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Join us on discord: https://discord.gg/82nyN5 There once was a time where the heavyweight boxing champion of the world was also the world’s biggest sports star, the “baddest man on the planet.” Years of boxing’s gradual departure from mainstream attention and big athletes pursuing more lucrative careers in football and basketball have taken their toll, however, and today hardly anyone including general sports fans could tell you who any current heavyweight champ is… at least in America. The last undisputed US heavyweight champion was Riddick Bowe in 1992, and the last US heavyweight to hold more than one world title was Hasim Rahman in 2001. If there’s one thing American sports fans love, it’s a good bandwagon behind a dominant athlete. At least in recent history, there hasn’t been a heavyweight that fits the bill. That isn’t to say that heavyweight boxing is dead. Far from it. You just have to head over to Europe, where the previous lineal division champion Wladimir Klitschko and his brother Vitali ruled the roster with their steel hammers and iron fists for over a decade. Specifically, head over to the UK, where two heavyweight boxers are also two of the country’s biggest sports stars. Anthony Joshua capitalized on his long-built hype with a dominant performance of Wladimir Klitschko, putting himself at the forefront of speculation on who the next long-reigning champ will be. But Tyson Fury beat Klitschko first, and even after the unusual circumstances of his post-fight suspension and break from boxing he still has a strong claim to the lineal division title. The Wladimir Klitschko era is firmly behind us now, but whose era we are entering has yet to be decided. And there’s a whole ton of money in determining the answer. Whoever can get to the top of the pile will have a license to print money for at least the next five years as a new crop of challengers begin to grow their careers. But first they have to get there. Unbeaten knockout artist Deontay Wilder has not yet captured the hearts and minds of his home country, but he very well could if he can get through those two very big UK champions. At the moment he’s the United States’ best chance at seeing a heavyweight boxer bring the championship back to the States. But his road to glory won’t be an easy one, and tonight it passes through Tyson Fury, another unbeaten fighter that already has his signature win, if not a secured legacy as heavyweight champion. This is the elimination match in a three-man tournament between three extremely big, powerful, undefeated heavyweights. After tonight there will be a clear opponent for Anthony Joshua, and a clear match to determine who the true baddest man on the planet is. There’s a lot at stake tonight; the winner is guaranteed a multi-million dollar follow-up fight, while the loser will be piecing together the shredded scraps of their career ambitions. Will Deontay Wilder at long last bring the lineal heavyweight crown back to the United States, joining the likes of Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson? Will the often erratic Tyson Fury demonstrate through dominating at the championship level that he has more in common with his namesake than emotional instability? Tonight we will get an answer to these questions over twelve rounds or, quite possibly, within ten seconds.  Saturday, December 1st 2018 Showtime PPV - 9pm EST / 6pm PST, main event probably around 11pm / 8pm Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder vs Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury - lineal heavyweight (201+ lb) championship and WBC world title Jarrett Hurd vs Jason Welborn - IBF, WBA, and IBO super welterweight (154 lb) word titles Mark Anthony Barriga vs Carlos Licona - IBF minimumweight (105 lb) title Luis Ortiz vs Travis Kauffman - heavyweight (201+ lb)  If there’s a main story to this match it’s one that resides outside either of the two fighters competing in it. Anthony Joshua looms over the fight and it’s well understood that neither Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury will really be the heavyweight champion until they reckon with him. But it could also be said that none of these three fighters would ever truly be the champion without defeating the other two. All three men came up in the ranks around the same time with no losses between the three of them, and it is now apparent that they are the cream of the crop, with clear separation between them and everyone else. Anthony Joshua just so happens to hold most of the titles, but they’re belts previously won by (and then stripped from) Fury, and Joshua is still missing the WBC title held by Wilder. Which of these fighters is truly the best in the division remains, for now, uncertain.  It could be argued that among this trio of fighters none have a stronger claim to the championship than Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury (27-0, 19KO), who dethroned previous champ Wladimir Klitschko in dominant if not exciting fashion, and put an end to Wlad’s decade-long division reign. But almost immediately after the fight ended, outspoken Tyson Fury struggled to cope with the newfound attention that came with his big win, and his own big mouth secured him plenty of controversial headlines. Meanwhile a negotiated rematch with Klitschko fell through repeatedly after Fury sustained injuries in camp before being declared medically unfit. A positive drug test for cocaine was the nail in the coffin for Fury, who lost his boxing license to a suspension along with the world titles he’d won from Wlad. Klitschko would go on to lose those titles to Anthony Joshua while Fury served out the sentence of his suspension and planned to return to the ring in 2018, almost three years after his world title win.  In the meantime, other heavyweights were making names for themselves with their own eye on the crown. Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (40-0, 39KO), who got his name from the Olympic bronze medal he won in 2008, made his name by a steady stream of knockout wins. Critics of Wilder complained that the Alabama heavyweight was mostly fighting tomato cans, but most of those critics were finally silenced when Wilder defeated Bermane Stiverne for Vitali Klitschko’s vacated WBC title, going twelve rounds for his first and only career win by decision. Since then Wilder has defended his title with relative ease, stopping all comers including Stiverne in a rematch along with the well-regarded Cuban heavyweight Luis Ortiz. What Wilder has lacked in his career is a defining challenge; the athletic and powerful fighter has almost always been a heavy favorite to win and to date he has yet to encounter real adversity in the ring, much less overcome it.  