Bradley gets way too much criticism. After the fight, Ruslan seriously said that he didn't feel any of Bradley's punches, while his entire face was swollen and cut up, and 2 rounds earlier his own trainer was thinking about stopping the fight because all of the punishment he was taking...yet he wasn't called out on that, when there's been so much talk about Bradley being lucky or "getting exposed".
Bottom line, that was an entertaining, nasty fight which will be good for the careers of both Bradley and Ruslan (although probably not good for their long term health).
I think the Pacquiao and Marquez series is currently tied at 2-2
Pac-JMM 1 - Pacquiao won. It should have been a split decision in favor of Manny. One of the judges admitted on making an error in his score card. It should have been 10-6 when Pacquiao knock down Marquez 3x in the first round.
Pac Jmm 2 - Marquez won
Pac Jmm 3 - Pacquiao clearly won. He outlanded Marquez.
Pac JMM 4 - Marquez clearly won. He brutally KO'ed Pacquiao in the 6th round.
This is how I have it. Now lets bring on the 5th fight for a tie breaker . I think this will be the first time I'm picking Marquez. Not sure how Manny will recover from that KO.
This is how I have it. Now lets bring on the 5th fight for a tie breaker . I think this will be the first time I'm picking Marquez. Not sure how Manny will recover from that KO.
JMM stated he has no desire to fight Pac again. He was fed up with the controversy surrounding their prior fights and doesn't want to go through that again
HBO, the highest-rated boxing network, made the extraordinary decision Monday not to buy fights from Golden Boy Promotions, one of the sport's two biggest promoters, for the foreseeable future.
That will mean the exodus from the network of a number of Golden Boy stars, including lightweight champion Adrien Broner and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins.
Broner, who is one of the rising stars in the sport, has done extraordinary ratings for HBO for a young fighter and has referred to himself in social media as "Mr. HBO Boxing." But at least until the issues between HBO Sports and Golden Boy are worked out, that will not occur.
Broner's contract with Golden Boy and adviser Al Haymon reportedly expires in April. Rap star turned boxing promoter Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has reportedly made an offer to Broner to join his company, SMS Promotions, when his Golden Boy deal is done.
HBO Sports president Ken Hershman, who formerly ran the boxing program at rival Showtime, made the decision to part ways with Golden Boy after running into issues with company executives. Showtime hired Stephen Espinoza, the former Golden Boy legal counsel, to run its boxing program after Hershman left for HBO.
Since Espinoza joined Showtime in late 2011, the vast majority of its televised boxing offerings have come from Golden Boy.
"In order to achieve our goal of the best fighters in the most compelling matchups, we've decided to focus our efforts and resources on those strategic relationships where we better share common goals and business philosophies," Hershman said in a statement.
Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
The irony in this decision is that Golden Boy was founded in large part because of the close relationship between the network and Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya. De La Hoya fought virtually his entire career on HBO and never appeared on Showtime.
A number of top Golden Boy fighters debuted on HBO only to switch to Showtime. Among those are Amir Khan, Danny Garcia and Canelo Alvarez.
Showtime also recently signed Floyd Mayweather Jr., the sport's pound-for-pound king, who had been with HBO. Mayweather works closely with Golden Boy, but wasn't under its promotional umbrella.
Khan, Garcia and Alvarez are, though, and all made the move from HBO to Showtime after Espinoza's hire.
Though ratings on premium cable television networks such as HBO and Showtime aren't viewed the same as they are on broadcast TV or on regular cable channels, all three of those fighters have done far better ratings on HBO than Showtime.
Khan, for instance, did 1.56 million viewers for his bout with Lamont Peterson. In his one fight on Showtime, against Carlos Molina, he drew 616,000 viewers.
Garcia did 1.255 million viewers for his fight with Khan on HBO and 1.2 million for his first fight with Erik Morales. The rematch with Morales was on Showtime and had 729,000 viewers.
