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Boxing thread

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Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I don't think Ruiz was ever elite but when you need the Gods to save your arse on the cards against ****ing Miller, then yeah something has gone wrong. I don't know where he goes from here, its obvious he just isn't about the life needed for the sport.

Feel asleep towards the end of Crawford fight, I get these Saudi cards are "stacked" but they really do drag.
Ruiz only has himself to blame

Guy sits around eating between fights and only gets in the ring spasmodically

Cost himself millions in the last 5 years
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
From what I understand he's been going through an absolutely horrible divorce, which can't have helped. But yeah, guy had the potential to be a consistently top 5 heavyweight and has thrown it out the window.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
I don't think Ruiz was ever elite but when you need the Gods to save your arse on the cards against ****ing Miller, then yeah something has gone wrong. I don't know where he goes from here, its obvious he just isn't about the life needed for the sport.

Feel asleep towards the end of Crawford fight, I get these Saudi cards are "stacked" but they really do drag.
Well, it's also styles make fights, isn't it?

Miller has an exceptionally good chin and can withstand being counterpunched the entire night, and a (probably PED supplemented) excellent gas tank. Unless you have elite power like AJ or Wilder or Zhang, he will continue walking forward on you.

So you beat him by either outboxing and moving around him well like Dubois did (need quick feet), or having elite power and knocking him out. Ruiz has good power but not elite power. And he doesn't have quick feet. So I suspect even at his best it's a difficult night for him.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Just a little thought exercise.

Of all the current heavyweights, I think Kabayel would have the best chance of beating Usyk.

Similar fighter to Briedis - good boxing skills, good power, good counter punching, good footwork, excellent body puncher. Able to fight coming forward or going backward. Good work rate.

They're talking about Parker vs Kabayel which I hope happens rather than Parker Zhang 2.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Talks of Parker-Itauma a possibility. Would imagine Parker would want a big paycheck for that.

Some concerning signs in this interview:
Bulked-up Parker set to throw his weight around in next fight

One thing is certain for Parker. After beating the much bigger Zhang over 12 gruelling rounds five months ago, the Kiwi wants to close (or perhaps extend) the weight gap on whoever he fights next.

“I’ve put on all this weight and I feel like it’s muscle weight," he said. "Zhang was 130kg and I was 113kg. If I can close that gap in weight and keep the same speed and stamina, hopefully that will lead to a better performance.”

Parker now weighs 122kg and expects to weight about 118kg in his next fight.
Reckon even 113 kg is too heavy for him tbh.
 

thierry henry

International Coach
Talks of Parker-Itauma a possibility. Would imagine Parker would want a big paycheck for that.

Some concerning signs in this interview:
Bulked-up Parker set to throw his weight around in next fight



Reckon even 113 kg is too heavy for him tbh.
yeah that's absolutely absurd. I thought it was pretty obvious that Parker regressed when he bulked up to around 111-112kg during his title run - he went down to about 107kg for the Joshua fight which I took as tacit recognition that he had been overweight before that.

He was 116kg vs Joyce which was demonstrably overweight.

Comparing himself to Zhang or Joyce is just ridiculous because both are 2-3" taller than him, both are absolute tanks, and even then, Zhang at 130kg is clearly out of shape himself.

With the exception of those outliers, Parker is already in the "modern super heavyweight" weight range (similar fighting weights as AJ, for example) despite arguably not having the modern SHW frame. You can't fundamentally change how "big" you are by coming in heavy.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Dubois's not fit to lace AJ's gloves, absolute joke he was the IBF's mandatory.

Quit on his knees against Joyce and Usyk.
A win against Hrgovic is a pretty decent reason to be in the mandatory position (he's actually been elevated to full champion btw).

But I suspect his leaky defence will be far to much of an issue against AJ.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah Dubois is ok tbf. Its not a bad fight but do expect Joshua to drop him for the win.
I kinda agree that Dubois has been given far more opportunities than some other fighters - it was ridiculous for him to ever be mandatory for Usyk to begin with, and then even more silly for him to be given the opportunity against Hrgovic on the back of one half decent win.

Kabayel and Bakole have done much more to be deserving of at least one mandatory spot.
 

Niall

International Coach
Probably not as it isn’t Joshua’s first defeat and Dubois has been beaten easily himself so basically a fight between two lower ranked fighters
Not many guys would fancy Dubois atm, he gave Hrgovic a beating and yeah AJ has his flaws but it was a demolition job.

What he does next is interesting, maybe Fury if he comes through Usyk?

Kabayal/Parker/Zhang all would be interesting choices though
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
It's heavyweight boxing. Literally anyone can lose.

Dubois and AJ are both beasts.

I do have some questions about what Dubois was doing in Brazil and what the drug testing for this fight was like.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Probably not as it isn’t Joshua’s first defeat and Dubois has been beaten easily himself so basically a fight between two lower ranked fighters
Joshua has old wins over Klitschko, Parker, Ruiz, Povetkin.
Lately he has a dominant win over Wallin who was at least a top 20 heavyweight.
AJ has been at least a top 5 heavyweight for a long time.
Dubois has wins over Hrgovic, Miller and now AJ.

I just think we're in an extremely entertaining era of heavyweight boxing.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
In any case, I thought that was a defensively careless gameplan from Joshua.

A really poor defensive lapse caused the first knockdown.

And then he seemed intent on throwing lead uppercuts which is an insane punch to be throwing when you haven't earned it.

Where was the long straight right???

Whay was he throwing hooks rather than 1s and 2s?

Bizarre strategy.
 

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