Wilder is still the favorite in this fight, if a slight one. By now no one can doubt the Bronze Bomber’s significant, fight-altering punching power, and even his staunchest critics are beginning to cede that he has some talent and technique to go with it. At 6’7” Wilder is taller and longer than most heavyweights, and his combination of athleticism and power usually means that Wilder has full reign to fire off devastating shots without much risk of being hit back. Fury represents a unique danger to Wilder as a rare heavyweight who more than matches him in height and reach, and is at least his equal in athleticism. The Gypsy King may not have Wilder’s reputation as a knockout artist, but he’s still a big heavyweight with a lot of power. More importantly, Fury knows how to execute a measured fight from the outside, using careful movement to take full advantage of his physical attributes. Deontay Wilder can probably end the fight if he can catch Fury with a good shot, it just remains to be seen whether Fury will be caught.  But there are many intangibles to this match as well. Tyson Fury has already fought at the pinnacle of his division, already conquered a fellow big man in Wladimir Klitschko, already experienced the pressures of public attention. He knows implicitly that he can succeed at this level. The same is not true for Wilder, who even still has a reputation for being a protected fighter with a record that looks impressive only if it is not carefully scrutinized. Fury himself is an unstable element of the match, having admitted publicly to dealing with mental health issues of depression, and even open speculation that he may have a bipolar mood disorder. Since his suspension, Fury has fought twice and gotten back in good shape, yet there’s no real way of knowing what his mental state will be on any given day, or any given fight night. To date these issues have not resulted in a career loss for Fury, but surely they must be a concern for anyone risking their money betting on him in any fight. Finally, until the fight happens we can only speculate on how each man’s power stacks against the other’s chin. Fury has been dropped before in his career by Steve Cunningham, who does not have Wilder’s knockout reputation, but it’s arguable Wilder has never fought as hard and accurate a hitter as Fury.  My Prediction: This fight is hard to predict, but I think the winner will come down to which fighter can hold the middle of the ring while fighting his opponent off at mid-range. Both Wilder and Fury are tall, heavy-handed fighters that prefer distance to execute their game plan, and both fighters will probably be content to throw punches from the outside, at least for a while. Eventually one fighter, likely Fury, will show he has the advantage on the outside, making the other fighter feel like he must take risks to sway the outcome of the fight and take the fight to the other guy. The challenge then will be if the guy who won the outside fight can also win a mid-range fight and prevent his opponent from getting in on him and delivering power shots. If one man catches his opponent against the ropes he may have an opportunity to end the fight quickly, so both boxers will need to watch for a surge of aggression from the other man. We could easily see a knockout finish, but I suspect this will not end in knockout, and we will discover that Fury and Wilder are fairly well-matched as we go into an uncertain and possibly controversial decision. I’m predicting Fury to win a twelve-round decision, but it’s not a prediction I’m especially confident about.  The Undercard: This is mostly a one-fight card imo and I’m not especially familiar with the other guys on the card. Co-featuring is Jarrett Hurd, an undefeated titleholder at super welterweight who beat the very talented Erislandy Lara earlier this year in a determined performance that sent Lara to the canvas in the final round. He’s defending his titles against the UK’s Jason Welborn, a fighter with six losses that I know nothing about, but who is apparently a very aggressive pressure-fighter that prefers looping power shots. In a minimumweight bout, unbeaten Filipino pro Mark Anthony Barriga intends to make an impression on boxing fans as he transitions from a very technical counterpunching style that served him well in the amateurs to a more appealing professional style. He’ll be up against another unbeaten fighter, Carlos Licona from Mexico, and his camp says he is looking to impress people and make a name for himself as the “Filipino Mayweather.” In the PPV opening match, Cuban heavyweight Luis Ortiz continues his campaign to get another shot at Deontay Wilder, and will be fighting Travis Kauffman, who I frankly know nothing about. Ortiz is a hard hitter and will probably want to win by knockout. In fact it’s possible all three fights are decided by knockout to make for a fairly short undercard. The Ninth Layer fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Dec 2, 2018 |
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Dec 2, 2018 01:56
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Even though the Undercard isn't super interesting, Adonis Stevenson v Oleksandr Gvozdyk is an interesting fight that's about to happen right now as a pre PPV lead in. Whether you like it or not, Adonis Stevenson is the longest currently reigning heavyweight champion in boxing. The way he achieved that, mostly by dodging and delaying fights for years, is not the stuff that inspires legends but it's hard to say he doesn't still have the goods. He recently fought Badou Jack to a draw in his last fight, a tough scrap against a worthy opponent, and now he's taking on a challenge for Gvozdyk, the latest in a line of Ukrainian prospects set to take over their divisions. But Gvozdyk has not quite had the some unbeatable aura of his countrymen Oleksander Usyk and Vasily Lomachenko and he's certainly never fought somebody who hits as hard as Stevenson. It should be a good fight between two great fighters in the stacked light heavyweight division. You can watch it for free in America on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiZuUu5zzQo Jump King fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Dec 2, 2018 |
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Dec 2, 2018 02:02
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I'm dumb and just realized it's a different venue.
