I always find it sad the way Tim Sylvia gets thrown under a bus.
Boxing fans are often accused of abandoning a fighter as being "exposed" after a loss... especially an embarrassing one to a fighter they were fully expected to beat with ease, but I don't think I've seen the level of contempt spewed about Sylvia (and to an extent the likes of Fedor, Mousassi, GSP post Serra, Shogun after Forrest/Coleman and Torres ) with regards to any boxer.
I mean, yes Ali should have beaten Spinks the first time, even considering how old and past it he was... yet his achievements weren't ridiculed. Hell, let's look at some recent ones: Sanchez/Candello, Liakovich/Brewster, Baldomir/Judah, Raheem/Morales... the list goes on. But none of those fighters had their entire careers tarnished the way it seems mainstream MMA fans have done to Sylvia.
No doubt.
Armchair warriors who insult a fighter should be shot.
Thanks for kind words before bud.
BTW, I love MMA; hate the fans.
They’re like WWE fans who’s fighters are now “real”.
The fights go real, the fans stayed the same.
(Not all fans, only some)...
Anyway, not why I’m calling.
Tim had a great work ethic, always comported himself like a gent, took the sport seriously and helped take it to new heights.
The guy could out strike the best strikers in the game (still can) and shut down the best grapplers in the game with equal effectiveness, and dammed sure, he’s an all-time great.
Even now, he makes kicking the strongest man in the world's ass look easy.
Could you do that?
When people criticize him, the first thing they do is point out his few losses.
Every MMA great has losses.
Now, even Fedor’s got one (a real one).
Lesnar loses every 6th time he fights, for cryin’ out loud.
Aside from Mercer, who apparently hits pretty hard whether is Timmy’s skull or anyone else’s, Tim has lost only to Fedor, Couture, Mir, Nog & Arlovski, and he’s 2 for 3 against the latter.
Shit…. Tim, Fedor, Couture, Mir, Nog & Arlovski.......
Throw in Bas, Coleman, Severn & Sak and you’ve just named the 10 greatest* heavyweights the sport has ever produced.
Tim can be accused of losing only to the very best, and only sometimes.
He fought every heavyweight in MMA history who was better than he was. How many fighters can say that?
(Nog can, but don't get smart).
What people didn’t like with Tim was always to do with aesthetics.
The way he looked.
He was too big, so he suffered from the ‘Nobody roots for Goliath” syndrome, and he was kind of pear shaped, which fans who watch the sport to see beautiful male bodies could never, um, get with.
Other than that, you can literally count on your fingers the MMA big boys who compare with Tim, and the .
(* With apologies to Rickson, Barnett, Royce, Ken, Vitor & Igor, who just missed the cut, or Brock, Jr., Cain & Shane, who are WIP’s).
Well, top 20 MMA HW at the time (and 40 pounds overweight at that - like most athletes, he didn't to take exhibitions any more seriously than Ali did the fight with Anoki, not even bothering to train), but otherwise yeah.
# 5, 7 or 9 at the time, on all of the noteworthy ratings. Nobody had Tim outside the top 10 at the time of his fight with Mercer.
I posted links at the time.
Mercer – Sylvia was not an exhibition. Indeed, it was the fight “To get MMA the respect it deserves” according to Tim at the time, and he was true to his word, doing all what Mercer would let him do toward that end.
The extra weight. Ya, that really swayed the outcome for me.
Tim was cool at 4 seconds of the first, but after second 6 he visibly began to slow down.
Mercer outlasted him because of Tim’s poor conditioning.
265 Tim moved like Ali.
Not really knowing what the fuck to do about a punch that wasn’t being thrown like your sister would throw it, that had no influence on the outcome, in my dream anyway.
