I remember just before the Burns-Mitchell fight my friend couldn't understand a word Kevin was saying in the pre fight montage he was slurring so much and speaking so fast I'm checking an interview from a few years ago and his slurring isn't as bad but his accent is still thick and he speaks so fast he barely pronounces his words but its not like he's taken some massive pro-longed hidings since then, long term drug effects possibly?
He should definitely have been a lot more active than he has been. I don't think he'd ever be a world champion but the gulf between him and Burns would have been less if he had been more active. He's only boxed 3 times since he fought Katsidis, which is nowhere near enough. It's a shame because he looked like he was going places in 2009 but inactivity has played a big part in him not fulfilling his potential. He's only 28 though, so maybe there's still time for him.
To some extent, yes. Although some fighters are back training a couple of weeks after a fight - after all, they're professional athletes. I suppose it depends how 'training' and 'ticking over' are defined. If you only train hard pre-fight and have, for argument sake, a ten week training camp that's ten weeks training per year (for one fight). That's a lot of time wasted that could be spent improving. What you mention works well for someone fighting 4 times per year; 1-2 times, not so much.
I think it's just his nose, fighters sound like they're slurring when their nose is smashed beyond repair. Seems to still speak at 100mph. Like you say he's not really had any beatings, bar the Johanneson fight maybe.
Not going to make a new thread for this... but how the hell do James Helder and Kugan Cassius survive financially? They don't get millions of youtube views so I imagine ads on that is out of the question...?
Before the Burns fight: "You don't become a 2 weight world champion coz you can't punch" After "Everyone knows Burns isn't a big puncher" Make up your mind Kev.