[Vano-irons]

Absolutely cracking night of boxing last night on boxnation, I thought I'd give my thoughts

Khan vs Diaz

Well well well. Expected to be an easy night for Amir turned into one of his hardest fights, which none of us saw happening. On paper, Khan should have taken Julio out. A lightweight who seemingly cannot hold a punch, this fight was suppose to highlight Amir's good points.

He started well, bamboozling Diaz with his speed. But that changed in round 4 when he was decked by a left hook. On a positive note, he rose and knew how to hold, rather than fight back.

From there on in, he was tagged repeatedly by the same shots over and over, and I thought he was incredibly fortunate he wasn't stopped. Amir just doesn't hold a shot well, period. But I thought Hunter would teach him how to defend a little better. Instead, he has seemingly only taught him how to react AFTER he is already hurt.

I had it a 113-113 draw. Criminal charges should be put on Schaefer and Oscar if they put him in with Matthysse next. He needs another easy fight.

Wilder vs Harrison

I won't dwell on this too long. Most of us thought Audley had a chance if he threw, but he didn't. He was sparked in 72 seconds. Wilder is still awful, and will be exposed sooner rather than later, but he clearly has a good right hand.

Harrison should call it quits and be very proud of what he has achieved

Haroon Khan and Ogogo

Impressive debut by Ogogo I thought. A solid knockout win after settling into a rhythm early. He mixed his work up nicely, was composed, and got a good win.

Haroon, not so much. He was trying to impress, but he did not look good. There wasn't really a jab of note, the footwork looked mediocre, and he sticks his chin in the air too often. Needs a lot of work

Sykes vs Kays

Cracking fight this. Sykes' engine really saw him home. Credit to Kays who boxed well early on, but the body shots broke him down

Martinez vs Murray

Not many gave Murray a chance, but he proved us all wrong. He frustrated Sergio (like I thought he would) but managed to make Martinez look old. After a close start, the Brit really started to open up, dropping Martinez (should have been awarded two KDs) and going into the last I had it level.

I thought Sergio did enough in the 12th to nick the fight, but the three 115-112 scorecards were diabolical. No way was there 3 rounds in that.

I'd like to see Murray vs Barker next. It's a logical fight both would fancy. Martinez should retire now. He is visibly slowing, is getting caught more and more, and isn't taking the shots well. A few weeks ago I said Golovkin would beat him, now I'm utterly convinced GGG stops him. Retire on top champ, it's been a fun ride

Garica Vs Judah

Strange fight this. There wasn't real fireworks of note until the second half of the fight. I thought Danny did a brilliant job going to the body early. He really slowed Zab down. He had Judah badly hurt in the 6th. I'm not sure how he managed to survive if I'm honest. He was unsteady throughout and did well to hear the bell. Ironically it was the right hook that set it up. He then had Judah down in the 8th, but he wasn't too hurt. Two 10-8 rounds on my card.

But in the 9th something happened. Judah tagged Garcia hard with a straight left and Danny looked hurt. From there on in, it was a case of Garcia trying to hear the final bell. Judah repeatedly tagged him with lead right hooks and lefts down the middle.

Awesome show of respect between the two at the end. Garcia took it 116-110 on my card

Quillin vs Guerrero

Just caught up on this one. It was a pretty good fight, but I have mixed feelings on it. Quillin is obviously very strong, and poses a powerful left hook. He got the stoppage, which is what we all expected. But, for me, that is where the positives ended.

Kid Chocolate was tagged far too easily, and far too often, throughout the bout, particularly in rounds 4 and 6. That was mainly down to his poor head movement (i should probably say non-existent head movement). He was also loading up far too much. He popped his jab out very well in the 1st, but then completely abandoned it when he hurt Guerrero, and he started looking for one shot. It looked all too telegraphed for me.

But at the end of the day he got the win. I'd like to see him fight Murray or rematch N'Dam next (who, lets face it, outboxed him for long periods in their fight). Exciting fighter no doubt

Boxnation, well played

 

[sim_reiss]

Really good night of fights. Seems to be a recent theme of the "opponents" like Diaz, Judah and Murray putting in very good performances and making great fights

 

[Roe]

Great night of boxing. I had Martinez just edging the Murray fight but there was definitely two knockdowns, which would've made it level on my card. Terrific effort though.

Really enjoyed Garcia/Judah as well. Judah was getting battered around the half way stage but hung in there and fought back like a champ. Both warriors.

Haven't seen Khan's fight yet but sounds like it was pretty good as well, despite Khan showing his weakness once again.

 

[Vano-irons]

Apparently Argentine TV stopped scoring the fight after the 10th, when they had Murray 3 points up :lol:

 

[Earl-Hickey]

Only got to see Khan and Audley fights, and a few clips of the rest.

