on man, he can't believe what Pac has done coming up the weights and doing what he has done, funny thing is Floyd has himself down very similar in being able to jump up so many weights and win world titles in his career.

The build up for Pacquaio last fight wasn't what it normally would be if his fights were taking place in the States. The PPV numbers weren't the best based on what he has done previously, but it's not always just about what the PPV numbers are in America, be good to find a way to know what his PPV numbers were in China, even though early on in the day you would think they were strong.

I don't want to put more blame on one more than the other as I think everybody involved in negotiations or the attempts to make this fight happen have cheated the boxing public out of what IMO would have been the biggest fight in boxing history.