Willie 'Big Bang' Casey to vacate Euro title for crack at WBA World champion

Take nothing away from Casey, he has done tremendous in such a short space of time and so few fights.

But he won Prizefighter agaisnt a less than average line up, didn't beat anyone in the UK top 10. His european title win came agaisnt an Irish title level fights (the equivilent on the english title) for the vacant european.

Martinez is a genuine European level fighter. He has beat former world champions and his only losses came to fighters who lost in competative world title fights. He has been 12 rounds severall times. Who has Casey beat to make you think he has a chance agaisnt a genuine European level fighter when he has faced or beat anyone at that level??

Its really no different to Audley Harrison. He wins prizefighter agasint poor opponents, won the vacant european agaisnt an lower than domestic level fighter and he has the choice. Fight someone tough for the European title (Dimitrenko) and lose, or fight Haye for the world title, still lose but for much more cash.

It would be nieve to think Casey's handlers are thinking any differently. If they thought he could be a genuine european or world level fighter they would be building him up to that level, not chucking him in for the biggest payday possible.

 

dunk it wasnt an irish level fight thats a totally misleadin qoute hyland was made euro mandatory so it was a euro level fight no worse than any other euro fight

and slappy whats up with the bull**** headline it doesnt suggest anywhere hes vacatin his euro title

 

That's a fair assessment but I would disagree strongly with your Casey - Harrison comparison. The manner in which he won Prizefighter and the ease in which he beat Hyland shows that he is capable of fighting beyond his current level. Martinez is a good fighter but a Casey win would not be out of the question.

 

Audley also won prizefighter with ease. Hyland is a fighter I never rated highly, had no place fighting for the european title. I agree Casey is capible of fighting beyond the level he has been at, but that level is Irish title level because the Casey fight was an Irish title fight for the European title.

Casey vs Martinez i would say is a 70-30 fight in Martinez favour. Casey vs Rigo is 95-5 in Rigo's favour.

Even if Casey loses to Rigo, theres no reason why the Martinez fight cannot be made. and after the publicity from a world title fight the Martinez fight will be bigger.

The fact remains, if Casey was a genuine top prospect he wouldn't be getting enterd into Prizefighter, european title fights or world title fights at this stage of his career. He is good to watch but hes really not that good.

Frampton, same weight, simular number of fights, genuine world class prospect. You think McGuigan puts him in Prizefighter or for a European title yet?? No chance.

 

Hyland was the mandatory because 3 others fighters withdrew from the slot and he has a good manager.

 

Hyland is a good fighter whatever your opinion of him may be, I doubt you've seen a lot of him anyway. The fact remains that he was the mandatory challenger and would have beaten Martinez imo.

I seem to remember Coleman Barrett outboxing Harrison before the knockout, just like Sprott was outboxing him, so again, not a good comparison.

I didn't hear anyone say Casey is a world class prospect, that's not the point anyway. The fact that he isn't what you would call a prospect yet has acheived more than most at this stage of his career suggests that he has what it takes to go further. Not all world champions start off as rated prospects. To say he is just not that good is laughable.

 

Your comparison with Audley is ridiculous and please stop it. Audley had already hit his limits and been exposed (I hate to say that, but it's true) at being far below a good level. He was lucky to put together that series of wins, barely achieved that. Plus the Haye fight was worth a million or whatever to him, it was a no-brainer to jump at it. If the Rigo fight was worth a million, then yes definitely he should as well.

No Casey was never a prospect, if he had been he would not have been sent to fight Cave after 4 fights. He's routinely been the underdog but he's always overcome the odds and proven that he's a higher level than people believed.

Kiko is the next natural progression and even your odds he's got a fighting chance. Like you said Kiko has only been beaten by guys on the fringe of world level, but he hasn't beaten anyone (bar sparking B. Dunne, but come on) that is far and above Casey.

 

I don't think he would beat Martinez and he has 0 chance of beating Rigondeaux. He had a bit of a chance against Martinez though, this is an odd fight. Feels a bit rushed and premature, he's only just won the European and he didn't have a long apprenticeship to reach that stage. Maybe they feel they won't get another chance so they're throwing him in.

 

I wouldn't rule him out against Martinez..... but I think a world title fight has come soon.

Paul Hyland lost to Nikita Lukin but got a gift decision..... Quigg blew Lukin away in a round - as Rob says it was an Irish title level fight, not full EBU level, let's be honest here.

Give him Martinez, who is pretty limited, and three or four more similar fights against different kinds of opponents and then look.

Rigo would slaughter him IMO, but good luck to the lad - can't fault him.

 

Isnt Ryol Li Lee the champ ?

 

yeh its an interim title. Dunne wasn't even the real WBA champ.

 

So that would make Poonswat, and now Lee interim champs? So there's 2 interim WBA titles and no real one?

 

Is that the only Hyland fight you've ever seen because it's the only one you ever seem to reference when assessing his abilities. I haven't seen it myself so I can't say whether it was a gift decision or not but Hyland is a good fighter regardless.

 

No. At the time Caballero was the WBA champion. Cordoba was WBA interim champion. Whwn Caballero unified agasint Molitor for the IBF, he became WBA Super Super Bantamweight champion and Cordoba was elivated to the WBA regular champion. He then lost to Dunne, who lost to Poon. Cabalerro vacated and Poon bacame the only WBA Super Bantam champ, and lost to Lee.

In truth none of them were true world champions.

 

lol @ this

can this be true?

casey and rigondeaux are so far apart in terms of skill it's almost a separate sport. guillermo SHOULD box him to an EASY UD or even a KO (those bodyshots are a killer) but then he doesn't seem to like guys that apply pressure...