Do you think boxing handled the Fury humiliation well?

[PBAC]

I think it was wise to back Frank the way they did rather try cover it up and make excuses. they're getting away with it by treating it like a Rocky flick and Francis just being a genetic freak. If he beats Joshua they will further the hype train and if loses no one will care.

As a boxing fan I've been saying these top HWs arent what they're hyped up as and are more like place holders in a week era until they get exposed so it didnt surprise me much

 

[Goatenstein]

Do you think MMA handled the Sylvia situation well?

 

[mozfonky]

I fucking didnt but there seems to be no pride left in or for the sport. No one cares.

 

[Fisticuffa]

I fucking didnt but there seems to be no pride left in or for the sport. No one cares.

Constantly crying about the state of the sport & the guy you found to admire in today's boxing (before the Ngannou fight) is a fat slob raised on British boar meat who ducked out of a Wlad rematch, hasn't fought AJ, delayed the Usyk fight by years even after Usyk offered him a 70-30 split

You couldn't find anyone else to admire like the guys who do their work quietly & put on exciting fights & take on challenges like Inoue & Usyk. Opetaia & Matias seem to want that smoke too but no let's find unprofessional fat slobs to admire so that we can cry about boxing when they inevitably sh*t the bed

Just because an Inoue doesn't sit on twitter all day bitching about A side, B side, & being a loud mouth like Fury doesn't mean there is "no pride left"

The sport has passed you by as it has a whole lot of nostalgia filled Americans who pine for a "golden age" when a humungous amount of talent was excluded from boxing because of the existence of the communist bloc

 

[Jonny Ninja]

The problem is fury was considered the best HW by his fans and most casuals before their fight. It was a bit embarrassing but no humiliation. Fury was representing himself, not boxing!

Ngannous next fight will tell us more because Joshua will always come in to a fight in top condition. If he knocks Francis out or completely outboxes him then it’s gonna look bad for fury. If Francis does really well or wins, then I think people need to look at him as an exceptional fighter, rather than any slight in boxing.

 

[PBAC]

Ngannous next fight will tell us more because Joshua will always come in to a fight in top condition. If he knocks Francis out or completely outboxes him then it’s gonna look bad for fury. If Francis does really well or wins, then I think people need to look at him as an exceptional fighter, rather than any slight in boxing.

Joshua is so hittable this could end up being the Mercer v Tim of boxing

 

[Jonny Ninja]

Joshua is so hittable this could end up being the Mercer v Tim of boxing

I’m sure you’ll get good odds if you think thats likely. I certainly don’t though, I can see ngannou getting battered/ko’d or easily outboxed.

 

[PBAC]

I’m sure you’ll get good odds if you think thats likely. I certainly don’t though, I can see ngannou getting battered/ko’d or easily outboxed.

Wallin was a good win for Joshua I guess but think it's a bad sign of we're judging out HW contenders on people Fury was laughed at for fighting

 

[Jonny Ninja]

Wallin was a good win for Joshua I guess but think it's a bad sign of we're judging out HW contenders on people Fury was laughed at for fighting

I think wallin was a pretty average win for Joshua. No where near one of his best. People rated him because he gave fury a fight

Well theres obvious differences. Fury is the current WBC champion and took this fight instead of his unification fight, or even defending his belt against a ranked contender. He fought a guy who’s never boxed professionally and ducked the unified champion in the process.

Joshua doesn’t have a belt, isn’t ducking another fighter to take this fight, and ngannou is no longer the unknown quantity. Fury was poor but Francis did better than anyone ever expected

This also isn’t gonna hold up any fights because the HW divisions is on hold till ‘at least’ next month, and the contenders (Joshua/ngannou, hrgovic, zhang, Parker) will all be fighting 2-4 times next year whilst the HW picture becomes more clear.

