New Ring Ratings at Heavyweight

I'd hope your being sarcastic about Gassiev.

 

Perkin Wellbeck is a great asset to the forum.

 

Worlds oldest man. Fountain of knowledge. His uncle tried to kill him when he was a child but he escaped!

 

Gassiev at heavyweight hype in 2026 is insane.

 

Agreed, a nasty thing to say, really.

The guy could barely stand up even without getting hit, and was still throwing bombs (and landing them - man Hrg is being over-rated now…)

There are things to criticize about Itauma after that fight, and his hype has been brought back to reality…. But heart isn’t one of them.

 

Joseph Parker missing from the Top 10 ???

Give me a break.

 

Well he didn't exactly look good against wardley... The ko was a joke, granted, but still he was absolutely exhausted and that was a long time ago now.

But yes, he belongs in the top ten. I just wonder how he will perform in his next fight.

 

First, he threw 400 punches, not 4,000.

400 punches thrown in a fight is quite common. People don't lose the ability stand or walk because they threw 400 punches in roughly a half hour.

Second, your legs don't cease to work because your arms are tired. Hrgovic wasn't draped over his back all night pushing down on him, like Wlad used to do to guys. It was practically a clinch-free fight.

Third, Moses couldn't even stand in the corner. People had to lift him to hold him upright and place him in a stretcher.

Warren assumed Moses must've had a leg injury, because you don't lose the ability to stand when you only throw 400 punches. Warren knows that.

Fourth, they took Moses to the hospital and he was told to go home. There was nothing wrong with him. He never had oxygen placed over his face in the ring. His legs weren't injured. He wasn't concussed. He wasn't injured. They sent him home.

Fifth, Peter Fury said Moses looked like he was having a panic attack. Andrew Golots used to have panic attacks in the ring. He'd suddenly be too 'tired' regardless of the round, breathing heavily, and he'd start looking for a way out.

Sixth, Moses went down without really even getting hit flush at the end. His legs seemed to give out ... and ceased to work until he got to the hospital.... because he threw 400 punches.

That is laughable. It doesn't make any sense at all.

Seventh, the pace wasn't too fast. Moses SET the pace. The number of punches wasn't extraordinary. The only thing different was Filip fought back. And Moses realized he couldn't stop him.

He quit. That's quitting.

If he had an actual problem or an actual injury, the hospital wouldn't have sent him home.

Faking injuries to get out of a fight is quitting. Pretending your legs don't work to get out of a fight is quitting.

When you do that in front of thousands of people, and the hospital says you're fine, then he was conning everyone.

And if he believed it, he was conning himself.

I'm not going to keep belaboring the point, because once it was determined he wasn't injured, it was clear the only thing that happened to Moses was he.had never lost before, he panicked, and he just collapsed when there was nothing physically wrong with him.

He quit. That's all. People have quit before. They'll quit again. So will he, when he actually suffers an injury in a fight. He quit when he was up 8 rounds to none with a knockdown, and he had no injuries.

He'll certainly quit when he's down a couple rounds and he starts thinking something is broken. Whether it is broken or not. Guys who panic look for ways to quit.

Regardless, I really enjoyed the fight. It was very exciting.

 

Eh, I don’t think it was within his control.. and I alluded to a similar sentiment as you in a post on another thread. That he’s lacking a certain attitude or mental mode, because he didn’t seem to be trying to mask his fatigue at all, like great fighters do…

With that said, I don’t think he was capable of doing so. The way he was stumbling around, it’s hard to imagine he was forcing. If he was, he deserves an oscar performance. The ability to mask that fatigue is also conditioning, albeit more mental than physical….

But its very clear Moses lacks world class conditioning, physically and mentally, and I’m not sure he will ever have it, seeing as how hes already “on that level” and it will be a tough road ahead.

I think for him to be a real force in the division, he will need to take several fights to rebuild, (basically doing what he should have done before stepping up against a guy like Hrg anyway…)

If they try to keep presenting him as “the next guy” though, I think his potential will be limited…

Anyway, thats why I won’t call him a quitter, although I sort of see what you’re saying.

