SARJ

15 hours ago, Maltshoveller said:

Will be won or lost on Groves jab

100% correct. If Groves can 'box clever' and keep Eubanks at bay/distance (akin to what BJS did) then a classy Groves points victory could be on the cards.

I just worry if Eubanks will be too much for him should he get on the inside. The kid is a monster, as his training videos back up. Plus it's well known that Groves gasses from Round 7/8 onwards.

Without commeting on future bouts, BJS was superb on the weekend, looked brilliant and completely outboxed Lemiux.

What annoyed me were Lemiux's post-fight comments, similar to Guerrero and Canelo when they fought Mayweather: moaning that he "ran away". BJS was playing 'the boxer' i.e. hit without getting hit. Displayed great footwork and lateral movement. Lemiux was hitting thin air. So rather than saying fair play, he moans that BJS didn't stan square in front of him: ridiculous.

Benn's body shot KO was savage, very Hatton-esque. Undoubtedly will win him some US fans.

23 hours ago, Stortz said:

I can't help but hear Chris Morris's voice when I read this, it's like a claim from Brasseye!

Laugh all you want, but in boxing circles this is a story I've heard a few times at different ABCs.

Remember they said the same about Gerald McClellan? He used to run dog fights which included cellotaping shut a Labradors mouth before throwing the poor dog to the hungry pitbulls for cash. Nobody believed it at the time, turned out it was true.

5 hours ago, Phileas Fogg said:

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.

Very true. Heard a lot of very bad things about AJ that, if these were common knowledge, would destroy his carefully calculated PR image. This includes a story about how, during his gang days, he ripped apart a defenseless German shepherd dog with his bare hands.

That said, in the ring, an accomplished boxer. His performance against Wlad was phenomenal, but Cardiff on Saturday I was not impressed. Genuinely think Tyson Fury from 2015 would have his number.

On 10/29/2017 at 09:12, Phileas Fogg said:

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. 

Have to agree. Wasn't impressed with Joshua at all. Looked gassed after round 4 (breathing with mouth wide open) and extremely flat footed. Larry Holmes claimed prime AJ beats Tyson; laughable as if Tyson hit AJ with some of the shots Takam did Saturday night it would be lights out.

33 minutes ago, Super said:

He probably looks at the lack of big fights out there for AJ and thinks he still might get a shot at him. Could happen.

Haye's reputation has diminished greatly since the loss to Bellew. He's more into being a celebrity than a boxer. Can't blame him for trying to talk himself into fights to get one or two more big days before properly retiring. 

1 hour ago, Super said:

This likely to be an easy night for AJ?

In my opinion yes, although some rate Pulev's chances. Can't see anything other than an AJ KO victory personally.

Joshua v Pulev just been 'officially' announced. Sat Oct 28th at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium (Principality as it's now known).

Tried looking for tickets but details not announced yet. Can't see this one selling out like Wembley did if I'm honest. Hopefully means cheaper tickets become available nearer the time.

On 8/27/2017 at 06:14, Phileas Fogg said:

Hmm I think Floyd went easier on him for a few rounds to make the match more of a spectacle. Mayweather threw about 12 punches in the first 2 rounds.

Even at that intensity - it's a bit embarrassing Conor gassed out so early. I thought he'd been working on his cardio.

I doubt there'll be a rematch, when the dust settles people will realise Mayweather was in control ultimately. 50-0 is a nice round number for Mayweather to retire on.

I think there's a far better chance of Conor fighting Paulie; that's a marketable fight.

Well the spectacle is over and it was an interesting fight.

 If you are a McGregor fanboy or MMA fan with rose tinted glasses, you’d say Conor did very well to last 10 rounds with the ‘best ever’ and still take 3 early rounds.

 For me personally I was very disappointed with McGregor. For all the brash talk in the press conferences and ‘Mystic Mac’ predictions, McGregor’s fitness was shocking. From round 3 you knew the fight had one outcome as the Irishman was gassed.

 As for his ‘devastating power’ he was giving Mayweather little taps all night, very few power punches. His stance was also peculiar with a high chin becoming an easy target for Floyd’s right hand. Lots of illegal holding and rabbit punching too which most referees would have deducted a point for because it continued for so long despite the warnings.

 As for Floyd, easy work. McGregor only won the first 2/3 rounds because Floyd let him. The game plan was to let the MMA man tire out, and the plan certainly came to fruition. After that Floyd just walked him down and picked him off easily. Not Mayweather’s greatest performance, but certainly entertaining and got the job done in style.