 

[mozfonky]

Constantly crying about the state of the sport & the guy you found to admire in today's boxing (before the Ngannou fight) is a fat slob raised on British boar meat who ducked out of a Wlad rematch, hasn't fought AJ, delayed the Usyk fight by years even after Usyk offered him a 70-30 split

You couldn't find anyone else to admire like the guys who do their work quietly & put on exciting fights & take on challenges like Inoue & Usyk. Opetaia & Matias seem to want that smoke too but no let's find unprofessional fat slobs to admire so that we can cry about boxing when they inevitably sh*t the bed

Just because an Inoue doesn't sit on twitter all day bitching about A side, B side, & being a loud mouth like Fury doesn't mean there is "no pride left"

The sport has passed you by as it has a whole lot of nostalgia filled Americans who pine for a "golden age" when a humungous amount of talent was excluded from boxing because of the existence of the communist bloc

I dont admire fury but I did think he was a sign of hope for the division. And also, I'm tired of guys like you raving about some canelo or Inouye and me seeing them and being unimpressed. You're right that the sport has changed hegemony but it's also taken a serious nosedive in quality. That's the part you guys just can't see a cant be told about.

 

[Seahawks Fan]

I fucking didnt but there seems to be no pride left in or for the sport. No one cares.

This is only true of boxing in North America. Internationally, boxing is as strong as ever. The rise of Eastern European fighters over the last 5-7 years is one of the most important developments in the history of boxing. These Eastern Euros are as good as any fighters I've ever seen. It's still a great time to be a boxing fan if you can appreciate fighters beyond American shores

 

[Fisticuffa]

This is only true of boxing in North America. Internationally, boxing is as strong as ever. The rise of Eastern European fighters over the last 5-7 years is one of the most important developments in the history of boxing. These Eastern Euros are as good as any fighters I've ever seen. It's still a great time to be a boxing fan if you can appreciate fighters beyond American shores

Don't you know

Boxing belongs to USA

If Americans aren't running the show (including by virtue of talent not being able to join the pro ranks thanks to communism) then the sport is in serious decline because who cares about non Americans right?

Boxing is far more global now with the rise of East European & Central Asian (GGG, Janibek, Otabek) fighters being one of the most significant shifts we have seen in a long time

I can only imagine how many great fighters we missed out in the pro ranks during the 70 odd years the USSR was in existence

The shift away from US for fight locations is also a good trend & part of the same story with the rise of economies outside USA. The Klitschko's showed that they didn't need US to make money which is a sore spot for many American boxing fans who started cope stories about how all their best heavyweights were playing football & basketball as if those sports didn't exist in the 90's when you had Bowe & Holyfield. Plus its funny how they never mention the fact that during the "golden age" all the communist bloc guys weren't running around with a ball in some hypothetical world but were actually stuck as amateur boxers unless they managed to flee communism

They can sit around crying about some lost mythical golden age (during which the mob virtually ran boxing under Frankie Carbo for quiet a few years) or get with the program, their loss if they don't

 

[Levi_]

Do you think MMA handled the Sylvia situation well?

Equating that is the worst possible comparison for so many reasons. The weakness of the HW division isn't anything to get into a pissing match with MMA fans about. I've been a boxing fan for much longer than an MMA fan, and I don't have any problem acknowledging the division's profound weakness.

 

[Levi_]

Ngannous next fight will tell us more because Joshua will always come in to a fight in top condition. If he knocks Francis out or completely outboxes him then it’s gonna look bad for fury. If Francis does really well or wins, then I think people need to look at him as an exceptional fighter, rather than any slight in boxing.

I agree with you except the last sentence. I think we already know Francis is an exceptional boxer by what he did in his first bout. But I still think HW is weak; there is a long list of former HWs that Francis would not be able to beat up like that. If Francis had started young, we don't know just how good he would be, but at this age and with this lack of experience, it's hard to say he would have beaten the HW greats; his ceiling is limited.

