What's Best in Boxing today?

[hopkins]

There are less boxing fights today than there ever were, but there is still some great talent out there. Saturday night, on the undercard of a very boring heavyweight main bout, was an exciting fight with Abudllah Mason, a very young and skillful boxer - here are the highlights. He's so quick you will appreciate the slow motion replay to understand what's going on! I often watch fights on YouTube at half-speed, in order to fully appreciate fighters' technique. Enjoy!

Here is a rare interview of Mason:

 

[hopkins]

Very exciting fight today between Naoya Inoue and Luis Nery for the unified bantamweight title.

Inoue was dropped in the first round (a "first" for him). He seemed awkward in that first round - something was "off". It was a wake up call (paradoxically).

He fully recovered and dropped Nery in the second round with a beautiful counter hook. It was all downhill for Nery from there on. Nery was stopped by a barrage of blows in the 6th. The final blow was a very short right that he obviously did not see coming. That last right hand looks like a simple slap, but it put Nery to sleep.

Inoue is physically impressive - combining great speed and power (hence "The Monster"). But he is also a skillful defensive fighter with great timing and footwork.

 

[hopkins]

Lomachenko, 36 years old, completely outclasses Kambosos and ends the fight in the 11th round with two knockdowns leading to Kambosos' father throwing in the towel:

The lightweight division should see some exciting fights in the near future.

 

[hopkins]

This weekend saw the hyped "unified" heavyweight boxing fight between Usyk and Fury, but in the lighter weights I was very impressed by this 23 year old boxer, who won the WBO middleweight title vacated by Terecence Crawford:

Brian Norman Jr. - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Very good inside fighting and defense against the "brawler" Santilian. His uppercut was the money shot all throughout the fight.

He's 23 but turned pro at 17 and showed great composure throughout the fight.

 

[hopkins]

Here's a little clip I made to highlight how Usyk beat Fury last weekend.

Slow motion is really useful to appreciate the skills of these athletes. How they see things and react to them in real time is impressive. Obviously a lot of training is required, both physically and "tactically".

It's not easy to fight taller opponents, and Tyson Fury has knockout power in his hands. Usyk showed a lot of confidence and poise (which is necessary in addition to skills of course).

 

[KeithR]

Usyk really impressed me and took some vicious blows mid fight and still got the knockdown. Was surprised ref didn’t call it.

 

[hopkins]

Usyk really impressed me and took some vicious blows mid fight and still got the knockdown. Was surprised ref didn’t call it.

I guess you could view it in either of two ways:
- Fury was standing but no longer defending himself so the fight should have been stopped
- Fury would have touched the canvas had he not been held by the corner post, so counting him was the right decision
Both were true?

 

[hopkins]

Another boxing event took place in Saudi Arabia this weekend. I saw three of the fights.

- Deontay Wilder against Zilhei Zhang - heavyweights. Deontay Wilder is said to be one of the most powerful punchers in the sport, but he forgot the "basics" in that fight: protect yourself at all times!

He let his guard down and got rocked by Zang:



Then he immediately turned his back to Zang and got knocked out:



Rookie mistake...

As with audio, boxing is not only about brute strength and power.

 

[hopkins]

The second fight I watched was Dmitry Bivol against Malik Zinad.

Bivol is considered one of the best "pound for pound" boxers today. He has a "Russian school of boxing" style: very loose and relaxed in his upper body, able to throw endless combinations, and very dynamic with his feet using a "pendulum" movement that gives you speed and power but is in fact quite subtle and graceful when well executed, as can be seen in this video:

Malik Zinad had some success in the first rounds, relying on his reach to keep Bivol off him with jabs and some straight right hands that found their mark. I think he may have surprised himself. But when Bivol closed the distance, he did not have any solutions.

 

[hopkins]

The third fight I watched was Raymond Ford versus Nick Ball for Ford's WBA featherweight title.

This one was close. I'd never seen Nick Ball fight before. He is only 5'2" (157cm). Raymond Ford is 5'7" (170cm). Nick Ball kept a very tight high guard throughout the fight, and his much smaller height and small torso made it difficult for Ford to find a target. Ball is a very aggressive fighter, who comes in like a bull with wide punches. Yet Ford, who does have speed, was simply unable to counter him effectively when Ball sprung to action. It looked like Ford simply had no strategy, which was a bit disappointing and ultimately why I found the fight to be boring. Neither fighter was really effective throughout the 12 rounds.

