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There were 2 very good fights on HBO tonight. Both fights were classic matchups between world class boxers and a less experienced knockout artists.
The first fight featured Joel Casamayor vs. Nate Campbell. Casamayor was the classic boxer who has been boxing all of his life. He won hundreds of amateur fights and an olympic gold medal for Cuba in 1992. He was undefeated in his first 27 fights winning a 130 lb world championship and defending it 5 times (4 tkos) before losing a very close decision to the Brazilian superstar Acelino Freitas. After losing his title he won his last 2 fights by tko before this fight.
Nate Campbell was the undefeated challenger who grew up with a hard life and has only been boxing professionally for about 3 years. His had proven to be a prodigy with a professional record of 23 - 0 with 21 KOs coming into this fight. Smart money was on Casamayor to school the inexperienced Campbell and win by a later round TKO or decision.
The fight started out surprisingly with Campbell landing some very clean and hard shots on Casamayor. He looked to win the first 3 rounds with a tight defense, good movement and very sharp punching. This was a completely unexpected as Casamayor is a world class boxer who should have had no trouble with a newcomer like Campbell. Casamayor has started slow before however against Roberto Garcia and Acelino Freitas. By the 4th round, his constant pressure and higher punch output started winning him rounds. His sharp left hand counters started landing over the rights of Campbell. The middle rounds saw both fighters cut from headbutts. Campbell landed some very sharp right hands that swelled the eye of Casamayor by the end of the fight but Casamayor ended up winning a unanimous decision by being more consistent and busier. It was a very good performance by Campbell but he must learn to rely on a greater variety of punches than his excellent right hand in order to win against a fighter the caliber of Casamayor. It was a solid fight for Casamayor who used his experience and once again came on strong in the 12th round to win the decision.
The second fight featured Vernon Forrest vs. Ricardo Mayorga. Forrest was the classic boxer who has been boxing all of his life. he had a long amateur career and went to the Olympics for the US in 1992. He was undefeated in his first 34 fights (26 KOs) winning the IBF and WBC welterweight titles. His last two fights were against superstar Shane Mosely who had won championships at lightweight and welterweight. Their first fight was a shockingly one sided beating after a 2nd round headbutt. The previously undefeated Mosely claimed that the headbutt was the main factor in the loss and that he would redeem himself in a second fight. Their second fight was much closer but Forrest gave Mosely the 2nd defeat of his pro career in a relatively close decision.
Ricardo Mayorga was the challenger who grew up in Nicaragua and brought vicious knockout power and a 24-3 record (22 KOs). He had developed from his earlier 3 losses to knock out undefeated WBA welterweight champ Andrew Lewis in his last fight and is extremely cocky. He normally smokes over a pack of cigarettes a day when he is not training and always predicts knockouts.
The fight started as expected with Forrest boxing on the outside as Mayorga looked to land his heavy punches. A good left hook by Mayorga caused a brief exchange that saw Forrest hitting the canvas (for the first time in his professional career?). It looked like it was a slip but the referee called it a knockdown. It seemed like Forrest wanted to win the respect of Mayorga in the second round as he came out and WARRED with the brawler. Mayorga landed some of his strong punches in the round but there was no doubt that Forrest landed many more hard shots. Mayorga took a lot of punishment and it looked like another round or 2 like the second would mean a KO for Forrest. After the second round, the HBO translator quoted Mayorga as saying "this black guy hits hard"! The third round saw Mayorga come out like a man possessed. He hit Forrest with several very hard shots while the two continued their war of machismo. The end came suddenly as Mayorga got Forrest on the ropes and caught him cleanly with a perfect right hand to the temple while they were trading punches. Forrest got up glassy eyed and unsteady with the help of the ropes and the referee ended up stopping the fight. Forrest says that Mayorga is contractually obligated to give him a rematch. A second fight between these two men will be very interesting as Forrest will look to use his longer reach and boxing skills to fight a different fight against the dangerous Mayorga.
Congratulations to all 4 fighters for displaying their heart, courage and skills for the world to see.
Brian
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oh, there ARE worse, trust me... but yeah, boxing is still one of the worst.
but nothin' brings the thrills of Roy Jones Jr. embarrassing yet another "No Hoper", as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the world... maybe (someday) ever??
Boxing is a ruthless and brutally honest sport. In less than 2 weeks, Jones is scheduled to fight John Ruiz for the for the WBA heavyweight championship. Ruiz normally fights at 235 while Jones normally fights at 175. If anybody want to see Jones flat on his back, this may be the fight to watch.
In this day and age, "championship level competition" consists of top 10 contenders, with a few champions and lighter touches thrown in every once in awhile. I believe Jones has fought something like 12 fighters who won a championship at some point in their career and a similar number of #1 contenders. Over the last 10 years, probably the only boxer to face a higher level of competition that Roy Jones is Oscar DeLaHoya.
The reason people think that Jones fights "bad" competition is because his skills make it seem like his opponents have no business being in the ring with him. The boxers with the dedication and the desire to become one of the best in the world in their weight division are derisively called "bums" by people who may not ever push themselves to be truly exceptional in their careers. Boxing truly is a ruthless sport.
History has shown us that many fighters can be very impressive but facing a few champions and top 10 contenders over time usually produces a loss and a few very close decisions. Ask DeLaHoya, Mosely, Forrest, Tszu, etc.
That Jones has not really been in a close fight is more indicative of his talent and skill rather than his competition. His only "loss" is when he was disqualified for knocking out Griffin while Griffin was on his knees and Jones really hasn't had any close decisions.
It is even more amazing that the 175 lb champion (Jones) is favored over the 235 pound champion (Ruiz). Of course the rumblings of "armchair boxers" have already started... Ruiz is a bum too right?
Originally posted by Buger
It is even more amazing that the 175 lb champion (Jones) is favored over the 235 pound champion (Ruiz). Of course the rumblings of "armchair boxers" have already started... Ruiz is a bum too right?
Brian
:D no way!! i love John Ruiz... this'll be SUCH an incredible fight... tons of power and some skill in Ruiz, and a good amount of power with unbelievable quickness, athletisism, abiliity, and creativeness in Jones... seriously though, if Jones comes away a winner (to do so he'd have to make Ruiz miss damned near every punch he throws, or have a neck thicker than his thigh) there really could be no doubt over his deservedness of the best pound for pound... Forrest got that title last year, wasn't it?? but then got destroyed by Mayorga, overconfidence and later underconfidence big problems for him in that fight, i really don't see him as the best... man oh man, i'd love to see Jones pull this off... a favourite?? i seriously don't think so: Ruiz is no dummy, and will have been working his *** off to try and compensate for Jones' defence...
this is gonna be sooo sooo sweet.
The betting odds seem to have Jones as the favorite despite how unrealistic it may seem. I think Jones is an almost 2:1 favorite simply because of name recognition. I heard that the press were split about 50:50 on this fight.
I guess we're the only boxing fans on this forum? I tried getting a comment out of you with an Eric Lucas reference in your Canadian game thread but you didn't bite.
woah, that's a cool story...
"What I live for is the possibility of losing.", and indeed why i like this guy: he crushes and embarrasses, and looks for more. go Roy :D
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