The best addition to boxing punditry in many years? Always came across as a canny boxer but listened to him on Costello & Bunce podcast and he's really taking to the media side. Knowledgable, unafraid of expressing an opinion. He's signed up with BT Sport which is very good news for their coverage in my view. Podcast is good this week, preview of the Warrington fight and some commentary on the robbery decision also...
Let's face it: you'd have more hope of picking up a dog turd by the clean end than you would in finding anything positive to say about Yarde's last outing and the level of his opponent.
Still haven't seen that bit. He probably has to walk the line to some extent. If he rightly slags off Frank's favourites he won't be around for very long. What I liked however was he didnt try to retrofit his opinion on the Maxwell gift decision once it became apparent and he stuck to that on the podcast also. Bunce had to do the obligatory 'bad decision but no reflection on the judges' to keep them all in a job and out of court. Again I don't hold them to an impossible standard, the guy who signs their cheque is not a disinterested party in all this. Carl though, for now, is a breath of fresh air and he's very good and honest at recounting his own experiences. He talked about getting in the ring in his last fight believing he was in great shape and then realising he'd grown old only once the fight began. It's worth a listen.
I like Frampton - he has started well as a pundit, with one exception. I didn't like what he said about Dubois after the Joyce fight though, using the "he quit" line, to mean that quitting in boxing is a cardinal sin and can't ever be justified. It's going to take a very very brave ex-boxer to try and dispel this myth - someone like Frampton who knows the sport saying that it isn't always a bad thing. Of course, taking a knee can be used as a coward's way out. A dishonest pro feigning injury in an overmatched fight is bad, and should be criticised. The cards were close when he went down. There was an obvious reaction to the punch to his eye, and Joyce's jab had been on the button all night. Dubois took the knee, took the L, and probably saved his career. Looking back, I hope Frampton would react a bit differently to that kind of thing.
Good point. I'd forgotten that comment but you're spot on there. For what it's worth that night I thought the blame really belonged to Dubois corner amd Frampton and others focussing on whether DDD quit let them off the hook.