I summed up my thoughts on the Khan fight already, so i won't repeat it all, but suffice it to say I think Khan has real problems, I thought he looked washed up in there, when he gets hurt he stays hurt, his defence is dreadful, and he never learns his lesson. He's finished at the top level imo.

As for Audley, can't believe so many of you thought he would win, Yes Wilder might end up being a hype job, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't easily beat Fraudley Harrison. Wilder can hit, and he was always going to throw before Audley, hence he was always going to win. Fight was similar to the David Price fight, both standing off for about 60 seconds before Audley gets hurt by the first shot that lands, and finished in short order. Wilder looked worse than Price imo, sloppy and all over the place while finishing Harrison.

 

[Roe]

Apparently Argentine TV stopped scoring the fight after the 10th, when they had Murray 3 points up :lol:

 

[Earl-Hickey]

Just thought i'd post Scott Gilfoids recap of Martinez vs Murray, from the comments on here I think it'll cause a few lol's

Sergio Martinez defeats Martin Murray in an impressive performance

By Scott Gilfoid: WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO's) put in an impressive performance tonight in defeating previously unbeaten challenger Martin Murray (25-1-1, 11 KO's) by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield, Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina. The final judges' scores were 115-112, 115-112 and 115-112.

Murray knocked Martinez down with a right hand in the 8th round. Martinez wasn't hurt by the shot. It was more of a case of Martinez moving away at the time that he was hit.

Before any of Murray's fans start to bellyache about Murray being robbed tonight. Murray himself admitted that he lost the fight, saying "I didn't do enough to win tonight."

There was a close call slip in the 10th round where Martinez slipped on the rain-soaked canvas. Some boxing fans thought it was a clean knockdown, but the WBC used instant replay and watched Martinez's feet, not just his upper body, and they discovered that his feet slipped out from under him when he was bending down to avoid one of Murray's shots.

The fight used open scoring and Martinez was ahead 40-36, 39-37 and 39-37 after four rounds. I had Martinez winning 10 of the 12 rounds. I thought Murray fought well enough to win the 6th and 8th rounds, but in the other rounds he simply wasn't throwing enough punches. He was walking Martinez down with his gloves high, taking shots to the gloves, head and midsection and every once in a while landing a shot. I'm sorry, but that's not enough to win the fight. It's on Murray for not letting his hands go because he was too economical with his punches.

Murray blew it in the 11th and 12th rounds by not letting his hands go and letting Martinez tee off on him with shots.

After the fight, Martinez said "I hurt my left hand and it may be broken. No, I knew I was winning clearly. My hand was hurting since the 8th."

Martinez was cut from a head-butt on the left side of his eye in the 6th.

In the 7th, Murray landed a beautiful forearm to Martinez's left eye that caused the action to be stopped briefly with Murray receiving a warning.

 

[Mr. Spot]

Very sad to see Audley beaten so easily, Khan is an accident waiting to happen, Judah has a had a reputation for baling out when things got tough in the past, fully redeemed himself last night, I hope Martinez gets a big money fight before he's beaten by some non entity, I still maintain he's a natural Lightmiddle, that's why the likes of Barker/Macklin/Murray are giving him such hard fights, extremely disappointed that no one punched Angel Garcia.

 

[Vano-irons]

Scott is a clown

 

[Post Box]

Khan is still exactly the same fighter that was ko'd by Garcia when letting his own attack flourish, his chin is just asking to be hit in them exchanges. I know they've only been together 2 camps but that's no excuse for his performance last night, make no mistake this fight really was just a showcase for Amir and he looked shite. Where was the Khan keeping his elbows tucked with short punches from the pre fight workout footage :lol:, the fact is Khan will just always revert back to his old self when in the ring, but I love it tbh. I can't help but feel Khan might have found a way to get Diaz out of there under Roach too. What I also found worrying was the lack of urgency or empathy from Hunter, dismissing the knockdown as a slip and after the fight just saying he was proud of Amir, I'm not saying he can't be proud of his fighter for showing the heart that he did but for Khans own sake I do hope he gives him a right bollocking about the performance in the next camp, they have a lot to work on before this supposed December world title fight

Garcia showed a lot in his right hand last night, was touted as bit of a 1 trick pony with that left hook before. There really is a method to the madness behind him and his dad too, they clearly had a structured gameplan and he stuck to it well until neglecting the jab and Judah catching him clean a few times in that last purge. Abit more combination punching in that 6th round and he would have had Zab out of there imo, he was wobbly the entire round but Garcia looked to be loading up on that one big shot, his slow foot speed really showed when he had to hunt Judah down there too

