12th July Matchroom Liverpool Bill -

This is a competitive card in my opinion if you drill down into it, Callum Smith and Joshua are stepping up. Bellew is fighting a knockout specialist and he nearly got knocked out in his last fight.

Its just unfortunate they are nearly all fighting international opponents so its difficult for people to really know how good the fights are. Eddie should really look at making at least 1 top domestic fight a card because i don't think it will do the prestige of the shows any good if you just have a name fighter vs an International opponent. I think his Manchester card that was topped by Murray vs Crolla was the best card hes ever done, obviously you can't afford to put on fights of that calibre at the Echo Arena but you need something like that for each show to make it a great card. This is just a decent card.

I worry though that hes becoming more and more cautious with his match making but hopefully if he can get to a point in 12 months where he has a full stable of stars then he can start running as a promoter and put on Top shows each month. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt because i think he needs time to build.

 

Step up are you joking Skelton is no step up he was bombed out ages ago by Price he's now about 55 years old i guarantee the fight doesn't go 2 rounds it isn't a step up at all. Terrible card complete **** if FW served up this card everyone would slate it and rightly so why the hell do people try defend stuff that's clearly ****.

 

Its Joshua's 7th fight, who would you have him fight instead?

 

Putting Joshua in with Skelton is like putting a Gold Medal winning Super Middle in with a Welterweight- the physical advantages mean it's not about the boxing and he would be better off sparring or fighting a younger active fighter that comes to win like ***ton. Admittedly, it is a hard division to match in.

Fury fought McDermott in his 8th fight at 21, he learned a hell of a lot more than Price did when he fought him aged 28. Really, Fury lost that fight but the experience has helpedhim get Iinto the position he's in now. I don't have to remind you what happened to Price, who was blasting through no hopes (funnily enough his last win before been exposed was Skelton), learning nothing about his boxing abilities and flaws.

 

Journeyman Chisora for his next fight

 

You didn't give a name though which kinda proves my point that its difficult to match him. Skelton is obviously being brought in to give him rounds and to be a name on his record. I think its a good opponent for him at this stage.

I think Joshua needs to be brought on slowly, hes very clunky in the ring and he got hit with two good shots in his last fight that he really shouldnt have been caught with.

I just find this whole complaining about Joshua's opponents pretty boring, we get this every fight with every top prospect.

 

Eddies trying to build him up as the next big heavyweight star by putting him on shows all over the country, so feed him some bums and he will look good and get fans all over the place

 

Get the fella that took Price 10 rounds. There's plenty of durable Europeans who'd put up a fight. Absolutely anyone but Skelton really. People are eager to see Joshua tested, not get a Wilder record.

 

I see Hearn is making excuses for putting on another poor card by saying the fans need to actually visualise the fights. Well Hearn needs to start to visualise what the paying fans in the arena and watching at home on Sky think.
I mean this is why monopoly's are bad for the sport because poor cards like this are getting put on in a regular basis. Sky need to up the game with the boxing.

 

Thing is though the last echo card he put on got slated and it ended up being a decent night I thought.

 

The only decent fight that night was the Bellew fight because he turned up all fat and struggled with an old pensioner and almost got himself KO'd and ended up doing his chicken dance all over the place apart from that the night was bad. I would rather forget Mitchell's opponent, but I'm afraid I'll never get those minutes back.

Mind you with Bellew on card it could turn out to be very amusing

 

It's not a bad card in fairness, Eddie has put Cleverly and Bellew in decent fights without putting too much risk to the rematch. Callum Smith taking on a fighter who went 10 with J'Leon Love last time out, Joshua fighting a name in Skelton and an improvement considering this is his 7th fight and he is still relatively inexperienced and Fielding is fighting a guy who has only lost to Stevenson, Groves and Sturm. Paul and Stephen Smith will just be fighting bums as they wait for a world title shot and some good prospects like Ogogo, Quigley and Jenkins on the bill.

 

Paul Smith isn't actually fighting mate, it's a mistake from boxrec. Agreed it's a decent card though.

 

I'd take Callum Smith to beat Fielding now, i was kind of hoping for that fight on this card to be honest.