The Official Boxing Thread!!!

The UFC thread has 26 pages, and the boxing thread has one (now two) posts?! ****ing kids.

Anyway, on to the Sweet Science:

2007 was a great year, especially in the sceond half.

De La Hoya/Mayweather (didn't live up to the hype, but a decent fight nonetheless),
Vasquez/Marquez 1 & 2,
Hopkins/Wright (****ty main event, but the undercards were great),
Pavlik/Taylor,
Calzaghe/Kessler,
Cotto/Mosely,
Mayweather/Hatton,

and a slew of others. 2008 looks promising as well, with the first heavyweight unification bout in a long while (Klitschko/Ibragimov), the rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, Pavlik/Taylor 2, and a load of other potentially great matchups.

So, any boxing fans have any favorite moments, performances, or fighters that they'd like to reflect on for 2007?

 

valuev :Up:

 

Nikolai Valuev, the Russian heavyweight? Gah, I would hate to find myself in a clinch with that guy - hairy, sweaty, armpits at nose-level...ugh...

Seriously though, he isn't very good. But then, almost no heavyweights are any good right now.

 

Shame Hatton got outclassed by Mayweather but looking forward to Joe Calzaghie in 08 & to see Amir Khan challenge for a world title.

 

I feel for his wife...

 

Edison "Pantera" Miranda (30-2-0) scored what could end up as 2008's Knockout of the Year over former The Contender star David Banks (15-3-1) in the third round of their super-middlewieght bout on the Nov. 11 edition of ESPN's Friday Night Fights.

The knockout.

 

Yeah, a couple of hits to the head from that guy could probably give you some brain damage. Then you have to spend the rest of your life with a blank expression on your face and being fed through a tube. And then there is the medical bills and all that ****.

 

Boxing in 2008 in 90% fixed. Hardly any good fights left anymore, the old days were better, they really fought. Now, Ufc is better, followed by WWf, Football, soccer, ladies figure skating, dodgeball, and then boxing.

 

Mercy. Seriously, the WWE doesn't even belong on that list. Ever. I'll take boxing over that.

 

I loved Wrestling and Boxing almost equally growing up. Getting to see the end of such great heavyweights as Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis was something i cherished. Then the sport slowly began to die.

Eerily similar nowadays is the WWE, which while not "dying" i would have to say is losing a lot in terms of quality just like Boxing.

I really dont know what Boxing will do in 5-10 years when Mayweather and De La Hoya are long gone. Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr. are finished. All the current top draws. The Heavyweight division is already dead.

 

Wrestling is sports entertainment. Boxing is not. There is a reason there isn't a WWE thread in the Sports forum.

 

De la Hoya Mayweather II hopefully be better, to bad its not till September.

 

But professional wrestlers are still athletes, which makes wrestling athletic. Regardless of whether it's a sport or not, and it isn't officially.

 

Let's see him take "them" on.

 

That's one big frickin female, looks like she could be Andre the Giant's ex-wife.

 

there's no live boxing on ESPN2 this week just reruns

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slug=ki-boxmovers012208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

interesting article

The Golden Boy may be past his golden years as a fighter, but he's still the most powerful man in the sport. I agree, just look at the money he draws. He's a hell of a businessman.

 

There are no big name in their prime heavyweight fighters left out there.

Ali, Foreman, Fraser, Holyfield, Tyson, etc... Nothing close to the level of any of them taking the sport back to popularity. Tis a shame.

 

yes i see your point maybe if they could get some new blood in it'll help the sport

 

A couple of undefeated, up-and-coming heavyweight prospects/contenders had it out tonight on HBO. Alexander Povetkin (15-0-0, 11 KO) won a wide unnanimous decision of "Fast" Eddie Chambers (30-1-0, 16 KO). This win gave Povetkin a number one contender ranking and a title shot.

Povetkin's talented (though he didn't look his best tonight), though, at this point, I just don't see him beating Wladimir Klitschko. In fact, he'd probably get hurt.

 

WHO!?

Heavyweight division is completely dry

 

Incorrect, but indicative of the general attitude shared by many casual fans. The current heavyweight division has some talent (though nowwhere near that of the Golden Age of Heavyweights, the late '60's and early '70's, or even the '90's and early-'00's), but it's largely dominated by 1) overweight, poorly conditioned nobodies, and 2) little known Eastern Europeans and Asians. Tonights fights was a good example, with the overweight (though potentially skilled) Chambers fighting the littleknown (to casual fans) but very talented Povetkin. Furthermore, at the top of the heap is one fighter (like Tyson for a few years in the late '80's) who would be an almost prohibitive favorite against any contender. There aren't any American heavyweights to stir the American fans' interest, and their aren't that many exciting fights - though that should start to pick up in the coming months and years.

So, dry, but not completely so.

 

Pavlik/Taylor 2 tonight *****es!

 

DeLaHoya...

set to fight Forbes on May 3 in order to "tune-up" for

Mayweather rematch in September