The RedCafe Boxing Thread

Zhang-Parker is a tough one to call. A real 50-50 fight.

People are mentioning the southpaw aspect but I reckon Parker will eventually tire Zhang out and stay out of exchanges until the later rounds. There are a few question marks over Zhang's endurance and Parker tends to come on strong in the later rounds (discounting the Joyce fight).

I know Zhang beat Joyce who beat Parker etc but I always felt Zhang just had Joyce's number. Parker won't be nearly as static as Joyce was. He's always had fast hands but his movement has improved massively under Andy Lee and that will frustrate Zhang.
 
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Glorio said:
All the "Fury didn't take it seriously" talk is an assumption. He probably didn't but we don't know and so that has no bearing. What we do know is that a boxing "nobody" came and gave Fury (the guy a lot of people claim is the best Heavyweight of his generation) a tougher night than Wilder or Whyte gave him, knocking him down, and actually beating him if we're honest. Yes, it's a loss on paper, but based on that performance, he deserves respect.

That said, I think like with the case of Wallin, Joshua wins
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MMA fighters converting to boxing will always be looked down on massively after McGregor was toyed with by Mayweather. The reality is though at the lighter weights the skills gap is too big. Up at heavyweight it’s not quite as big a deal due to the capacity of Francis to end anyone with one shot.

Plus, and I haven’t watched it back to confirm, but as I remember his boxing was actually pretty good or at least a hell of a lot better than expected. I think he’s fully earned this match, like you say, he caused Fury infinitely more problems than Wilder who was a heavyweight champ for years
 
I think it's safe to say Devon Haney vs Ryan Garcia won't be going ahead. From the state of Ryan's recent social media posts, it seems like he's on the verge of being sectioned. Poor kid.
 
M15 Red. said:
I think it's safe to say Devon Haney vs Ryan Garcia won't be going ahead. From the state of Ryan's recent social media posts, it seems like he's on the verge of being sectioned. Poor kid.
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Yeah it's been very strange. Did you listen to the call with Andrew Tate?

Hopefully someone steps up to the mantle who will actually challenge Haney. Shakur or Gervonta Davis.

Ryan Garcia is overhyped but he'd have been a decent test for Haney.
 
M15 Red. said:
I think it's safe to say Devon Haney vs Ryan Garcia won't be going ahead. From the state of Ryan's recent social media posts, it seems like he's on the verge of being sectioned. Poor kid.
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He seems very unwell. Boxing probably not the biggest concern at the moment.
 
SambaBoy said:
Yeah it's been very strange. Did you listen to the call with Andrew Tate?

Hopefully someone steps up to the mantle who will actually challenge Haney. Shakur or Gervonta Davis.

Ryan Garcia is overhyped but he'd have been a decent test for Haney.
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Yeah, I listened to his conversation with Tate. So bizarre.

Haney's trying to claim it's all a publicity stunt to sell the fight, which seems like wishful thinking.

Apart from Tank and Shakur, who I dont see moving up anytime this year, I think Teofimo is another good fight for Haney, and is probably his next biggest payday at 140 once the Garcia fight is inevitably cancelled.
 
Haney just needs to suck it up and go to 147 and fight Crawford. I know they're pretty friendly but it's really the only money fight either have on the table at moment. Devin isn't getting Tank or Teofimo at 140 anytime soon.
 
Fortitude said:
And what will you say if he beats Joshua?
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I can say nothing other than wow

my criticism is how the bloke got this opportunity in the first place

I know he’s a monster in MMA

But should the cross over become the norm?

Is that what boxing fans want?

I can see the intrigue, But professionally is a disgrace
 
TheLiverBird said:
I can say nothing other than wow

my criticism is how the bloke got this opportunity in the first place

I know he’s a monster in MMA

But should the cross over become the norm?

Is that what boxing fans want?

I can see the intrigue, But professionally is a disgrace
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I see the issues at stake but Francis crossing over is great for boxing simply because he's box office. Not only that, but he has done it in the right way, training his ass off, and just being the great personality he is. He showed in the Fury fight that he can box and that he can legitimately challenge for belts. Obviously, if it became a trend then it would then need to be dealt with by the powers that be, but one boxer shaking up one division is fine as long as it is limited ones and twos. Due to the popularity of MMA and the difficulties in making the switch, I very much doubt it will be any more than the odd fighter.

The problem, as it has been for a while, is Fury stalling the entire division an not making fights that need to be made.
 
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TheLiverBird said:
I can say nothing other than wow

my criticism is how the bloke got this opportunity in the first place

I know he’s a monster in MMA

But should the cross over become the norm?

