Australian Boxing/SM Memorial thread

This content is protected

 

FWIW the WBA have sanctioned the bout for their regular title. Benavidez will have to face the winner or be stripped.

 

He'll be stripped.

 

It was nice to watch the fights for free on Paramount today no PPV BS

 

Great win by Jai against a good opponent. Yes, he was hurt in the 7th but apart from that, he dominated. He took some sneaky counter right hands but up against a reigning world champ, you can't expect to not get hit at all.

I like his chances against Benavidez but expect the Doodles to play dirty to get their guy the win. To that end, Jai's team need to make sure they limit the number of advantages the other guy gets.

Benavidez gets home country advantage, including an American ref, judges & supervising commission. He'll probably get his preferred fight date as well (5 May next year). Given Benavidez is likely to fight towards the end of this year one advantage Jai shouldn't give him is activity. By that I mean Jai shouldn't wait nine months to fight again while the other guy gets in work between now & then. Take another one before the year is out & come in razor sharp in May.

 

I laugh at the casuals who think taking a few shots is so bad. It’s boxing you are gonna get hit and Cruisers are big lads who can punch. The important thing is that Jai can recover well. Yep no doubt the deck will be stacked heavily in Benavidez favour.

 

Who wins that bout?

 

Nathaniel May vs Youseff Dib next month

 

What do you guys Down Under think about Paulo Aokuso? Saw him on a Tim Tsyzu undercard years ago and watched him as an amateur in the Olympics, and he's got bucketloads of ability, but he doesn't seem to have kicked on much, I know he's fought 3 times this year, but it seems like time to step him up. It would be great to see him in there with some of the British names at 175, like Chelli and Richards.

 

I think he should fight Kirra Ruston before looking for overseas opponents we need to find out who the best light heavyweight in Australia is first.

 

Kirra Rustons a problem for Aokuso. Definitely needs to look at his own backyard before going overseas.

Great fight though!

 

It's a tough one NC. You can't help but be impressed with Benavidez, and what he did to two very credible boxers in Yarde and Zurdo was beastly. He didn't knock them out, he took their will to fight from them.

By the same token Jai has done that to quite a few at national and international level. Is he up to the onslaught if Benavidez gets a combo off? Better not to give him an opportunity by fighting from distance, which is Jai's major edge.

I believe he deliberately chose to play to his previous two opponents strengths, by fighting close, in order to sharpen his game and add some features to an already impressive skills repertoire.

I did notice a huge difference in his technique between Glanton and Mikalean. Against Brandon he looked very slick in close and probably did it because his footwork and sniping had nearly finished Glanton.

Versus Noel there was a different Jai, a Jai who tested the referee and how far he could push it with a host of dirty tactics I've never seen from him before, not deliberate like this was anyway. Holding the back of the head, low punches, elbows and leaning heavily on his back when Noel bent over to lick his own giblets.

I think I saw something from Tapu about a Muay Thai camp prior to Mikaelian? That would explain the change in infighting and grubby tactics, those guys are maestros.

What I've been leading to is that we cannot discount Opetaia. I highly doubt he will allow Benavidez near him, and will fight off the best footwork in boxing. Why would he discard his biggest advantage against Benavidez? The Opetaia camp is playing mind games and leveraging off underdog status better than the Qld Maroons.

This content is protected

 

Pretty exciting to see an unbeaten Australian taking on an undefeated top 5 P4P Big Doodle over there in the Land of the Doodle. Extremely rare for an Australian to win in those circumstances. The only occasions I can think of where we did was George Kambosos against Teo Lopez & Kostya Tszyu against Zab Judah. Even then, Zab wasn't a top 5 P4P guy. Great test for Australian boxing. Both Jai & Benavidez were teenage prodigies of sorts in the sense that Jai qualified for an Olympics at 16 while I can remember Benavidez featured in a segment on tv at a very young age. He was at the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles at the time & was a roly-poly kid. Good enough for the cameras to be there doing a story on him though. Both are undefeated as professionals with, for all intents & purposes, all the belts on the line. I got Opetaia knocking him senseless.

 

I've always been a fan of Benavidez as a fighter, he's got a real old skool style, I think it's a tough one for Jai. I think he should utilise his boxing skills, Opetaia can box and fight, David is a pure fighter. It's a genuine super fight for me. Possibly the first genuinely world recognised Superfight any Aussie has ever been involved in? I feel like Tszyu v Judah was but Judah didn't have a huge resume, massive talent plus Kostya was from Russia. Fenech v Nelson was a hardcore fight fans legitimate Superfight but not in the US and it was on an undercard.

 

I think you are forgetting one of the biggest on Aussie soil...

Danny Green vs Danny Santiago.