Tag: All Boxing

Deontay Wilder :Wild By Name,Wild By Nature

Well this is going to sound a little cliche but “Wild by name,Wild by nature” , thats how Deontay Wilder left me feeling after seeing him KO Gerald Washington on his big return to the ring after his latest hand injury .

Washington had come into this fight a massive underdog but actually took the first four rounds of this fight with relative ease as Wilder looked to be puzzled by the giant Washington. From the word go Washington established his jab and used good movement to have the WBC Heavyweight Champion chasing shadows and looking well off the pace , well that was until the fifth round where Wilders awesome power dug him out of a hole and gave us the result we all expected, a Wilder Win by stoppage.

This fight did leave me asking myself “Can Wilder adapt his style to protect his fragile hand?”. Anyone who has watched Wilder before will always comment on his unothadox style , he throws punches from obscure angles which opponents don’t see coming , but this is the reason why he’s already had three hand breaks and really boxing on borrowed time until the inevitable happens and his hand breaks again .Due to his hand I was expecting to see a more calculated Wilder against Washington, a Wilder who picks his shots,uses his jab and pretty much be a well rounded boxer,  but i was sadly mistaken . The Wilder that showed up did nothing until the fifth and only really looked comfortable when swinging from the heavans . The fact that these adjustments where not made leads me to the conclusion that maybe Deontay Wilder doesn’t have it in his locker to change his style, maybe he can onlt fight one way …..Wild .

Steven Donnell

Exclusive: David Brophy Interview 

So i had been invited out to Billy Nelson’s Gym in Airdrie to catch up with David Brophy before he heads out to Australia to fight Zac Dunn for the commonwealth title and watch him spar with a Brazialian lad Dieago, whomb David described to me as “one tuff guy” . we also got to catch up with Stephen Simmons and Gary Cornish and both looked in fantastic shape .David Brophy interview

In the Gym you get the feeling this is one close stable, a group who you can tell enjoy each others company . As the lads are getting ready there is a lot of laughter and storytelling, we where even treated to 3 jokes by Billy, the same 3 Jokes he tells anyone new in the gym according to Gary Cornish and even then he still managed to mess one up . Then Billys tone changes ever so slightly and the laughter stops as these lads get ready to go to work . Full David Brophy interview

After watching David look really impressive in sparring against a very tricky partner we got our chance to sit down for a chat :

so David how are the preparations going for the fight ?

“Aye its going well the training has went as planned , I’m feeling sharper every day . The sparring is going well,the running is going well and theres been a great atmosphere in the gym so I’m really enjoying this camp and I’m looking forward to getting over there, getting away from this weather and doing a job over here.”

Zac Dunn has a bit of a reputation as a puncher, does that worry you or do you think his power is a bit overrated ?

“uch it doesn’t worry me , I’m going over there and theres a ring there , a fight’s a fight . We have got to deal with this the right way ,he is powerful and he is fit but he’s beatable . We will get our tactics spot on,the preparation in the gym is going according to plan for this fight ”

I seen on twitter last week you had Liam Williams up for sparring, preparation doesn’t get much better than that does it ?

“Liam is a good friend of mine, we have helped each other out with sparring loads of times before , He (williams) has the biggest fight of his life coming up against Liam Smith which is going to be a cracker. So he comes up and i go to Cardiff sometimes and we have a great relationship that way and he was great sparring , he was here for 3 days so we got a 8 round  and 10 rounds of sparring in so it was great preparation , you couldn’t get any better than that”

I notice with Billy Nelson and yourself on twitter yous go at it , no holds barred, do you find it hard to separate Billy the mate from Billy the cornerman ?

“We  know there is a fine line between that, but I’ve known billy for 7 years now unfortunately . We’ve got a good relationship inside and outside the gym but its two very different relationships . Billy has done a lot for me inside and outside the gym and we do know when to change it . It is only banter on twitter ”

with the wealth in knowledge Billy has it must give you confidence to go over there and talk you thru any changes that might need made .

“Billy has been in these situations loads of times, world title fights everywhere with Scott Harrison and Ricky Burns so i couldn’t ask for any more experience to take over there with me . Its worked up to now but we do have a long way to go on our journey ”

We also had time to ask David his thoughts on the George Groves fight

The Last time i seen you, you where training hard to go fight George Groves in the bright light lights of London , how was that experience ?