Martinez looked terrible, not taking anything away from Murray who fought a great fight but that was clearly a much faded version of Martinez last night, there were a lot of questions going into this fight re his age and body well being and I think they were all answered pretty clearly. He looked completely flat. I thought Murray looked the boss in there and although I didn't keep a score card he probably just edged it for me. Sergio was down twice, cut, and probably broke his left hand. He's taking more punishment fight by fight and I'd like to see him retire now as a great champion opposed to getting beat up and forced into retirement, what a way to go out after that event in Argentina too

Eddie will chuck Harrison into another Prizefighter in the summer and let the redemption trail begin again

 

[Mr. Spot]

PS: I detest Richard Keys.

 

[dftaylor]

Agree with most of that. Sergio looked either incredibly rusty or just plain old. Towards the end he seemed to get his old rhythm back, but he's not moving side-to-side so much and he's staying in range too much. I don't think Murray was doing as well as some (or the HBO commentary) made out, but he was doing better than he should have been.

It was a really good night of fights. Garcia-Judah was an unexpected treat. Judah pulls out these sort of brave losing performances every so often. In fact, he was being overly defensive early on which ironically led to him getting hit and hurt. When he got aggressive in the last half he was putting some hurt on Garcia. Danny continues to impress me - focused, disciplined fighting. I loved that he was going back to the shots he established early on. And that knockdown was beautiful.

 

[adamcanavan]

Just thought i'd post Scott Gilfoids recap of Martinez vs Murray, from the comments on here I think it'll cause a few lol's

Actually agree with him on some of it

 

[BUMPY]

Literally the only difference I've noticed in Khan is he doesn't let his hands go so often, and does a little less of the leaping in leaving his chin exposed other than that still the same basic fighter.

 

[Roe]

There was a close call slip in the 10th round where Martinez slipped on the rain-soaked canvas. Some boxing fans thought it was a clean knockdown, but the WBC used instant replay and watched Martinez's feet, not just his upper body, and they discovered that his feet slipped out from under him when he was bending down to avoid one of Murray's shots.

Bullshit. Murray knocked him down by pressuring him back then landing a straight right to the top of Sergio's head. Only way their feet would've got caught is if Murray wears size 25 clown shoes. Blatant knockdown and makes you wonder what the point of making such a fuss about using instant replay was for. Like Roy Jones said, "no comment."

 

[Roe]

Literally the only difference I've noticed in Khan is he doesn't let his hands go so often, and does a little less of the leaping in leaving his chin exposed other than that still the same basic fighter.

But he's fast. :conf

 

[BUMPY]

But he's fast. :conf

And has built himself a neck like Mike Tyson apparently :lol:

 

[Vano-irons]

What we all want to know is, will Martin Murray drop in Horse's rankings? He did lose after all

 

[Wiirdo]

Quillin looked decent, but showed that he can struggle on the backfoot against someone who is aggressive and he was open for the left the entire night. Showed a good chin though.

 

[Lettuce_Fists]

Great night of boxing from the B-nation.

Thoughts on Khan:

Under Hunter he seems to have taken one step forward, and one step back. He didn't rush in and go toe to toe when he got hurt, the old Khan might have got stopped last night, but perversly I think the new tactics actually resulted in him maybe getting hurt more than he used to.

Under Roach, Khan would throw really high volume of punches, overwhelming a lot of his opponents with repetitive flurries, which made it harder for them to counter him because they had a whirlwind in front of them. Essentially his attack was his best form of defence.

Now his workrate is down, trying to be more careful and look for openings in theory, but he's still throwing the same old combinations, so to me, it seemed to be actually giving his opponent more time and space to adjust to his shots and counter him (Diaz was tagging him all night).

Hunter has to maximise Khan's biggest strength again (his handspeed) and downplay the weaknesses, focus on what Khan can do rather than what he can't as I don't think at this stage in his career you can correct Khan's faults. His defence is very open and his inside game not really there - stuff like head movement and infighting ability I think it's too late for - you need years to make it a natural instinctive thing and if you've having to think about it in the ring, that split second delay is going to cost you.

Punch resistance is always gonna be an issue. But if Khan can affect his opponent's strength if he works their body more! I don't think I remember seeing him throw a body shot in anger since Rd 1 vs Maidana. If he stops head hunting as well and mixes up attacks to head and body, with the new lower work rate it at least gives his opponent more to think about as well, and it might start to reverse the problem of Khan being the one fading in the later rounds.

That's my two cents anyway - either way I think Khan will have to go life and death to get a world title back, I think potentially he could beat Peterson, or Garcia maybe, but Matthyse would be probably too big an ask.