Definitely up there with the very best pound for pound of his generation. There's not really much left for him to achieve though. Not many guys can retire with a perfect record.
I don't know why people react so negatively to things like this. He's going to have to prove he can box before he is granted a license, and if he does pass all the tests, then why shouldn't he be allowed to compete? Boxing isn't necessarily a sport where you have to have been competing from an early age, there are plenty of cases of guys well in their 30s taking up boxing and being successful. Wether Rio will be successful, who knows, but you can't fault him for trying a new sport.
For me I'm just a cynic when it comes to things like this. Famous person with plenty of money is a fan of a sport so thinks, I know I'll do that. It's not the fact he wants to box because like you say he'll need to prove it all to get a licence it's the thing that I find ridiculous is that because he's Rio Ferdinand, famous footballer he can just announce he's going to be a professional boxer but hasn't even applied for a licence yet but it still makes headline news. It was like the Freddie flintoff experiment, it made a good tv show his journey to getting in the ring but the fight itself was a farce.
Ia anyone taking an interest in the World Boxing Super Series? For the most part, the Middleweights look pretty crap, but the Cruisers are chock full of class. There's the WBO champ Aleksandr Usyk who looks an amazing talent even if he is only 13 fights into his career. The job he did on Marco Huck in their quarter final was brilliant. The IBF champ Murat Gassiev is there as is the IBO & WBC champ Mairis Breidis and joining is the WBA Regular champ Yunier Dorticos. The four unseeded fighters are Marco Huck, Krzysztof WlodarcZyk, Mike Perez and Dmitry Kudryashov. The second quarter final looks like dynamite on stilts. The Cuban WBA champion Dorticos (Dr KO) with a record of 21 fights, 21 wins, 20 kos, fights Kudryashov (The Russian Hammer) who's fought 22 times for 21 wins with 21 kos. That's 43 fight with 41 kos between them.
The Parker - Fury weigh in looked a bit strange. Both fighters weighed pretty much as they should, but both looked a bit soft. Parker seemed to have a slightly bigger gut and slightly smaller chest, and Fury no chest at all and a small pot gut. Strange stuff. I don't know what to make of the push by Fury, but Parker didn't seem at all fazed by it. I think the camp have been trying to gee Hughie up for quite a while. His dad having him up country, dragging crap through mud, swinging an axe and swimming in cold water, hints that something might be missing between Hughie's ears. What ever it is they're doing though, seems to be working. After the weigh in, Fury was adamant that he wanted to rip off Parker's head. At the face off Tyson or someone close by was into Hughie to rip the belt from Parker's hands. I think it was the ex champ who called for Hughie to not lose eye contact. "Don't look away Hughie." He also yelled something like. "Who ever looks away first is gay." Tyson likes his own jokes. I wouldn't be surprised if both of these blokes wanted to make a mess of the other.
Yeah neither Fury or Parker looked particularly impressive on the scales, though as I've said before its boxing, not bodybuilding. The push was just thuggish behaviour that goes on to much in boxing. Fair play to Parker, for not reacting, as half of the brain dead boxers out there would have started a mass brawl over it. The idiots around him almost did. Im in 2 minds who I want to see win now, Fury being English is hard not to support, but part of me wants to see him taken down a peg or two.
Not sure Ron, it might be the day after. Betting has Linares at 5-18 and Campbell at 7-2. It's a big step up for the challenger. Linares has climbed through 3 weight classes, winning world titles in all, so he has some miles on the clock. Maybe this can play into Campbell's hands. You never know.
Linares is very very good and it's quite a rare thing for a British fighter to go to America and win a world title but my gut says Campbell can do it. Kevin Mitchell and Anthony Crolla both came close to beating Linares, Mitchell would have done if not for the injury and I rate Campbell higher than both of them. my head is telling me my gut is wrong and to be sensible, Linares is too good but I just have a feeling. And for what it's worth I also think we might see another Fury become world champion tonight. I think he might just be awkward enough and I'm also not too impressed with Parkers boxing ability so I think Fury on points
WBO Title fight ... what a stinker. If punches landed was enough, then Fury gets the nod. Where do fewer but heavier punches fit in? And aggression? What ever, both stank and are no danger to either Joshua or Wilder.
Started to watch the highlights but found myself fast forwarding in search of some. Glad I didn't pay to watch it
In a sport where a lot of media attention is turned to bouts of questionable substance, it seems a bit of a shame that so little credit is being directed to a series that's brought together most of the best fighters in their division. The World Boxing Super Series has managed to get four reigning, world champions to take part in an eight person knockout contest. Well actually, there are two such contests, Cruiserweights and Middleweights. The latter comes up well short when it comes to the best in the game, but the former is a whole different ball game. We've just seen the second of the Cruiser Quarter Final bouts, where the WBA Champ, Cuban Yunier Dorticos fought the Russian Dmitry Kudryashov. (Clip below. It went nearly 2 rounds.) In the First of the Quarters, WBO belt holder, Oleksandr Usyk made the former champion Marco Huck look second rate. And we still have IBO & WBC Champ Mairis Briedis and IBF Champ Murat Gassiev to fight their respective opponents. Both should win, which will set the four champions against each other. Briedis v Usyk and Dorticos v Gassiev. Then winner v winner for all the marbles. Dorticos v Kudryashov.
If it wasn't so disgusting, it's be bloody funny. First up, Wilder's opponent Alexander Povetkin gets rubbed out after testing positive for meldonium, then Andrzej Wawrzyk blows it because of a steroid positive, and now the much awaited clash with Luis Ortiz might have worked it's way into the dunny after the big Cuban tested dirty to a couple of diuretics. This is the second time Ortiz has failed a test. Wilder must be getting wilder by the minute.
I loved the way the Marrickville Mauler went about his business. May 8 1987. WBC champion Samart Payakaroon puts his Super Featherweight title on the line against the undefeated former IBF Featherweight champ Jeff Fenech.