Alvarez drew 1.55 million viewers for his June 18, 2011, win over Ryan Rhodes. In his only fight on Showtime, he attracted 1.036 million viewers for his Sept. 15, 2012, match with Josesito Lopez. However, the Alvarez-Lopez fight went head-to-head with an HBO Pay-Per-View card promoted by Top Rank featuring Sergio Martinez against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
JMM stated he has no desire to fight Pac again. He was fed up with the controversy surrounding their prior fights and doesn't want to go through that again
That's his choice, I won't blame him. He mine as well retire though, what else does he need to prove? But I honestly think he's posturing for more money. It's one of the biggest money fights to be made in boxing.
As for no more GBP on HBO, good. If it means less of Roy Jones and Max Kellerman calling fights, I'm all for it lol. Only thing HBO has that Showtime doesn't in terms of boxing, is that cool voice over guy for 24/7.
Last edited by SCREWstonRockets : 03-18-2013 at 01:04 PM.
While at first this move seems like a huge blow for HBO, they'll flourish without GBP/Al Haymon, just like they did throughout the 90's when Don King went to Showtime.
Imagine, no more mismatches featuring GBP/Haymon fighters. HBO has more power to dictate what fights they'll put on. Expect a heavy dose of Golovkin, Martinez, Rios, Donaire, Ward... Still some exciting matchups to be made in the featherweight-ish division and the middleweight-ish division.
While at first this move seems like a huge blow for HBO, they'll flourish without GBP/Al Haymon, just like they did throughout the 90's when Don King went to Showtime.
Imagine, no more mismatches featuring GBP/Haymon fighters. HBO has more power to dictate what fights they'll put on. Expect a heavy dose of Golovkin, Martinez, Rios, Donaire, Ward... Still some exciting matchups to be made in the featherweight-ish division and the middleweight-ish division.
No big names. All the top guys in boxing on showtime now.
Names as is draws. None of these guys can carry a PPV on their own. Martinez only had one PPV, with Chavez Jr.
Marquez is with Golden Boy.
Ward is not a big draw.
I'll give you Donaire. Him, Canelo and Broner are the next big things in boxing.
Even if you count JMM, his only PPV have been the Pacquiao fights and Mayweather. Not sure if JMM/Bradley would be on PPV or HBO.
So who are the draws then? It's just Mayweather and Pacquiao, with Chavez and Canelo on the rise.
Marquez isn't with Golden Boy. He hasn't been with them in ages. He's co-promoted by Top Rank and some Mexican promoter.
This was an incredibly shrewd and bold move by HBO and as a boxing fan, I'm glad that they're going to stop showing some of the awful mismatches they've put on in recent years just to appease Al Haymon.
Mayweather was Haymon's bargaining chip and once he left for Showtime, HBO basically said "**** it, we're not going to keep paying millions for these one-sided fights." Good for them.
So who are the draws then? It's just Mayweather and Pacquiao, with Chavez and Canelo on the rise.
Marquez isn't with Golden Boy. He hasn't been with them in ages. He's co-promoted by Top Rank and some Mexican promoter.
This was an incredibly shrewd and bold move by HBO and as a boxing fan, I'm glad that they're going to stop showing some of the awful mismatches they've put on in recent years just to appease Al Haymon.
Mayweather was Haymon's bargaining chip and once he left for Showtime, HBO basically said "**** it, we're not going to keep paying millions for these one-sided fights." Good for them.
Just wanted to post these videos, two of my favorites:
Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran highlight with some badass music, the song couldn't be more fitting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqSq7XbSQkA
Not very conventional in terms of boxing style but was one of the craftiest fighters of all time. One of the best chins of all time. One of the hardest hitters of all time. Some of the biggest balls of all time. Greatest lightweight of all time. Pretty much one of the greatest [anything] of all time in terms of boxing. He had a certain way of fighting where it looked he like was just brawling, but in almost all exchanges he would hit you wayharder and cleaner than you could hit him. And this would happen over and over until you got beat to death. Amazing.
James "Lights Out" Toney. One of my biggest criticisms of Floyd's defense is that he never throws punches out of his shell, meaning he doesn't use his shell to set up his offense. James Toney is the MASTER of making you pay for trying to punch him. The beating he put on Iran Barkley was one of the worst in history. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8PX8O7mHIE
Doesn't get any better than this.
Re: All Purpose Boxing Discussion Thread
. I think this will be the first time I'm picking Marquez. Not sure how Manny will recover from that KO.
