Irish Boxing

:happy

Lee could outbox him safely at distance, but should it come to slugging I favor Spike's chances to hurt Andy more than vice-versa (even though Andy does have a fight-altering punch...his chin is just that much worse than Spike's)

 

Thats distorted by the fact that boxrec doesn't count Northern Irish fighters in the Irish rankings. And also all the Irish fighters fighting on foreign soil who are registered as Aussie's and whatnot.

 

Which NI or Aussie-Irish fighter do you put above Lee or Spike, though?

Frampton, sure, but who else? Dennis Hogan?

 

Stephen Ormond for one, even though I know he's from the South. I think Spike is a better fighter than Hogan sure, but hogan has the better record and is on a better run so far, so I have him ahead. Maybe Tj Dohney to (though ive never seen him fight, his record looks glossy enough ). I had Marco McCullough ahead of Spike until last week when he got destroyed in a tune up:-(. Actually I could see a case being made of Phil Sutcliffe being ahead of Spike now, given that he knocked out the guy who beat McCullough in one, and also beat a top 15 Euro ranked fighter in Portillier.

Tommy McCarthy will overtake Spike very soon to imo.

 

Fair enough then, from what I knew of the scene I thought Spike's ranking about right but maybe not. :good

(and yeah, he and Lee would both place well behind Frampton if you combined NI & ROI)

 

Oh believe me, I do when I think of Irish rankings :good

There's plenty of fighters who are more talented than Spike on the island really. Can't wait to see them work their way up the rankings. We're going to make some impact on the world stage in 2 or 3 years time :deal

 

I might just be a little biased as Spike and I are mates. He even offered to let me spar him next times he trains in Boston!

...but I also do profess a bit of ignorance where a bulk of the emerald isle's up and coming talent is concerned. I know of the big names like Nevin and Quigley, and obviously Paddy Barnes once he turns pro ought to shoot up the rankings in meteoric fashion, but my knowledge is only surface deep.

 

We'd love to see that one no doubt. Politely disagree about Andy out iboxing him at a distance...no guarantee at all of that. After all he couldn't outbox such luminaries as Mckewn, Horta, Fitz, JJ jr etc.
Also no guarantee spike has the better chin at all. Whatever you may say about Andy he has a proven granite chin. Not that spike has a poor chin or anything, but certainly andys chin is more proven for me. That said I would favour Spike to win.

 

nevin boxes again in august 25th new york... hopefully he can get on the lee undercard also:good:good

 

:good nice to see nevin back

 

Gardiner gets beat easily by Hrgovic

but ward puts on a clinic against the Russian . 30-25,30-27,30-26

stream was a bit jumpy but he controlled the whole fight. Taught the ref could have been a bit dodgy because he constantly warned ward for ducking low even when he wasn't and the Russian was rushing in with his head down and ward was just defending himself. Also ward dropped and badly hurt the Russian in the second with bodyshots and for some reason the referee didn't count it, judges did though, very good performance and that was actually the hardest fight he will have in this tournament

 

Can he keep it together this time?

 

But who in Ireland would beat him at middleweight - thats what counts.

Its irrelevant to Spikes career that he will never be able to box like Frampton.

 

Lee for one.

Probably Quigley too, even at this juncture

 

Michael Conlan is an excellent little fighter at 56kg. He has a great skillset and can fight at any range. I think he can win Olympic gold and then he will almost be a certainty to turn pro at super-bantamweight or featherweight, where I think he can eventually win a title. Joe Ward, is another guy who can still go on to big things as a pro after the next Olympics , in spite of a recent dip in form. He came back to steamroll the Russian fighters at the euros today, so hopefully he's back on the wagon :good

Our fighter at 69kg, Steven Donnelly, is also another guy who could go far as a pro. He's got the style for it and went on a good run in the WSB recently. He's also a big outsider to make it to Rio, especially considering that he's fallen out of favour with the Irish team. So fingers crossed he signs a pro deal soon.

There are also other young guys with bags of talent on the Irish team, such as Michael O'Reilly at middleweight and Brendan Irvine at flyweight, but they are highly unlikely to turn pro even if they make it to Rio. They'll be main stays on team Ireland for many years to come. You should really check out both of these guys, as they have all the talent in the world but are still relatively unknown.

[yt]watch?v=tj1QmKKtRV8[/yt]

[YT]watch?v=ei6AY1UyaWs[/YT]

And of course you cant forget the other good young novice pro prospects like Conrad Cummings, Tommy McCarthy, Joe Fitzpatrick, Phil Sutcliffe, Gary Sweeney and Con Sheehan, all who have quite a bit of talent.