Damien Hooper

It was jarrod fletcher that beat the cuban
a few months prior to the olympics only to draw him again
in his olympic opening bout and this time drop the decision

 

great coaches the cubans have. they would be hard to beat twice in a close 1st fight.

 

and in that fight Fletcher boxed his arse off - he fought a great fight but he just couldn't get near the cuban. he was my favourite oz amateur was jarrod fletcher. he had a good win over les piper earlier this year but i think now is the time for him to step up and fight some touger opposition.
the other gun oz amateur who had a couple of fights and vanished from the pro scene was ged o'mahony. of all the amateur in recent years geale, fletcher and Omahony were the ones tip to succeed - geales there, fletchers on the way but no Omahony????

 

It would of been interesting to see Adam Forsyth have a decent crack in the Pros

 

Gerrard has had a couple of pro fights i think. I watched him fight in Canberra a couple of years ago on the big bob v Hoppa card. He was a great am fighter. Some of the fights between fletch, geale and Ged were of the highest qualitly i have seen with my eyes.

Geale was always the stand out of the 3. Also Todd kidd, was was tipped to go far but from what i hear he is moving along slowly.

 

I agree with you to a point.

 

hooper was on a 3 strike policy. you can't be fairer than that can you - you get 2 warnings with the knowledge that one more infraction will get you suspended.

and thats what happened he struck out. apparently he has been a regular disruptive influence to everyones training.

i was lucky enough to see him spar jason(?) whately last year prior to the worlds - i got film on the second night because of how crazy the first night was

hooper moved around for a bit not doing much when implored to lift his work rate he exploded and just dropped whately out of the blew. he then got out of the ring and did bag work - he was so vocal doing so you could his grunt/screams 20 metres down the road from the gym. he is a nut. not that there's anything wrong with that.

the second night was uneventful.

 

can u throw some of the footage up?

boxing isnt ballet, i dont think Hoopers done anything wrong, he shouldnt tip toe around anyone and if they throw him in with someone he has to carry, then ask him to lift his game then he has every right to drop the guy imo.

As for the bag work, thats a bit weird lol

 

it was the way it happened - i've got footage of the next night and there is nothing wrong with whately - it was the way hooper did it - just exploding out of nothing

anyway i changed my mind a bit about hooper and although i think he's our best bet for medal in these games i far from think he's the best amateur we've had - even recently. all his hype was for the potential he showed as 17 and 18 year old - but last year he only beat jake carr by a point. and he tanked at the comm games - geale won comm games gold as a 21 year old and fletcher at 23 and more telling finished 5th (quarter finalist) the games before in 2002 as a 19year old - the same age hooper was when he only made the round of16

i'll have a look at putting that spar footage up over the weekend - i've held off coz i didnt feel it my place to but i guess it must be nearly a year old so i'm sure no one would be upset

 

I dont think I would be comparing Hooper with Geale and Fletcher based solely on the Comm. games that Hooper tanked in. Hooper has consistantly beaten higher quality opponents than Geale or Fletcher at a similar age. Hooper has a better world ranking than Geale or Fletcher EVER had. Hooper may have only beaten Carr by 1 point but from what I have seen of him a lot of the times he does just enough to win and no more. Hooper also has won Tournaments in Russia and Europe in the last 12 months. Hooper is a GENIUNE chance of a medal at the Olympics, I dont recall Geale or Fletcher being in that position. IMO Hooper has the physical abilities to be the best in the world but unfortunately mentally appears fragile.

 

as i said b4, all the talent in the world will b wasted if he is sittin behind bars, its a bloody shame, i hope he grows up, i want to see him progress to the pro,s and become another world champ like geale

 

Wasnt it politics that prevented Geale from fighting in the Olympics?

 

dont know, politics have stopped a lot of talented fighters rep their country,but its not politics with hooper,its attitude

 

TCboxa (Wasnt it politics that prevented Geale from fighting in the Olympics?)

Geale lost to kahu benson in tonga 2004 in a close fight then benson lost to somoa and omahoney beat somoa

 

so why didnt geale go to the olympics then m8 and turn pro instead? just asking thats all, i dont presume to know the facts on this one thus im asking what happen. Which aussie took geales place and why? i thought it had something to do with Team A and Team B bullsht.