Is Izu Ugonoh done?

always been impressed by what i have seen of him
yes he lost to breazeale /does that mean yopu should write him off

IMO no
a loss today and thats it . its why so many promoters are scared to risk there prospects.

izu IMO is lower top 10 / yep he has flaws / but his strengths are definatley top 10 material.

he is fast of feet and hand /good technique /good power / puts his punches together well /

yep he got excited and shot his bolt to early and when breazeale recovered he got KTFO
exactly what happened to nigel benn v watson it happens.

but if izu devised a gameplan /stuck to it and boxed within himself he will give every heavy out there a fight as it is he is going to be in the who needs him club unless his promoters can force the issue and pay for some decent opponents to increase his tock and marketabilty.

 

I hope Barry gets Izu in to spar with Parker prior to the AJ bout.

 

I hope Hearn gets Izu in to spar with AJ prior to the Parker bout.

 

Didn't have the experience or necessary seasoning to go from fighting tomato cans to a genuine top 10 guy in Breazeale.

They rolled the dice attempting a quantum leap from prospect to contender & came up short. Mind you, he nearly pulled it off.

What's required from here is a couple of wins against tomato cans then some intermediate level opposition.

Intermediate level opposition costs money so someone will have to come up with that in order to buy those opponents for him.

What's not required is to put him straight back in with a top 15 guy because he'll lose & become an opponent type thereafter.

So yes, he can be something. But only if someone is willing to make short term investment in him for longer term gain.

 

I think that Izu is an exciting fighter to watch. He just comes to rumble. His style is decent at times - the way he was working behind double jab in the first two rounds against Breazeale was surely impressive. He carries power & goes to the body well. What's not impressive is his gas tank - and I'm afraid that can't be trained. Izu was like that before he turned pro (he was a kick-boxer) and his limitations seemed obvious when he went full 8 round with Julius Long. As to his chin - it's not the best, but the bigger problem is imo his stamina. Can he fight like in the first two rounds with Breazeale during 10 round fight? Sadly I just don't see it happening.

But still - I'd love to see him challenge a TOP 20 guy. Whyte, Pulev, Browne - he could give these guys hell. I even wouldn't mind seeing him against Adamek - that's a decent comeback fight.

 

The guy needs to work on his conditioning he was absolutely shattered by the 5th round. He needs to move away from Barry and get with a coach which will encourage to use his jab.

 

Agreed they threw him in the deep end and his lack of experience showed. Joshua realised early he couldn't take Breazeale out so easily and took his time to break him down. Izu came in thinking he would KO Breazeale quickly and basically did what Wlad did vs Brewster and Puritty and blew his load early and gassed badly in that 3rd round and never really recovered despite scoring that knockdown in the 4th.

Izu can come again but he needs to be handled carefully to rebuild his confidence. He also needs to learn from his mistakes and not brawl with the brawlers like he did with DB. He also needs to work on his defence and not leave himself so open when letting his combinations go.

 

I'll make a few other observations on Izu.

Firstly, I don't think there was anything wrong with the tactic of going for broke in trying to knock Breazer's head off. It was really the only chance he had of winning the fight.

Izu didn't have the experience or fight conditioning needed to fight at Breazer's pace over the 10 round distance therefore he needed to go for it in order to win.

Breazer was coming off a stoppage loss to Joshua going into the Izu fight so they were probably hoping Breazer was damaged goods & seeking to capitalise on it. Izu nearly did, but to Breazer's credit, he showed he had actually gained from the Joshua experience & weathered the storm. To my mind, he's a genuine top 10 guy now.

It really all comes down to money if Izu is going to be anything. Someone needs to spend it in order to obtain decent opponents for him with no guarantee of ever getting a return on investment.

Is someone willing to do that? I hope so b/c he definitely has talent & we haven't seen the best of him yet.

 

Yeah some good points raised here. Izus game plan and conditioining wasnt as good as he physically looked. You cant help but to point fingers at his prep and those responsible for that.

 

Izu gassed out against Breazeale because the former adopted the wrong strategy by starting way too quick. But in general, I don't think I'd agree with Izu having poor conditioning.

 

Well said. I couldn't have said it better.

 

I didn't see the Breazeale fight but if you getting KO'd by a guy like Breazeale I'm pretty sure you aint ever gonna be a top 10 heavyweight.

 

I think the biggest aspect he needs to work on is defense. From what I've seen up to this point, there is a serious defensive flaw haunting him. If that trait isn't refined he will suffer yet another loss.

 

Have you ever boxed before? Lol

 

All things considered, the number one reason for his loss is his defensive flaws. The Izu-Breazeale bout was exciting, back-and-forth savagery. Izu simply had the wrong strategy; Ring Magazine nominated the third round of the fight for "Round of the Year". I don't think the loss warrants fans and experts to write off Ugonoh just yet.