“It was good in terms of experience but it wasn’t good what happend, don’t get me wrong if i get offered that fight again tommorow for no money i would take it because that experience is priceless to have . It never went our way last time ,it was bad,its the loneliest shower I’ve ever had . I got things wrong altho i wasn’t nervus before the fight maybe the big stage did overcome me a little bit”

Watch the full interview and more here

would just like to thank all the MTK lads and Billy for having us down, really was an education watching these guys .
Steven Donnell @dinobhoy86 @Djayboxingblog

Does Fury deserve a crack at a World Title 

Well its official, Joseph Parker will take on Hughie Fury for the WBO Heavyweight Title in Auckland ,New Zealand . This is a fight team Fury will be looking at as very winnable after seeing Parker looked ordinary against Andy Ruiz, who let the chance of an upset slip thru his fingers by giving Parker to many of the middle rounds which proved to be the difference at the end of the fight and seen Parker take home the vacant title .Before i can get to excited about seeing Fury bringing another World Title back to the UK, the title that was stripped from his cousin Tyson , i have a few concerns about this fight .

Firstly, what has Hughie Fury done to deserve this title fight, he hasn’t fought anyone of any real stature in the division ,infact on Furys last outing he looked awful against Fred Kassi , this fight was brought to an end after a clash of heads gave Fury a nasty cut which took the fight to the cards, where all the judges had Fury clearly ahead , but don’t be fooled this was aweful viewing and to be honest i couldn’t see what all the fuss about Hughie Fury was about  . Before Kassi , Fury was took the distance by 40 year old veteran Dominick Guinn again hardly the kind of name that should get you a world title shot, but i am a big boy, and I’m not naive, i know how corrupt boxing can be especially at the top level .

Now onto the more sinister and bizarre “doping” fiasco that has surrounded team Fury for the past 6 months . News broke last year about Tyson Fury had failed a drug test and was accused of using PED’s , but by the time the public had found out Tyson Fury had already served his ban and that has cast doubt over Hughie’s long absence  from the ring . There are a lot of people out there who believe that Hughie was actually serving a ban in silence,not dealing with his blood condition as we had been told , now if there is any truth or substance to these rumours that will make this fight a sham and an embarrassment to the sport as a whole .

Steven Donnell

@dinobhoy86 @Djayboxingblog

Is Brook Ducking Spence ?

“Dodge, duck ,dip ,dive and dodge”these famous words of dodgeball Guru Patches O’Houlihan seems to have been adopted by IBF welterweight world champion Kel Brook when it comes to facing his manditory Errol Spence Jnr  .

For well over a year now, I’ve been shouting to anyone who would listen that this fight needs to be made. It did look like it was going to happen when Spence beat Chris Aligieri (very convincingly with a 5th  round stoppage) then called out Brook.  Now with Brook having a long lay off with injury, then coming back to defend his strap against Kevin Bizier, this looked like a great a fight and at the right time for both. As loud as Spence shouted, the silence from Brook was deafening . Then we had Eddie Hearn say in an interview “No matter how loud Spence shouts for the fight behind closed doors him and his people don’t want it, we would have no problem making the fight otherwise.”

Now anyone who has watched Spence over the years knows this is a down right lie, the kid has always looked to challenge himself and move up as fast as possible. As for Kel Brook, he has one world level win against Shawn Porter to his name, which was in August 2014, and although that was great win for Brook it was a close fight, in fact I know a few people who scored it the other way. Now Brook was supposed to fight Jessie Vargas which would have been fine with me but then we find out Brook never actually signed to fight Vargas in a unification fight, instead he elected to fight P4P superstar GGG at middleweight. Now this was ballsy, as he didn’t really have a chance in the fight or was it? Brook went into that fight knowing no matter what, he had a pass and not only that but his IBF title was safe at home where he likes it .

Now onto this week, we finally see Errol Spence Jnr brought up in an interview with Brook as the IBF have ordered him to fight the Spence fight next. As it turns out Brook only wants big paydays if he’s to bother making the weight but I can’t imagine he got paid big cash to fight Bizier. The massive stadium fight with Amir Khan is on for the end of the year, but Khan says “only if he fight Spence first.”

I was once a big Kel Brook fan, right the way up to the Porter fight. I thought Brook might just be in top 3 welterweights in the division but as it turns out Brook getting his hands on that IBF title was the worst thing that could have happened for the division, and for his fans . He didn’t want to go on the road to get the big names like Garcia or Thurman, he would rather stay in UK and hold the title hostage becoming an irrelivence . If I am being honest, I cannot see this Brook/Spence fight happening now which is a real shame as it would be a great fight. I can however, see Brook going up to 154lbs to try his luck .

Steven Donnell

Twitter-@dinobhoy86 @Djayboxingblog

 

Haye v Bellew : what a circus 

“I’m the money fight” he said “I’m the money fight ” and with that my fucking soul was destroyed. No folks this isn’t an extract from Floyd Mayweather memoirs,this was how far into the circus that is David Haye V Tony Bellew fight presser I was willing to go. Now let’s be honest with Bellew,Hearn and Haye all at one table this was always going to be a cringeworthy event but nothing could prepare me for what was unfolding. 

