A Joshua v A Pudding

Hearn has to put a decent card together for this to be PPV (which it will be) Two guys who have failed at their attempts to get world titles doesn't justify a PPV.

 

Things not as bad as that mate, unlike Gary, Dominic was a seasoned amateur that made it to the Olympics in London. I agree that he doesn't exactly set the world alight but lets be honest this was always going to be the type of opponent for AJ whilst he is still adapting to the professional game.

 

This fight was always going to be against Stiverne, but then Stiverne dropped out the IBF Top 15, so realistically it would have been Molina Or Brezeale, they chose DB because they want to sell the 'undefeated fighter' but what did people expect? its his first defence!

 

Mansour was winning comfortably, then he had to quit due to an "injury". - Allegedly a broken jaw.

Robbery is probably not the right word, but I remember watching it at the time and thinking something smelt funny.

I'll let you watch for yourself and make your own mind up

 

Always speak a lot of sense mate.

As someone else said Hearn looks like he's going the same way as he is with Brook. Bored of Brook and now bored of AJ's fights already. I would never pay for this myself. Would go to friend's or family or pub if I didn't have a fake box.

 

He made it to the Olympic games, yes.
According to boxrec, his qualification went like this :

• 2012 America´s Olympic Qualifier Silver Medallist at Super Heavyweight, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Defeated [url]Jose Payares[/url] (Venezuela) 12-10
• Defeated [url]Gidelson Oliveira[/url] (Brazil) 18-12
• Defeated [url]Gerardo Bisbal[/url] (Puerto Rico) 15-12
• Lost to [url]Ytalo Perea[/url] (Ecuador) 10-14

So, he lost to the guy from Ecuador in the qualifiers, and then lost 8-19 to Magomed Omarov of Russia in his only fight in London.

Also, as far as I can tell, he didn't take up boxing until he was at least 23 or 24.
He was apparently recruited by the same "All American Heavyweights" scheme that produced Charles Martin.

Breazeale was a college football quarterback and they called him up out of the blue and suggested he try out as a boxer.

I don't think he was a "seasoned amateur".
It's highly unlikely this guy can fight much at all. His credentials inspire no confidence at all.

Bryant Jennings is probably the best of the American heavyweights right now. And of course Deontay Wilder, if he gets past Povetkin.

 

An article about Breazeale from 2012 :

[url]http://www.denverpost.com/london2012/ci_21202682/dominic-breazeale-boxing-olympics-qb-northern-colorado[/url]

Here's an excerpt :

Breazeale returned to California, where he grew up. One day he got a random phone call from All American Heavyweights, asking if he would be interested in boxing.

"I said, 'You're crazy, no way. I'm a quarterback. I've never been hit in the face before. I've never even come close to a boxing ring.'"

But he didn't have a job. He'd applied to become a corrections officer with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, but there was a 10- to 15-month waiting period for background checks. He was volunteering as a youth adviser for Orange County probation, but there wasn't much money coming in.

All American Heavyweights was offering to teach him boxing, along with a training stipend. It seemed like a decent part-time job until the position with California Corrections was offered.

"I called them and said, 'Hey, when can I start?' They said, 'You can start tomorrow.' "
Five months later he got his first bout in a ring built on the sand at Venice Beach. It didn't last long.

"There were thousands of people for as far as you could see," Breazeale said. "The bout ended up going 13 seconds, and I knew right then and there that boxing was my thing."

He soon learned boxing was a more consuming lifestyle than that of a football player. It would take his full commitment. His trainer, John Bray, set him straight on that at the outset.
"He told me when I first started boxing, 'Hey, you can't play boxing, you've got to live boxing, boxing is a lifestyle,' " Breazeale said. "Boxing is all year round. There's no taking off. You can't eat a bad meal and think you're going to get up the next day and spar real hard. It doesn't work that way. You can't play this sport, you've got to live it."

Breazeale won the Olympic Trials in February and went to an Olympic qualification tournament in Rio de Janeiro three months later without any international experience. He opened against Jose Payares of Venezuela, a 2008 Olympian .
"Round 1 he did real well, he was up by two or three points. I evened up in Round 2 and just kind of tore him apart in Round 3," Breazeale said.

After that he beat a military world champion from Brazil and a Puerto Rican who won a bronze medal in the Pan Am Games. He lost in the finals to Italo Perea, the Pan Am champ from Ecuador, but earned an Olympic berth.

 

I must admit, I'm normally one for defending Eddie Hearn (basically find BoxNation painfully budget and appreciate how he's got all my mates interested in a sport I love), but this is bad management...I have no doubt it'll be a very good promotion.

It's written into the unwritten boxing rules (alongside 'you must beat the champion clearly on points to win his title') that you get a bit of a 'gimme' in your first defence, but if we're being real - we know AJ, at this stage, is very much a paper champ. He should still be picking fights as if he is a contender, picking fights in which he can learn something - this is 100% a step back.

My pick would have been Stiverne. Ex-'champ', been in with some good names so provides a nice comparison and has the chin/defence to give Joshua what he needs more than anything else, rounds in the ring. As other posters have said, another three/four fighters would have been ahead of Breazeale for me.

With the PPV argument, I'm not bothered but can understand why people are. The way I look at it, the cinema is a couple of quid cheaper for approximately three hours less entertainment and if I went out on a Saturday night, I'd certainly spend more than £15. That said, this sort of headliner does take the Michael somewhat because, put simply, it's not going to be as good as what Sky give us for 'free'.

 

I mean its no worse than the bums Calazaghe fought during the WBO days. Think we have got used to fighters like Froch that only fought in big fights once they won a title (bar mack)

The problem with AJ is he hasn't had a world class fight yet. Stiverne would of been good because we could at least compare him to Wilder.

 

:deal

Watch the wan.kers come out swinging when called out as the mugus they are.

I can hear it already..."For the price of a few cans I'd much rather watch it on the big screen than huddled over my iphone on some sh.itty stream."

 

Cheers.
I'll check it out.
Either way, it sounds as if Breazeale certainly didn't score a convincing win.
Coupled with a gift against Kassi, and rather thin amateur and professional credentials, he doesn't inspire much confidence.

 

Is this at Wembley stadium on July 9th Mr Hearn?
I think I will skip this PPV or at least look for another way to watch it

 

The difference is Joe Calzaghe was not a pay-per-view star fighter.
Many boxing fans often rightly complained about his joke defences, or even ignored him, and he was largely unheard of in mainstream sporting conversation.
He had a loyal fanbase but not huge legions of casual viewers - he didn't match the appeal of Hatton, for example, and it took him years to get anywhere near that, and his fights were filler on SKY sports boxing schedule, not massively hyped events.

Anthony Joshua's profile is much higher, with crossover appeal building. And it's all PPV from now on.

 

The IBF dropping Stiverne out of the top 15 has caused the issue, i would rather him fight DB than Duhapas

 

Boxer takes easy first defence shocker...