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Dec 2, 2018 02:12
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The main reason is that it's literally a different event, taking place in Montreal. I think it may have been booked before the Wilder-Fury too.
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Dec 2, 2018 02:14
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Is Gvodzyk a fireman yet?
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Dec 2, 2018 02:28
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quality work ninth. though i will disagree on one point - i think wilder overcame significant adversity in the ortiz fight.
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Dec 2, 2018 02:47
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Stevenson...
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Dec 2, 2018 02:51
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Thanks for the thread Ninth. I just want to see a KO, not particularly attached to either guy.
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Dec 2, 2018 02:55
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He's a Fireman! 
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Dec 2, 2018 02:56
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Siiick
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Dec 2, 2018 02:56
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Wow!
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Dec 2, 2018 02:56
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The SituAsian posted:He's a Fireman! He controls the fire! A little sad that I'm about 99% guaranteed to miss the main event tonight, hope the torrent guys have it up quickly so I can watch it tomorrow morning
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Dec 2, 2018 03:10
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That Emmanuel Steward prediction was something else.
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Dec 2, 2018 03:12
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i know you guys were talking about using discord or whatever but just in case, you all are always welcome in #mma on synirc because we'll be watching both this and the UFC fight night. Here's the webchat if you need it.
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Dec 2, 2018 03:20
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I also set up a server specifically for boxing stuff, link here: https://discord.gg/5mMXmu
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Dec 2, 2018 03:23
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this is a real bad fight
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Dec 2, 2018 04:06
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Agreed. Ortiz sucks and he should stop appearing on TV unless it's against a Joseph Parker level fighter.
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Dec 2, 2018 04:09
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Looks like Jake Paul's in the building, getting ready to call out the main event winner.
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Dec 2, 2018 04:35
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Have the walkout start yet? I'm gonna sneak out of a friend's wedding reception to get home to catch it.
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Dec 2, 2018 04:41
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Digital Jedi posted:Have the walkout start yet? no you probably got an hour still
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Dec 2, 2018 04:42
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Welborn might be the worst world title challenger ever, he lost to a guy with an 18-96 record a couple of years ago
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Dec 2, 2018 04:49
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I didn't read the op much, but I love it. I hope Fury wins, but I think Wilder in 6.
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Dec 2, 2018 04:51
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Im not a huge boxing guy but I think this fight is pretty good.
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Dec 2, 2018 05:05
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Still at home at 28? Haha what a loser 
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Dec 2, 2018 05:06
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Jesus, this is like watching the Brits burn down the white house in 1812.
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Dec 2, 2018 05:06
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The Little Kielbasa posted:Jesus, this is like watching the Brits burn down the white house in 1812. 
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Dec 2, 2018 05:07
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Get the gently caress out of here
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Dec 2, 2018 05:07
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never even heard of welborn but he was doing ok early on
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Dec 2, 2018 05:07
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Monday Bandele posted:Welborn might be the worst world title challenger ever, he lost to a guy with an 18-96 record a couple of years ago What the gently caress is Hurd doing edit lol
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Dec 2, 2018 05:08
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god drat that body shot
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Dec 2, 2018 05:08
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Lmao
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Dec 2, 2018 05:08
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What a loving bullshit rear end ending
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Dec 2, 2018 05:09
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is the main event next?
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Dec 2, 2018 05:09
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thehappyprince posted:is the main event next? I think it's supposed to be, yeah.
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Dec 2, 2018 05:10
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He didn't even look particularly hurt by that body shot and just didn't get up.
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Dec 2, 2018 05:10
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The Charlos are the WorldStar versions of the Dirrell brothers and I hope they meet the same ignominious fate.
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Dec 2, 2018 05:14
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he gave them 30k worth of his effort and quit before he got hurt
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Dec 2, 2018 05:15
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thehappyprince posted:is the main event next? There are a couple of swing fights available and one of those fighters started warming up at the beginning of that last fight, so it's possible they'll go with that. Guess we will see!
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Dec 2, 2018 05:16
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Monday Bandele posted:he gave them 30k worth of his effort and quit before he got hurt if he only got 30k good on him then
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Dec 2, 2018 05:21
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| # ? May 6, 2024 23:08 |
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I see a lot of you have never seen Hurd, a crude guy who wins through sheer force of will despite everything else that happens in the ring.
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Dec 2, 2018 05:22
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