I’m looking for your total eyesore of a fight, with your reasons for expecting it to be ugly explained. Oh, and pick your winner. I don’t mean a one-sided beatdown, as in it ends up with the loser looking ugly after a thorough beating. I’m talking a different kind of ugly: Maybe it’s a runner vs a runner. Maybe it’s two maulers. Maybe it’s just two styles you think would mix in a way that creates a real avert-your-eyes clash. I’ll start with the first one that comes to mind for me: John Ruiz vs Henry Akinwande Ruiz was a mauler to always made things painful to watch. He smothered to discourage exchanges, he grabbed and hugged and wrestled and pushed, but rarely boxed or worked at middle distance, much less from the outside. For him, one-two-clinch would be textbook beautiful boxing. He’s the King of Ugly. Then we have Henry, a regular octopus of a guy who liked to clinch and hold on for dear life, as if his opponent was a life preserver and the ring was a stormy sea. Tall and lean, he has the build for a clean, keep-your-distance and sharpshoot-behind-the-jab style. But he only seemed to fight that way against lower opposition. I see a real uggo of a scrap here, with Henry tying up Ruiz, who tries to free one hand to bang away ineffectually to make it looks like he wants to fight. Akinwande lands the occasional 1-2 before they are magnetically drawn into yet another clinch-fest, but gets pushed around in a real slog, with Ruiz winning a decision from three judges who are looking away most of the time to spare themselves the damage that could only come from watching the entire 12 rounds. What eyesores can you come up with?
Akinwande would feature in my all Brit eyesore vs Fury. A horrid match up of lanky holders. Tyson by DQ. Whitaker vs Locche at 140 might be quite dull.