Matthysse: Judah is 10 times a better fighter than Alexander

Man, ya'll give Alexander no credit, but his conditioning, his heart, his chin, and his sharpness were all there in abundance. His mistake is that he didn't throw enough hard punches, and more importanty, he didn't invest in the body. If he would have done that, the conditioning, the heart, and the speed were there to win decisively.

He has the potential to be a pfp superstar. The ingredients are there, but he needs more polish.

 

I didn't think he showed great conditioning at all. In fact, I think that's what lost him the fight. He looked sharp early on, then it seemed like he got tired and his form deteriorated.

 

That's pretty much all he needs. His flaws are correctable, the guy brings a ton of tools to the ring and he proved that he'll take a beating and keep coming. I just don't know that he'll have the smarts to realize that his trainer is holding him back. Obviously it's more than the usual trainer/fighter relationship. But if he wants to maximize his potential, somebody needs to get in his ear.

 

Alot of people seem to be forgetting what happened in the Judah fight. I and many others though Zab lost.

 

Don't make me laugh. His potential went right down the tubes with the judges decision that they gave him last night.

I think he'd make a great punching bag for top opponents though. The fact that he's only been knocked down once is a pretty good feat.

 

Agreed. Zab did do better and people remember that but he faded and Matthysse did more work and finished much stronger than Zab. Zab doing better than Devon by no means translates to him beating Matthysse, he didn't. Neither beat Matthysse and the man should be undefeated still.

 

Judah is definitely much better than Alexander. Alexander is basically a poor man's Zab.

I really thought Matthysse won, but it was close. Thing is he won his rounds BIG, whereas the other rounds Alexander just kind of outdid him by a little bit. Alexander only had that one real good round (9), and Matthysse beat the **** out of him in the 4th, 7th, and 8th. I felt like the 1-3, the 5th, and the 6th could have gone either way depending on what kind of boxing you like. I can't see a reasonable argument for giving Alexander rounds 4, 7, 8 or 10. The 10th was Matthysse's round, no question in my mind--Alexander doesn't score points by 'trying hard.' He was getting clobbered every time he let his hands go.

I get the sense that Cunningham is basically trying to fake it till they make it. All his advice is geared toward manipulating the perception of the crowd and judges. (Same for Alexander's annoying ninja sex noises). Alexander's style is based on creating a flashy image. You can see him pulling his punches to make them seem faster.

I've pretty much given up on Alexander now that he's lost 3 straight. I think HBO has as well (Larry Merchant pretty much gave him no credit in the interview. I almost felt bad for him at that point.)

 

I disagree COMPLETELY. His conditioning is the only thing that saved his ass. Matthysse was landing hard body punches beggining in the first round with straight right hands to the pit of Alexander's stomach.

Any normal fighter would have been stopped inside the distance probably sooner than the 8th round, considering all of the hard punches Matthyse managed to land against Alexander.

In fact, at the end of the fight, Alexander seemed to be the one coming on strong when it was Matthysse that put in all of the body work that would normally stop his opponents.

The type of heart and conditioning that Alexander showed was top notch. I was extremelly impressed. Yes, I think at best he deserved a draw, but you can't say it was due to his conditioning.

It was his tactics. He should have been landing some hard shots to Matthyse's body, and then he could have managed to win the fight decisively as he was clearly better conditioned. That altitude training worked.