Boxing Discussion thread *spoilers* (part 2)

wezzywebb

I would say that the Anderson fight will have done groves the world of good , as for the smith fight although smith was a good fighter , he wasn't really a super middle , as proven by his drop back to middleweight , and degale  has had everything his own way so far in his career , atleast groves has shown he can come through adversity . I expect degale to win but I really hope groves causes an upset, and he,ll be the one I'm rooting for

Tetlee

That sounds a bit of a of a harsh somewhat premature statement, he's only 22 and I think has real potential, with the right trainer(perhaps it's time to part with Booth after this next fight if his technique isn't moving forwards) I don't see why he shouldn't become world class. People were full of Groves up until the Anderson fight, fair enough his defence was pretty awful, but he showed real heart, got back to his game(concentrating on the bodywork) and got the job done. Let's be fair most boxers have poor performances in their careers. Just look at how Khan came back from his devastating 1st round defeat to Prescott.

It will be a real shame for Groves if he does lose to DeGale, as can see people writing him off and he'll probably struggle to make a name for himself. He must know he really needs to do the business on Saturday night, just hope that he does

Personally I think both DeGale and Groves have great promise and wouldn't be one bit surprised to see Groves v Degale II(not counting the amatuer fight obviously) a few years down the line.

Anyway I guess the fight is hanging on the balance now as heard that Braehmer has pulled out from fighting Cleverly due to an eye injury, doesn't leave much time to arrange a new opponent and guessing it could be all off/postponed.

Iccz

Interesting view you have there, not sure I agree though, I'll detail later on.

You can't judge a fighter purely on their record, have you watched many Groves fights? Apart from the Anderson where he looked sub-par he has a very tight and tidy defence, reminds me of Winky when it comes to defensive skills, although not quite as good - obviously.

I'm with you on this... Groves has just as much potential as DeGale in my view, in fact I believe you could put a good argument forward that Groves has more to him than DeGale. DeGale still fights like an amateur with his lack of power and speed, but he can work that... Groves is naturally good at defensive fighting something that is incredibly hard to train - you can train it but you can't imprint that into a boxer naturally. If you curve their bad habits then they will shine through when in panic, think Ricky Hatton vs Pac.

I really believe that both of these fighters could turn themselves into a good, well established boxer... However I will not use the word great as I have my doubts about them both ever being "great".

Really terrible news that the Cleverly fight is off, I believe they have got Tony Bellew to stand in on this so Cleverly will get the belt and the undercard fights should all be okay.

GBDG1

I'm not judging him off his record. I'm just pointing out that he is a lot less experienced than it may seem.

I've watched about 4 of his fights and he looks good, about 90% of the time. I think that if he'd ever been against anyone who could punch then he would have lost. Every opponent I've seen has landed some shots on him - look at 1.00 - 1.10 on this video from the the Alfredo Contreras fight, he would have been on the deck against a puncher

[youtube]PkjPs5EN7m8[/youtube]

Obviously, it's much too early to be drawing too many conclusions. Both fighters have a long way to go. I just have my doubts about Groves, I wouldn't be too shocked to see a 1st or 2nd round KO to be honest.

Looking forward to the fight though.

Iccz

DeGale is hardly a fighter that looks good any more than 90% of the time either...

Plus DeGale is no more of a puncher than Contreras

I know what you're saying and I agree to a degree, but you can turn your argument around and do the same against DeGale. He hardly looks good all the time, he gets hit, he has no power... and what experience does he have?

Tetlee

Confirmed now, not seen any of Bellew, might have to have a look on youtube later. Sounds like he's having to drop a fair bit of weight for such short notice, not usually good.

Happy that Saturday is still on anyway

GBDG1

That's true, although I'd argue that Paul Smith was a decent opponent.

Tetlee

All change, Bellew is out, and Aleksy Kuziemski is in Seems the board of control felt it would be dangerous for Bellew to attempt to shed 6lbs for tomorrows weigh in(what he would have needed to lose) so gave Cleverly the choice of fighting Bellew at a catchweight, or choosing another opponent. Shame really as after the furore at the press conference I thought Cleverly might have gone for the other option and put his money where his mouth was.

Ah well, after watching a couple of Bellew fights on the tube, looks like I'll need to catch up on some Kuziemski now.

wezzywebb

its all a bit of a farce if you ask me!!

Iccz

Terrible news this, I was looking forward to the initial fight, then when I saw Bellew was being brought in I was really interested... now this? This is shameful
Especially after all his talk!

Kuziemski lost to Braehmer a while back, he looked awful.

I'm sure glad I didn't order tickets to go see the fight, at £50 a pop for the cheapest seats I would have been furious.
Certainly not a PPV fight... I wonder what they're going to do about this... It's going to be a flop.
At least Clevs is gonna get his belt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4LatweUCcU