Is that what boxing fans want?

I can see the intrigue, But professionally is a disgrace
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Let’s be honest, Fury was supposed to put the clumsy, poor MMA guy in his place and show the naturally assumed gulf in class between a top class boxer who other heavyweights can barely get their hands on, and a run of the mill powerhouse who’d shown nothing to suggest he could really box. N’Gannou jumped on his opportunity and effectively legitimised himself, as we already know most heavyweights wouldn’t be able to do that to Fury. If he goes in there and wins or even performs very well against Joshua, there’s only Usyk left claimed as the big dogs of the division, or at least, he’s then firmly wedged as a serious contender alongside Zhang and Parker.

I don’t think it’ll be the norm, no. N’Gannou has that special presence and aura that people tune in to see (and he really backed that), which nobody else has in MMA - except Pereira - to be able to make the waves in crossover competition. It’s not only the fans, but business people and legitimate top quality boxers entertaining this; you’re not getting that trifecta with anyone else, even McGregor didn’t have that (Floyd just saw a very easy payday with zero risk).
 
pauldyson1uk said:
WTF is Tyson doing, even a hint of that nobody hurting him his legacy is gone, FFS the YouTube muppet should not even land a punch
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He's almost 60. If he gets knocked out or beaten by Paul who has knocked out MMA fighters it's not that bad for him.

The only person this looks bad on is Paul.
 
LDUred said:
Zhang-Parker is a tough one to call. A real 50-50 fight.

People are mentioning the southpaw aspect but I reckon Parker will eventually tire Zhang out and stay out of exchanges until the later rounds. There are a few question marks over Zhang's endurance and Parker tends to come on strong in the later rounds (discounting the Joyce fight).

I know Zhang beat Joyce who beat Parker etc but I always felt Zhang just had Joyce's number. Parker won't be nearly as static as Joyce was. He's always had fast hands but his movement has improved massively under Andy Lee and that will frustrate Zhang.
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I fancy Zhang to be honest. Parker is hittable and he's a much more technical and calculated puncher than Wilder.

Parker fought a brilliant fight last time out but much easier to close the distance on Windmill Wilder and bully him instead, Zhang will be delivering left hand bombs right down the pipe and he's a big man to try and fight with in the clinch if it comes to that.

We'll see but I really think Zhang is a big problem in this division and a dark horse to upset one of the big guns if he gets the opportunity.
 
Do we reckon Francis has to win by knockout? No way he’ll be allowed it on the cards?
 
SuperiorXI said:
Do you really think Tyson took that seriously?
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If he didn’t then he bloody well should have. It made him (and boxing) look ridiculous.

Although the sport itself has been on the slide for a long time, so perhaps that was just another inevitable nail in the coffin.
 
Not a fan of wheeling out Tyson even though it's against Paul. He's 60 years old and he should be looking after himself.

Holyfield vs Belfort was a tough watch and just felt wrong. Ok, Belfort was 46, but he was juiced up.

I know that Holyfield/Belfort is different to Tyson/Paul because Paul has no real pedigree, but we honestly don't know what Mike has at 60 years old to defend himself properly.
 
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AJ has a worried look on his face in most of his recent pre-match appearances. I’m not convinced he even believes in himself anymore.
 
People worried about Tyson

Did you not watch 55 year old Tyson systematically take apart Roy Jones Jr and look absolutely Rapid in his movement?

Come on now.......
 
Hoof the ball said:
People worried about Tyson

Did you not watch 55 year old Tyson systematically take apart Roy Jones Jr and look absolutely Rapid in his movement?

Come on now.......
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I don't know how these fights come about or who sanctions these really old fighters, but I do think if Mike goes in there with genuinely bad intentions, Paul could get seriously hurt.

Tyson still hits the pads sweetly and his drills are still smooth; he's probably good for 2-3 rounds at maximum output, but if he shells up and peek-a-boos looking to time Paul, that power and explosivity is still there with enough degree to really do some damage to the uninitiated for a lot longer than a few rounds.

Just a bizarre freakshow of an event where, if Tyson does look like an old man and does so happen to get hurt, questions have to be asked of how this ever got commissioned. Equally, if Paul is left twitching after a clean counter hook, you'd have to ask whose bright idea was that?

Is Paul also going to run his mouth in the build up to this?

So many questions. Ridiculous that this could get the OK, and shame on those paying to watch it, too.
 
Fortitude said:
I don't know how these fights come about or who sanctions these really old fighters, but I do think if Mike goes in there with genuinely bad intentions, Paul could get seriously hurt.

