Paid Members Carbomb Posted December 22, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted December 22, 2013 What the hell's the "Silver" World Champion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Fox Piss Posted December 22, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted December 22, 2013 It's a interim belt i think. I think carrying the Silver belt makes you number 1 contender or at least a title shot within a certain time. Â Â I'm guessing Emeritus Champion is a version of Super champion. I know in this case Vitali can just come back and face the "regular" champion whenever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 22, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 22, 2013 Yeh its just a fancy title they've given him to say he gets an instant crack on his return. Â Belts are stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members GlennCullen Posted December 22, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted December 22, 2013 Yeh its just a fancy title they've given him to say he gets an instant crack on his return. Belts are stupid.  You're stupid!  The belts are also stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarloKid Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 great night last night watching Stuie Hall lift the world title, although i thought the scorecards were wrong watching in the arena i had it 114-113 6 rounds a piece with stuie winning it with the knockdown. Is my scoring way out or is that how it came across on the tv, like i say i thought the cards were way out. Â Brilliant atmosphere nice little arena is the direct would say it was about 3 quarters full like. Â Â little side note, one of the lads i traveled down with was saying how he saw a young Amir Khan at 14 years old getting knocked as an amateur in Darlington of all places in the East End club, the lads always been chinney then ha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Taylorslade Posted December 23, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted December 23, 2013 (edited) Might aswell make my first post back a decent one.... here's my choices for the highlights of 2013. This is part one, part two to follow soon. Â Fighter of the year : Floyd Mayweather Jr. UD Robert Guerrero, MD Saul Alvarez. Â Â I don't see much room for debate here, although there will always be arguments given the long standing trend of diminishing Mayweathers accomplishments after the fact. However, when one evaluates the Money mans year (at least with their eyes open), it was a brilliant one. Â Coming into the year following a points win over Miguel Cotto which was was somewhat competitive by Floyds standards, along with a brief stint in jail, many were wondering what the 2013 version of Pretty Boy Floyd would look like when he finally stepped back into the ring. The boxing world was stunned when he left HBO to sign the most lucrative deal in sports with rival Showtime, none more stunned than HBO themselves who had just lost the single biggest drawing card in combat sports to their closest competition. Â The first fight in this new contract (which should last until the fighter retires) saw the undefeated Mayweather take on the former two-weight champion Robert Guerrero in May. "The Ghost" was coming off a very convincing win over the talented and somewhat slick welterweight Andre Berto, who tried to perform his best Floyd Mayweather impression throughout the whole fight whilst Guerrero pummelled him from the first round to the last. In doing so, many believed the Mexican to be a tough test for the American Mayweather, as it has long been said that the fighter to beat this defensive wizard would be one who muscled him around the ring and beating the slick skills out of him and to some, Guerrero seemed to be that man in the right place at the right time, catching Money Mayweather in the right place at the right time. Â Â This fight would also mark the first time over 10 years that the veteran Mayweather would have his father in his corner as the head trainer and chief second in the ring on fight night. Floyd Joy Mayweather Sr. had filled an advisory role in his sons fights with Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley, but was really on the outside looking in. This would also mark the first time the father and son had reconciled since their fierce, uncomfortable and downright disgusting verbal confrontation in the Mayweather Boxing Club infront of the HBO cameras. The "Faggot" and "Punk motherfucker" would have to seamlessly coexist in what now seemed to be a pivotal and crucial time in Mayweather Jr's career. Â Â Â In a sign of things to come, Money Mayweather looked awesome in training camp....sparring partners were being sent home from the "Dog House" left and right. Â On fight night, Pretty Boy Floyd once again made fools out of everyone who thought he was slowing down and was in for a tough contest. As usual, Mayweather started by taking a look at Robert Guerrero, who rather foolishly showed all of his cards to Floyd in the first two opening rounds, leaving Mayweather with all of the information he needed to shut out and dominate the Mexican with brilliant ring generalship and lightning fast reflexes. The move to bring his father back proved to be a profitable one, as Mayweather opted to use his jab as he had done earlier in his career, and to brilliant effect, peppering the strong southpaw and blinding him with it, leaving Guerrero vulnerable to his laser beam right hand. Mayweather used two and sometimes three versions of the right hand to batter his opponent, looping it, sometimes just straight down the pipe or sometimes using it in a half-hook half-uppercut fashion. Mayweather looked brilliant and fresh, dominating his Mexican opponent en route to a Unanimous decision. Â Â Â Â In the wake of the fight, there were rumours of a low PPV buy rate. However, these rumours were not entirely true as the fight still reached the 1 million mark even though Robert Guerrero was not a very well known fighter and Mayweather had not attended much of the