Alph

16 hours ago, Needlesh said:

So, are we giving Csmpbell a chance at all against Lomachenko?

Not really. He might start off well using his height but as soon as Loma figures him out then it's one way traffic imo. 

He'll probably put in the performance of a lifetime though. He put in a good performance against Linares and he's had a defeat since then I think to Mendy? He came back from that better

Be an entertaining fight though. Loma's skills v a talented underdog with big height advantage. Won't be dull. 

On 23/08/2019 at 19:24, Gap tooth ram said:

So then, Kovalev Vs Yarde, experienced pro Vs the young lion, what we thinking folks? 

Hope Yarde wins personally, but think Kovalev wins a biased home score card myself.

Kovalev has lost something he had about him before the Ward fights. Got the job done though. 

I don't like Yarde. Or his idiot trainer. 

1 hour ago, Needlesh said:

He got a shot out of nowhere, so I'd have thought that the rematch terms would have been stated in the original contract. Shows what I know.

No, they were. And that's why he's gone public with every complaint possible. 

It looks to me like the terms he accepted for the fight were good at the time. But since winning he must have had so many offers from other heavyweights. Not to mention he went from some fat heavyweight on the circuit to a major player instantly. 

I think Hearn has kind of made it clear that the rematch venue is to be decided by them in the event of an AJ loss. 

I just wonder if he's thinking of a way to get out of the rematch. He's complained about every single thing so far but he signed the contract. 

It smells like he wants the world to know Hearn and AJ are ripping him off and cheating him. That's why he keeps asking for things he knows he can't have (like a fight in Mexico). I just wouldn't be surprised if he pulls the plug with "they are trying to cheat me" and walks away with no belts. 

The only thing he'd have to worry about is what happens legally when you break a contract. His value wouldn't go down. He would lose the belts but belts don't count for much in boxing. He would still be a champion to the fans. 

Wouldn't surprise me if other fighters promoters have offered to compensate him if he walks away from the rematch.

He could always come back to AJ in the future and negotiate a better deal. He could go for the WBC (I'm sure Wilder would want Ruiz now).

The belts will be split up anyway next year. 

4 hours ago, Jourdan said:

I read an article quoting Ruiz and apparently the venue is not confirmed and nothing is signed and sealed.

A fight in Saudi Arabia might be lucrative but it’s the boxing equivalent of hosting a major final in Baku.

Surely if you were Joshua and Joshua’s camp, you’d want to go back to the US and banish those demons?

 

Apparently AJ wanted New York but Hearn and his team wanted UK to make sure AJ got the belts. 

Ruiz has kicked up a fuss constantly as I think he'd much rather avoid the rematch because now he's probably being underpaid for it. They say New York and he says Mexico. They say UK and he says anywhere but UK. They say Saudi Arabia and he says New York. He's complained about money many times. 

Tbf he is the Champ and if he rematches AJ he's essentially accepting the terms of a challenger again. I'm sure he's had great offers for other fights because he's seen as a weak Champion. 

Saudi Arabia... it's just not relevant in the boxing world. I'm not against the culture or anything like that. I'm a bit of a Middle East sympathiser actually. But it's just not relevant to this fight. 

UK, USA, Nigeria and Mexico would all be understandable. 

I'm starting to doubt the fight will happen. Boxing is not about belts it's about value. Right now Ruiz has value and doesn't necessarily need the belts to get in big fights. Not all of them anyway. AJ needs Ruiz. But the money split doesn't reflect that. 

For 5 years or so boxing has been a huge interest to people who previously didn't care for it. Now the greed and politics are pulling it back down again. 

It's taking years to make fights. Years! 

Just now, Coconut said:

Liverpool keeper had both feet off the line before the ball was struck, should have been retaken after a VAR check

They only retake penos if Aguero misses them. New rule this season and worked a treat already.

Paul Merson said tonight is a big game for Chelsea and then they have massive game on Sunday against Leicester.

A massive game in August. 

Anyway, Rylan scored so @rynny will be partying tonight. Doing his missus' head in with French flags all over the gaff 

1 hour ago, Needlesh said:

Added bonus, you can't have a drink so you'll definitely by sober by fight time, then off out to enjoy the bright lights of, err, Riyadh. Unless you'e female of course, then you've got to be escorted home. Not that you'd be allowed in the venue anyway.

