Let's be real, Boone is an opponent. He has 19 wins and 21 losses. However, he's been in there with some serious opposition and in many ways, has overacheived. Let's take a look at some of his biggest fights; Andre Ward - Went the distance, only man to put Ward on the canvas Jean Pascal - Took the fight on short notice, went the distance Curtis Stevens - Went the distance(was dominated and KD though) Erislandy Lara -Went the distance Edwin Rodriguez - Went the distance Brandon Gonzales - Went the distance Adonis Stevenson - Won by second round KO Sergey Kovalev - Lost by razor thin SD So this guy has fought many of the top fighters from 154 to 175. Sure, he's lost pretty much all of these fights, but he seems to almost always give these guys tough rounds, and isn't too far away from owning victories over the likes of Ward, Stevenson, and Kovalev. That's a head scratcher.
A cab driver who beaten the crap out of Ward amd Stevenson. Nothing mysterious about that, those guys are overhyped bums.
The world is full of solid journeymen that know their way around the ring and can survive damn near a nuclear holocaust
Idiots should be banned .. If these two guys are bums as you call them, then entire 168 lb class are bums.
Yeah, I don't get how you make the likes of Kovalev and Ward struggle but get manhandled by Stevens. He is definitely hot and cold in his efforts, and part of it also is probably the styles match-ups. In that respect he is no less an enigma than countless other boxers, who might on a given night do very well against someone with A- talent but stylistically tailor made for them, while on another night being given fits by a C+ talent whose style is all wrong for them.
I'd been thinking of starting an appreciation thread for Boone - the guy is the ULTIMATE gatekeepeer. Basically, everyone who's anyone between 160 and 175 has fought him at one point or another. Very often he's only had a week or twos notice. On the right day he can score a KD or KO against anyone. Darnell Boone is a Fukkin legend - he's fought probably more future top tens between MW and LHW then almost any of the beltholders in those divisions. WAR BOONE !!!! Apparently he didn't even start boxing 'til he was 19 or summit - his little brother needed someone to take him to the gym. I found a nice article from his local paper from about 2008 - I'll try to dig it out.
I've not been able to find footage of the fight despite a lot of searching. I do know it was about the only fight Boone lost on home territory which means that if you include the KD Kovalev musta been fairly convincingly outboxing him. The only other thing I know was that in Boone II the commentators said that Kovalev criticised his own performance in the first fight saying (to paraphrase) "I didn't press home my early advantage, and finish him when I had the chance" - I guess he took the lesson to heart since he's now become a merciless finisher.
