[quote=Flat Matt;73034586]
He had it all, speed, power, a granite chin.

What an era that was - we will never see it's like again.

Could you elaborate on what you mean by this?

A round robin of fighters as truly great as the Fab Four rarely happens in any era.

That almost all of their fights were superb was just a bonus.

[quote=Flat Matt;73034586]
Hear hear.

Leonard was a fabulous fighter with no apparent weaknesses, although Roberto Duran would tell me different.

It's an amazing testimony to his ability, that despite only having 12 fights in the decade, he is often considered to be the fighter of the 80s.

Like you have said, almost annual retirements robbed him (& fight fans) of even more greatness & classic moments, this reducing his theoretical prime to a very truncated period.

Not sure how I feel about Cotto winning the lineal middleweight title at a catchweight. I'm sure Golovkin will somehow end up getting screwed anyway.

[quote=Syntax Error;73041309]
Ray was the just incredible.

He had to be - with the possible exception of Robinson no one else in history at welterweight could have beaten Hearns on the night they fought.

I never tire of watching that fight, speed, power, footwork, feints, guts, the lot.

The most skilfull fight of the 80's in my opinion.

[quote=Syntax Error;73041309]
To Leonard's eternal credit, he tried to slug it out with Duran in their first fight. It didn't work, but it took some balls to abandon the slick boxing skills and get stuck in. To then make Duran quit in the rematch was incredible.

He is the most complete fighter of the 80s in my opinion. On his day he was absolutely masterful and so slick he made an often savage sport look beautiful somehow. His skills were absolutely sublime.

With Hagler, Hearns and Duran all fighting each other at the same time, it was such a brilliant era for boxing. I thought he was definitely the winner against Hagler, but I'd have loved to see a rematch.

Great fighters involved in great fights.

[quote=Keyser_Soze1;73035895]
You referred to Tyson in the "Most Obnoxious Person" thread in General Discussion and bring up the rape conviction and other aspects of his character when discussing him.

There's no denying that he is a complete and utter head case and very volatile, but I sure wouldn't want to have lived his life. It's little wonder he's a very screwed up individual who basically threw away his chance to leave his greatness in no doubt whatsoever and ended up broke and hated by some.

I'll never understand why he did what he did to Holyfield. He came out very strong in that round and had Holyfield in some trouble. It was totally bizarre, but also unforgivable. He should have been banned for life to be honest.

At his best, he is the only heavyweight I've ever seen who was aggressive as hell yet able to stand right in front of opponents almost twice his size and be almost impossible to hit. His defence at his best was like nothing else I've ever seen from a heavyweight.

His speed was absolutely incredible and his power was just insane. The guy lifted the huge Frank Bruno clean off his feet with a short uppercut that travelled barely a foot. Show me another heavyweight of Tyson's size and stature who could do that. His speed and power at his best was freakish and so was his defence.

He out-jabbed very good boxers who had a huge reach advantage over him. His boxing skills are so underrated. Some people think he was just an aggressive puncher, but he had very good boxing skills. In his early career, he was up on his toes and moved very well; throwing perfectly timed combinations and switching his attack from body to head with consummate ease. It's only later on in his career that he became a predictable, flat-footed head Hunter.

He didn't just beat fighters during his peak: he completely destroyed them. The fact that he went off the rails and deteriorated so quickly is so well documented and widely recognised that it would be ridiculous to deny it. By the time he fought Buster Douglas, he was already almost unrecognisable from the fighter who beat Holmes and Spinks. He even looked pretty dreadful against Bruno in their first fight.

[quote=Flat Matt;73050474]
A good post and I agree with a lot of what you say.

I just do not rate him as highly as you do - but that has nothing to do with whether I like the bloke.

Many great fighters where total shits, Ray Robinson for a start and LaMotta's real life made the film look like a Disney movie for example.