press tour to promote the fight. The initial rumours of a low PPV return were likely started as a tactic by certain business rivals of Mayweather, Golden Boy and Showtime, in an attempt to take some of the momentum away from Mayweather following this impressive win as they knew what his next move would likely be....a monumental showdown with Mexican superstar and Undisputed Jr Middleweight Champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez..... Â The fight was made at a catchweight a 152lbs, but there would be no limit on the much younger champion's weight in the ring on fight night. Alvarez could weigh as much as he liked come bell time. Canelo took full advantage of this, coming in the ring at a whopping 170lbs compared to the 149 of the much smaller Mayweather. Â The hype for this fight was enormous, and rightly so. Saul Alvarez had established himself as the man at Junior Middleweight, and seemed to have the style, strength and poise to end Mayweathers reign of dominance. The Mexican looked fierce in training camp, and his team had trouble finding sparring partners to last, and he was not having any trouble at all taking off the extra 2lbs for this fight. In his final week of sparring, Mayweather had to take a knee following a shot to the ribs from his unknown sparring partner. It was looking like Floyds time was indeed over. Â From the opening bell, Mayweather stood right infront of the much larger Alvarez, controlling the centre of the ring and forcing his opponent to think. Everything Canelo tried, Mayweather countered or nullified easily with a level of defense which I have never seen before and probably won't see again after he retires. Everything Floyd tried, worked. During the middle rounds, Mayweather landed a remarkable right uppercut which he threaded through the guard of Alvarez which will stay in my mind for the rest of my life. It was a punch which might not look like much to the untrained eye, but in the eyes of boxing purists everywhere it was seen for what it was - a true feat of technical brilliance to rank alongside Sugar Ray Robinsons counter left hook which knocked out Gene Fullmer as well as many others. Even after watching the fight over 10 times, I still have no idea how Mayweather was able to land it with such accuracy and force. Â Â Mayweather beat the fight out of the young champion, and took the fight on what was in reality a complete shutout win, with the less said about CJ Ross' scorecard the better. Â Â Â In the wake of the fight, those who still chose to criticise Mayweather tried to say that Alvarez didn't try hard enough. Hogwash, Alvarez did all he could, he was just in with one of boxing's all-time greats who played with him, showing everyone watching what greatness is all about. The fight was expected to do monster business, yet it exceeded expectations, drawing 2.2 million PPV buys which on paper was not as much as the 2.4 record which Mayweather set against De La Hoya in 2007, but in total PPV revenue they drew much more money than the fight in 2007, setting a new record as well as new record for a live gate in ticket sales. In an age where it is very difficult for fighters to become mainstream stars, Floyd Mayweather shines brightest and as a result is the highest paid athlete on earth. Â Floyd Mayweather Sinclair might not be everyone's taste as far as his public persona, and some may have a point in saying he is not exciting in the ring, but neither was Pernell Whitaker or Wilfredo Benitez just for the record. However, when a man is so far above all of the available competition to the point where he is very rarely tested in a brutal toe to toe fight, you cannot hold that against him. He has been tested enough for this observer's taste, having watched him go from being robbed at the 1996 Olympics to where he stands today; on top of the fistic universe....the greatest fighter of his generation....and one of the greatest fighters of all time. Â He's also my 2013 fighter of the year. Edited December 23, 2013 by Taylorslade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Taylorslade Posted December 23, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted December 23, 2013 little side note, one of the lads i traveled down with was saying how he saw a young Amir Khan at 14 years old getting knocked as an amateur in Darlington of all places in the East End club, the lads always been chinney then ha! Â He's always been like that aye. I personally saw him get dropped 3 times in the amateurs, one by Craig Watson who did go on to be a Light Middleweight, but they were both the same natural weight division then. The other two times was to two lads who didn't go on to box as Professionals. Shit happens, a lot of people have been buzzed here and there early on, but it definitely happened to him much more, and with the bigger gloves on and the headguards it shouldn't have happened as much as it did. Especially early on when he was a junior because at that time you lack any kind of accuracy and control so the punches that do land don't have much on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 24, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted December 24, 2013 Top post Taylor. Â And I agree. We were having the old Mayweather debate on here a few months back, and like I said then, it's incomprehensible to me how anyone could not rank him among the greatest boxers of all-time. And I'm not even a Floyd fan. I find his personality (or at least his public one) annoying and he's not the type of fighter I love to watch. I enjoy watching him but it's not the same excitement I get from watching the fights of a Benn, Gatti, Duran etc. And in large part that's because Floyd is so good. Too fucking good. It renders almost any fight he's in a mismatch because, more often than not, two rounds into a Mayweather fight you realise the opponent is just not going to solve the riddle. Floyd fights aren't great fights, they're great performances. Â I hate the after the fact diminishing of his opponents as well. Take the Canelo fight for example. That's a