It's almost as if there are financial incentives trumping all sense. Nah. Can't be.

 

I think Hearn should have come out and said "these guys get punched in the head for a living and they wanted Saudi Arabia because it's worth fortunes. What would you do? Joshua's not forgotten his UK fanbase and we'll be back after this"

But he's come out saying Saudi Arabia is a big player in the boxing game. That they have embraced boxing and have taken time to educate the fans. It's a global sport and he's spreading the good word. 

It's Qatar with the World Cup. They haven't built towards these events. And you don't make yourself ready by just holding the biggest there is out there. 

Anyone off to Saudi Arabia in December. Logistically a nightmare a month ago but now it's perfect. It's hungry for the big fights and is a serious contender for holding big shows in it's 12,000 capacity arena. Just a 6 hour flight too. 

I thought this might start a trend of decent Championship managers going to the best teams. I had a fiver on Rowett to replace Solskjaer 

1 hour ago, David said:

A lot of people out there worse off than me, head up, solider on.

I don't like that mentality though. People have different breaking points and I think too many people on their arse are kind of trapped because they haven't actually got anything wrong. They're not ill, they have no money issues, they have a family, enjoy their job etc. 

Sometimes people just break and they shouldn't have to worry about how valid it is. If you're on your arse then you're on your arse. No jokes intended there. 

@David don't even know what to say to what you've been through and going through. 

All the Bamfords in the world how come when life wants to be a bar steward it picks on good people. 

2 hours ago, Needlesh said:

Doggo update: He's on the mend. Very relieved. Thanks for your best wishes all.

Just to got to go through 2 weeks of keeping him out of mischief now!

Relief to read! 

14 hours ago, Needlesh said:

Right lads and lasses...I need a little help, please.

As a fairweather occasional boxing fan who only gets interested for the big world level nights or for serious domestic clashes...is BoxNation worth having?

Not really. BoxNation is tied with BT Sports and ESPN. Main promotions are Frank Warren and Bob Arum. 

Top Rank are have a good bunch of welterweight, featherweight, super feather etc. The stars are Lomachenko and Terence Crawford. 

Frank Warren, I don't think much too his stable tbh. His shows certainly aren't huge nights like a Sky Sports heavyweight 02 night. 

They do share Tyson Fury though. It's worth mentioning that although Top Rank do have Lomachenko that he is fighting on Sky Sports for Luke Campbell in... September maybe? 

Now Sky Sports are tied in with DZN. DZN are trying to steal the talent. They pay money for Canelo, GGG and Joshua. 

Between them and Sky they have a good bunch of middleweight and heavyweights. 

Every Canelo and AJ fight is a mega fight. 

I think ITV is tied in with Showtime. 

If you like the mega events then it's probably best with Sky and DZN. 

The other stables have some really good fighters but they perhaps don't attract the big numbers with a couple of exceptions but even those are now having to make deals to Co Broadcast because DZN has spent big to try and dominate the market. 

BoxNation as a channel on it's own is kind of BTSports little sideshow now. It really for those who want boxing 2 or 3 times per week

I don't really understand how it happens when you're a mega star in boxing. If you're worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds then surely you have a nutritionist and chef etc. 

If you go buy some supplements over a counter that are new then how do you not get them checked out? 

Dillian must have changed something about his prep? Why not get everything checked out before you introduce it to a world level professional boxer. 

Like Canelo with his "contaminated meat". I don't understand how during camp he's doing stuff different from before without getting it checked out. 

I guess that there's levels of stuff you're allowed and these guys are coming in with too much in their system? 

Boxing is still really amateur compared to other sports. The corruption and cheating is something you'd only expect to see in a movie. At least in football there's no massive sway in what FIFA rankings do. You can still compete at the highest levels if you're good. In most other sports if you're good enough then you can rise to the top. In boxing you have to have value as well as ability. You can't really quietly go about your business if you haven't got a great amateur background. If you sign with a weak promoter who doesn't have a good relationship with governing bodies then you're on the back foot. 

It's like the Wild West. The governing bodies all work independently. They have different rules and their rankings do effect the trajectory of careers. Tv companies influence governing bodies. Promoters influence governing bodies. TV companies buy promoters and the boxers have to dance to whatever tune comes down the line. If you think FIFA and UEFA are in a position they can abuse for profit imagine the boxing network.

