Briedis still potentially eyes move to heavyweight division

I don't think that Okolie would need the corrupt cards. Why would Okolie want to challenge Dorticos, who holds nothing? The only legitimate belt Dorticos has won in his career is a vacant IBF belt. I doubt Okolie would be quaking in his boots. He's good, but he's not on Okolie's level.

Chisora's best win is a Euro level Takam. It looks like me that Hearn's Chisora mythology has worn off on you. Whyte is another story, that's competitive.

 

Okolie yet even did not had proved that he is anything more than weight and size bully in Eddie backyard and for ppl like you his resume looks good and this CW weight bully in Eddie backyard looks " skilled ".

His resume is for me worse than Tabiti resume and only noobs doesn't see this.
Tabiti turned into legit cotender when he won vs undefeated not old prospect in Russia and fought also vs Dorticos for title on foreign soil.

I do not care about paper belts, Dorticos had also fought as underdog vs boxer in Russia and impressively KOed him, then he fought with undefeated boxer in his prime for belt.

Belts are for fans and western belts are not thing like Lumpinee belt or Olympic medal.


You need to fight with prime opponents who aren't total underdogs.
This is reason why Hunter gets from me more respect than some x LOUD yelling names and their fans noise in the internet.

 

It doesn't matter what a boxer has "proved". It's called having foresight. I foresee success for Okolie. I might be wrong, because I don't have a crystal ball. But it doesn't stop me from exercising an attempt at foresight.

Nobody achieves their greatest victory before .... achieving their greatest victory. Boxing is also not a simple process of linear progression. Tyson Fury had not beaten anyone like Klitschko prior to doing just that. Douglas had not beaten anybody like Tyson prior to knocking him out. Andy Ruiz the same with Joshua, and so on and on.

 

Of course you are correct. If eddie will wish, this will happen.
Doesn't matters even will he fight vs Makabu or Briedis or no.
If eddie might sell us Chisora on ppvs, why not to sell Cornor Benn or Okolie? He will do this and will be succesfull.

I do know eddie flowchart: old boxers for his kids in eddie backyard and yelling, screaming boxing fans are happy.

 

Of course doesn't matters, this is not MMA or MT..

 

Well, yes. Hearn can manufacture Okolie to a degree. Connor Benn is more easily marketed than Okolie, who is not particularly charismatic.
Chisora has been marketed as a madman who "always comes to fight". Okolie would probably need to beat someone like Briedis and then move up to Bridgerweight at the very least to headline a pay-per-view, but I can't see that happening. Something like Okolie - Joyce or Okolie - Usyk would be a guaranteed pay-per-view, as would Okolie - Chisora or Okolie - Whyte or even Okolie - Parker. It's all a big joke, and I wouldn't purchase any of them.

 

Why not? 2-4 good fights where he will look impressive and even if these boxers will not be Makabu or Briedis eddie might start to sell him pretty well.

 

2-4 good fights, yes. But he will not be pay-per-view next bout. And I doubt it will be the one after that. If I had to predict, it would be a heavyweight bout after an initial knockover job in his first heavyweight bout, against some of the names mentioned, for example. Okolie, at this stage, is nowhere near marketable enough for him to be headlining a pay-per-view against a nobody like Joshua was against Whyte, Takam, Molina, Martin, Breazeale etc. These were all knockover jobs but Joshua's marketability sold the pay-per-view itself.

Of course, a few television appearances and what not and Okolie might end up being more marketable, but as I say, he's not charismatic and he is also not an attractive guy. These things make a difference. Dillian Whyte has got something about him. He's got a bit of that madman about him, but he is also funny and very personable. Okolie appears not to be much of these things so far, but it is all new to him.

I think it will be his ability alone, i.e. several good/very good wins that will elevate him to PPV status and not primarily boosted by sleazy sales like Chisora.

 

One after this of course no. He is ranked by WBO where looks that Briedis and Makabu are't ranked at all.
He might do 2-3 impressive looking title defenses and everything might happen. Hugging contest vs Briedis will not help to become ppv star.

I think that he might get fight vs Briedis but these talks are long long ago and no paper or data settled.

Briedis team will check his gloves and hands wrapping process in the dressing room.

Don't know might he also generate enough money. Polish short notice journeyman and beltless Glowacki coming out of covid, long inactivity period and harsh loss for sure were relatively cheap to book. Briedis will not be so cheap and also most likely he might vacate belts and retire or move up to HW till autumn. Maybe attempt to book fight with Makabu. There he at least will not be in away corner like typical uncles eddie book and still this fight might be ppv worth cos Makabu is good and does have real chances to win.

Will see.

 

I would definitely like to see a Breidis-Okolie matchup. But there are references in the press indicating that it will not be long before Okolie steps up to HW. I think this fight would be big enough for Lawrence to consider putting those plans on hold for a little bit.

 

The top (at least as far as rankings go) of the CW division is quite depleted right now. Usyk, Lebedev, Gassiev, Huck, and Bellew have retired or moved to HW. Glowacki appears finished. If the situation gets any worse we might wake up tomorrow to find that Fiat Arslan has become somebody's mandatory challenger It's not too uncommon for the CW division to face a vacuum. When this happens the rankings of the sanctioning bodies are caught flat-footed as they try to figure out how they can be manipulated to best effect.

You are right that Okolie's resume is thin. He will not travel outside of the UK to give it more nourishment. He can fight somebody like Briedis or Makabu in the UK for a big payday. Then he can go to HW. I am not saying that Okolie will be exposed as a poor fighter - but Glowacki has had several difficult evenings and it is clear he had declined.

I don't like the belt system either. It creates a system where undefeated prospects are given an incentive not to fight one another in the hope of becoming a voluntary title challenger. There is an obsession with "not losing one's zero". When Deontay Wilder held the WBC belt - undefeated US prospects were not fighting each other. But when he lost it - they began to do so.

I think WBSS-style tournaments are good as they create incentives for top fighters to fight one another. I do not like the 3-round format of amateur competitions and have become frustrated with Olympic judging.

 

Additionally, Tischenko blew it, and Kudryashov, Merhy and Lerena area ll trying their hand at Bridger.

 

Whenever I hear about a fighter saying they will move to Bridger...it's almost as if they are issuing it as some sort of threat.

We'll see if that Rivas-Jennings title fight actually happens on June 18th...

 

Yeah.

I think might be good if someone will create next tournament format thing, like MTK Golden Contract and WBSS.
Instead of belt main prize in WBSS is Ali trophy.
Someone might offer main prize called like " King's Trophy ", " Quinn's Cup ".

 

Yeah.
Why Tabiti did not had fights after WBSS2 fight vs Dorticos?
He wasn't bad, had beat 17-0-0 boxer in U.S and 23-0-0 boxer in Russia. Okey, lost vs Dorticos, does this mean career end?