This Weekend's Boxing (Garcia vs. Benn - August 12th)

[d-d-d-dAz]

I've told this story a thousand times but... It still stays with me when Karol was in to meet Frank and Francis, and Moses was sat in my office to wait until his brother was finished. He was 15, and we just chatted boxing. He told me he was going to be the youngest champ in history, and knew to the day when he'd need to achieve it by. It wasn't giddy childish enthusiasm, it was clear, reasoned, cold certainty. I've never been more convinced by anything or anyone.

He might not have had the chance to stick to his schedule, but I really hope he wins the title tonight. Good lads, him and his brother.

[jimufctna24]

Oh bollocks. 

[wandshogun09]

Some fight that was though. Hrgovic’s toughness dragged him through that somehow. Itauma looked great early and was winning the rounds but Hrgovic soaked up everything he throw at him and outlasted him. Not sure exactly what happened with Itauma. Was it just exhaustion? I felt like Hrgovic might’ve hurt him to the body the way he was wincing through that last round. Shame to see him lose but he went out on his shield there. He was trying even when his body was failing him and you can’t teach that. At 21, he obviously has time on his side but he’s got some work to do. 

[jimufctna24]

4 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

I felt like Hrgovic might’ve hurt him to the body the way he was wincing through that last round.

That makes sense given Itauma's body language. You could well be right. 

Edit: Warren apparently is claiming it was a leg injury. 

Edited August 29 by jimufctna24

[Cousin Jim Bob]

I dunno, I don't think it was some epic.

 

I think the biggest problem is Moses gas tank. It's absolutely terrible.

[jimufctna24]

1 minute ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

I dunno, I don't think it was some epic.

 

I think the biggest problem is Moses gas tank. It's absolutely terrible.

Also Hrgovic has a chin of iron. 

Few other heavyweights would have taken those shots from Itauma imo. 

[NeverYield]

Itauma is such a great puncher, but you need more than that... Not saying he wont reach his full potential but all them early blowouts don't help, you need to go rounds with them guys and then stop them in the last round, build a solid engine. 

There was all sorts of bad signs in there from Itauma, staggering backwards, struggling to get the gumshield back in, he looked brilliant when he was firing shots in.

The trouble was Hrgovic had the minerals to absorb them. Hrgovic didn't do it how I thought he might, wrap Itauma up and make him work up close to tire him, but ultimately he waited for Itauma to tire, and whilst very tired himself, he exploited that and stopped him. That's the difference between experience and novice. 

Hrg took a pasting in there but for me there wasn't any point where I thought shit, he's about to get stopped here, but you could see Itauma was in deep trouble.

Edited August 29 by NeverYield

[wandshogun09]

9 minutes ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

I dunno, I don't think it was some epic.

Yeah I’m not saying it was Ali vs Frazier 3 or anything. I enjoyed it though and Hrgovic weathering the early storm and coming through with the win was good drama. 

[NeverYield]

Hrgovic marching forward like a lunatic with a steely look in his eyes will be the highlight of my weekend. 

There needs to be some big changes to Itauma's training conditioning wise, you're not going to stop everyone, and as he learned tonight, you do very much need the chin and the grit to grind it out. 

[jimufctna24]

Just now, NeverYield said:

Hrgovic marching forward like a lunatic with a steely look in his eyes will be the highlight of my weekend. 

There needs to be some big changes to Itauma's training conditioning wise, you're not going to stop everyone, and as he learned tonight, you do very much need the chin and the grit to grind it out. 

I don't think Itauma's chin is much of an issue after tonight. He took a peach of a right hand from Hrgovic in the middle rounds and it bounced off him. 

It's indeed his conditioning that's the issue, or perhaps rather, how he paces himself. 

[wandshogun09]

Anyway, sod all that.

Dubois random “gimme some of that face to face shit boy” to Wardley tickled me more than it should. I love his weirdness. 

[NeverYield]

14 minutes ago, jimufctna24 said:

I don't think Itauma's chin is much of an issue after tonight. He took a peach of a right hand from Hrgovic in the middle rounds and it bounced off him. 

It's indeed his conditioning that's the issue, or perhaps rather, how he paces himself. 

It was definitely his conditining 100%, for me he looked like he was fading in round 3, it's clear they are not making Itauma do 12 rounds in camp, but I still think that was an arrogant comment to make, basically impying Hrgovic only had a chin going for him, if a man can drag you out of your comfort zone and make you tired then you certainly need a chin. 

Hrg was knackered himself in round 8 and his chin saved him. 

[wandshogun09]

And even if there was something up with his leg like Warren claims, it was probably caused by him getting sloppy and out of position due to his conditioning. Not great but I’m already seeing people talk like he’s on the scrapheap. He’s 21 for fuck’s sake. He can come back from this. No guarantees he will but he can if he does the right things. A lot of Boxing fans seem obsessed with completely writing fighters off after their first setback. Conditioning can be worked on. He clearly had the heart and the desire to keep fighting, which is a good sign, but his body just wasn’t gonna hold up and he never had the gas in the tank. I’m not with the doom and gloom mentality of writing an obituary on the lad’s career at twenty bastard one years old. The ball’s in his court now how he responds to this loss. Time will tell. Fortunately for him, time is something he has. 

[NeverYield]

I personally think its obvious his team are not making him do 12 rounds enough in camp.

Which is something you can change. A Moses that can comfortably do 12 rounds is extremely dangerous. 

And with experience he will learn you cant stop them all. He could have pivoted to outpointing Hrg tonight,but he kept trying to load up and stop him

Edited August 30 by NeverYield

[d-d-d-dAz]

I think it's going to be the end of Ben Davison and Moses, Itauma saying he hasn't done 12 rounds in training.

That said, I don't actually know that was the real difference. Sparring isn't at 100% anyway, and what tripped Moses up here was him doing everything at full speed and full power. He needs more time in the ring, getting the actual rounds in, under the lights, with the adrenaline pumping and learning, under real fire, when to go all in and when to dial it down.

I think it's unfortunate, as his youth was his story and USP, but he did just seem too young. 

He's obviously an incredibly talented athlete, but I don't think he's got the same raw physicality and power of Mike Tyson, to overcome the shortcomings of inexperience.

I'm gutted for him, but i'm still sure he'll be a champion one day. He just needs to take his time now, and accept his perfect dream isn't going to happen... but the big picture dream is still there for him.

Questions for me would be, what's his teams plan to get him real world experience (think it should be a 2, 3 or even 4 year plan) and does he have the power to trouble the top and/or biggest heavyweights. If the answer to the latter is no, he may as well start working on a different gameplan right now.

It's a shame for the sport in Britain too, as whilst losses don't matter in the way people assume - there is a special form of lightning in a bottle that comes with a young, undefeated heavyweight and Dubois has shown it's hard to get that back completely.

But after Dubois/Joyce in the church, Dubois fought back the hard way. That's Itauma's task now.