Thoughts on Oba Carr

I thank Dubblechin for revealing a secret to us all! This is a revelation!

Everyone rates Curry more than Carr because of what the announcers were saying and because we were forced to take it at face value.

Not because we have eyes.

 

Curry would knock Trinidad out in two rounds.

 

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Carr's best effort was against quartey imo.after that he was on the decline as a fighter.His legs had gone by the time he fought Oscar and it certainly wouldn't have needed a great fighter to beat him by then, that bout was like a half-arsed sloppy sparring match.

Problem with Carr is that he was in really hard fights with various fighters that were often quite mediocre in non-title fights in between his three title challenges.he struggled nearly every time the competition was competent, not just in his title fights.

I watched his slightly pre-Tito fight against Pedro Sanchez last night, one of the few legit contenders he actually fought to get that shot and he really struggled to deal with a competent mover with a good jab, even though Sanchez was lunging in all the time and leaving openings in every exchange, Carr's power was entirely inadequate and he was tagged often.Never able to impose himself physically, or skilled enough to comfortably out-finesse, he was forced to really grind it out.

A very good entertaining fight that just bolstered what i remembered of him from that period.It was hardly alone in being the story of how he had to win against his better non-title opponents.

now compare that to Sanchez against Tszyu, who never exactly like movers, but he imposed himself on Sanchez within rounds, picked his shots with far greater accuracy and authority and smashed Sanchez to bits, ruining his career.

Curry never had fights like that against that level of opposition at Welter.

 

I think we were arguing different things. You are talking about the greatness of a fighter in terms of his h2h ability, who he would've beaten, etc. I was talking more where you would put them in a p4p list or an all time welterweight list.

To address you're point it's interesting but it would be like arguing some random modern heavyweight (say David Tua) was better than some old heavyweight champion (say Sonny Liston) because he could've done exactly as well as Liston against his opposition and vice versa. It seems to unnecessarily limit the conversation.

 

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Maybe i phrased that a bit strongly, i know Curry didn't utterly dominate everyone he fought-he didn't look that great against spoiling Adolfo Viruet either early on.What i was really trying to focus on were really tough fights where the two were relatively prime, and were indicative of repeated flaws.

Why i wouldn't have watched something like the Bramble fight to remind myself of some of Carr's shortcomings, as i think he was still raw then.Bringing up something from a fighter's first handful of fights when they are still clearly a rough work in progress wasn't really on my mind.

What was on my mind, was how Carr had these sort of fights throughout his prime in between those title shots and spread out over a good few years, whereas Curry did steadily improve post-winning title, which he did win early on against a limited opponent who-knockdown or not-was very widely beaten, and was able to show he could comfortably dismantle second tier fighters in a good handful of fights for a few years before the wheels came off.imo the ability he showed during that time was far above what Carr produced.

i don't think he's superman or anything btw.i feel he has his own set of flaws and would struggle against certain styles of fighter even at his very best...the awkward explosive sluggers\swarmers etc

Carr ultimately just didn't show enough in his fights with other contenders imo, i can't really think of a showcase fight he had against a good opponent.I seem to remember a few mentions that he sometimes wasn't living the lifestyle he should have been, which may have had a lot to do with some of those flat non-title efforts.

I'd like to have seen him fight a few fighters like McGirt, Claws Espana, meldrick Taylor, Tyrone Trice etc or even someone like maurice blocker before he was totally shot, Glenwood Brown or Aaron Davis circa 90-93 etc.It seemed like fights against that rough level of top ten Welter were few and far between for Carr and it would have given a better idea of his level, though i guess the timing just wasn't right for a few.

 

Are you Oba Carr in real life?

 

I do wonder whether even the Don Cyrry who fought Starling the first time would've been sat on his arse and gone life and death with past prime Bramble.

 

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Bump

 

We just got to stop using Curry and Carr in the same sentence. Donald was an exceptional talent. Oba was just a good fighter.