 I personally felt Mayweather could have ended the fight a whole lot quicker, but rumours are he had £400k on himself to win by in Round 10, so it’s not surprise that’s when the stoppage occurred.

9 minutes ago, Super said:

still 1700 tickets left. Too expensive or people not that interested?

Whilst it pains boxing purists to say it, the interest is certainly there. Just look at the press conferences, crowds so far, social media vibes etc. The weigh in is also sold out.

The reason tickets are unsold is simply due to the obscene pricing. Not even the wealthy want to part with £17k for half decent seats.

Big article in Daily Mail today about the merchandising at the event and how expensive this is. £35 for a baseball cap!! Over £100 for a printed glove. Insane.

3 hours ago, Super said:

I see Paulie was embarrassing himself again. Bellend.

Him at McGregor going at it again as they entered the big Vegas press conference.

In Paulie's defence, I find it hard to believe McGregor 'beat his a$$' for 12 rounds. They set the poor bloke up a treat and now he's trying to salvage his reputation. Problem is, he's appearing desperate and unprofessional in his attempts to salvage this train wreck.

1 hour ago, Super said:

Not sure how much more of this I can take. Roll on Sunday morning.

Mayweather doing his best to convince the press he's not training very hard for this fight. Been posting lots on social media and in the news saying how he's eating junk food everyday and spending more time having family days out than training.

Assuming he wants us all to think McGregor has a chance, thus buy the already struggling PPV?

19 hours ago, Stortz said:

I can't agree with either of you. Mcgregor's team have edited two seperate incidents together to make the footage and you can clearly see that McGregor pushes him down with his glove on his neck. The punch he throws as he is holding Paulie misses altogether then the latter half trips over McGregor's leg prior to rolling over. You can even see Joe Cortez move in to rule no KD but the footage (surprise surprise) stops at this point. Here it is clearly visible in slow motion:

Frankly they are desperate for PPV sales as ticket sales are rumoured to be very low- they are trying to convince people with no clue whatsoever that McGregor has a chance.

They have treated a well respected boxer like a tosser by releasing the pictures and latterly the footage and other boxers are now refusing to spar McGregor- Andre Berto pulled out yesterday. What happens in sparring should stay in sparring, not be used to classlessly sell a few more PPVs.

And even if it was a legitimate KD, if they think knocking down a smaller, retired, out of shape Malignaggi by cheating gives McGregor a chance against Mayweather, then they are in an absolute world of shit come fight night.

McGregor's team have spliced 2 different incidents into a 45 second clip from a 12 round spar. I don't see how you can draw a conclusion of who had the better of who from that! Paulie has called for an unedited version to be released after the fight and claims he easily won 10 rounds. I very much doubt that that will ever happen though.

 

Well said Stortz, I urge everyone to watch the footage carefully. Seems Malignaggi's claims were true. Certainly a glove behind his head and leg tanglement on the 'knock down' and it was also edited so Joe Cortez moving in to rule 'no knock down' was missed out.

Also, for 18 rounds of sparring, only a 14 second video from Dana White showing McGregor landing one cracking left hand. To me, doesn't scream that he dominated.

The Gas would be better to do something similar to Bath City with regards to limited space/financial capabilities at present. 

I'd say keep and improve the DAS Grandstand. Flatten everything else and build a very crude but simple concrete terrace in a modern 'bowl' type shape. No fancy thrills, just basica plastic seats. Tin roof over the top all way round the ground so it looks half tidy and fans stay dry. Dont bother enclosing or decorating under the stands, leave them open, albeit for a few snakc stalls dotted around. 

This solution would be relatively quick and easy to build and would cost far less than pursuing a state of the art 20,000 seater that they don't really need. And it would certainly be far better than anything they have at present, which includes open air terracing, borrowed temporary stands from Wimbledon and a tent.

Camp McGregor fire back:

http://www.independent.ie/sport/mcgregor-v-mayweather/paulie-malignaggis-cornerman-reveals-what-really-happened-in-sparring-session-with-conor-mcgregor-36018184.html

1 hour ago, Phileas Fogg said:

3 rounds of 5. In some ways it's more taxing than boxing but requires a different set of muscles and in a way a different kind of fitness due to the grappling involved.

There's lots of contradictary reports coming out about Malignaggi-gate so it's hard to know who to believe. 

Sheehan (involved in filming McGregor's content for Showtime) has come out saying that McGregor was beating Malignaggi easily - and the 'knockdown/push' pictures are from a legitimate knockdown from a 4 punch combo.

Link here about 5.20 in

 

Obviously they want to sell the fight so it's preferable if they make it look like Connor has a shot. Watching Malignaggi's interviews and his twitter though, he is coming across as awfully bitter about the whole thing.

