I'm not a professional fighter so I can't necessarily criticise the heart of any fighter but at the same time I can compare their heart to the heart of other fighters. if Walters was taking a spectular beating, was bloodied up and had nothing in the tank that would be no problem to throw in the towel and live to fight another day. But this dude was getting soundly outboxed, he wasn't really marked up but was not really throwing anything so wasn't too tired. Lomanchenko started to turn up the heat and at the sign of trouble, Walters moonwalked out of the fight, imagine if Ward had quit against Kovalev when he got dropped or Marquez quit in the final pacquiao fight, neither guy would of won. I just think as a power puncher you should always stay in there as long you still have a punchers chance and haven't taken a lot of punishment. I can't respect Walters for that last performance, what did you guys think about it?
BoxNation right before the fight said something was off with him. Maybe he was severely dehydrated I don't know. It's more than coincidence to me BoxNation picked up on it and sure enough he quit. No fighter who steps in the ring is a coward.
But when you look at Gutnehkt for example who was soundly losing and had no chance carry on (eventhough I think the ref and corner should have stopped) make to 12 rounds, how can you respect someone like Walters who wasn't dropped, bleeding or even hurt at any point of the fight?
In a sense, he is for just quitting like that to avoid getting punished, and I understand that Walters was inactive for a year perhaps not even being his fault but HBO's as he stated, but ultimately this is boxing. This isn't a game, this is hand to hand combat where you get punched for a living as well as punching back, that's what you signed up for when you put your dedication to training non-stop putting in harder work than the actual fight itself. If he realized he was going to lose, the least he could've done was lose the fight by going the distance but win the hearts of fans as they say. Quitting in any perspective is a cowardly move and should actually be fined honestly. (but thats IMO) As a fan of this sport, and boxer my self, he gets no respect at all.
I completely agree with you bro, this is what you sign up for as a fighter if you can't handle it you shouldn't do it. But what makes this so much worse is I could accept him quitting if he was taking a beating and he didn't have a punchers chance but he quit when he realised he may get dropped or lose every other round from that point on.
Yeah he is and the worst thing every other fighter he gets in now knows it so I expect things to get tougher for him.
I'mma go with yeah on this one. You're a professional boxer. What's there to be afraid of? Haven't you faced this before in all the years you spent learning the trade? Worst case scenario you get outboxed or knocked out. So what? You knew that when you signed the contract. What a *****. He can dish it out but he can't take it.
Sure, but it's probably better than ducking forever. A lot of fans were happy to see Lomachenko beat Walters like that, and both fighters got paid.
Ducking forever? I didn't think he was ducking to begin with, if he said look I've not been paid enough, I got an unfair draw in my last fight and I haven't been active enough to face someone like Loma atm, I personally wouldn't see that as ducking. But taking a dive which may potentially ruin your career is a joke. He will probably be dropped by HBO and he has lost the respect of a lot of fans.
Just mentally weak. This was the biggest stage and he was iced for a year and was developing problems prior to this fight that played a role in what happened as well. He was defeated before he stepped in that ring.