At the start we had the obligatory droning on of Eddie Hearn telling half truths mixed with shite, followed by a personal attack by David Haye on Hearn (which I did find rather entertaining) to which super Tony B jumps to his PIMPS defence which kicks off the worst kind of little girl argument you could imagine …..a little girl argument involving a scouser .

Now as I’m  writing this Iam still angry so might come across a bit harsh but I need to vent somewhere as the wife’s stopped listening to me. The worst bit of the full thing wasn’t David Haye all but gurenteeing ppv sales are massive with a well choreographed  left hook as the pair squared up, no the worst bit for me was Tony Bellew ,a man who was skooled by Chilemba started shouting “I’m the money fight” and then went on to talk about Hayes CV and shout he’s a world champion,due to his hostage WBC cruiserweight world title , it shows the shamelessness of the guy when he win a vacant title then defends it against a Doorman in Flores and now moving up to fight Haye so his titles safe and out of the reach of any mandatory challenger at cruiserweight, TONY BELLEW IS NOT A LEGIT CHAMPION 

I will be taking no further notice of this circus roadshow until fight night because to be quite honest Bellew/Haye are making a fool of the sport and it’s fans ,this is a massive mismatch let’s not butter it up I give Bellew next to no chance and after his WWE antics over the past few months I look forward to seeing him look a fool,laying on the canvas at Hayes feet ,the only down side is all we will hear from Haye is how good a win it is but hey it’s well worth it .

Dino @DJayboxingblog

Haye vs Bellew circus

Where now for Kel Brook

First off I just want to say a massive well done to Kel Brook who really gave a good account of himself, and really gave GGG something to think about at times in the fight especially in the second round he showed his hand speed could give GGG some problems even if he didn’t have the power to really hurt Golovkin. Kel put up a great fight and showed he was willing to give being great a try .

So where next for Brook? : Well to me it’s obvious, Kel has a big future at 154lbs with some massive fights there for him and might even tempt Khan to come out and take the Brook fight but after Brooks performance against GGG I doubt Khan would be keen on it now. The obvious fight we would love to see as fans is Brook/Canelo and do you know what,I could see Brook giving him all sorts of trouble with the power and speed that he might not carry at middleweight this could also get made quick as it would hold up Canelo finally taking on GGG but be big enough to keep Canelos mass of supporters happy who have slowly but surly been dwindling .

Not a massive blog today but thought I would say my bit and let the folks know that right now I’m probably the highest I have ever been on Brook and filled with confidence He has the ability to clean up at 154lbs if the rest of the division finds its balls . 

 Manny Pacquiao vs Tim Bradley pre fight review 

 Let’s get the negativity out the way first, this fight could be an anticlimax end of one of the best loved boxers in a genarations career . When the fight was announced in December I think the general concencus was “what the f**k” and has gathered little to no momentum in the build up here in the UK and what I’ve picked up its a similar story in the states , but hey it’s happening so why worry about it now.

First up Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao with 57-6-2 (with 38kos) The little man from the Philippines is a boxing superstar loved for his entertaining  speed and power that has become a trademark . battles against Marquez and his brutal knock out of Ricky Hatton are modern day classics ,but now at 37 years old and coming off a loss to Mayweather,shoulder surgery and never ending questions about actually still wanting to be in the ring this could be a tuff one for Pacman  . In the first fight with these two everyone in the world saw the Pacman outclass and win easily , well everyone except two judges who gave Bardley the win and in the second fight we saw Pacman even things up with a win setting up this decider. 

  

  Now on to Tim Bradley 33-1-1(13) , a very capable boxer who is coming off his most impressive performance to date , a 9th round knockout of Brandon Rios only his 13th knockout to date. Bradley still only 31 looks to be hitting his best at the right age. Although Bradley is not renowned as a big hitter he is a very smart,duriable fighter who has teamed up with new trainer Teddy Atlas and looks to be evolving his game . I have no doubt that after struggling with his tactics in the last two fights , Bradley will come in with a new game plan which could set us up for a cracker .  

 To sum up ,this one is to tricky to call, Iam a massive Pacquiao fan but the more I let my head over rule my heart I can see a different fight from the previous two and really think Bradley could do it and with his odds at 11/4 to win on points could be worth a punt . There is no doubt with this set to be Pacmans last fight he will be gunning to go out with a bang and with Bradley aiming to prove himself against Pacquiao this could be a cracker and worth staying up for . 

Dino