 

He wouldn't, it's not how it works.

 

You have never thrown a punch in your life. You think his legs shouldn't have been tired because he wasn't leaned on? Have you ever actually laced up a pair of gloves? Have you even shadowboxed around the living room before? His legs were tired because any kind of boxing demands massive amounts of energy from your legs, especially when you leap with punches like Itauma does and are throwing haymakers at a brick wall. Calling Itauma a quitter is insane.

 

The rankings that history remembers are the year end.

Right now they are poised to replace Zhang,Bakole and Torrez with Fury, Sanchez and Huni. I would remove Wardley and Ajagba out as well. Because Wardley's rematching Dubois before year he's probably out.

If Parker had won a fight recently I'd say he was a shoe in for that spot because he made it 9 years in a row before last year. Because he hasn't won in 18 months they might choose someone else. I think Parker belongs more than Ajagba and Huni. If they are going to promote Huni might as well keep Bakole but I know that's unrealistic.

 

Some good points but there is some subtleties missing I fancy

400 of Itauma's punches, and the way he puts bad intentions on every shot is NOT the same as 400 of Usyks for example. Zags would regularly throw 100 punches a round, but they were volume shoe-shine pitty pats and part of his game etc etc - apples v oranges

Aditionally, Itauma seems as wound up and tense as a jack in the box, full of nervous energy - I suggested in his ring walk he look WAY more agitated than the usually 'baked stoner' i've seen in the past.

Finally - and maybe the worst here is he was still swinging for the fences with all his might when he was already gassed / gassing.

Not all things are equal and just saying 400 punches wtf? isn't the whole story IMO.

When he gets back Itauma and his team need to work on relaxed, loose work behind a solid jab - countering when is defensively prudent to do so, manageing distance and gastank in equal measures. IMO they should have a good look at Bivol as a template to how he should evolve his game.

 

Good Lord. I boxed as an amateur. I finished second in the state of Illinois (which isn't a big deal in the scheme of things, but you asked, and it is bigger than your whole country, I might add) in the Silver Gloves. I've knocked people down. I've had ice on my temples after they swelled up. I've been knocked out in front of my family. I understand.

He panicked. And he quit as a result. He convinced himself he was tired, so he was tired. He essentially collapsed at the end and couldn't get up. Not even five or so minutes later. He had to be hoisted up by a group of people and carried away, only to be told to go home by the doctors, because there was nothing wrong with him.

Like I said, if that last punch he hit Hrgovic with had knocked out Filip, he'd have been celebrating in the ring afterward. His "legs" would've been totally fine.

People who equate this with running a marathon have never boxed. If he had a step counter on he probably walked a mile, if that, during the fight. Not 26 miles.

He "swung hard" isn't an excuse for his legs "not working anymore." Give me a break. Seriously. There's a lot of covering for Moses after this fight.

Professional fighters are supposed to fight through injuries. They don't feign not being able "to stand" or "to walk" ... and get rushed to the hospital ... only for the hospital to tell him to go home.

Seriously, get your head out of your ass. When did you ever see a boxer "so tired" he couldn't STAND and had to be carried out of the ring because he was incapable of remaining upright? Actually carried from the ring "unable to stand or walk" due to being tired ... after throwing just 400 punches? Think about it hard.

We're supposed to just accept that he threw a lot of punches so his LEGS ceased to work? His arms still worked, he could still throw haymakers at the end, but the legs didn't?

It doesn't correlate, to put it politely.


Side note: Since you brought it up, how many hours/days do you think it would take a 21-year-old professional boxer shadow boxing in the living room, with a one-minute break every three minutes, before his legs ceased to work (not his arms, his legs), he could no longer remain upright, and people had to lift him off the floor and take him to the hospital because he was unable to walk?

Or would it only be 30 minutes? I've made my point.