One for the Boxing fans!

[taper]

I think price looks really good. He'd beat Fury. He'll beat Chisora too.

[Jeremy]

I'm not impressed with Fury at all... lumbering, overweight... I think his towering height is the only thing going for him (but it is a big asset, granted).

[KidKruger]

So Chisora slaps Klitschko hard in the face and very likely sealed himself a very punishing beating this evening.

OR has he wound Klit up so he'll come out angry and forget to be careful, leaving Chisora openings to bash him up bigstylee ??

[Alan Medic]

Read the blog and comments on the BBC website. No one likes what he has done and it seems everyone hopes or expects him to be knocked out pretty quickly. And that British fans of boxing.

[Otta]

Respect to Chisora for what he did in the ring last night.

Absolutely no respect for anything else he has done. I know that part of boxing is the hype, and the build up, but Chisora and Haye are just making British people look even worse than we already look to a lot of people.

That said, I think Haye Vs Chisora, with the winner getting a shot at Vitali, will be a good tear up.

[taper]

Chisora has been arrested at Munich airport!

[KidKruger]

Yeah Chisora did very well, took some punishment yet did not display evidence of being particularly phased.

I think Chisora needs to work on his conditioning, however to attack someone full-on for most of 12 rounds is quit a feat.

Vitali was either old or becoming old and found Chisora's style tough.

Vitali's skills are too much for Chisora at this stage but it went 12 rounds which is rare against Vitali.

The other behaviour is not acceptable, however having been given a hotel where you cannot sleep, being told your previously agreed hand wraps are not legal and they must be removed and re-done, being deserted by the British Board of Boxing Control when they're needed must have been a torture. The Klitchkos do not play a straight game, they screw with you before you get in the ring, mess with your accommodation, mess with your transport to/from the arena, mess with your signature tune (he wasn't allowed the theme tune form Only Fools & Horses) and try to generally piss you off. They pissed Derek off.

I'd say what he did was well out of order, but don't piss someone off if you don't want anyone to act pissed-off.

I guess if he's been arrested it's for 'assault' - either slapping Vitali or spitting water at Vlad ?

[maxxi]

Just watched the press conference video here, jeezus - what a fucking embarassment. Klitschko was laughing like a man watching children squabble.

[maxxi]

The telegraph video has a different angle where you can see Haye throw the first punch and swing the tripod which cuts his own manager's head.

[camberwell70]

Two bald men fighting over a comb.

[Annette Curtain]

OMG

David 'the dickhead' Haye and that other muppet "chip on y'shoulder Chisora" have managed to take the *ahem* sport of boxing to new subterranean depths.

If the relevant boxing boards don't take hard measures with a total ban on the two, then boxing is finished in this country.

Jezus H

I'm mortally embarrassed quite frankly.

And there was me thinking; is there a bigger c-nut than John Terry in sport.

Obviously y-es (and there's two of them)

NETTE:-S

[Annette Curtain]

World Champion Nathan Cleverly speaks out against Haye/Chisora

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/boxing/9091529/David-Haye-and-Dereck-Chisora-come-to-blows-in-pictures.html

( and yes, that is a bottle in Haye's hand )

NETTE

[Jeremy]

Nathan Cleverly? Paper champion.

[Otta]

I'd say unproven, but I'd like to see him be tested, and win some big fights, as he seems a decent bloke.

[Jeremy]

Different words, same meaning. He inherited a vacant title, and has never faced a top-10 fighter - let alone one of the top guys like Dawson/Hopkins/Pascal. The very definition of a paper champion!

[Otta]

Guess so, although to be fair to him, I don't think he's ducking anyone, but perhaps his "team" are. He's currently saying he'd like to face Froch, which would certainly be a worthy test. I think there was some talk about Hopkins too, but that was blown out of the water by the debacle that was Hopkins / Dawson.

Jow Calzaghe doesn't think Hopkins will fight Cleverly though.

[KidKruger]

Jeremy: "He inherited a vacant title, and has never faced a top-10 fighter.."

fair point. he made out he challenged Shuminov and Shuminov's team said they'd never heard owt, by reply to the 'claim' they said they'd happily fight Cleverly -all they have to do is talk dates and the deal's made.

Cleverly's team went quiet.

