Tevin Farmer vs. Joseph Pedroza Díaz Jr. & Daniel Román vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev RBR

Wouldn't be just as easy money to work with a fighter who actually has skill?

 

You're not alone brother, I can't see the elite skills either. To me he looks awkward as ****, and just a step above this guy he's fighting from a aesthetic perspective

 

I gave Keeler the 6th too.

 

Who is she?

 

That's a stretch, this was total **** except for Roman vs MJ and I guess Farmer vs Diaz. But there is literally no way to be worse than PBC at making mismatch cards.

 

Agree, but to add that Keeler is Euro Level, not (Irish) domestic level.

 

Smart move. He's made a ton of money, and has expanded his families business in Boxing tenfold. Might as well get out young and let that 20 year old looking gentleman he's been grooming take over the everyday hassle's until 1 or both of Hearn's children come of age.

 

8 fights in & the kid becomes a unified champion! Huge props.. Akhmadaliev is pure class.. Roman is an excellent win. Nice win for Diaz too.

 

My experience with Andrade/Keeler started with watching the prefight staredown, which itself was a gross mismatch. Just prior to the fight, I found three moneyline odds on the fight, which respectively had Andrade a -4100, -5000, and -10000 favourite. In and out of the ring, Andrade looked at least one weight class larger than Keeler. Prefight, I said the fight wouldn't last 6 rounds. When Andrade knocked Keeler across the ring and down with a straight left 4 seconds into the 1st round of the fight, I thought it might last 6 seconds instead of 6 rounds. But Keeler didn't seem too fazed when he got up, and Andrade didn't try to followup the knockdown. But he continued toying with Keeler into the 2nd round, and it seemed the next clean punch he landed would end the fight. That next clean punch was a hard overhand left in the latter part of the 2nd round that knocked Keeler down hard and seemed to really hurt him, and I was genuinely surprised he beat the count at 9. Andrade did a better job trying to followup this knockdown, but Keeler managed to just counter his way out of trouble. Round 3 I was just surprised Keeler stayed upright for all 3 minutes. But from Round 4 through Round 8, the fight became all of a piece. Andrade became WAY too cautious and respectful of Keeler, hunkered down low in a crouch with his head arced to the left in his southpaw stance, continually sizing up Keeler but initiating far too infrequently, and then when he did, he lunged awkwardly and wildly, while not actually landing many significant shots at all. In fact, in those five rounds combined, I think I was impressed by ONE punch that Andrade landed, which was an uppercut in the 6th round. Keeler for his part was very stiff in the head and upper body, and his punches and footwork were slow. He tried to mix it up as best he could, but he seemed to basically be in survival mode. Sky Sports punch statistics showed Keeler landing 10 punches through 4 rounds, and 38 for the entire fight. I barely remember any of them. Round 9 started similarly, but about halfway through, Andrade landed a left that sent Keeler into the ropes; Keeler threw a counter that might have landed, but Andrade landed a few more hard lefts that sent Keeler back into the ropes, then a few more head shots staggered Keeler against the ropes and caused the referee to finally step in and stop the fight. I scored the fight for Andrade through the first 8 rounds, 8-0 rounds, 80-70 points, most likely the same as anyone else who scored the fight.

Prior to this fight, BoxRec had Andrade as the #7 middleweight in the world, and Keeler as the #28 middleweight in the world. Why BoxRec had him at #28 I will never know, because his resumé is one of the very worst I have ever seen for a challenger in a world title fight. Presumably it was based entirely upon his August 2019 decision win vs current BoxRec #46 middleweight Luis Arias, because nothing else he has done warranted him being anywhere remotely close to the top 100 world middleweights. Since the advent of DAZN, Eddie Hearn has had this habit of taking British fighters with inflated records and limited abilities, and cashing them out in high profile fights, many times with a world title at stake. It's like he makes showcase fights, but in reverse. Are the UK fans supporting this model enugh to make it financially viable? It sure isn't winning over American fight fans. I can't imagine the DAZN people would have been very happy watching tonight's main event, however much money was spent to make it happen.

Postfight, Andrade told the in-ring interviewer that he thought he fought "good", and that Keeler was "a warrior" and "a future champion". He also announced that he definitely wanted his next fight to be at 168 vs Billy Joe Saunders, but if Jermall Charlo's people made him an offer, he would definitely consider fighting at 160. I get that Andrade is generally seen as a "high risk, low reward" fighter. A week ago, on Thursday 23 January, Andrade signed a four-fight contract extension with Matchroom Boxing, with whom he has been since late 2018. It's hard to believe that staying on his current promotional path would get him an opponent of the magnitude of Saunders or Charlo, much less Canelo Alvarez, whose team apparently considered Andrade as an opponent within the past year, but obviously went in another direction. Early on in the fight, I was angry at Eddie Hearn and DAZN for making this fight. By the end of the fight, I was more angry at Andrade, for fighting far too cautiously and being taken into the 9th round by a very limited opponent. It's hard to believe that Andrade will get any career boost from tonight's fight.