Boxing Tonight ITV 1 and ITV 4

Big Ears

As most of us keen boxing fans will know there is boxing on tonight on ITV .

ITV 4 19:30-21:50 , fights:

WBU-welterweight- Takaloo v Michael Jennings , Takaloo defends his bauble against former British Weltweight , the only 50/50 fight tonight , I'd favour Jennings on points but his chin has question marks and Takaloo can punch .

4 rounds-Heavyweight- Derek Chisora v Tony Booth , heavyweight pospect Chisora's second fight , against journeyman Tony Booth . Always good to see new heavyweight prospects .

WBO-Cruiserweight- Enzo Maccarinelli v Bobby Gunn , Maccarinelli should defend his version of the world crown(true champ is Jean Marc Mormeck of France) against hopelessly outmatches American Bobby Gunn . On the up side at least we get to see a knockout .

4 rounds-Flyweight- Don Broadhurst v Delroy Spencer , Broadhurst looks a very good prospect at Flyweight and may turn out to be something special . However he already beat Spencer on his debut(winning every round) and you have to question why he is being made go over old ground .

Then we change over to ITV 1 22:00-23:45

8 rounds-Lightweight- Amir Khan v Steffy Bull , Bull is an area level fighter who has a suspect chin and a lack of power . Expect Khan to win this insid the distance and then claim he is ready for anybody in Britain . Bull was stopped recently by relatively light puncher Scott Lawton would in turn was busted up and stopped(although gave a very good account of himself) by British champ Jon Thaxton . Khan may claim he's ready for the likes of Earl and Thaxton right now , however although he'd get the better of Earl , Thaxton would simply be too much right now .

WBO/The RING title-Super Middleweight- Joe Calzaghe v Peter Manfredo , Joe Calzaghe defends his title against #10 ranked(by the RING) Peter Manfredo in what is seen as a fairly easy defence . I don't think Calzaghe will have too much trouble with Manfredo but I don't think it's as bad a fight as many say and I believe Manfredo will prove in the future to be a good contender(excuse the pun) at Super Middleweight . Manfredo stopped both Scott Pemberton(a shadow of his former self in truth) and Joey Spina in 3 rounds each .

HBO has finally started hyping Mikkel Kessler(showing his last fight on regular HBO) and Kessler the WBC and WBA champ is finally starting to get a mention from Calzaghe anf Frank Warren himself . It looks as though if Calzaghe gets through tonight unscathed him and Kessler will be matched in a Superfight in the States to finally decide who is the best Super Middleweight in the world .


WBU-Middleweight- Garry Lockett v Lee Blundell , Blundell has a shaky chin and Lockett can punch , end result is Lockett eventually catches up with him and ko's him . Another fight designed to make Lockett look a lot better than he is .


Disappointed Bradley Pryce's fight is off tv , the commonwealth Light-Middleweight champ faces Thomas Awinbono tonight in a defence of his title . Pryce is never in a bad fight ,in fact they're nearly all crackers so it's a shame he is tucked away so far down the undercard he's off tv .

Also on tonight in the US is Diego Corrales v Joshua Clottey at 'Welterweight' . Originally scheduled for Welterweight(147 lbs) both fighters have come in overweight . Corrales came in at 149 lbs and Clottey came in at 151 lbs and was forced to lose 2lbs for Corrales camp to agree to let the fight go ahead .
What's amazing is Corrales is only after coming up from Lightweight(135lbs) and although he notoriously struggled at the weight(came in overweight for his last fight) it was thought that by skipping Light-welterweight and moving up to full welterweight(a 7lb/half a stone difference) he shouldn't have any more weight problems .

I was picking Clottey to win by either points or late stoppage but having seen the weigh in pictures and how poor Corrales looks I reckon he will be stopped in the mid to late rounds .

DonkeyStyle \o/

Big Ears wrote:

8 rounds-Lightweight- Amir Khan v Steffy Bull

Was a bit disappointing, it's like they took some guy in off the street.

Looking forward to the Calzaghe match though.

Revalco

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

Was a bit disappointing, it's like they took some guy in off the street.

Looking forward to the Calzaghe match though.

That guy of the street, special needs teacher. And I agree with you completely, it was a joke.

Calzaghe fight.....thank you ref.

1 ponice ref, 2 fights, handful of punches. Expected more to be honest.

Big Ears

Shameful stoppage from the ref , yes Manfredo should have been throwing back but he wasn't hurt and wasn't being hit clean when the ref stepped in .
calzaghe would have got the stoppage legitimately anyway and the fact that he didn't hurt his hands or get cut means that the premature stoppage doesn't leave too sour a taste .

