Respect for Sosnowski. At least he turned up in shape and turned up to fight. He showed more dignity in loosing than Vitalys other more highly ranked comeback oponents.
Great article by you McGrain..I agree with it BTW. I believe that Vitali could be just fighting at 70% against the last 3 opponents, and will have a surprise in store for a more motivating challenge like Haye, if his brother dosen't get to him first that is. Many fighters throughout history have turned in great performances that contrasted with subpar efforts in previous fights. Haye's mouth has put him in a rather unenviable position if and when he ever fights either one of the Klitschkos..they'll be as inspired and pumped up as Ali was vs. Patterson I and Terrell...with that righteous vindictive hatred inside motivating them to finally giving the fans that red meat excitement that they feel that they've been denied with the brothers K. Both want to torture, torment and destroy Haye, but both will gladly give brotherly deferrment to the other as to who actually will have the honor of doing so. Vitali isn't ready for the rocking chair yet, not when there's family honor to be redeemed.
This fight happened because Valuev and Haye won't fight a soon to be 39 year old champion. SuzieQ scores with his heart, not his head. Sosnowski was in shape, and game, but really did not win a round clean. The 3rd round was Sosnowski's best. I think Vitali could have ended this one earlier if he wanted to, and seemed to lack his normal mean glare at the press conferences. He might have even liked Seasons a bit out of the ring as the two had fun during the pressers. With this fight out of the way, the quesiton reamains will Haye or Valuev step up. I have never seen fighters duck a 39 year old.
When Moore was champion, guys were fine fighting him. Can you show me an example of a fighter saying no thanks to Moore's offer of a title defense at age 39? I am all eyes and ears here JT.
Not too many fighters were keen on stepping in the ring with Moore, in fact he took the fight with Maxim for only a couple of hundred dollars and Marciano's manager Al Weill admitted to ducking him for a while. I can't see the Klitschko brothers ever taking the lesser end of a purse, or even 50-50, only to make a fight happen.
Vitali is not offering a couple of 100 dollars for a title match. I think he had a 2.5 million dollar offer for Valuev, and similar offer for Haye. Neither guy will make a much in their next fight...that is the definition of a duck. Mind you the winner of a title match is guaranteed another big pay day as long as he stays active. When Moore had a belt at age 39, did anyone duck him? I am looking examples.
The point is, Moore made the concession of getting paid a couple of hundred dollars while his opponent made hundreds of thousands, only to make a fight happen. Haye or Povetkin would fight the Klitschko brothers 10 times in a row if they got even 50-50, of that I'm sure. Neither Klitschko are that desperate to make the fight happen though.
Don't worry about it John. Silly Mendoza does that all the time. Marciano's management did duck Archie Moore for some time. Take a look...... http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...077,6851071&dq=nino+valdes+archie+moore&hl=en http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...pg=5971,546512&dq=archie+moore+marciano&hl=en
Mendoza, am I right in saying that Vitlai has only beaten two top top 3 Ring contenders in his time in boxing?