Blackwell was the away fighter with another promoter with no ties to hearn . Sky was always going to big up the matchroom fighter hoping for him to win to help build future shows. Pretty much the same as evans if he wud hav won. Also kept saying evans was a blown up super feather wen he never got close to the limit.
Yeah it did need to get mentioned - the only one on the night that truly have Blackwell any proper credit was Froch.
This may make me unpopular here but I thought the punditry for that fight was pretty good, they called it how it was, Blackwell was poor for a large part of the fight and Ryder was very good. Obviously that all changed the later the fight went and they called that too. I found Adam Smith very biased towards Dave Ryan, I was assuming they were pals, some of the pundits were a little disrespectful to Gavin but all in all it wasn't too bad. One other thing though, whenever Mitchell was caught with a punch they made it seem as if he had been staggered when he wasn't at all until the end of the fight.
Blackwell was kinda in transition so things didnt click straight away and Blackwell is a slow starter but Lockett was still certain he`d win. Ryder did what you dont do against Blackwell and try to make it a fight, though i still think Blackwell would have caught up with him. Blackwells body shot really slowed Ryder up. Said it for a long time that Blackwell is under rated, now he`s with The Lockett Man things can only get better, dont be surprised if Hearn trys to get him under his banner
Any comments from Ryder/Simms since the fight? Be interesting to hear what Team Ryder have to say. Uninformed 'fans' have been trying to make out the stoppage was premature. But you can clearly see there wasnt a peep out of either Simms or John at the time. They knew. The fighter always knows.
At the end of the day Ryder ended up across the other side of the ring after the stoppage. Howard Foster didn't drag him over there. His legs were gone and as you say there were no complaints. Still fuming at the commentary but going to let it go. When I was previewing the fight I honestly thought Blackwell had all the angles covered. Especially after watching Ryder's last couple of fights. Blackwell was going to have come on a lot from the Khomitsky fight and he looked superb at the end of that one. To be fair to Ryder surprised me, showed skill and won the first couple. After that Blackwell was beating him to the punch, landing the jab and even landing the cleaner shots up against the ropes. I think this myth that Blackwell turned the fight on it's head has to be put to bed. The fight had already turned, from the minute he busted Ryder up in the third. As for Eubank the fight won't happen. It would be very interesting as they are both at a similar level now. I honestly think that Blackwell would beat him but nowhere near as confident as I was for the Ryder fight. The likes of Etches, O'Sullivan, Ogogo and even Ryder again won't fight Nick. British title or not I think he will struggle to get big fights for a while yet. I mean who honestly think Matthew Macklin could beat Blackwell right now?!
Has Ryder said anything since the fight? Are they looking for a rematch? (Or even pretending to want one?)
Any chance of Sky getting Darke back?! He was by far the best commentator, especially on the big fights.
Thanks for that reply Maley.:thumbsup John Ryder is a classy, decent guy. My only regret is that it had to be HIM that was Blackwells ' breakthrough fight'. Again, from what you say, he said nothing about it being a premature stoppage....