Buckland v Smith

Added to the Cleverly-Kovalev card.

Jeez is funny how things can change in this sport. Things were looking miserable for Buckland up until a few mins ago compared to his gym colleague Lee Selby, especially after the farce in Argentina.

Now Buckland gets a fight in his hometown on a big HBO bill, whilst Lee Selby is an afterthought on an undercard to a 0 fight novice at the other end of the country before he gets shunted to the States.

 

Oh there's no doubt it's a good fight, just a shame it isn't being billed as such. Just seen the Sky ad for Saturday night and Selby doesn't even feature on it - this night is all about Campbell and Brook. And you're right about Campbell's drawing power so that's why Selby is on the undercard to him and being attached to his coat tails. Although ticket selling didn't cut much ice for Frampton in terms of Sky agreeing to going back to Belfast.

It's a good job Selby has been brought along on the road so he's used to it, and will need to continue to accept it.

 

Since Buckland is from the same gym as Selby and they fight within a few weeks of each other then I see it as rather relevant. Am not one for long winded titles and the OP explains the context of it anyway.

 

Sincerest apologies for any form of misrepresentation in terms of the title as pertains to appropriate behaviour with regard to ill-conceived tangential jumping off points.

 

No worries - the use of the word 'tangential' had to be replied to with the odd long one too there!

Think this could be a cracking fight. Not sure how inactivity will affect Buckland but he does have good tough sparring where he is so hopefully that won't be a problem.

How much Smith has recovered form the Selby fight will be put to the test here. That would've been a hard one to take mentally and Buckland is tough, although doesn't pack the same wallop as Selby.

I still like Smith as boxer though, but f I had to put money down I'd probably go for a Buckland late stoppage as he is the tougher of the two

 

Yeah I think if you look at the Selby fight then the easiest conclusion to come to is that Smith will buckle under a heavy bombardment. But Selby brings a lot more to the table offensively than Buckland in terms of variety, and it's also worth remembering that Selby came into that fight still as something of an unknown quantity even to many boxing people. Smith's camp didn't really appreciate what they were up against there.

This time Smith will know that Buckland is a more straight forward proposition in terms of how he will come at him. The question is can he box around that and deter Buckland coming straight at him for most of the fight. To do that Smith is going to have to hurt Buckland and I'm not sure he can put enough of that on the heavier stronger guy.

Still, the fact Gallagher has taken this fight so soon after such a lay off for Smith suggests they feel they know what they have to do here. Could be interesting.