Once again, the kid was brilliant. He reminds me of Alex arthur when he was a young prospect comin through the ranks, with all the hype surrounding him as Scotlands next big thing. SKY certainly were giving paul the big build up, & have been doing so for his last few fights. Paul has a lot of self belief, maybe part of that is due to the fact that he has sparred with the likes of Israel Vazquez, & Ray 'boom boom' Bautista under the guidance of Freddie Roach. His latest win against Ben Odamattey was highly impressive, & freakishly similar to his last bout before that against Riaz Durgahed. Both guys, durable fighters in their own right openly quit mid-round after taking too much punishment from Appleby. For anyone who never seen the fight, Appleby called out british featherweight champion John Simpson after the fight. But Simpson is an extremely underrated fighter who seems to be geting better with age, & I feel would be too risky a fight for Appleby who has only had 10 fights, & sometimes leaves himself open due to being a crowd pleaser, as he admiited himself.
Missed him tonight but looking forward to catching the replay in the morning. How did he do? He has looked impressive so far. Nice to see him square off with Khan one day down the line, both exciting attacking lads.
I'm a big fan of Appleby and think he has World Class potential . There are easy comparrisons to be made between him and the early career of Alex Arthur , what his camp has to make sure is that he doesn't need to be Gomezed to improve his defense . I love the way he works the body and will move in laterally switching the angles from which he goes in . Odamattey quit tonight because of that body attack , those repeat hard shots just made him not want it anymore and to do that against a hard nut like Odamattey is very impressive . Personally I'd like to see him fight for that Celtic title before the year is out , they may have to go for someone other than Dai Davies but unless it's another prospect I can't see a Celtic title fight being anything but a walk in the park for Appleby and just something he should get 1.as a mental achievement having won his first title and 2.putting him closer to a British title . After that I'd like to see them put him in with Jamie McKeever and then Ryan Barrett . Then try and convince Roy Rutherford out of retirement before finally taking on Simpson . For me that would allow him the required amount of time and opponents to sort out problems before facing Simpson while also giving okay opposition and not moving him too slowly . Given a few fights I'd fancy Appleby against the ever improving Simpson . Although Simpson might be able to pick holes in Appleby's defence I feel Appleby would still be able to grind out a win with his workrate and power .
Sounds like another good win ,stopping a boxer who tool Ricky Burns the distance is no mean feat at this stage in his development. I have watched Paul since he was a lad, I have seen many of his amateur bouts and I don't know how many hours watching him spar. He has always given me the impression that he could do great things. Well done lad.
Very impressive. I'd say he's a far better prospect than Arthur was at the same points in their careers. To be honest Dunky, Arthur is going to be no more than fringe world class at best. Appleby COULD go all the way
