Arena The Boxing Discussion Thread

This is why I'm just not into boxing like I once was.

 

that fight result was rigged as much as i would of loved horn to win as an aussie he just didn't do enough in my opinon manny won by 4 rounds. that judge who had it 117-111 or what ever is on crack. why i think it was kind of rigged straight after the fight there was talk that they had both signed for a rematch in australia before the fight even began

bookies were on to it as well manny went from 1.20 fave to paying about 5/1 inside 5 rounds

 

The big problem is Pacquiao did not look great. He looked downright a shell of himself. He was outright atrocious in the first round. But he pulled it together as early as round two. By that I mean his natural ability was still gone, but he was running on pure willpower. Even his great round 9 was not Pacquiao being Pacquiao. Pac has never been a flat footed stalker. He's been a swarm of bees leaving the opponent positive a review of the tapes would reveal Manny's twin brother sneaked into the ring and ganged up on the poor opponent. That wasn't Pac round 9. It also left Pac drained for round 10.

Then take into account that Horn stepped up to the event. He was there to win from the very beginning. When his corner (and the ref) told him they were going to stop it if he didn't show them something, he went out there and showed more than something.

Although it wouldn't be a Pac highlight reel fight, it was a great send off for retirement. It was a great setup for Horn to walk the streets of "Argentina" receiving accolades for almost beating the great Pac Man while entertaining financially rewarding future fight options.

And the judges ruined all of that. Now we are going to get a rematch nobody wants to see with an ATG receiving more punishment than he should take instead of a story book ending to a great career.

 

Teddy Atlas cracks me up. First, everybody in the room watching the fight with me all had a very subdued reaction. Almost in harmony, we agreed Pac was robbed but also were not surprised. And therefore, not foaming at the mouth. We kind of laughed at Atlas (as we always do), but the kicker was Stephen A. Smith. Not that he was worse/better than Atlas, but it was two people in a row that seemed over the top. We agreed with them, but laughed "these ESPN guys are more upset about this than Pacquiao."

Atlas was saying the right things, but the wrong way. And it's funny because he has a history of this. Decades.

Pacquiao's response didn't surprise me at all. I was lucky enough to discover him I believe in 2001 or earlier when he fought Agapito Sanchez on the Mayweather v. Chavez undercard. Pac has always been one of the most sportsmanlike boxers (outside the ring) alive. He lost a match relatively early in his career, so he learned that fighting the best (and possibly losing) was more important than protecting a stat number. When he loses, I think he doesn't even have to recover emotionally. Just thinks "oh well" and moves on.

 

WTF?
Why would anybody be a boxer?

 

There is a press conference in a few minutes.

 

Floyd got played. 4oz gloves.

 

I loved it. Great press conference. I still think Mayweather will win, but MacGregor owned this thing.

 

It's a $100.00 ripoff.

 

Yes, but the free press conferences are hilarious.

 

The only time I've ever watched a press conference for boxing is when the news said something "crazy" went down (usually a Mike Tyson or Ricardo Mayorga event). This is probably the first time I watched a press conference going in let alone all 3 so far.
L.A. - pretty entertaining
Toronto - incredibly entertaining
N.Y. - kind of boring

I'll probably only watch the last one tomorrow in London because why not finish it up. But tonight's press conference was not great. I'd give it to Mayweather because that usually describes a Mayweather win. Workmanlike, but not very exciting to watch.

 

I think it's cowardly of Mayweather to try to use rules to his advantage that way, restrict McGregor from kicks and tackles and such. It's bs. Either both men fight at their FULL strength, with FULL skills.

Or don't bother fighting at all.

Reminds me of a long ago showcase fight between Mohammad Ali and a Japanese karate master. Where they would not let the Japanese guy use full kicks. WTF is the point of that fight then? Karate is all about kicks, dude...

Why not simply tell Nayweather to take some wrestling/kicking/MMA training, to match up to McGregor.

I would not pay to watch this sham of a "fight", for sure...

 

To me, this is a pointless fight.

It would be much more interesting, if they indeed made it a mixed discipline bout, where each fighter got to showcase his own skills.

This, on the other hand, is just silly IMHO

 

This is somewhat a problem of boxing in general. The idea that one boxer doesn't need the other. How many sports have the "Final(s)" as highest grossing team gets to handpick their opponent by essentially evaluating risk v. reward. Belts and rankings?

This event is like this horrible dilemma on steroids (or maybe just cortisone or IV). What is a premier event is essentially an ATG fighting a 0-0 boxer. The 0 in the denominator win ratio should stop the event. You can almost say with a straight face "Somebody's O has to go", except Conor will still have one 0 regardless of the outcome.

BTW, is the 4 oz glove actually going to happen? I figured this was just the typical press conference BS of public agreement / private inaction. That would be quite the giveaway for Floyd. Not because it will help Conor land shots with greater impact (it doesn't do much for his general ability to actually land). But because Floyd's hands are his biggest weakness. An increased chance of hand injury for Floyd will change the probability of his success.

No. I expected Floyd to be *dishonorable* in not putting that very public agreement to contract. Why should he? He calls the shots, right? But it is dishonorable.

Do you think they will actually bet their purse as agreed? On the surface, it would seem Floyd would want to "honor" that and Conor "dishonor". But Floyd is so risk adverse that I bet they came to mutual dishonor on that one.

 

*does not say anything about Golden State vs Cavaliers for the last three finals*

 

I didn't even watch that fight. The result was a No Broner.

 

Wladimir Klitschko retires

Politics. He even sounds like a politician.

 

Best way to end a long running HW champ career. Could not have retired on a better fight.

Hopefully, Klitschko retains the respect he earned and doesn't let his ego sour any future commentary he might have on the HW division. It would be great to hear about Wladimir giving Joshua advice on how to handle the more intense spotlight he's just started to endure.

And let's hope Joshua does all he can to clean out his era.