 

[hopkins]

Bruce "Shu Shu" Carrington displayed excellent skills in his fight this Saturday in Madison Square Garden against a game veteran:

Carrington was probably not giving his best in this fight, and Tim Bradley, commentating on the fight, even thought that he was carrying his opponent in the first rounds. I found he was also a little sloppy at times.

A fight against Inoue (who was in attendance) is talked about as Inoue will probably move up in weight. If that happens, it would make for an interesting fight, but I'm not sure Carrington is quite ready for it. Will he rise to the challenge? Hard to tell from this fight.

Carrington is 27, has a very impressive amateur career but only 12 pro fights.

 

[hopkins]

I have always been fascinated by the variety of styles in boxing. Carrington was slick with his shoulder rolls. He reminded me of James "Lights Out" Toney. Here's a highlight of Toney vs Iran Barkley:

When done well it is a very elegant and efficient way of fighting. Boxing is a sport but can rise up to an art form.

James Toney had 92 fights. Today, he's overweight and smokes big cigars. He knows he's got nothing left to prove, he's one of the all-time greats.

 

[hopkins]

More rambling...

Speaking of "old" fighters, Mike Tyson's decision to fight the YouTube star Jake Paul is controversial within the boxing world.

He's 58 (so am I) and I think he simply wants to get back in shape again and see if he can beat father time. I am sure many here can understand that. So it's a fight against himself... It so happens that people are willing to pay a lot to see it. It won't be a fight of the caliber of those mentioned in this thread so far. I'll watch it on YouTube after. I have respect and admiration for Tyson (in spite of his downfalls in and out of the ring), and I am curious to see how he performs at 58, regardless of the outcome.

Bernard Hopkins (another boxer I admire, hence my alias) still holds longevity records as a fighter, but he led, and still leads today a very disciplined lifestyle. He's asked about it frequently during interviews. Here is an example, where he goes into detail about his diet and why he chose this lifestyle:

 

[hopkins]

Gervonta Davis put Frank Martin to sleep in the 8th round last night. Davis showed no respect for Martin and just walked him down throughout the fight, from round 1. Davis took a couple shots along the way, but nothing that seemed to impress him. On the other hand, as soon as Martin started getting hit, he understood what he was up against and started closing up in a crouch and lost his desire to pressure Davis, and his ability to counter. As Tyson famously said, "everyone has a plan until they get punched..."

 

[hopkins]

Back to Mike Tyson for a moment - I just wanted to add a comment. While I understand the motivation for him to get back in shape and test himself again, you don't need to actually engage in a "pro" fight at 58 to prove things to yourself. He could simply train and spar in a gym, I'm sure there are plenty of young talented boxers out there who would be thrilled to spar with Tyson.

But since he chose to get into a pro fight, why pick Jake Paul of all people? The guy is a mediocre boxer. Is that really going to attract new fans to boxing?

 

[hopkins]

Emiliano Vargas is another young (20 year old) fighter to follow - he's the son of Fernando Vargas, and is making a name for himself. He was on the undercard last night of the Teofimo Lopez fight in Miami, and quickly stopped his opponent in the first round:

Beautiful counter uppercuts (something you don't see so often), then an explosive counter straight right hand had his opponent down for the count. The referee
stopped the fight shortly after.

 

[hopkins]

Last night Abdullah Mason, previously mentioned in this thread, was very impressive in his 3rd pro fight against a more experienced fighter (23 fights).

He boxes really well both from the outside, and on the inside. Very effective defense, etc... This young guy is the whole package.

 

[hopkins]

In another fight last night, Keyshawn Davis was up against a tough brawler who simply would not go down, in spite of being hit repeatedly with big power shots. Davis showed great offensive and defensive skills.

 

[hopkins]

In another fight on last night's card, O'Shaquie Foster got ROBBED of his WBC featherweight title. Sad for Foster...

 

[hopkins]

On July 6th, 18 year old Curmel Moton had his 4th pro fight (he's got 150 amateur fights!), and disposed of his opponent within two rounds:

This "kid" is sensational! His opponent was not, but Moton will certainly quickly get tested with better opponents. Stay tuned.