Dominated? No, I don't think so. Did he lose them? Yes. But domination is a completely different thing. Hardly got put down and battered from pillar to post did he? Clutching at straws by making out that 2 rounds of a fight is an indication of Mathews being clearly out-boxed
Matthews was CLEARLY out boxed for the first two! Crolla dominated behind the jab, he couldn't miss, and was blocking pretty much everything. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XN2zxkUuT0[/ame] And you don't have to be battered from pillow to post to be dominated..
Ok then I'll go by your logic that 2 rounds of a fight is a good indication of what happened in a fight. Like Mosley dominating Mayweather for example. Forget Mathews dominating the rest of the fight and putting Crolla down and that because he lost the first 2 rounds
I said Rees was levels above Derry and I still very much believe that. For me Rees is in between Euro and World level (let's call it fringe world level) and could go on even higher. He hasn't been beaten at LW and I'd give him a decent chance with any LW belt holder (& Abril) at the moment. I think Rees is closer to the title holders than Derry. As far as "not being competitive" goes those are your words not mine (although I may be wrong ). I didn't expect a complete annihilation but I fully expected a Rees stoppage and it was obviously closer than I thought. And fair play to Derry for that. Rees admitted it was a poor performance from him, not listening etc. Yet you're completely right in 2nd para'; it doesn't matter really how good you are skill wise if you are pretty vulnerable physically (he certainly isn't mentally). If it was skills alone then Derry would be Euro level, but its not, so he's under that. I think people are suggesting the fight was a lot closer than it was; mainly because everyone likes Derry's style and personality along with the fact he did better than everyone expected. For me he was a few rounds down and never really hurt Rees. Yep, skillwise Derry is probably better than Murray but its the whole package (including resistance) and I think Murray would do him. As for Fana if its for the IBF (as Tony Bellew says) then he might as well go for it; he might get lucky, but for me he'll get stopped again. Otherwise go for Crolla for the vacant British; they're on an evenish playing field in terms of levels.
Who said anything about Crolla dominating the rest of the fight :-( For ****s sakes, read my reply to the guy who said Derry has never been out-boxed in a fight, and I stated that he did in the first few rounds against Crolla.....
Matthews has given a lot to the sport and to the fans. Seems a real decent guy too. I don't care who he fights, I just hope he bags a few pay days before his body totally gives out on him, he deserves it! That said, I'd much prefer to seem going toe to toe with the best of Britain. Every fight he's in is a fight of the year contender.
Please dont call WBF a world title, For Christ sake even sweaty Mick wudnt call WBF a world title!!!!
so is it not a world governing body regardless of how prestigious it may be?? therefore making it a world title shot
I have no problem with Derry fighting for the WBF title (let's not call it a World title), boxing is a short career and if he can get more fighting for that than he can in a domestic fight then more power to him. It's just a trinket at the end of the day, but Fana is a decent fighter (former IBF champ at Super Feather) so he certainly wouldn't be picking up the belt from a non-entity. If he wins that then drops it to fight for the British again then what harm's been done?
Always liked Derry. Has a big heart but his face is prone to being marked up and being bloodied by one decent shot.
Got plenty of bites there i see. After a poor stoppage like that there should be a rematch simple as that. Crolla will travel to Liverpool, its a good sell. Easy fight to make so why the hell not. Not taking anything away from Derry, but deep down he knows he got lucky with that stoppage. Most refs would not have stopped that.....fact! 3 SECONDS LEFT IN THE ROUND FFS