I really like Joyce as a fighter, still do. I thought at the time hed walk through AJ, and had felt that way since he beat Dubois, so a long time. Before he fought Zhang I even gave him a chance against Usyk in his relatively nascent career at the weight and based on his defeat to him in the world series where although well beaten he had some successes. I felt his blend of resilience, engine, constant thudding power and size made up for any shortfall in skill and I genuinely thought hed go on a tear after stopping Zhang somewhere after 6. I was wrong...
You weren't alone with going with Bugner, I seem to remember a good few picking him to beat Frank. He didn't actually do Bad against Bruno, even when he was stopped he wasn't that hurt.
Yeah…my rationale was that Bugner was coming off a string of solid distance wins, plus he was so experienced that the big event wouldn’t have got to him. I thought he would spoil his way through the early rounds and weather the storm, and then pick up the late rounds when Bruno faded. Credit to Frank for staying steady behind the jab the whole time.
It wasn't a prediction per se, but I remember saying Whyte will be a tougher fight for Fury than Usyk. LOL, was I wrong!
Spence vs Crawford. I knew Crawford was a good fighter and that he had a chance to win. I couldn't believe how 1-sided it got after the first round. Spence was a complete punching bag and couldn't make any adjustments walking into many of the same shots and counters repeatedly. Spence never looked that bad defensively, and to this day I am not sure if Crawford was just that much better, if he prepared super extra hard for Spence, or if something really was wrong with Spence.
On what basis...? I was never sold on Whyte even for a millisecond. Brave, hard hitting and strong but, not much else. He was always pretty bad defensively, could get wild and sloppy, didn't jab enough, low ring IQ, etc.
Różański-Okolie, but to be fair Łukasz was learning on the job and in retrospect Okolie has heavyweight power, doesn't he?
Jones vs Tarver 2 I was convinced that Tarver had failed at his one chance to beat a weight-drained Jones in the first fight; if he couldn’t beat Roy then, what hope could he possibly have against a now fully acclimated Jones? “RJ” was going to make his appearance and Tarver would go the way of Montell Griffin 2. It’s hard to believe that fight was over 20 years ago.
Yes,considering Joe's age and poor physical condition he did n't do too badly against Bruno for a few rounds.
For some weird and wonderful reason I gave Frank Bruno a pretty good shot at beating Mike Tyson in their second bout. I promise you all that it was n't down to anything I'd drank.
I thought Whyte would get to Fury quick and make things hard for him with pressure and his power. Don't get me wrong, I still thought Fury would win but thought he would have easier time with Usyk who I wasn't rating that high at the time. How the tables turned...