Disappointed that the Kessler fight can't be made next but at least it seems the only other acceptable fight in Jermaine Taylor is being made . Taylor the undisputed middleweight champ is a decent fighter but I would favour Calzaghe to outclass him .

How long do we have to wait for Kessler ?

DonkeyStyle \o/

Yeah, disagree with the early stoppage... I don't think Manfredo had a chance to win, but I'd liked to have seen him beaten up properly.

The Sparrow

yeah ref stopped it early but they do say you have to be defending yourself at all times and I would imagine the ref would say that just holding your hands up like manfredo did in the face of lots of punches was not really defending himself. having said that I agree that he should not have stopped it so soon.

funny to see ITV scampering for things to show now that their two main fights finished early... they are reshowing the amir khan fight in full even though it ended only about an hour ago! deja vu:D

Revalco

Sooner the better, he will prove a decent fight. Not these wannabe boxing Rocky's, I loved the warm up to the Calzaghe fight and to qutoe Joe "Talk is cheap" so true.

Wasn't there meant to be another fight?? lol

Bobby was definely out Gunn'd, atleast it made up for the other two.

DonkeyStyle \o/

woooo232 wrote:

funny to see ITV scampering for things to show now that their two main fights finished early... they are reshowing the amir khan fight in full even though it ended only about an hour ago! deja vu:D

Urgh, I know
They should get Khan and Calzaghe back in for the laugh.
Or even let two random members of the audience duke it out in the ring... it'd probably be better than the Khan/Bull match

Revalco

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

Urgh, I know
They should get Khan and Calzaghe back in for the laugh.
Or even let two random members of the audience duke it out in the ring... it'd probably be better than the Khan/Bull match

Thank god Match of the Day is still on

Big Ears

Just thinking about it Taylor is fighting Spinks in May so won't be ready for a July fight . I hope to god Warren is just bluffing with Kessler in order to get a better deal and a fight can be worked out .

King of Kings

Revalco wrote:

Bobby was definely out Gunn'd, atleast it made up for the other two.

i cannot believe you said that!

main fights tonight were all mis-matched.
Although Bull record looked half decent he barely threw 5 punches.

Maccarinelli was a walkover but he looked really good strength wise. Those bombs would ko mos heavyweights
with his height and size he could take the heavyweight division.

Joe Calzaghe just did the job. wasn't his fault the ref stopped it early. But in the ref's defense Manfredo did ot throw a punch or look capable of defending himself .

nacho libre

Manfredo wouldn't have lasted much longer, he didn't throw any punches and it was only a matter of time before the clean punches started getting through to finish him off.
Now hopefully the legacy defining fights will happen against Kessler or Taylor:D

dlofnep

he wasn't hurting manfredo.. terrible stoppage.

stagolee

Terrible, terrible show. Again Calzaghe fights a hyped up nobody and unsurprisingly wins. Aside from fighting the highly overrated Lacy when in the last 5 years has team Calzaghe shown any balls in their choice of opponent.

5 years as "champ" with only one credible win in that time, I think at this stage unless team Calzaghe really makes an effort to secure a fight with Kessler even if it means some compromise then Calzaghe has no legacy.

nacho libre

stagolee wrote:

Terrible, terrible show. Again Calzaghe fights a hyped up nobody and unsurprisingly wins. Aside from fighting the highly overrated Lacy when in the last 5 years has team Calzaghe shown any balls in their choice of opponent.

5 years as "champ" with only one credible win in that time, I think at this stage unless team Calzaghe really makes an effort to secure a fight with Kessler even if it means some compromise then Calzaghe has no legacy.

So you won't be impressed if his next opponent is Jermain Taylor?

Big Ears

nacho libre wrote:

So you won't be impressed if his next opponent is Jermain Taylor?

Taylor's fighting on May 19th , it won't be Taylor(provided Calzaghe is fighting in July) .

I have to say even Taylor would be a slight let down from Kessler , Kessler v Calzaghe is the most exciting fight in boxing at the moment and although Taylor v Calzaghe would be a good match up it wouldn't give us the definetive answer on who is the best Super Middleweight out there .

nacho libre

Big Ears wrote:

Taylor's fighting on May 19th , it won't be Taylor(provided Calzaghe is fighting in July) .

I have to say even Taylor would be a slight let down from Kessler , Kessler v Calzaghe is the most exciting fight in boxing at the moment and although Taylor v Calzaghe would be a good match up it wouldn't give us the definetive answer on who is the best Super Middleweight out there .

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/6536599.stm


I'd prefer it to be Kessler too but according to the article it's not going to be him. Apart from Kessler and Taylor who is there really to fight? Hopkins? That fight will prove nothing.

