At least the decision for Vazquez-Bey resulted in one good thing: Crawford-Beltran will establish a new lineage at lightweight. Also, did you guys read the BR article about the top 25 fighters since Mayweather-Maidana II? The TBRB is mentioned. We're gaining some recognition.
Winner becomes lineal lightweight champion. If Crawford wins, he'll have a great four fight run. Burns, Gamboa, Beltran, and Shafikov. Burns and Shafikov are titleholders, Gamboa is seen as a fighter with a lot of potential, and Beltran is a contender who was robbed against Burns. Too bad Crawford can't fight Danny Garcia or Peterson at 140, since they're with Golden Boy, and he's with Top Rank. He could fight Mikey Garcia once he settles his legal disputes. I think a win over Garcia plus everyone listed would be enough to put Crawford in the top 10 P4P list.
It would be quite a run. Ironically, the peak of it would actually have come against Gamboa who unlike Burns, Shafikov and Beltran isn't even a lightweight but he is p4p head and shoulders above them all.
I think the winner of Crawford-Beltran alone will become the lineal Lightweight champion (1 v 2). Shafikov v Bey could be for top contender (even though Vazquez beat both :-(), but don't forget Abril is back in the mix now too with his win over Tatli.
Shafikov and Bey are not on the same level, in the opposite manner their official results with El Titere suggest. Vázquez thoroughly outclassed Bey, and labored to get past Shafikov.
Totally agree. I picked Shafikov to beat Vazquez, and don't write him off against Crawford either. Hopefully he does get the chance to fight Bey, he might be robbed too, but I give him a better chance than Vazquez of rendering the judges obsolete. :yep
Yeah, same here. I think we're going to see a very negative Bey in his title reign, however long it lasts, but hopefully Shafikov is able to get to him.
Weird. I thought Bey was far more competitive than expected against Miguel, and thought that Shafikov performed well below expectations when he fought Vazquez. I had Vasquez squeaking by Bey 115-113, and only had Shafikov winning two rounds. Granted, the version of Vasquez that Denis faced seemed to be fighting at a higher level; and I would pick Shaf to defeat Bey in pretty convincing fashion...But I think Bey, based on style, probably runs Miguel closer than Shafikov would every time they fight. :conf