Big fights and boxing fans

wilder3434By Shaun Ayres: Boxing fans are always the first to complain about certain fighters taking what is perceived to be an easy fight. For example, you will often see in forums everyone complaining about Deontay Wilder, Kell Brook, Amir Khan, Adrien Broner, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin, Sergey Kovalev and so on taking an easy fight against a lesser opponent. The harsh reality is, most of these fighters are built up by their respective promoters to give them an extremely marketable looking record without ever really testing themselves. This is especially true of Deontay Wilder and Kell Brook. Their respective records are only impressive on paper and the closer one scrutinizes their opponents it becomes painfully obvious that their record is mediocre at best.

So I suppose the question is, why do they build their fighters up without testing them in their first 20 to 30 fights? Well there are two short answers here: Firstly, promoters see this as low risk but high reward.

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Froch v Groves round 2

froch56236By Shaun Ayres: Finally, news that many boxing fans have been waiting for, Carl Froch v George Groves 2 looks set for May. This is an intriguing contest which incorporates many permutations for both fighters depending on the outcome of the fight. I have taken the view that the fight was stopped too early last time, I am not advocating that Groves was not hurt, but if you watch the fight, you can still see he is still slipping some of Froch’s punches and firing some shots back.

I have read loads of comments from pundits, commentators and fans alike, there is clearly disagreement about how hurt Groves actually was. However, the point of this article is not to bring up the previous fight, but rather, to analyze the forthcoming fight. I think there are three key areas where the fight will be won and lost, these are, technical ability, fitness, heart and longevity.

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Khan-Mayweather: Perception v reality

floyd#900By Shaun Ayres: Amir Khan v Floyd Mayweather Jr. is all but sealed for 3rd May at the MGM Grand. I have read countless articles and the subsequent opinions which then follow on from the article. There is a wealth of opinion, some justified, some not so much. So the question I am asking is how can a fight divide so many fight fans?

The first element of this question was poised by Amir Khan’s trainer Virgil Hunter in which he raised the issue of Perception vs. Reality? This is an intrinsically good point to start with as there is a massive perception that Khan has a “Glass Jaw”! The reality is somewhat different. Yes, Prescott did knock Khan out; however, in Khan’s 4th round TKO loss to Danny Garcia in 2012, he finished on his feet.

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