Cruiserweight and Heavyweight thread.

Didn't expect that.

(it's not a win until the drug tests come in tho.)

 

Not a good week for HW prospects and contenders. Hunter arguably lost in a fight he was a huge favorite in, and Opelu was upset by a washed up Browne.

Edit. I don't know why I mixed up Opelu with Huni. This is an upset, but not a huge one.

 

Jai Opetaia moves to 21-0 after a 3rd round TKO victory over Daniel Russell.

Teremoana Jnr moves to 3-0 after a 2nd round TKO victory over Hunter Sam.

 

Nothing shocking about the early stoppage of TLM - he hasn't developed at all since stopping Ed Latimore in 2016. Actually, he's regressed...

I'm not surprised at Arias getting the nod over Chaney. Cassius Chaney looks like a fighter who overthinks things. Which is to say he's not a real fighter atl all. Gentleman George gave Cassius plenty of respect...but Chaney took no initiative.

I would definitely had Forrest winning his fight with Hunter (7 rds to 3). But I'm going to let Hunter off the hook a bit because he took the fight on very short notice. Originally, Forrest was supposed to fight Joe Jones (who ultimately went through Junior Wright like $hit goes through a goose) and Fedosov was supposed to fight Junior Wright (one can only imagine what Fedosov would have done to Wright). But Fedosov got hurt (or maybe just figured fighting Junior Wright would be in bad taste) - and Michael Hunter got the call to salvage the card on about 4 days notice.

As for Balogun...I watched a video of his Keith Barr fight on YT (I even posted in on this thread, but it's since been removed on YT) and i was impressed. Barr is an undersized guy, and he's been stopped a few times...but he's always in shape and skilled enough to barrel his way through a few rounds before a good/taleneted prospect stops him. Balogun felt him out for about a round - and then just unloaded two hugec clubbing shots on him.

Obviously, Balogun's problem is that he's 38 years-old. There's no time to bring him along - he's just out of time period. If I were managing him - I think you have two options to try to get him a big fight before he's done. Option #1: Try to position him as a rebound opponent for Adam Kownacki or Dominic Breazeale. Definitely a couple steps up, but remember that both men have been stopped a couple of times and have mileage. If he manages to win....well maybe Dillian Whyte does something remarkable, or Tyson Fury goes on a 6 month bender...and you hope to get on a Matchroom card somehow. Option #2: Have Balogun drop a dozen lbs and shop him as a challenger for the WBC Bridgerweight title. It's the freakin' WBC...and it's freakin' Brigerweight - how hard can that be?

 

Any time guys like TLM and Cassius Chaney get exposed - and by that I mean prospects who have been occupying the imaginations of fans and the attention of boxing writers for years without ever actually accomplishing anything of note - it's a good thing. We took care of two such boxers in a single night - so that makes for a good week IMO.

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I really do think that Wilder's loss of the WBC title has been a net positive for North American boxing becaue it's forcing fighters to fight each other rather than just nurse their 0s in the hope of being named an opponent for a WBC voluntary...

 

And browne was supposed to fight babic and i said that it was a dangerous fight for babic and i got laughed at. Babic could have easily been knocked out the way opelu was.

 

Hold on, didn't Forrest get the call to salvage the card on short notice(not hunter)? I thought Hunter was supposed to fight De Mori but De Mori couldn't get sanctioned?

 

The fight might happen after all now, and Browne will still get stopped in the first minute of the fight.

 

Is he juicing again?? I thought the guy was done..

 

Some interesting results. Definitely was not expecting Hunters draw or Lippe getting KOed in the 1st

 

100% I wish I could upvote this or like it more than once!

 

Excellent post. This is spot on. Wilder being dethroned has definitely had a positive impact on the HW landscape, especially in the states. I've argued for a long time on here that the HW division biggest problem for a long time has been the lack any sort of meaningful fights, rather than the lack of talent. Things are really starting to open up, despite Covid 2020-2021 has been some of the better years for HW boxing in a very long time.

 

I posted this in the Forrest vs Hunter RBR thread but maybe its more relevant here

All these heavyweights wandering around for years protecting their 0, fighting meaningless fights what's the point. A lot of bad things can and should be said about Don King, but at least he could get his heavyweights paydays, exposure, and title shots. I mean even Vaughn Bean got multiple title shots. Sure he robbed a lot of guys of a lot of money, but the guys today don't even have money to be robbed from

 

Expected Lippe but Hunter was a shock.

 

After the Eric Molina debacle....I think there's less of a chance.

Babic has dropped one or two hints that he might look at Bridgerweight...though nobody really knows if that's even going to be a thing six months from now (it's kind of barely a thing right now). It probably would suit his shorter frame better - if there are fights to be made for him in that division.

Babic is more-or-less a brawler. If he's serious about making a go at HW, then they need to get him in front of a tall, boxer-puncher type of fighter sooner rather than later. I think Robert Helenius would be a good match and he has recent experience helping a brawler find his ceiling. You probably want to give Babic a fight against a guy who is maybe one level below (Jack Mulowayi?) that level before committing him to fight Helenius - but I think that's the direction they should go in right now.