Phileas Fogg

O'Leary is sub keeper for us today.

@JamesBCFC why all the rubbish reactions on Havanatopia’s posts

I’m sure you predict we lose or draw every week I think this’ll be a tough game. Namely because we’ve had such an intense fortnight of football and such a thin squad. We tend to raise our game against better opposition in big occasions so I wouldn’t write us off. Oh, and it’s a huge game for us being shown on Sky - lump on Joe Bryan to score anytime.

He's one of the main guys behind iFL TV - a really good YouTube channel for boxing content. They're well respected and get interviews with all the top guys. They frequently have long chats with Eddie Hearn which are always worth a watch.

Haha I saw that this morning. The interview from yesterday with Kugan Cassius is good, gets a bit awkward and tense at times. Either this is the real Joshua coming out aka ‘Femi’ or it’s premeditated by Hearn and Joshua’s team to drum up more interest in the probable Wilder fight.

One of the biggest pluses this season has been trying Reid as a forward - if anything is being 'too clever' that's it!

Are we doing what Barcelona used to do and playing no striker? Just Reid as a false 9

Coincidently lots of rumours floating about tonight that he’s got his license back (he posted some random thing on Twitter saying he had.. but with a picture talking about a new hearing date) and rumours that he’s met/meeting with Hearn about next year. There’s too much money in that AJ superfight for Hearn not to try and make it. I think it will happen next year, but I just hope we get to see the best version of Fury. To get that, it might take the best part of a year as he’ll need a couple of tune up fights first.. Great for boxing if it happens

Overrated by those that don’t really follow boxing but will buy only the Joshua fights or even the MayMac fight. Have a look at Twitter any time he fights and it’s filled with hyperbolic rubbish from those people who don’t really understand the sport and just watch once or twice a year. Same sort of people who thought that McGregor had a chance against Mayweather. Hearn and Sky will love those sort of fans though because they’ll buy all PPV and lap up all the over the top content on Joshua. Despite not really liking him, I think he’s a good world level boxer and is good to watch. I feel the current era is weak and I’d like to see him really tested. Wilder would be an interesting fight. I’d quite like to see him lose, I think I might warm to him a bit more if he deals with that.

I think the thing that irritates far more seasoned boxing fans than myself about AJ, Hearn and Sky is the hype. I'm relatively new to boxing myself and it was only really the Wlad vs Fury and AJ vs Whyte fights in 2015 that got me hooked after a few years of casually taking an interest. It's the silly people on Twitter who think AJ is the greatest HW of all time.. he's untouchable, he'd knock out Lewis, Tyson AND Ali if they came at him at once.. it's the eulogising over AJ as some sort of all conquering hero (like the grotesque cinematic montage of AJ's career to date instead of showing the Cordina fight on Sky). It's also the under-appreciation of what Fury achieved - going to Germany and outboxing Wlad is a greater achievement for many boxing fans than AJ's win. Wlad was a bit younger, it was on home turf and Fury never looked in trouble really.. whereas Wlad dropped AJ and could have won the fight if he was a bit more clinical. Agree - I think he loves being in that shape and it's part of his image. People will naturally think how can someone as big and strong as he ever lose! That's my worry with Fury. It would take some serious motivation and graft to get anywhere near to those levels. He hasn't been training really and it'll take him a while to shake off the ring rust. Then again, he's still young enough to get into that shape if he wants to and he's a natural fighter so if he does it right.. a comeback is possible. I thought Hearn's comments on Fury were interesting. He wants to sign him to Matchroom and perhaps a deal has been done.. but the conditions involved a radio silence on fight night and a big announcement once the dust settled during the next few weeks.

I think i'm a little harsh because I don't like his manufactured personality. I feel he's not actually the "nice guy" Sky and Hearn would have everyone believe and it comes out sometimes in interviews. His old name was 'Big Femi' when he was a tearaway and I feel that side of his personality is still dormant in him and comes out. I find his media personality a bit wooden and false but he's shoved down our throats because he's incredibly marketable. He looks the part, his knockouts are explosive and he's becoming very well known. He's the perfect cash cow for Hearn and Sky and people who don't really follow boxing apart from big fights will always buy his tickets or PPV. I give him full credit for the Wlad fight, was a great fight and a good solid win. I feel that Wlad was on the wane though and had it happened a few years earlier, Wlad wouldn't have let him recover when he wobbled AJ. It's such a shame he's not in an era of particularly strong competition. I think the only people who'd trouble him are Wilder (his unpredictable power), Povetkin and a fully fit and firing Tyson Fury. I suspect Hearn will try and get the Fury fight made as soon as Fury is licensed and fit but before he's ready - he'll know Tyson is a genuine threat and I think a fully fit 2015' Fury boxes circles around AJ.

