Ironically, female boxers are being used to fill cards on the cheap. The majority of fans don't care about female boxing.
From a technical stand-point, Taylor is far superior to many male fighters (the vast majority, even, if you were to look at the ~20,000 active pros worldwide) Physically, yes, obviously she would not have the same strength/resistance as male fighters at her same weight no one is arguing that but to say novice teenagers would stop her is ludicrous. As an amateur, admittedly with big gloves and headguards, she would have sparred, full tilt, with the likes of Eric Donovan, Paddy Barnes, Tyrone McCullagh, Stevie McKenna, and Declan Geraghty (who actually broke her nose). Lads, mostly, one class below her which, considering body composition, is essentially the same class.
She is not as skilled, nowhere near. Someone like Adam Jones is a far more skilled, fundamentally sound, technical boxer. And no way are those guys you listed going full tilt on her in sparring, that's an absurd suggestion. They will be going 30% at the absolute most, even Paddy Barnes.
For those defending women’s boxing / KT just a question for you... When we are sold a stacked card and then it’s announced a World title fight will be on it, are you happy that it’s Katie Taylor? I’d much rather Zeuge/Fielding for the “regular” belt, Campbell - Mendy in an eliminator, Crolla in an eliminator. If Katie Taylor was fighting down the bottom of my garden I’d draw the curtains.
I don't imagine I will change your mind but, yes, she is. Taylor has been boxing since she was 11 years of age and has put in more hours, both in general and in a high-performance setting, than most fighters on the entire plant. - And, yes, they are going full tilt, I have literally spoken to a number of the mentioned fighters regarding the spars.
It's comedy hour, when the girls are on the card. Just 15 minutes of laughter time, they serve their purpose.
They are clearly being kind and not entirely honest in order to complement her. If Katie Taylor was capable of being in any way competitive in full on 100% sparring with men like Tyrone McCullagh and Eric Donovan then her 'sparring' Rigo would not look like this. This content is protected He's literally going at about 10% and it's still not even remotely competitive. Lucia Rijker is probably the greatest female fighter of all time, arguably even better than Taylor and look at what happened to her when she fought a man who was just some random nobody. He really didn't hold back and she got easily, quickly and brutally knocked out. And that's what would happen in sparring, even in head guards and 16oz gloves (which don't make anywhere near as much difference as some people think), if these men were going 50%, never mind 100%. High level women will routinely spar men because there are so few other women for them to spar. These men will then often be self depreciating and disingenuous in regards to how hard they go and how competitive these spars are in order to compliment these women and not be nob. But that's all it is. No offense but some of guys are simply in denial of reality.
@Erik great posts mate, you saying exactly how i (and many others) feel, you just put it across much better then i would.
Regarding the footage, Rigo has done that to almost every man he’s fought. He’s an elite level fighter. He’s ridiculously good. We’ve had these threads before. We need to stop trying to compare the women with the men, and that goes for any sport. Sport primarily involves physical attributes and genetically on average men are physically bigger, stronger and faster than women, so it’s an unfair comparison. When one of the Williams sisters wins a grand slam, it’s appreciated for what it is, a brilliant achievement on its own standing. To then ask if they could beat Federer is undermining their achievement. Same in any sport. There’s no harm having a women’s fight on a boxing card. If it’s not for you, go make a brew or whatever, you’re entitled to your opinion. It’s great that there is now a viable career path for all girls who wish to go on to earn a living as a professional boxer should they be good enough. Imagine you have a young female relative with an aspiration to achieve that status in boxing, only for that to be denied by opinion that women shouldn’t fight. Come on lads.
Women can fight if they want to but it shouldn’t be shoved down our throats. Put a women’s card on then and give it a Saturday night slot on sky when there’s no other boxing on. I’m a matchroom fight pass member thing, I do regularly attend events and I’m almost always in the higher price band of tickets. I feel robbed when I see women on the card. The quality just isn’t good, it may be “good for women” but take away the sex and it’s poor and as pointed out earlier on in the thread it tends to be extremely one sided. This PPV coming up was being sold as Whyte - Parker with a world title fight on the card. It’s poor, as I said I’d much rather a WBA regular belt on the line.
That’s my point bud, comparison is unfair. For all their skills, genetically (physically) they are at a disadvantage. We’ve gotta appreciate it on its own merit. Just think, it was only a few years ago that many people had the same opinion of woman playing football. I see some fantastic girls coming through are as good as any lad i’ve seen at that age...over the puberty years, physical attributes will set them apart and the lads will have a platform (speed, strength and power) to develop their skills even further. I love getting my daughter to play in the footy matches with the grown-ups and kids on holiday. She tends to be the only girl and they assume she’ll be rubbish. She waltzes round them with her skills and can shoot with either foot. She’s now got a path in which she can seriously pursue becoming a professional footballer should she keep developing. She can watch the England ladies, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea etc on telly. This is only a recent thing of the last few years but would have been struck off as nonsense only 10-15 years ago. It’s about getting it in the public domain and it becoming normal, which it should be.
I think it deserves its own night (ladies boxing night) when there’s no other boxing on. Like a Thursday or something so it can have the chance to grow. The BBC would be all over it for coverage.
This was last year http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...team-suffer-5-2-loss-FC-Dallas-U-15-boys.html Women's world cup winners USA, the best women's team in the World, lost 5-2 to the Dallas academy under 15's. So 14 year-olds who are not even from a high level club.. Australia, ranked 6th in the World, lost 7-0 to to a bunch of 14 year-old boys from some random Aussie club I've never heard of. I remember the Swedish women's team (again highly ranked at 9th in the world) lost to a kids side who didn't even field 11 players to try and give them a chance. That's how wide the gap is and is why most people don't want to watch women's sports. If women want to box or do any other sports then that's up to them, but putting on along side the men is where the problem is, that's all.