Brown envelopes are the way to buy your way in. 

This is the world Dillian Whyte and Co live in. They are so desperate to win because of the corruption. Everyone trying to get ahead. All in one of the most deadly sports. 

2 boxers died last week. Was there Vada testing in their fights? Doubt it because the fighters and promoters have to pay for it. The governing bodies don't. You pay them for ranking! TV companies don't. They just want a champion in their channel. They don't care if he's more drugged than Pete Doherty so long as he's winning viewers. 

So promoters and fighters pay for their own testing. Promoters who need to sell a fighter and a fighter who has to sell himself. Not happening at lower levels is it. 

I'm assuming Whyte and Hearn pay for tests to make sure they don't lose value by getting beat by some doped up clown like Jarrell Miller. 

So at the very least why on Earth aren't Whyte, Hearn, Canelo, Ortiz, Miller making sure they are meeting the requirements? 

The sport is deadly and the way it's organised encourages everyone to bend the rules and that's how they get people killed. These fighters are trying to gain any slight advantage by bending the rules. It's hard to feel sorry for them when they get caught

Either way it's another win for that American idiot. Probably ringing up the WBC to suspend Whyte so he can do his next mandatory against Iggle Piggle. 

He dodged Povetkin when Povetkin has an issue. 

Wilder is an honourable guy and won't fight these drug cheats. Well, apart from his second upcoming fight with 2 times caught cheating Luis Ortiz. 

8 hours ago, Needlesh said:

Entertaining though isn't he? And he's built a nice little run of wins against serious opponents. If he leaves himself open and unbalanced to Wilder like he did in the 9th last night it'll be game over, but I wouldn't rule out Whyte getting to Wilder first.

If they don't make Wilder the Franchise Champion and then make the WBC vacant for Fury v Whyte. They're so desperate to have American based heavyweight champions. 

Would love it to happen though. Anything that gets that belt off Wilder and Haymon 

Pac won. Rolled back the years. Thurman said it was his workrate that won it. You wouldn't have wanted to fight him 10 years ago then! 

Big win for Whyte who should now be looking to fight for a world title. If they try to freeze him out still then he should fight some low level guys. Don't go taking more risks against for World Champions, unknown dangerous Cubans or getting involved in heated rivalries. Don't fight Tyson, don't fight Takam or Kownacki or Pulev. 

I don't rate Whyte especially. His heart will always rule his head and the red mist will always take over. His short combos, his low left when he right hooks... he's going to get knocked out by a World Champion. 

But he's great for the fans. He's taken risk after risk and he entertains. Give the man his title shot. 

Glad Price won. 

Think Thurman will win later on. Hungrier with more to prove. Outstanding boxer. 

Nope, very wrong. Bit of a tame effort at boxing after claiming he's way ahead of Dubois in skills. He wasn't slick. He got blasted away. 

I find Dubois and Joyce a bit... I dunno. I just don't think they're THAT good. They're both brawlers. I expect to see them in a nightclub car park. Hard bar stewards for sure but... I think any fighter with quick feet and some smarts that comes to win will trouble them. Luckily they can avoid that and kind of con there way up the ladder. But they're a poor Dillian Whyte. In my opinion anyway. 

Dubois does have time tbf. Joyce is going to bite off more than he can chew next year 

I think Gorman wins. Good fight though. 

Still hoping for a report suggesting Tomori has a mare and Mount's goal was the highlight of a poor performance. 

They're crap. Give them 'ere. 

37 minutes ago, EnigmaRam said:

Mount has just scored for Chelsea and Tomori also gets a start for them

Boooooooo

I can guess what video it is. Is it that "Uzzy"? 

I don't think he will last long whether they're joking or not. It's not a great job. It hasn't been kind to anyone whether they have won stuff or not. They had the long term youth plan with Andre Villas Boas. They have had numerous quick fixes. They've had experienced master tacticians. They've had ex players win the CL

I'm assuming they're joking? 

The score is always irrelevant. I think he will be happy if he saw good quality from the youngsters and the first choice players took on board how he wants them to play but perhaps just gently ease their way to 100%. 

They'll be a lot of focus on his pre season but it's not fair. His journey doesn't start vs Bohemians