Speaking of Bias what about all this British bias going on in this forum about Degale? Theres a thread on here calling him the best world prospect at the moment. Some people are saying he could be the best British fighter ever. I saw a thread right after he beat Smith saying that he could beat Andre dirrell right now. Lots of British fans is calling him world class after he had a good perforamce aginst a solid British/European fighter. If that isnt bias i dont know what is :good. Ive seen plenty of bias on this forum about British fighters but a lot of it will now be called on i becuase obviously the majprity of posters here are British. Were passionate about supporting our fighters because its a small country but to call Irish fans are any more biased than other fans is bull****. As ive said before about 95% believe that Martinez beats Lee. All that the majority of us are doing is giving Lee a chance against Martinez. Theres nothing wrong with that.
You're right about DeGale. I think that performance, as good as it was, is being hyped out of proportions. The problem with forums is that the minority are often seen as speaking for the majority. Like you could have 9 Irish fans on here saying "Martinez will beat him" but one person says "Lee will knock him out" and that one poster gets a lot more attention. It's the same with British fans. One poster started a thread saying he was the best prospect in world boxing, of which the most disagreed with, but it's the poster making the big claim which you remember.
Exactly. Most of the 'non-biased' (this is getting ridiculous) tempered the claim with: 'He's good, but let's not get carried away...' And that's the point most of the Irish posters on here are trying to make. We've seen Lee and he looks good, although a few levels below Martinez now. Still, we are allowed to appreciate our guy for what he is, and not be ****ing biased :good
Zbik beats Barker. My issue is not with Lee, he should be mandatory for the European. My issue is with HBO rejecting Zbik as an opponent when he clearly has a better record and is rated higher than any other potential Middleweight opponent outside the champions and there pre existing mandatorys. I would be happy if Lee avenged the Vera loss in Feb, beat the Barker vs Macklin winner in the summer than faced Martinez late in the year.
I think people are disrespectful to Lee. Lee is no.8 with WBA rankings and 15 with WBC and with boxrec ratings,im not saying that this should get him the fight but what im saying is that he is no bum. He has a serious ko rate and a savage left hook and i know i might be biased but i think he has a squeek. Martinez is world class but the man will be 36 in March and might be there for the taking. As for Irish boxing,it can only be said that we are on the up and up and id say that by % population we are up there with the best in the world and we should be entitled to shout our own trumpet every now and then.:good
Not really bothered to be honest. Zbik 'deserves' it a bit more, but theres not much in it. He's been sitting at home feasting on mostly European stiffs himself, better than Lee's opponents but still nothing to weap over because he's not getting his shot. Stuff like this happens all the time in boxing, its rarely about whos 'deserving', so there is little point getting up in arms about it. I think Lee's better than Zbik personally.
I remember Zbik struggling with Spada who is an extremely basic pressure fighter. Zbik to me, stylistically, is like a middle road between Sturm and Sylvester. He's slightly more refined than Sylvester, more in line with Sturm skill wise but not as skilled, but he has the aggression of Sylvester as opposed to Sturm who is more passive. Essentially he's all jab/right hand and occasional body shot though, not very exciting. Completely stiff at the waste and the worst possible person you'd ever want to put a basic stand up fighter like this in with is Sergio Martinez. Sergio Martinez would take him to the cleaners he's so predictable. He'd be jabbing at air due to Martinez's movement and getting peppered with shots he has no clue about. I'd prefer the fight with Andy Lee. Don't get me wrong I've said I consider that more or less a mismatch too but its the lesser of two evils. At least I see a bit of handspeed, pop and raw talent from Lee.
Haven't noticed any press releases from Zbik's team! The rhumor was that they didn't really want it themselves but that WBC were the ones. I guess from the point of view of making money from fighting in Germany Zbik feels he doesn't want to risk the 0 on his record? Does anyone have any more info from Zbik's team? Has Zbik ever called out Sturm/Sylvester or Abraham before he moved to 168?
That's an excellent post. Although I'm gonna say, De Gale is ye're best prospect behind Gavin. He's incredible and he is you're next star.
thats wrong mate. Zbik's team have tried to make this fight plenty of times and agreed a few with DiBella. HBO stopped it. Lee vs Martinez wont be for the WBC title
I wasn't being down on Lee as I have stated many times in this thread. Lee may be 8 with the WBA and 15 with the WBC good for him but Zbik has been interim champ for 18 months, is top 10 with boxrec, espn, the ring, the boxing site, boxing monthly, yahoo, boxing news. HBO have stated they want to make competitive fights and not names vs names. This contradicts there proposed strategy for 2011.