Tyson still hits the pads sweetly and his drills are still smooth; he's probably good for 2-3 rounds at maximum output, but if he shells up and peek-a-boos looking to time Paul, that power and explosivity is still there with enough degree to really do some damage to the uninitiated for a lot longer than a few rounds.

Just a bizarre freakshow of an event where, if Tyson does look like an old man and does so happen to get hurt, questions have to be asked of how this ever got commissioned. Equally, if Paul is left twitching after a clean counter hook, you'd have to ask whose bright idea was that?

Is Paul also going to run his mouth in the build up to this?

So many questions. Ridiculous that this could get the OK, and shame on those paying to watch it, too.
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The thing is, Tyson is not the kind of person who walks into an agreed exhibition bout and boxes like an exhibition bout. He had maximum respect for Jones Jr and still leveled him with relentless body shots and stiff hooks. Roy looked to be happy he survived that. If Paul starts talking, Tyson's going to go into this semi-serious at the least, and if he puts in even 1/2 of the training intensity he put in prior to Jones Jr, then Paul is going to be lucky to survive a few rounds.
 
These aren't real fights. It's WWE-lite. I'm convinced the real contracts say that if Paul suffers significant/serious damage, any purse is considered null and void.
 
Hoof the ball said:
The thing is, Tyson is not the kind of person who walks into an agreed exhibition bout and boxes like an exhibition bout. He had maximum respect for Jones Jr and still leveled him with relentless body shots and stiff hooks. Roy looked to be happy he survived that. If Paul starts talking, Tyson's going to go into this semi-serious at the least, and if he puts in even 1/2 of the training intensity he put in prior to Jones Jr, then Paul is going to be lucky to survive a few rounds.
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Paul is extremely risk averse; always having some kind of advantage that has him make the fight in the first place, but gambling on relative youth against a legitimately devastating ex-world heavyweight champion who still has bursts of freakish power and movement as well as the tactical smarts and style to maximise what he has left is really veering into potentially really bad consequence territory.

If Paul tries to sell this with his mouth and antics, thus giving Mike a reason to really give it what he wouldn't by poking the beast, people will buy in droves in the hope of seeing a car crash.

What I find crazy is that stylistically this is custom-made for Tyson. He never relied on jabs to get in and conserving energy in his style until he unloads once he's found his angles has been his bread and butter since his teens. Allied to this, Paul's hands are sloppy and he's wide open for Mike's best shots - if you were to pick an aged great heavyweight to go up against, Tyson is a horrible pick for Paul.

You'd think this won't make it to term, for both it shouldn't be sanctioned on account of Tyson's age as well as the inherent danger for Paul. Unlike Floyd carrying McGregor with his fragile hands, this is still a heavyweight with far more power, torque, agility and movement plus a style that will be difficult to carry someone for any extended period of time without being obvious. Seems to me, also, everything relies on Tyson being a nice old man who will hold back all fight, but that still doesn't take into account how little he has to throw with to go through someone turning, exposed into a timed counter hook or uppercut... his trademark shots. What could possibly go wrong? Tune in to find out!
 
Surely it's an exhibition bout and won't be an official match
 
lsd said:
Surely it's an exhibition bout and won't be an official match
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It’s on Netflix, in a 100,000 seater stadium?
Tyson is getting a lot of money for it too.

There are people even trying to big Jake Paul up to win this legitimately.

The bigger the buildup and billing, the more serious it’ll get.
 
Fortitude said:
It’s on Netflix, in a 100,000 seater stadium?
Tyson is getting a lot of money for it too.

There are people even trying to big Jake Paul up to win this legitimately.

The bigger the buildup and billing, the more serious it’ll get.
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Tyson sparring in February 2024.
This is freakish. Paul is in serious shit.

 
Surprised to see Ngannou drift out from 4 to 4.6, Ngannou pts at 28 looks tasty.
 
The Jake Paul Vs Tyson bout is ridiculous. I thought Paul was trying to at least box real boxers in their prime even if they are tomato cans. Fighting a legend like Mike Tyson who will be 58 is just nonsensical, especially when we know a prime Mike Tyson would literally kill him.

Ngannou Vs Joshua will be interesting though. I think Joshua stops him and learns from Fury's mistakes but I'd also not write off Francis who is a beast himself.
 
luke511 said:
Surprised to see Ngannou drift out from 4 to 4.6, Ngannou pts at 28 looks tasty.
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I know. I just fancy AJ to approach him a bit like the second Ruiz fight and just jab away from the outside and stay the feck away from him. How heavy is AJ?
 
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