Anyone watch the boxing last night? Two points. 1. How class is Callum Smith? World champion in waiting surely? That guy went the distance with de Gale didn't he. 2. How much does that prick Hearn pay the judges? Couple of awful decisions but sadly in the sport we see this too often.
Missed it Beefy but Smith is starting to show a real ruthless streak in his finishing. Could have yet another top class British Super Middle fight on our hands soon!
I've just read that Martin will be on 3,00,000 pounds for the defence of his crown. Does anyone know what Anthony will be paid?
Around £5m I think Joshua is expected to come out with. He walked away with £3m after Dillian Whyte fight
That's not bad money for a young up and comer. I suppose there'll be a few people who'll get their whack at his purse, then the tax man, but it's still a whole lot better than throwing bricks on a building site.
Nice to see Nick Blackwell looking a lot more bright and breezy. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sp...lapsed-aftermath-defeat-Chris-Eubank-Jnr.html
Weights for the IBF Heavyweight Title fight tonight are pretty much as expected. Joshua has come in a pound lighter than when he fought Whyte, and Martin has dropped 4.5 pounds on his title win over Glazkov. Joshua is 244, Martin weighed 245. Looks as though Martin has worked his arse off. He'll be the man on the move, so I suppose he'll need all the speed he can get. This is going to be an entertaining fight. It doesn't have to be a barn burner to be worth watching, after all, Fury's win wasn't pretty, but it was sure worth seeing. Same here I think. I don't believe either of these two are top tier at the moment, but the expectation is huge. Get it on boys. Martin to win.
Great to see some interest in heavyweight boxing again. Cheering on Joshua but this Martin guy is not fazed by anything here. Both handled the prelims well, both in good shape. I just hope the hype and buildup doesn't get to Joshua. There's no distractions for Martin- he's the champion yet the underdog- he will relish that. Remember he basically called Joshua out- these two guys both wanna be the best and both want to fight the best names. I know 100% that AJ is the real deal but such is the lack of depth in heavyweight boxing, he hasn't had many rounds to learn from and get through. He'll have learned an absolute tonne from the Whyte fight but he is still inexperienced-relatively- and one mistake in heavyweight boxing can end in defeat as we all know. Ali, Frazier, Lewis, Holyfield, Tyson- they all got beat and tomorrow would not be a great shock to me- we have to be realistic. AJ is a true athlete in the division though and no matter what happens tomorrow night, he will be the best heavyweight in the world. If he takes his time and doesn't get reckless tomorrow I think he has the tools to stop Martin but I think it might go past the half way point. Hope to see an AJ jab early on and not too many adrenalin fuelled right hands until he has established a foothold. Martin is looking for the counter left all day long but I think he'll go for the short right hook too, which is why I want AJ to pick his shots. I actually think both have a big future- been really impressed with both ever since the fight was announced and expect both to feature in other world title fights regardless of tomorrow.
If AJ nails him early we will find out if Martin can take a decent punch. If he can, it will only be a matter of time before Martin catches AJ. And, if he does, he will prove to be a better finisher than Whyte. My biggest fear for AJ is that he reminds me of Bruno, big, well muscled athlete but very pedestrian. Martin is much more fleet of foot and that may enable him to get to AJ. I suspect Martin will use his speed to keep away from AJ until he can land a telling punch/combination. I can't call this as one punch could be curtains for either. Fascinating
The way i see it is that Martin was fortunate to win the world title and was distinctly average before then. He's drawn once and been the distance on occasion so he's not all about the power. If he wasn't currently holding a version of the world title he would be 10/1 not 4/1. Now Joshua, is all still about the hype, we don't know if he's going to live up to it, he's not really fought anyone decent. Dillian Whyte had him in trouble briefly but i do think Joshua will learn from that. When he was caught he lost his discipline and looked really ragged boxing at times. But he came through it and got the knockout. The problem i have with the Whyte fight is that Dillian Whyte isn't exactly a world class operator and if you watch the fight i get the impression that Whyte was in there to try be the first man Joshua couldn't stop rather than trying to win for himself. My big issue with Joshua is that he has practically no head movement whatsover and like a few have commented above, i think he's ripe for taking a big shot. From a betting perspective all the value lies with backing the champion Charles Martin unless you're savvy enough to pick a round it'll end. The above rant sounds a lot like i'm sitting on the fence but without getting caught up in the hype my unbiased opinion is that Joshua wins this in around the 6th or 7th round but don't be surprised if its also another early night. It obviously wouldn't be the massive shock that the bookies are suggesting if Martin were to win and i certainly wouldn't begrudge him if he did, i like the bloke, i think he comes across well and i like the way that he has conducted himself throughout the whole build up. Lets just hope that whatever happens its a good fight and both fighters do themselves proud. On the undercard Brian Rose fights Matthew Macklin that has the potential to steal the show, both fighters are warriors and neither will go down without a fight. Rose on points or Macklin by stoppage 10th or 11th for me. We also see on the undercard young Conor Benn, son of the absolute legend that is Nigel Benn. Interesting to see how he looks.
When you strip away the ridiculous hype surrounding Joshua, he's achieved relatively little for someone people already see as a future cast iron unified heavyweight champion. In saying that, he went up in my estimations against Whyte, took a fair shot and came back really strong. I'm no expert on Martin, but it's safe to say he's a good wee bit better in boxing ability than Whyte. He's 7/2 to beat AJ, I think that's a very, very big price. We'll see a bit more about Joshua tonight, maybe he is what the hype suggests and he'll take him out early. I however think the odds are very wrong and until he's proven I'm more than happy to take him on with a 7/2 shot whose proven himself at a decent level.
Agree with pretty much everything you're saying here apart from the bit about Martin being proven at a decent level. I'd agree Martin has arguable fought at a slightly higher level but neither of them have fought really anyone who can be considered decent. I agree with what you're saying with regards the odds it's priced up due to the hype around Joshua and like I mentioned above I think it'd be ridiculously bigger if Martin hadn't managed to get himself the title
Crikey. I'm saying he's pedestrian, smokey says he has no head movement. He's there for the taking. Whether it's Martin, Wilder, Fury or Haye (or even Chisora?), we'll have to wait and see; hopefully for longer than tonight.
Not sure I'd personally agree with you're list Cyc but let's not get into that.... I suppose whilst the belts are where they are it's hard to argue
Jeeez, getting harder to doubt Joshua after that... Clinic. And a very quick one! Only probably missed one bogey by Rory in the Masters
Missed the fight live as out at an event and then found the recording didn't work. Saw the end in a replay. Not sure what to make of that. Clearly Martin doesn't take a good clean punch too well. Looked a bit too easy.