Last night's contest against Cleverly was annoying. Cleverly was fighting a guy who has a full-time job in a hospital looking after mental health patients and administering medication. A guy who has rarely fought higher than club-level, who HAS sparred with Shuminov and other top 20 fighters but, as per comments from commentators during the contest, may be fixed in a sparring mode - constantly taking / blocking his opponents punches.

12 rounds and Cleverly couldn't get him out of there, he should be ashamed of himself (a) for the light effort he took on in choosing the guy, and (b) for not being able to close the show. Bad mark on his card I reckon.

Not the fantastic 'homecoming' fight one would have hoped. Clev's combinations and work rate were great, but he didn't stop the guy, which is the point of all the punching.

On the other hand, Karpency did extremely well considering he suddenly found himself challenging for a world title. He took some shots and although seemingly ready to quit in round 4 he continued after pressure from Dad in his corner.

I'd like to see Shumenov or Chad/Tavoris. Or maybe an all-Welsh contest against Maccarinelli, who's way-more known than 'Karpency' and had recently stepped down to light-heavy weight.

[Jeremy]

Enzo is now back at Cruiserweight (despite his opponent on Saturday being a super-middleweight). It's a very strange episode... but I remember he looked pretty skinny at light-heavy.

I don't mean to belittle Cleverly's acheivements, he's had a good career so far and surely is in the top 10 British p4p. But if he wants to be recognised as anything but another alphabet champion, he has to start facing some decent opposition. Glen Johnson would be a good test, before chasing the likes of Dawson, Froch, etc.

[KidKruger]

I think the intention with Maccarinelli is to campaign down at LH weight, i the hope he can take his power down there and not face such big hitters. I mean if he'd faced Marco Huck at CW he'd have been KO'd in 2-3. At LH Cleverley would be unlikely to KO Macca and other fighters might also struggle to KO him (compared to CW).

Incidentally, Marco Huck faced Povetkin to try and get the WBA "let's pretend we're a champion" belt (One of the Klits has the 'real' WBA belt, don't ask).

Huck was the aggressor and caught Povetkin enough times early on to weaken him and take his legs away. Povekin looked unsteady several times and even after the final bell needed help to stand straight.

Povetkin got the decision which surprised me, not because he didn't deserve it (he didn't) but because it's Germany and the results seem to be pre-ordained and I'd expected the powers-that-be wanted Huck to reign.

[Jeremy]

Nope, Maccarinelli's next fight is for the British CW title!

[KidKruger]

On Buncey's Boxing Hour Cleverly was just interviewed, he said he'd expect to fight Macca or Tavoris Cloud next, he'd prefer Cloud for the exposure and the IBF title he can add to his own belt.

Clev's not moving to CW so I suspect BigMac is just floating between the weights picking-up what experiences he can, but from what I'm reading it looks like his world-levels aspirations are at LHW.

[Jeremy]

KidKruger Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Clev's not moving to CW so I suspect BigMac is just floating between the weights

OK... fair enough. But 175lb-200lb is a pretty damn big gap to just float between! (I've never really understood why there are so many lighter divisions, but so few at the heavier end of the scale).

[KidKruger]

yes it's a huge difference 25lbs !

I think there are so many lighter divisions becuase 5lbs here or there makes a lot of difference to the lighter chaps.

At (say) Cruiser and Heavy 10lbs difference may not be a huge disadvantage/advantage. Heavyweights can vary in stones between opponents, that always surprised me, basically anything over 200lbs goes !!

from memory Lightweight 135, LWW 140, WW 147, LMW 154, MW 160, SMW 168, LHW 175, CW 200.

the increments between divisions are greater as you go up through the weights.

[Jeremy]

Actually I seem to recall that the CW limit used to be 190, which is a much smaller gap than what we have now. Obviously the last thing we need is yet more weight divisions, but it does seem to me that the scale need rebalancing.

[KidKruger]

Floating between LHW and CW needn't of course mean losing / gaining 25lbs each time you move.

You could fight LHW at 175 and your CW contests at 180 or 190.

If Enzo usually walks around at 190 then making LHW might be normal for him, as per most boxers.

He's never been the most cut boxer anyway, at LHW he looked nice and lean, like a boxer should IMO.