Black Cat Bone

Brilliant fight.

And refreshing on every level. No trash talk pre fight, and articulate honourable and honest interviews post fight.

I really thought he was fucked at Round 5/6.

I said on FB beforehand that I thought heavyweight boxing was terrible. This fight reminded me of the past glories. I was tempted by Round 8 to think "Joshua is going to lose on points if he even gets that far".

And I thought the 5 Live commentary was v.v.good as well.

Wow. Great courage and determination by both. Joshua will need to work on lots, the faults are there for all to see. Wlad will want a quick rematch but the result will be the same.

I'm not sure he will want a rematch. He said it's in the contract but I reckon he realises AJ is getting better all the time while he is getting older and also that is unlikely to make the same mistakes a 2nd time.

Mind you, I accept that £5-10m might convince him otherwise.

I wouldn't be surprised if he accepted the rematch. Due to the popularity and critical acclaim of that match, both fighters could make an incredible amount of money. I just not sure an aging Klitschko wants to take another potential defeat against the improving and clearly stronger AJ.

There's no reason to believe that Klitschko can do any better than in this fight, but many reasons to think Joshua will. I find it difficult to see anything but an AJ victory, but earlier, next time.

Canelo Álvarez vs. Julio César Chávez Jr. this weekend. Who you got?



One of the few matches in which the weigh-in on Friday will arguably be more interesting than the actual fight. Both fighters seem to have trained incredibly well for the match. It's for the pride of Mexican boxing, so there's no formal title on the line for this Canelo-weight match (164.5 lbs, =11.75 stone). This fight really comes down to how much Julio César Chávez Jr. is able to rehydrate up to before entering the ring. If he enters the ring under 180 lbs (< 12.86 stone), Julio may pressure him up against the ropes in the early rounds, but Canelo will catch him with a counter-hook/uppercut and this fight is ending under 5 rounds. If he enters the ring above 185 lbs (> 13.21 stone), then things could get interesting. I would even say the match goes the distance in that case. I still have Canelo Álvarez winning the match, but those two cases have to be considered as possibilities and have different outcomes.

I watched the Joshua/Klitschko fight again last night.... it's worrying that for basically two rounds (the sixth and seventh) and a great part of the eighth, Joshua actually seemed to be completely dazed and absolutely incapable of throwing punches with any purpose. It's bizarre - it's almost like the knockdown took him the best part of three rounds to recover from. Klitschko, on reflection, has to think he missed his opportunity there - surely any kind of real concerted effort would have forced a stoppage. Maybe he was too shattered having recovered from his own knock down but, even so, it really did look like any proper attack must have won the fight - Joshua seemed completely gone.

Great footwork by Klitschko pretty much throughout - he looked hone to the nth degree, amazing for a 41 year old heavyweight. To recover from that knockdown straight away was very very gutsy too.

Joshua showed what we all know - he can dig. And he showed courage to recover and basically box on empty for three rounds. Many lesser guys would have quit, I'm sure.

In the end youth really did overcome experience - just.

I'm sure AJ can only improve - he's still only boxed 55 professional rounds. He just has to hope that someone in their prime who has ability (maybe Wilder, maybe Fury, maybe Parker?) doesn't get to him before, because he really does look very raw and naive at this level. I'm not sure he's an instinctive boxer either - he can look very mechanical. But credit - he can box. The two uppercuts that won the fight were technically superb though, so maybe it's just a case of looking clumsy rather than manufactured.

Well, Canelo Álvarez vs. Julio César Chávez Jr. turned out to be an absolute shit-show. A far worse letdown to the sport of boxing than May-Pac, because at least that match was competitive during certain rounds. Chávez Jr. did not even show up to the match, it seems. Anytime he forced Canelo into the ropes, Julio would throw a few pitter-patter shots and eventually stop his momentum. Entirely bizarre behavior inside the ring. Maybe when Canelo came out strong in the first round, he realized that winning this match would be impossible against someone as skilled as Álvarez. I also don't think it is unreasonable to suggest Julio César Chávez Jr. took the dive in this match i.e., not throwing any meaningful shots, never being in the match, and ensuring Canelo's victory, in order to promote GGG vs. Canelo Álvarez. That's probably all conspiracy talk, but after seeing Julio fight so poorly, I wouldn't be surprised by it. They announced it and even had a face-off directly after the match. It all seems strange to me. I'm excited about the match in September, but wish we could've gotten something more entertaining for Cinco De Mayo weekend.

Mcgregor Mayweather set for August apparently. Let the circus begin.

We are getting Pacquiao Vs Jeff Horn soon here down under. Curious fight but good for the ping ping....

The Great Defector wrote:Mcgregor Mayweather set for August apparently. Let the circus begin.

I'm more interested in the trash talking leading up to the match than the actual fight itself. Does anyone really give McGregor a chance in this one? He's been getting schooled by amateur boxers in sparring. I say Mayweather wins an easy 12 round UD and walks away with another 100 million+.

I genuinely don't think I'm exaggerating here if I say that if mayweather doesn't knock out or get a TKO of McGregor in say 3 rounds, it's embarrassing for boxing. If it goes the distance, it would be shameful for boxing.

Frankly, I'm looking forward to Ward/Kovalev 2 to take the Mayweather/McGregor taste out of my mouth.

sloopjohnc wrote:Frankly, I'm looking forward to Ward/Kovalev 2 to take the Mayweather/McGregor taste out of my mouth.

Did you see Krusher walked from the presser? Should be close again.
Mayweather McGregor is a disgrace.

Jumper K wrote:

sloopjohnc wrote:Frankly, I'm looking forward to Ward/Kovalev 2 to take the Mayweather/McGregor taste out of my mouth.

Did you see Krusher walked from the presser? Should be close again.
Mayweather McGregor is a disgrace.

Agreed.

Most likely a response to Ward bailing on Kovalev for the HBO Face-Off recording. His walk off arguably did more to promote this rematch than the entire RocNation promotion, which isn't surprising because they've done very little to promote this great match-up. So much wasted potential.

Jumper K wrote:

sloopjohnc wrote:Frankly, I'm looking forward to Ward/Kovalev 2 to take the Mayweather/McGregor taste out of my mouth.

Did you see Krusher walked from the presser? Should be close again.
Mayweather McGregor is a disgrace.

They had Teddy Atlas on ESPN the other day. He predicted McGregor wouldn't land a punch.

I watched a profile fairly recently on McGregor. I believe he started out as a traditional boxer.

I think I saw that McGregor's fights, last on average, 5.36 minutes. He'll be tired within a round trying to chase Money.

The best description I saw of the Mayweather/McGregor fight is that McGregor is a lion and Mayweather is a shark - but they're fighting in the ocean.

They had Barry Thompkins on a radio show today. Thompkins just got elected to the Boxing Hall of Fame as an announcer.

He thinks Ward is going to beat Kovalev pretty handily - his reasoning is that Kovalev gave it everything he had last time and probably should'v won the fight last time.

Thompkins had a good line. Leonard was supposed to go to his wedding and couldn't make it. When his bride found out, she said, "Good, I wanted to be the prettiest at my own wedding."

Read up on Ward Kovalev. I don't know about Ward but his promoter and his promotion sounds dodgy as fuck from what I read. How many low blows can a boxer take.