Sergey Rabchenko - moment of sobriety.

A real "coyote ugly", this. :!:

 

Where does he go next?

Chase a rematch with Mundine? (it won't happen; Mundine got what he wanted from Rabchenko and doesn't want to put up with any more of those heavy body shots than he needed to. Mundine wants to either milk the Silver belt and get paid in bits and bobs, or cash out in one fell swoop with a big opportunity, probably in the USA)

Go after his old EBU light middleweight title, now held by Jack Culcay? That would be a good fight, actually.

Vitu II, cleaning the slate and settling their business?


Anything of higher importance has now been taken off table.

 

:good

I think he can still produce some fine quality work there in the EBU mix and on that same tier, and I'll definitely be keen on tuning in and expecting to be well entertained anytime he takes on someone in the league of a Vitu, Culcay, Pitto, Real, etc. - anything involving him really except for a mismatch on whichever end (whether he somehow lands a world class opponent, in which case he will just get humiliated - or he reverts to smashing up the internal organs and love handles of low-level journeymen...seen enough of that already...)

I just don't think we should have ever been rating him as "top 5 h2h at super welter" oops and likely to knock out a bunch of top names having never actually fought one. Now with a clear head I probably wouldn't even favor him too heavily over a Brian Rose - though yesterday I probably would've bet real money on him to score an early KO. :-(


It really oughtn't have taken Mundine beating him, either. The signs were all there, as listed above.

 

I'd buy that if he just started out slow and took a while to figure Mundine out - but he was made a fool of for the entire first half of the match. Even in the 2nd half, which became more Rabchenko's fight, a straight-up brawl at times, Mundine often got the best of the action up close.

I think he's just limited.

He did come on strong. He is an honest pro and does hit reasonably hard (especially with his body shots) - but I just don't think he is anywhere near world class or likely to ever be, nor is his KO power.

 

People told me it was harsh to call him another Selcuk Aydin, but honestly Aydin is only a couple of years older - and unless Rabchenko does go on to get ranked and bring home the gold in a hurry, by Aydin's current age they will have the same exact career highlights: EBU and WBC Silver championships.

I also think all three of Aydin's conquerors (even JSK) are better than Mundine, p4p. Certainly both Guerrero and Postol are.

 

:sad2

We all went full on apple pie in the sky...

• [yt]vWZ-pLUb9L8[/yt]

 

What troubles me about us collectively putting him up on a pedestal is that, yes, he beat a few halfway decent opponents, but none were truly special and even those were all beaten in really uninspiring fashion (outside the one final body shot that did in Rhodes). All the hoopla really was based on nothing.