Fair criticism of your favorite fighter

Fav Fighters: Criticism in and out of the ring

Aaron Pryor - A phenom of raw talent, grit, chin, power, but very reckless too often and couldn't stay off the Powder.
George Foreman (2) - A late 30, early 40 year old still fighting? Second career became a circus act to some at one point until he shocked the world doing the unthinkable. Still some folks didn't take him serious with his side business and all. Boxing wise, relied too much on his chin and power to bail him out. Would never work on Holyfield and gave him almost 0 chance to beat him.
Johnny Tapia - Great boxer. Great at mind games in the ring. Hell of a warrior and heart. Didn't know or understand his limitations and Like Pryor, that Powder got the best of him. Was "Loco" in real life and not just his Alias
Kelly Pavlik - What a great boxer/puncher to watch. Determined. Good ring IQ. Really could be a great coach. Flat footed most of the time and was easily outboxed, no Plan B or C and unfortunately the Alcohol.
Manny Pacquio - It's been done a million times, no need to comment
GGG- it's currently being done a million times, no need to comment

 

lol, I've had this with James5000...Eubank jnr, snr made the fight impossible with unheard of demands that made them both look pathetic. Its easily the best example of a duck in pugilistic history. Credit to Brook for saving the day !

 

Great points.

I made a typo on the post that you've quoted.

It should have said that Marinez and Cotto WOULDN'T have fought GG, had he have enforced his mandatory status.

There would have been no point in him trying to have blocked the Cotto-Canelo fight. Not whilst he had a written agreement from the WBC, and the opportunity to obtain another belt against Lemiuex.

Regarding the Brook fight, I think it was too short notice to find a credible MW. Everything had been set up. I don't think he deserves any credit for beating Brook, but at the same time, he shouldn't deserve any criticism for it either. That fight all stems from Oscar not wanting Canelo to have fought him back then.

 

The sad thing is, I don't actually think it was a duck. I don't think that Snr purposely made all of those demands to scupper the fight. I think he genuinely just got carried away.

I also feel sorry for Jnr. Because he's taken a lot of criticism for losing his pen etc. But I think he'd have been more than willing to have fought him. And I believe him when he said that he never saw the contract. I truly believe that. Because I think that before he could see it, Snr was too busy trying to get Hearn to make all of those amendments to it.

It was Snr's actions that has made Jnr look bad.

 

PBF can't stand not to be the center of attention and hates to see anyone else get some shine. Even when promoting his own fighters he can't but help talk about himself and how he would do this or that. He's an insecure narcissist if that even makes sense.

 

Max Baer for not taking training seriously

 

JMM liked to go to war too much when he could have simply boxed and won fights. JMM-Pac 2 and 3 are perfect examples of that.

Chad Dawson had all the talent in the world but as mentally weak as you'll ever find in boxing.

Paul Williams Refused to get a real trainer who could teach him how to properly use his length. Would often give up his length to fight on the inside against much shorter armed men. He also had no defense.

Joe Calzaghe waited too late in his career to finally step up. Could have been a really once in a generation fighter if he had done so earlier in his career.

RJJ should have retired from the sport after he beat Ruiz at HW, the perfect way to go out instead he drains back down to LHW and gets knocked out and is still fighting almost 15 years later.

Ward had too high of an opinion of himself and his importance to the sport. He looks like a spoiled brat and still should be fighting today.

Wilder needs to go back to using his jab movement and boxing. He has fallen in love with his power and spends too much time loading up looking for the onehittaquitta.

Froch seems to be bitter and jealous of Ward and Calzaghe, let it go.

Spence can be hit too easy at times will be interesting in seeing him fight a guy with good movement.

Crawford can be hit when he tries to open up. Willing to go to war far too often even when it's not necessary.

Gevonta Davis seems to be too in love with the streets that are calling his name. Needs to check the people that he surrounds himself with. He needs to work on his overall boxing game, you're not going to be able to overwhelm everyone you face with speed and power. When that doesn't work then what? What's your plan B?

Gary Russell Jr. Throws all his punches at the same speed there's no variation to them which can lead to him being timed despite having blazing handspeed. He's also too stationary.

 

How come Snr hasn't got carried away like that before or since ? Why only with the most dangerous fighter he would ever have faced ? I think he's a master of convincing people and lulling them away from reality, a con man if you like.. He wanted to control the security, the commentators and the way Jnr got paid. He would be 0-0 if he went in to every negotiation with that attitude. Brook had the contract signed and sent back in no time..I'm sure the only real difference was confidence between the pair. Some one has to carry the can of ducking whether its Jnr or Snr, i'm thinking it was Dad

 

Very accurate post !

 

Ward should have cleaned up at 175 by fighting Stevenson shame he retired early and if he comes back it will put a dampener on his legacy unless he takes on a Usyk or a top guy at cruiserweight.

No criticism of Crawford so far he has taken on everyone he is supposed to but he can’t allow bob to use this Top Rank vs PBC **** to prevent the big fights at 147.