 

That's the problem Mr Fogg my ol' Mucka, we'll never know the truth until McGregor is actually in a boxing ring in front the cameras.

For what is worth, Malignaggi is one of my favourite boxers of all time. Love his style and ability, especially as he has no power. Whilst he does trash talk to get fights or hype fights, he's a genuine guy in normal interviews and he doesn't lie about things like this normally. Malignaggi himself admits McGregor got the best of the first spar (not many boxers would admit that), but you got to take into account he's retired, out of shape and hasn't been actively training.

I highly doubt Paulie is lying on this occasion and the reason we've heard/seen so much of him these past few days is because he's genuinely angry about the photos/stories leaving the McGregor camp. If you look at the interviews with that South African boxer who sparred McGregor, Van Der Heen I think his name was, it's the same story with regards McGregor, ego-maniac who only releases photos favourable to him.

For those who have Spotify, Paulie runs a weekly podcast called 'From Brooklyn To The World'. I thoroughly recommend listening to this week's edition, which covers the spar and gym stories in great detail. Sounds like McGregor is a total d!ckhead (shame as I kind of liked the guy). He even got referee Joe Cortez to come in and ensure there were official introductions and stare downs before sparring, which is unheard of :laugh:.

14 hours ago, Tomarse said:

What is UFC, three rounds of 3 minutes?  Jumping to 12 straight off must be near impossible 

I believe it's 5 rounds of 5 mins. But Conor was blowing after 2 rounds in his 2nd fight against Diaz.

Some good Paulie Malignaggi interviews on YouTube today.

I'm a big fan of Paulie and he seems like he went into the McGregor camp with the best intentions, but has been royally stitched up to look like he took a beating.

I thoroughly recommend listening to Malignaggi's interview on 'MMA Hour' which you can easily find by searching Paulie on youtube (it;s the first thing that comes up and Paulie is the first thing on the programme).

His description of the sparring re-affirms that he stands no chance whatsoever, literally no chance. I now think, after listening to this, that Mayweather will allow McGregor 4-6 rounds before taking him out. The guy simply doesn't have the stamina, and he was knackered against an out-of-shape, 36yr old retired Paulie Malignaggi.

57 minutes ago, Tomarse said:

Amir Khan saying his wife ran off with AJ.. meltdown live on twitter:

 

 

Being reported everywhere now. Looks like Khan v Joshua is on the cards hahaha

Big news from McGregor camp today. Paulie Malignaggi has quit.

Malignaggi was infuriated that the UFC had their own camera crews and film crews/audience in the gym filming the sparring. After the second spar they released photos of Paulie all beat up/bruised and apparently on the canvas after being floored.

Malignaggi, rightly furious, took to twitter to say the whole thing is a scam, he didn't get floored but was pushed over, and quit as a result. He also claims UFC should release the full sparring video so people know the truth. As a big Paulie fan, I'm assuming the truth is that Paulie schooled him over the majority of the 12 rounds.

In all fairness to Malignaggi, the gent he is, he says he'll release no technical details of the spar, only that the photos/footage isn't what it seems.

So let's hear your predictions boys: if Groves and Eubanks meet in this tournament who you got?

Based on current form I'd go with Groves to outbox him and win on points. His jab is far superior.

London presser tonight 7PM. Not being shown on any UK TV stations but you will be able to watch via online Facebook streaming on BT/Showtime apparently.

So last night's presser was from Brooklyn. For those who haven't seen it, the highlights included:

- McGregor arriving shirtless, draped in a Polar Bear fur coat. This did not go down well with the crowd.

- McGregor addressed previous press issues that he has been racist by saying he's "half black, black from the waist down" which got a lot of laughs

- Mayweather asking the crowd to point to the 'quitter' (in reference to McGregor tapping out to Diaz)

-Mayweather saying Conor looked like a stripper ad throwing dollar bills at him. When Conor joked they were only one dollar bills, Floyd replied "that's all you're worth b**** "

- It nearly kicking off en stage between Mayweather's bodyguards and McGregors training partners

Out of the press conferences so far, I think this one went in Mayweather's favour. The crowd seemed to favour him, especially after the polar bear coat faux pas. Plus the insults from the Mayweather camp are improving and he seemed to rile Conor up on a few occasions this time.

Tonight it's at Wembley where there will be genuine and plastic paddy's everywhere. Queue banter.

Malignaggi has apparently been brought in by McGregor's camp to spar him. Paulie is a great technical boxer with great head movement and footwork. Couldn't see McGregor beating him in a pro fight, let alone Floyd.