The stoppage of Jono last night

graham earl hurt him a couple of times, a seriously hurt earl at that.

murray's considerably better than earl, and is showing some real boxing ability, boxing ability being what katsidis is lacking. katsidis obviously makes up for ti in other areas, and is a relentless and strong fighter, of course. at the right time, i'm sure murray can beat him.

 

I personally think McCallister was looking good early though, and Mezzache has a slightly more powerful than dig than McCallister (which isn't saying much) and is much less textbook than McCallister, who is just your standard slippery stylist.

Mezzache seems to have little or no clue about what he's going to do next; nightmare for Murray.

Are people forgetting how close Al hamidi ran him? I like Murray but at 20-something and 0 he needs to move on to bigger and better things now, must be Mezzache next. If he beats him (and he really isn't much kop) he has to step it up.

If he can keep a tight guard he has every chance of beating the wofully overrated Valero. All Murray has to do is keep a tight guard for three or four rounds and Valero will be easy pickings:deal

 

Terrible stoppage, not that it changed the result

 

The pundits were full of ****, the stoppage was far too early. The way they talk like Thaxton was never gonna win the fight, thats not the point, it was a British title fight and he should have been given the benefit of the doubt. The problem is their all too friendly with Thaxton and dont wanna see him get hurt, thats fair enough but you cant just stop a fight like that, he was shook but Murray missed with all his follow up punches. I think Thaxton should have been given at least to the end of the round.

 

I don't know about everyone else but I'm sick to the back teeth of bull**** stoppages. Funnily enough it only ever happens when it's not the favourite who's gone down. Who'd a thunk it eh?

It particularly pisses me off when a fighter has gone to the effort of getting up inside the count and gets waved off. It's like the rules have changed and getting up inside 10 and showing some degree of consciousness and willing isn't enough anymore.

Like Belshaw against Harrison on Saturday. Granted, there was only going to be one winner. But Belshaw was up at 8, gave the ref his gloves, bell sounds, ref waves it off. What the **** is all that about? he was about to get a minutes recovery time. They wouldn't have waved Amir Khan off in such a manner.

 

I think Jono could have been given to the end of the round, but I wouldnt be too hard on the ref, it really looked one way traffic and arguably Jono wouldnt have lasted the round anyway.

Sunday Times writer and International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, Hugh McIlvanney gives a related, and enlightened perspective, as noted by Brian Doogan:

Any supporter of boxing who does not admit to some residual ambivalence about its values, who has not wondered in its crueller moments if it is worth the candle, must be suspect,” he wrote in an introduction to his anthology, McIlvanney On Boxing.

The most poignant example of this was in 1979 when he found himself in a Los Angeles hospital where Welsh boxer Johnny Owen was fighting for his life having been knocked out by Mexico’s Lupe Pintor. Owen would lose his brave battle some weeks later and McIlvanney found himself thinking of his mother who was back home in Merthyr Tydfil: “She can scarcely avoid being bitter against boxing now and many who have not suffered such personal agony because of the hardest of sports will be asking once again if the game is worth the candle. Quite a few of us who have been involved with it most of our lives share the doubts.

"But our reactions are bound to be complicated by the knowledge that it was boxing that gave Johnny Owen his one positive means of self-expression. Outside the ring he was an inaudible and almost invisible personality. Inside, he became astonishingly positive and self-assured. He seemed to be more at home there than anywhere else.

"It is his tragedy that he found himself articulate in such a dangerous language.”

 

john murrays handspeed looked improved to me... i think his power is overated by some

 

The ref is a bottler, simple as.

This ref, Howard Davies or Davis or whatever the **** hes called is clearly a guy who gets intimidated by a noisy home support, dont forget this is the same guy who stopped Applebey in Ireland in front of a hostile home support the minute the scotsman took a clean shot like Thaxton, & the ref couldnt get in there quick enough.

Both were awful stoppages, because this ref is intimidated by rowdy home crowds, & you can tell he just wants to please the home fans, & get home without much fuss.

Thats exactly how it is.

 

Bad stoppage. 'It was only going one way' is not a valid excuse. It might be true, but you aren't supposed to react to things that havn't happened, only ref the fight as you can see it. And as far as what happened, there was nothing to stop the fight on, Thaxton never even touched canvas which indicates he was not BADLY hurt.

He was getting shaken up, but this is a tough sport...nobody said it was easy. People punch each other in the head and they get hurt.

 

I feel it was early, but Thaxton was really going and his punch resistance really looked gone.

 

murray was really below par not only v hamidi but also munguia: bad times. but i think he's shown, in his last 4 fights, what he's capable of. especially vs a horribly awkward and mobile fighter like mcallister. reckon with his current form, murray would break down mezaache. mezaache might not know what he's doing next, but murray would likely have a nice efficient battle plan to break him down, slow him down and wear him out. it could be ugly at times.

but if mcallister has in fact landed a EBU title fight, v mezaache, then i'm not sure i can see murray going over old ground, in spite of the title. i might be wrong. momentum seems to be the key for succes in murray's career.

personally, and i don't think it ever happens, i think romanov is a better fight than mezaache. if you beat romanov, then this is better than winning a european title (as was the case with earl). the world class guys and the sanctioning bodies will recognise you (possibly). romanov is also known in britain, & it's the romanovs of the world that will give murray a real fight.

 

hard to argue with rather too early then too late

 

It was clearly early but Jono was getting rocked with near enough every shot ( although I notice Mckenzie only said "his legs have gone" once lol ! ).

If it was me I would have wanted to go out on my shield but if I was Jonos family i guess I'd have rather he was stopped when he was , he had no chance.

 

Maybe a touch early, but every shot seemed to stiffen Thaxtons legs. He's proud and game though so it might stick in his throat a bit.

Murray looked too good for him after the first, he'd have busted him up. Get yerself out Jono, a bit of punditry awaits.

 

^^^^^^^^^
I agree completley!! I thought Murray was gonna win BUT if that ref would have allowed it to go on it would have got an awful lot tougher for Murray!! It looked as though Jono was waiting for his time to come..