 

[burningspear]

 

[deucesarewild]

Ngannous next fight will tell us more because Joshua will always come in to a fight in top condition. If he knocks Francis out or completely outboxes him then it’s gonna look bad for fury. If Francis does really well or wins, then I think people need to look at him as an exceptional fighter, rather than any slight in boxing.

Joshua doesn't show up in top mental condition for all of his fights, though. He is a mentally uneven fighter. He might psych himself out and be afraid to assert the ring generalship.

 

[deucesarewild]

Equating that is the worst possible comparison for so many reasons. The weakness of the HW division isn't anything to get into a pissing match with MMA fans about. I've been a boxing fan for much longer than an MMA fan, and I don't have any problem acknowledging the division's profound weakness.

Why is it the worst possible comparison for so many reasons? You didn't give any facts for your reasons? And I'm being combative. I'd genuinely like to hear them. Sylvia was a top ranked HW in MMA, widely regarded for his stand up, who was beaten quickly by an upper-middle level boxer by KO, whereas Fury was a top ranked fighter in boxing who was not beaten by a top ranked MMA fighter. MMA stand up looked pretty awful in Sylvia's case, even if I don't agree with that assessment.

 

[Levi_]

Why is it the worst possible comparison for so many reasons? You didn't give any facts for your reasons? And I'm being combative. I'd genuinely like to hear them. Sylvia was a top ranked HW in MMA, widely regarded for his stand up, who was beaten quickly by an upper-middle level boxer by KO, whereas Fury was a top ranked fighter in boxing who was not beaten by a top ranked MMA fighter. MMA stand up looked pretty awful in Sylvia's case, even if I don't agree with that assessment.

Were you watching MMA at the time? I think a lot of people miss context and really don't understand what happened because they get their knowledge from Fightfinder and Youtube videos.

Sylvia was not one of the best HWs at the time of that fight; he had not been champ for 3 years and the fight you are talking about was his 4th loss in 5 fights at the time. He was also in very bad physical condition as he had just gotten over severe medical issues and was WAY overweight (300+ pounds); that cannot be taken seriously as a representative match of Boxing vs MMA. There is also the issue that any style of fighter in the UFC would be better than Tim at fighting a boxer because they have better TDs; Tim was justa half-baked striker, not the kind of complete figher that would represent MMA well.

Grappler Randy Couture was not the top HW when he beat Toney either but won that pretty easily.

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

Why is it the worst possible comparison for so many reasons? You didn't give any facts for your reasons? And I'm being combative. I'd genuinely like to hear them. Sylvia was a top ranked HW in MMA, widely regarded for his stand up, who was beaten quickly by an upper-middle level boxer by KO, whereas Fury was a top ranked fighter in boxing who was not beaten by a top ranked MMA fighter. MMA stand up looked pretty awful in Sylvia's case, even if I don't agree with that assessment.

Tim had also never been knocked out up until Mercer did that to him. Even after he only lost a couple times by stoppage (TKO). Never again by KO.

 

[Kovalev's "Man Bag"]

Were you watching MMA at the time? I think a lot of people miss context and really don't understand what happened because they get their knowledge from Fightfinder and Youtube videos.

Sylvia was not one of the best HWs at the time of that fight; he had not been champ for 3 years and the fight you are talking about was his 4th loss in 5 fights at the time. He was also in very bad physical condition as he had just gotten over severe medical issues and was WAY overweight (300+ pounds); that cannot be taken seriously as a representative match of Boxing vs MMA. There is also the issue that any style of fighter in the UFC would be better than Tim at fighting a boxer because they have better TDs; Tim was justa half-baked striker, not the kind of complete figher that would represent MMA well.

Grappler Randy Couture was not the top HW when he beat Toney either but won that pretty easily.

Tim lost his UFC title to Randy in 2007. He fought Mercer in 2009. That's only a couple years removed from him being UFC champion. Not three. Those recent losses that Tim took prior to fighting Mercer were also against the era's best heavyweights (Big Nog, Fedor, and an ATG Couture).