Random Boxing Thoughts....

I suppose rereading that I filled in your post with all the extreme statements about Pirog that pop up once every few weeks on this forum about him. Your statements were pretty conservative and basic. But I do stand by everything I said. And I did have great interest in Pirog. Just the retrospective outlook on him is disproportionately "rose tinted," so to speak, and extreme.

 

Considering the thread I can go on a tangent: that we might say the same about Salvador Sanchez. As skilled and smart as Sal was, he wasn't quite as good as a lot of us admirers believe, and I love him. He was brilliant against Lopez, Gomez, even Laporte, who came to him and he could counter. But he was really flustered against Pat Cowdell and Patrick Ford. Anyone who hasn't seen those fights should check them out. He won, but against either a technically sound, compact boxer or an awkward, tricky guy he wasn't so dominant. If Sanchez didn't die so young and he had a chance to take on more of the best we could very well think much less of him. Because he didn't we look at him with rose coloured glasses.

 

I think I'll watch both those Sanchez fights as soon as I can. They're both classic chess matches. Haven't seen them in 10 years, and I see they're on you tube in good quality.

 

I will just say that Sal accomplished enough to be a great. Pirog beat one ranked fighter, who had cancer at the time, with just a couple notable much lesser supporting wins. The claims on Sal would have to be ridiculously extreme to really be equal... But I do like your thoughts here. Relevant contribution and worthy discussion and thought.

 

I'm pretty angry and disappointed with boxing at the moment.

As a life long fan I'm well aware that boxing has always been hugely corrupt and inconsistent.

However various recent events have dulled my interest significantly. This has happened for me in the past, so I'm sure its only a temporary thing. Something or someone will come along to rejuvinate my interest, no doubt.

It started with the first Ward Kovalev fight. I picked Ward to win but he didn't deserve the nod. Not really a problem. We get lots of hooky decisions and the fight was good and pretty close in any case.

Then we had the Canelo Chavez jr farce. Chavez didn't even try. Massive build up, huge event, absolutely dreadful fight. Took our money, time and interest and completely failed to deliver. What a con.

The second Ward Kovalev fight also disappointed me. Again I picked Ward and by round 4 or 5 he was clearly going to win in any event. However the way it ended was a disgrace. You don't stop a guy on a low blow, you warn the offender and give the victim time to recover. Pis poor officiating at the highest level. Very disappointing.

Then we get the Pacquiao Horn fight. Clearly corrupt. Horn did not deserve the win and he got away with multiple fouls including butts, elbows and head locks for which he should have been warned, points deducted, maybe even DQ'd. Certainly fighters have been DQ'd for less in the past.

In between all this we've had to endure the Mayweather McGreggor farce. A very poor match up with undoubtedly the most classless, low grade and fake promotion I've ever seen. Total circus. The fight itself is sure to be absolutely dreadful. What a complete sham.

I've also become annoyed at the undeserved over exposure of guys like Eubank Jr and more recently Conner Benn. Maybe they will prove me wrong, but I don't think either have the talent to match the hype. Meanwhile more deserving fighters get over looked.

Spence vs Brook was pretty good, I enjoyed that. Quality match up and a decent fight. We deserve far more fights like this.

I'm also looking forward to Golovkin vs Canelo. The length of time it has taken to get this fight on has been disappointing but I hope to God that this match up delivers on its promise. We're long overdue a high quality, entertaining fight at the top level. Fingers crossed.

I love boxing, always have, it goes way beyond mere sport for me, its almost a performance art, a thing of beauty like music or painting, but it can be a bitter sweet experience for sure.

Anyway I'm not looking for a debate on these points and I don't expect everyone to agree with my moans and gripes.

But these are currently my 'Random Boxing Thoughts ....'

 

Nice!

Interesting that the only time he was heavier was against Murray...

 

While I was soaking in the tub the other day I had a daydream about what if the referee were just another fighter and fouls were all legal but if he saw one they'd start a ten second clock where the fouler has to fight two guys. And like whenever someone was knocked down you're allowed to hit them, but the third man in the ring has the responsibility to defend him until he gets back on his feet.