ESPN2 FNF: Demetrius "Gladiator" Hopkins vs. Brad "Busy Bee" Solomon RBR

Poor choice of words by Solis at the press conference! :rofl

"After being an Olympic winner, winning (pro) world titles...winning X amount of titles...this is just like having breakfast for me."

Vitali retorts that they're two completely different worlds, and that not every good amateur boxer can hack it.

 

ESPN2's video team are unparalleled when it comes to milking the most out of highlight reels. That little hype piece before going to commercial makes both Hopkins and Solomon look like ferocious KO artists.

 

:hitit

If there was an "I wouldn't attempt to have a stimulating conversation with it" emoticon, however - that would be used too.

 

Pretty boring fight plan, Teddy. :blood I'm extremely disappointed.

For Barthelemy: Land a right hook; Ruiz didn't have a lot of time to prepare for a southpaw so he might not be expecting one.

For Ruiz: Land the right hand, it's pretty good against southpaws.

And it wasn't even acted out with a partner! atsch

 

Round 1

Bart throws some stiff but wide jabs and the southpaw 1-2 while slowly walking Ruiz down. Ruiz is spoiling a bit - feinting, blocking, and backing away from exchanges. A trickle of left jabs from Ruiz, nothing on them. Bart is mixing in his left crosses to the body and grazing the ribs of Ruiz. Bart gets a bit more aggressive and clocks Ruiz a couple of times, staggering him mildly. Ruiz bends forward and eats a huge left uppercut. Ruiz pops out a few short (but slow) left hooks and right hands that bounce off Bart's shoulders.

10-9 Barthelemey

 

9 rounds to go in this one. So, if Barthelemy doesn't score a KO (which would be a letdown) the main event should be starting probably at about 10pm EST.

 

Round 2

Bart comes forward behind his 1-2, throwing hard and with a bit of a loop on his shots. Ruiz is backing up and then coming forward when cornered with pairs of desperation shots out of his turtle shell before pressing up against Barthelemy. Ruiz tries to time a right hand and left hook combo as Barthelemy is ripping a right hook at him, but Barthelemy just walks through it and it thuds against his chest. Ruiz keeps trying to land the left hook by itself or behind a lead right hand but just doesn't have the hand speed or reach. Barthelemy isn't landing particularly well but is slapping Ruiz with a lot more leather than he's taking in return.

20-18 YB