Don't watch or play golf anymore, but glad to see Europe losing to the US in the Ryder Cup. Harrington's decision not to pick Justin Rose was ridiculous and frankly he deserves to fall flat on his face.
I imagine Rose is sitting at home now thanking the Gods that Harrington followed his nepotistic agenda. The size of this defeat could be International career-ending for a few of this European team. Always underdogs, but this is embarrassing - and once again, McIlroy fails to deliver when it really matters.
An Arsenal fan losing in that stadium has got to hurt. I’ve never rated AJ as a boxer so not entirely surprised he lost.
I must admit I didn't see Ustyk winning - because of the weight disadvantage and his lack of experience at heavyweight, especially against a giant like Joshua. But he won easily. Guile and craft too much for muscle and weight. I guess Joshua v Fury is never going to happen now.
Rahm & Garcia has looked the only good decision so far. Other players save been in matches but thrown it away late on - sometimes after doing the hard work to pull back a deficit. It only needed three of those matches to have swung the other way for it to be 8-8. That's when you need the experienced players to step up and where Rose may have been an asset. Westwood & Poulter have done it before - but both are perhaps past it at 48 & 45. Not easy to compete with players who can drive 400 yards, especially in fourballs, when they can afford to take risks.
That second song is No Easy Way Out from the Rocky IV soundtrack. Yep, Rocky IV. The film where the bloke who won the heavyweight title gets battered. He lost his unbeaten record to an underdog, then gets killed by a guy with a great amateur record who's from a former Soviet state. Someone in that camp was clearly taking the piss.
After Usyk, Ruiz doesn’t look quite so much of a shock. I think we’ve seen that Joshua’s physique and persona and the way he’s been bigged up by his promoters and Sky, have given him a status his boxing craft doesn’t match up to.
I think people are getting a little carried away and demonstrating why boxers dodge credible opponents. Ruiz was something of a fluke. Joshua thought he'd hurt him badly, got carried away trying to finish it and got caught. He never recovered from that initial shot and I think he underestimated his opponent. Usyk, on the other hand, is an excellent boxer with a fantastic record and a southpaw to boot. He won 335 amateur fights for a reason. Turned pro, smashed his weight division and now he's grabbed some titles at heavyweight. There's no shame in losing to him, it's just about how Joshua reacts, for me.
Usyk’s a great fighter - possibly the best pound for pound fighter around. But he is a cruiserweight, who would be conceding 3+ stone to Joshua at his normal fighting weight. 5+ to Fury - as well as the height difference. I don’t think he would have troubled Fury so much. And he’d fought only 2 fights at heavyweight before Joshua. A cruiserweight shouldn’t be beating a top heavyweight of Joshua’s size. It’s not like stepping up a 7lb weight division. I don’t think Joshua has done anything yet to suggest he is among the elite boxers in the division.
His record is better than anyone else, except Fury. I don't think it's even close. Wilder's only got Fury and Ortiz on his and he basically lost every round of those fights. He knocked out the 97-year-old Cuban, but the rest of his record is either bums or failure. Joshua's in the top 3. I don't see who else can even claim to be up there.
Joshua's problem is that he took up boxing at 18. That's too late to develop elite boxing skills. He's done very well using his intelligence and athleticism to get as far as he has. He's made a ton of money, generally provided good entertainment value for it, and behaved like a sportsman in a time and sport where that's becoming a rarity. Joshua the boxer = Very competitive at the top level, but not quite the best. Joshua the sportsman = Class.
When you look at the top heavyweights around, Joshua looks a bit of a show pony; Hollywood might cast him in a film because of his physique but he lacks the craft of Fury or the lightweight Usyk and doesn't have the killer punch of Wilder (not against the elite anyway). I can't ever see him being better than any of those three.
I agree about Fury and Usyk. Wilder is bizarre. He really can't box, but worked out a particular way of using his power, quickness and decent-ish chin to go a really long way. As with a lot of heavyweights, his biggest asset may have been his belief, which I don't think is there any more. I don't see Fury having much trouble with him this time. Fury Usyk is interesting because it should be a yardstick as to how the super duper heavyweights measure up to a top fighter about the same size as the heavyweights of the seventies. Fury's a good boxer. I can't see him losing with such a big reach advantage...if his head's on straight, which I guess isn't a given.
I think that Joshua v Wilder would just be a matter of who knocks the other one out first. I can't see any way that goes the distance. I don't think that there's a significant power difference between the two, regardless of how hyped Wilder's punch is. Other than the 92-year-old Luis Ortiz, who outboxed him in both bouts, who has he actually knocked out? Joshua can point to Klitschko, Whyte, Takam, Povetkin and Pulev, even though the best of them were all over the hill. It's a fight that I'd like to see, if we end up with Usyk v Fury for the belts, but I'm not sure either of them would make it. Chuck enough money at them and it might happen, I guess.
As good a boxer as Usyk is, Fury looks like a bridge too far. Would he get near him? Could he hurt him? Even if he bulked up, he’s conceding a huge weight advantage as well as the reach. And Fury’s not just a giant - he’s a skilful fighter too.
Fury's too smart for Usyk, in my opinion. If he's on his game and not distracted, then he'll beat him. He'd definitely use his height and weight to wear him out and slow him down. That's unless he does what he did to Wilder in the second fight and just come out to batter him.