 

There's one big flaw in that logic. As Stevenson would have to want it, Showtime and HBO would have to come to an agreement for it, and last but not least, Haymon would have to agree upon working with RocNation.
NEVER GONNA HAPPEN! EVER!

And that wouldn't really have been cleaning up LHW, because there were a lot of big and dangerous fighters with mandatories pending already.

 

I've said it before, but that's exactly what happened to Berto. Emmanuel Steward said that Berto was just blowing through opponents in the tournaments when he was younger. Raw power. But when he stepped up in competition, no plan B.

 

Mikey Garcia Stop mentioning guys that you have no intention of fighting

Danny Garcia Too stationary and is willing to take too much punishment your chin will fail you one day. Also stop letting your dad talk for you, you're a grown man FFS.

Easter Jr. **** ring IQ and he refuses to use his extreme reach advantage that he has at 135 for whatever reason.

Loma Can't really fight on the inside that well. Complains to the refs when he is clinched too much.

Estrada needs to find some way to become a faster starter.

 

Let's see, since some did ask for it. @KiwiMan , @Loudon, @Aussie Invader

Floyd Joy Sinclair, Mayweather.

- Did an amazing job at 130, gotta give him to him - GOAT. Can't say the same for 135 and 140 though because even at 130 he was calling out Mosley/ODLH and was probably too fixated on that and this diminished his legacy somewhat in the fact that he probably didn't do THAT much @ 135 and literally nothing at 140. Fighting Castillo right away at 135 was pretty great and he beat him twice but he definitely could have done more at 35. I would have loved to see the Tszyu matchup at 40 but that matchup couldn't materialize due to none of them really calling for it as well as both of them being on different networks. 140 was also not that stacked at that point in 2005, he did beat 3 of the guys in the top 10 already at a lower weight class. Still, that matchup would have been pretty juicy. Freitas and Casamayor could have been great too at 130 but who knows what happened. Could have cleaned those two up (which he would have) before his move to 35.

But let's be honest, who wouldn't want the mega paydays at 147 against DLH/Mosley ? If it was me, I would be calling em out in my sleep.

I thought Mayweather was an absolute beast at 140, POSSIBLY even more than 130 in 2005. I would have loved to see more of that, but we only got to see him fight there all but 3 times. Twice against fighters that were largely irrelevant in Mitchell and Corley and then Gatti who was already diminished as a fighter at that time.

2. At times can be very insecure about his place in boxing, constantly talking others down and it can be extremely petty even though he's at this moment, retired. Him randomly trying to diminish old legends is also ridiculous and unwarranted. What's the point of bringing that up? He's brought up Ali losing to Spinks multiple times to elevate his own undefeated career. They weren't even in the same weight class. Competitiveness is great, but this was a bad look for him

3. He did in fact cheat JMM on the scales somewhat even though he did pay a fine for it. Could have been more professional in that fight and made the 144 lb limit.

4. Could have ended his illustrious career on a much better way than Berto and McGregor, I'd like for him to fight an upcomer like Thurman, Spence, Bud etc. Could have elevated his career even further and even if he lost those fights, he was already 40 years of age and it wouldn't even have mattered. Even if it was him losing his undefeated record, he could have passed the torch to a great fighter and it would have been ok.

5. I would have loved for him to do more at 154 against some real 154 lb fighters. Maybe even an attempt at 160 against Martinez could have been possible. Duran with smaller dimensions fought at 160 and even 168. That could have been sweet. May could have won that fight too. Duran went up and fought Barkley, Hagler, Leonard at 147 and 168, even Joppy when he was shot to **** at MW.

6. I would have loved to see him fight outside the U.S even once in his career. Lots of great fighters of the past have fought abroad, Ali fought in like 10 different places from Europe/Asia/Africa etc etc, Hagler fought in England, etc etc etc. I can see why some would bash him for this because almost every great fighter of the past have fought outside of their home country.

7. He played a part in diminishing his own stardom due to his style. The fact that he got to where he did was amazing in it of itself despite the fact that his fights were a snoozefest for a lot of people out there. I love defense and loved watching him fight because of the artistry but I can see many casuals out there turned off by watching defensive masterpieces. 99% of the people out there enjoy knockouts and he didn't bring that outside of 130. Note: He did have hand problems and not much power outside of 130 but he could have played a part in throwing hands a lot more when he was so clearly superior to his opponents. I would have liked to see him step on the gas against fighters like Baldomir, Berto, Marquez etc. I think if he stepped up the offensive in the Marquez fight, he could have even gotten Dinamita out of there that night. There was no reason he couldn't have knocked them out, he was toying with them at some point and we saw people leave the arena before the fight was even over. Had he been a more exciting fighter for the masses combined with his outrageous personality, the sky would have been the limit for his popularity. He could have easily been much much bigger if he had showed more initiative in knocking the other guy out or just showcased his offense a bit more (Which we know he could have) from the Cotto, Gatti, Corrales fights.