No it isn't. I think he likes looking like a bodybuilder (which is a big part of his image) and eventually it'll be his downfall. You could see him breathing heavily as the fight went into the mid rounds. If he fights someone who can keep him off or withstand his artillery until the later rounds I think he's in danger of gassing out. Takam I feel also showed how a better fighter could beat AJ. I'm not totally convinced by Joshua personally and feel he's quite overrated. What he is though is an incredibly marketable sportsman and Hearn has done a great job on that side of things. After last night though I feel even more confident that a fully fit Fury (perhaps an oxymoron) is a nightmare for Joshua and outboxes him. I also feel that Povetkin stands a good chance too. Perhaps the most watchable fight would be Wilder vs Joshua as i'm sure it would result in an explosive KO - really hope that gets made next year. The Whyte fight wasn't great - lots of people unhappy with the PPV due to Cordina not being shown in his home town (in favour of a ridiculous AJ eulogy) and Dave Allen missing out. I appreciate fights will always be dropped if others go the distance, but a bit of a shame and I can see why people are upset about that.

Interesting - they've been building to this for a while. Malignaggi mentioned St. Patrick's day next year. FWIW I think a fully fit Malignaggi would make easy work of this. He won't be taking it easy like Floyd - he has a point to prove.

Thanks, I'm nowhere near the level of knowledge of @Stortz or a few of the others on here but really tried to make an effort to get to know the sport over the past 18 months or so. I've always had an interest but enjoy it so much more now I know more about the sport and about boxers outside the household names. Yeah I agree - I do believe him about that, too much money in it for him not to have some sort of backup. I want AJ to get past this mandatory situation so he can get a few more interesting fights next year.. Wilder, perhaps Whyte or Miller, and (hopefully) Fury. Hearn really emphasised that it was IBF rules that meant they had to get Takam as he was next down from Pulev in terms of a mandatory - covering himself so he doesn't get blamed I suppose! Interestingly I see a few rumours on Twitter this morning from usually fairly reliable boxing accounts that it's no longer PPV and is going to be on Sky.. would be a nice surprise but can't see much concrete on that yet.

According to Hearn on IFL TV tonight ‘the show goes on as normal’ with no changes to the price of tickets or PPV. Interesting dilemma, Pulev wasn’t a massive draw and people weren’t going to see him as such.. but Takam is lower profile, the tickets are expensive and it’s PPV. Obviously Hearn doesn’t want to lose money but it’s a tricky one for him. From a personal perspective I quite like the undercard with Whyte and Allen on there because I like them and follow them. For people who aren’t big boxing fans though it’s not an amazing undercard and with Joshua - as a mass market fighter - the undercard needs to be good if his opponent is low profile. I can see there being lots of complaints about this, especially if Joshua gets the job done early, but nothing will be done.

Surprised at that he’s fought Joseph Parker relatively recently and Povetkin a few years back. He’s not exactly unknown. On short notice I don’t think it’s a dreadful stand in. He’s awkward and durable - short-ish for a modern heavyweight and stylistically quite different to Pulev. I heard Hearn’s interview with IFL about this and apparently the procedure is to go down the order mandatory challengers if someone pulls out. Apparently the order was Takam, Hammer, Miller, Whyte, Breazeale but they’d had Takam training on standby in the event of this happening. You’d think it’s going to be another easy night for Joshua.. as Pulev probably would’ve been too. Outside of (a fit) Fury and perhaps Povetkin and Wilder (questionable technique but deadly power) I can’t see anyone being much of a challenge for Joshua at the moment. I would’ve liked to see him get Miller if Takam couldn’t have been made. Very tough and weighs in quite a lot more than Joshua. He’s also a colourful character so that would’ve been good too. Hope he fights Whyte - that would be a great fight and buildup.

*Plane

Random 70s and 80s Swedish music videos NEEDED!

O'Dowda

https://twitter.com/Gashead04Mark/status/914126174502219776 He must be parody surely? I love his bio though

Haven't seen @bristolcitysweden on here yet posting random Swedish music videos in the match thread totally out of context.. I better take his place

Another 2 assists today? If he keeps this up I predict he'll be the subject of massive interest next summer (if we don't go up! ) I can see him at Bournemouth, Swansea, Brighton or Huddersfield.

Is that from that weird bloke who sings those strange songs about Rovers on Twitter? He posted about that on there today.

Well, he is about 54 after all! I hope it still happens, but if not I would love Whyte to get the shot. What I like about Whyte is that despite his limitations, he really will fight anyone and unlike most fighters actually means it when he says it.

Can’t say I’m surprised.. real shame, I was looking forward to that one!