AJ's Ring walk

The Benn-McClellan entrances are a great shout, too, @smithshaun.

The phrase "cauldron" is overused to describe fight venue atmospheres, but that London Arena justifies it. It was a malevolent, seething pit that night, and you don't have to have been there to feel it; it crackles off the screen whenever you review that event, even almost three decades removed from the telecast date.

McClellan had ice in his veins, walked into that mob with zero regard for the bloodthirst it was focusing squarely on him.

 

Legendary.

 

I hope they had a mop to clean up under that granny after AJ kissed her.

 

Heard Dominic Ingle's favourite entrance is through the rear...








Of Kell Brook

 

Agree mate the entrance was too long and dull, very boring.

Nice choice of Wlad entrance there, my fave was the one with the Ali clips in it. Loved it.

 

Nando was awesome and he took on all comers so early in his career. Tito finished him though, he was never the same.

 

Yeah. It was the logical fight to make at the time, top guy vs. top guy. But, from a developmental/maturation perspective, Fernando needed that bout to happen two or three years later. He wasn't green exactly, he'd been tested, but he was still shy of his twenty-third birthday, still some way off the years that generally define a boxer's physical prime, and he was still mentally maturing as a fighter.

His fearless enthusiasm to prove himself is part of what made him thrilling to watch, but it also needed some tempering, which would've come with a little more seasoning. Trinidad wasn't just a really experienced multi-division champ smack dab in his physical prime, he was a very destructive one, had a money punch that seemed to crumble everything it connected with. Vargas was ready for the likes of Wright and Quartey, tough fights, but with a relative lack of potential for damaging consequences even if he'd lost them. Trinidad was a lot more dangerous a fight than either of those, the kind of matchup that can ruin a precocious talent before he even hits his peak.


Round 5 of Trinidad-Vargas is one of my favorite rounds ever. That is undoubtably the most brilliant and close to perfect round that anyone (including Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright or Roy Jones Jr.) has fought against Félix Trinidad, and also the one that best encapsulates the young Vargas' lost potential.

Feroz boxed Tito's ears off, turning him in circles around ring center, slipping and parrying the spearing jabs coming his way while snapping back the guy's head with his own sharp left, mixing in single and double hooks to head and body and leaving him hitting air with his signature left hook, then put the exclamation point on his dominance of the round with an audacious right uppercut up through the guard, ghosting off at an angle to avoid payback.

It was even more remarkable because it came after a torrid first two rounds, and after having the momentum he'd gathered in rounds 3 and 4 derailed by a pair of spiteful low blows. He was a beautiful boxer.


Despite how brutally he was beaten in the end, he wasn't too far off having the beating of Trinidad, just some inches here and there that would have made all the difference. If the circumstances had delayed a meeting with that monster 'til a few more fights down the line, things might have panned out very differently for Vargas.

 

Friday night fights at its finest. That said, it must be ideal being able to warm up and get ready at home.

I thought AJ was in trouble as soon as I saw him come to the ring to be honest. He seemed too relaxed and too busy posturing to the crowd, rather than focussed on the job ahead. Usyk had the face of someone who knew he had a tough task ahead and was focussed on getting it done.

 

I know these days it's pretty much an event and a spectacle but I much prefer someone who picks a song, sticks to it throughout their career, and walks straight to the ring. GGG for example.

 

I agree (for example Usyk has mainly used the same 1 or 2 tunes for his entire career) - however I do like how Fury has altered his ringwalk tunes to reflect the narrative of his career. Some really fun/interesting selections post-comeback.

 

Agree bud and those 2 scored low blows were spiteful.

Love both those 2 legends.

 

Had that BRUTHA USKY ringwalk tune stuck in my head all week. Gonna hunt it down and make it my ringtone.

 

Sadly it’s not on Spotify

 

have you figured out what the tune is pal? real catchy

 

Joshua's ringwalk was pure bravado. At the referee's instructions his whole demeanor had changed and he looked worried.
Showing off on the ringwalk and then losing isn't a good look.

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