Big Ears

nacho libre wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/6536599.stm


I'd prefer it to be Kessler too but according to the article it's not going to be him. Apart from Kessler and Taylor who is there really to fight? Hopkins? That fight will prove nothing.

I'm aware that going with Taylor is what Warren said he'd do but in reality I think he's just trying to make things easier with negotiation to fight Kessler .
Taylor will 100% not be ready so Warren's 'offer' will be thrown aside .

If Kessler does actually have a problem being ready for July(and he might because he suffers from back injuries) then make the fight in August . NO HBO dates are taken for August so there will be no problem fitting it in .

I really do think Frank is just bluffing with his Taylor offer and the fight will be on the 28th of July(the week after Hopkins v Wright) or sometime in August . 50/50 share of the purse with the fight in the US .


Taylor will simply not be fighting Calzaghe in July because that would leave no recovery time from the Spinks fight and he'd have to be back in training camp the week after the fight .

cowzerp

I actually enjoyed the show-its just a pity the ref did not leave it for another while, calzaghe was actually slapping him at the end and the ref could have broke it and told him to stop slapping-Khan looked impressive,although your man was not up to much and the light heavy was the best of the night-i was real impressed by him. i just love the big nights, the atmosphere makes it..the welsh booing the u,s anthem was bad form also..

walshb

One word for Calzaghe V Manfredo....FARCICAL.
If ever I saw an imposter in the ring it was Manfredo.
He is not a challenger of merit, I wouldn't even
call him a boxer. And Calzaghe is really a slapper.
Did anyone notice that any of the shots he landed were actually slaps.
He has been criticised for this before, but it was very apparent on Saturday
night. Those so called punches hurt Manfredo, ridiculous.
Joe needs a big fight against quality or else he will end
up retiring and nobody will ever remember or care for his 'legacy'

As for Khan, he's a class class fighter with blazing speed and good power.
He is only 19/20, so there's an excuse for his opponent. He will progress and I think is capable of great great things.

Well spotted on the slaps Paul, though it was so obvious wasn't it?

Big Ears

Calzaghe has been slapping for all his career , he was slapping every bit as bad as he was Saturday as he was against Tocker Pudwill(5 years ago) .

Even when he faced Eubank he still slapped a bit , well they used to say cuffing then as he wasn't constantly doing it .I wonder does Calzaghe slap because of his hands injuries or are the injuries caused by them ?

I'm expecting Calzaghe to fight and beat Inkin and then face Taylor or Kessler after that . He will have his legacy eventually . I think Calzaghe would make bits of Taylor who isn't that great a fighter . He's physically very good , a huge middleweight , big reach , in great shape , very strong and quite quick . He also works his gameplans to a tee , however when it comes to natural skill he just won't be able to match Calzaghe . He wouldn't be able to cope with the workrate either , when Winky turned up the heat he was troubled and Winky is a small middle not a huge Super-middle .

Kessler is a pick em fight , he has very quick hands with good power and works behind a piston like jab and killer one-two . Infact he lives off that one-two . He's got a good workrate and his a better fighter than Taylor , he is also quite big . I think Kessler would be the better on the outside in a fight against Calzaghe but I think on the inside Kessler isn't quite dynamic or fluid enough to beat Calzaghe .

megadodge

I agree with Big Ears about the fact that Calzaghe has been slapping his whole career. But he still hurts and beats everyone he faces. He put down the iron-chinned Eubank twice which shows his power is very deceptive.

However, I disagree with Big Ears on one major point. IMO Kessler does not have very quick hands. In fact I'd say he's a bit on the slow side but very accurate because of his timing. But it's this fairly obvious difference in speed that would be the defining factor in a fight with Calzaghe. And the fact that Calzaghe would outpunch him (as he does everybody) would lead to, I suspect, a clearcut UD in the Welshman's favour.

Kessler does have a beautiful jab though.

walshb

Is his slapping legal. From what I've seen of him he does an awful lot of it and I always assumed it was NOT allowed

Big Ears

walshb wrote:

Is his slapping legal. From what I've seen of him he does an awful lot of it and I always assumed it was NOT allowed

It's not allowed no , but for some reason(cough Frank Warren's dealings) he's never encountered refs that warn him for it . Ive seen other fighters warned when they've thrown one or two slaps , nevermind several hundred .

nacho libre

Calzaghe has said the fighter who would give him the most trouble is Hopkins. Yet hasn't Hopkins lost twice to Taylor?

cowzerp

I think hopkins would beat calzaghe, also i think calzaghe's hand injuries are caused by his sometimes sloppy technique. when he was slapping down the other day, i was thinking that he should of been banging body shots and uppercuts-that would have ended the fight fast, without the ref stepping in..

walshb

And HOP is almost 42 years of age. What does that say about Joe