True. I don't think it's not in the realms of possibility to happen again though, not as a replica anyway. It's unlikely we will see 3 ATG Americans fighting each other at their peaks any time soon,


Martinez wasn't a true middleweight himself, always talked about dropping in weight for the big fights and also haggled for the catchweight, maybe even making it slightly in his favour. If the Champ is happy when he's holding most of the cards, i'm happy.

Still, he got annihilated. He might have 1 last fight in Argentina, but his body is pretty much broken at this point. Cotto will probably face Canelo but I would love to see GGG. I've also wondered how he and Marquez have managed to dodge each other over all this time...

Looks like Burns is finished, he lost tonight to Dejan Zlatacanin.

Me neither.

Khan: I want Pacquiao next, then Mayweather in May, 2015
Boxing fans were curious to know who Khan would be looking to fight in his next fight later this year after beating a couple of old timers in Luis Collazo and Julio Diaz in his last two fights, and little 5’5” lightweight Carlos Molina in his fight before that.
“I want to fight him [Pacquiao] and then fight Floyd Mayweather in May next year. That’s my target,” Khan said. “Official talks have already been started. We are both fighting next in November or December, so everything is perfect for us to fight. Its speed, explosiveness and entertainment from both fighters and this is what fans want from boxing right now.”

Can't wait for my man Golovkin to fight this weekend. If you've not heard of him i wouldn't be surprised, the most feared and avoided fighter in boxing so he hasn't exactly been getting the high profile fights or become apparent to casuals. He's high risk, low reward. Anyway he's gradually getting towards super stardom. Never been dropped or stopped in over 300 amateur fights and unbeaten as a professional, you may have heard the horror stories from gyms where he beats up heavyweights in sparring and makes them quit. He boasts the best knockout percentage in middleweight championship history. One of his most brutal displays (which lasted more than 5, a rarity) was against Gabriel Rosada who looked a bloody mess after seven rounds resulting in his cornermen pulling him out exclaiming "he's gonna die in there man!". Golovkin was seriously ill with flu that night. Anyway, make sure you watch him spank Daniel Geale this saturday on Sky Sports.
(No i'm not his manager).

Dereck Chisora has pulled out of Saturday's fight with Tyson Fury after fracturing his hand in training.

@Tyson_Fury
If any1 feels like a fight I'm in Bolton town centre& I feel like a rumble. See what the BBOC make of this.

Disappointed with that but I was never really looking forward to it as the sort of British megafight they wanted it to be.

At least we've still got GGG.

They were really struggling with ticket sales, apparently under 8k sold, and no significant upturn in numbers of Boxnation subscribers either.

You do wonder what it's starting to mean for Boxnation. I don't mind paying for it purely for the international cards and I want to see it carry on, but it's not looking great on the domestic front (which is what will bring in the majority of subscribers). Fury and Frampton are arguably the two biggest name fighters on there at the moment, but neither are tied up, and both would be straight off to Sky at the slightest hint of PPV.

Very disappointing, but it's not like this was a fight that generated any real interest.

The UK heavyweight scene is on its arse at the moment. Tyson Fury can be amusing, but is no world beater, Chisora is no more than a journeyman, David Price has well and truly been found out and David Haye has become a complete and utter joke.

British heavyweight boxing really needed the Fury v Haye fight to happen. Too bad it didn't.

Apparently Fury has pulled out now, because his uncle is in hospital.

what a shambles

Maybe he is just getting one over on Warren, i like to think so.

fury uncle is ill in hospital so i think people should show him respect and in the rematch fury will knock chisroa out and then become whc also looking forward to golvkin vs geale tonight could be a great fight

Who really thinks the Fury Chisora fight is really going to happen? I'm incredibly doubtful bit if it does it will be interesting to see the size of the venue they book after the disastrous ticket sales for tonight.

Unbelievable Jeff!

Spot on.

I know it's not Fury's fault, but I'm beginning to wonder if he'll ever actually fight again!

Pull outs galore, then he himself gets in on the act too!

As for Chisora, he has never excited me & he looks like a guy who is more likely to be holding a burger than a sparring session.

David Haye; another disappointed who appears to be more bothered about being a zelebrity than an actual boxer.