dangerous, young, big, strong and powerful opponent. Who was unbeaten and full of confidence. That was a risky fight for Mayweather. Especially at 36 years old. And Floyd spanked him the whole fight and made him look like a novice. It's actually ridiculous how he took someone as good as Alvarez and made him look very very ordinary. He shouldn't be able to do this at 36. Especially given his style, you'd think a fighter like Floyd who relies so much on reflexes and timing would fade relatively young, but no. It's madness. It's easy to pick holes after the fact and say this guy was on the decline, that guy didn't try etc. But it's kind of bollocks. Floyd has fought pretty much everyone he should've fought bar Pacquiao. And he's beat them all comfortably, sometimes spectacularly. Even when he bashed up Gatti, who is one of my all-time favourites, it was the kind of performance that I was grudgingly in awe of. Â He's not always my cup of tea as a fighter. Just personal taste. I can appreciate what he does but he's not a guy I'd go back a rewatch his fights much. You just don't get those wars or thrilling fights from him. And that's because he shuts down his opponents so efficiently, they usually can't make much of a fight of it. But he's far and away the best boxer of this generation for me. To keep pulling out performances like he does is unbelievable. Â I just finished reading Ricky Hatton's new book and he summed up Floyd well; When you think that boxing is all about hitting and not getting hit, Mayweather is everything a fighter should be. Â Anyway, speaking of Hatton, what I came in here to post... Â So yeah, Hatton's new book 'War and Peace' is a good read all in all. I'd recommend it. The only negative was I'd already read his first autobiography (which, I think, ended after the Tszyu fight) a few months back, so the first half of this book felt like old ground. Some of the stories are almost word for word the same as the first book which is kind of to be expected I suppose. If you haven't read the first book though, it'll be even better. Once it got past the Tszyu fight, it was all new ground and I sailed through. The Mayweather and Pacquiao chapters are interesting to read, and both are covered in pretty good detail. He goes into all the stuff about his bitter split from Billy Graham, the depression, the News Of The World story with him coked up, suicide attempts, the fallout with his family and his comeback. Â He doesn't ever go into great detail on the rift with his parents. He mentions money and it sounds like that's the root of it but he doesn't delve much deeper which is fair enough. He goes into it a fair bit, just not really what the cause is. Â The good thing is he generally seems content by the end of the book. He seems happy with the note he ended his in-ring career on. Not losing obviously but he felt he could go out proud of what he'd done, rather than embarrassed like he was after Pacman sparked him. Â When you think, three and a half years out is almost a lifetime to be on the shelf as a boxer. So much changes in that time. And it wasn't as if he spent that three and a half years drinking smoothies and doing yoga. He was fucked. He had the fallout with Billy Graham and the court case that went with it, the depression following the Pacquiao KO which led to suicide attempts and dabbling with drugs, there was all the drinking, the weight he piled on, the bust up with his family. He still had money but everything else went to shit. For him to come back from that to get to the point he got by the night he fought Senchenko, is some achievement in itself. Â He said Nigel Benn and Roberto Duran attended the Senchenko fight as well which I didn't know. And he said, when asked who he wishes he'd have got to fight - he names Duran, Miguel Cotto and Arturo Gatti. Imagine those fights! Â It's a good book. Heavy in places, even though I'd read stuff about his depression I didn't quite get how bad it really got until I read this book. Well worth a read. Â I'll read Tyson's next, and I think my brother's got me Hagler's book for Christmas as well so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted December 24, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted December 24, 2013 Speak of the devil, Floyd posted this on twitter; Â Â This is my Christmas card to the world... Happy Sleepy Holidays zzzzzzzzzzzz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 24, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 24, 2013 welcome back Taylorslade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted December 24, 2013 Share Posted December 24, 2013 welcome back Taylorslade I second this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted December 25, 2013 Author Paid Members Share Posted December 25, 2013 right then, Fight of the Year...what you got? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 For me Groves vs Froch, but that will be down to the bias of the love experience. Â Performance of the year, has to be Floyd over Alverez. Â Got Hatton's book for Christmas, might have read when things quiet down after Christmas Lunch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Fox Piss Posted December 25, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted December 25, 2013 Fights.... Â 1. Broner-Maidana 2. Bradley - Prov 3. Figueroa - Arakawa 4. Froch - Groves 5. Rios - Alvarado II Â Fighters.... Â 1. Mayweather 2. Bradley 3. Stevenson 4. Kovalev 5. GGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Taylorslade Posted December 25, 2013 Paid Members Share Posted December 25, 2013 (edited) Speak of the devil, Floyd posted this on twitter;  This is my Christmas card to the world... Happy Sleepy Holidays zzzzzzzzzzzz  He's at it again....  "Meet my new friend, Manny Roach. "      If I didn't know any better, I would say it seems like he's trying to drum up controversy to get people talking. I've never seen him go at it this hard before. Edited December 25, 2013 by Taylorslade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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