The boxing thread

[Napoléon]

yes, naseem was fuckin cocky! i didn't like it on him, because he was "pretty guy" cocky and not "tough guy" cocky. however he was the train wreck that i can't stop watching, knowing how much i dislike him. lol. good boxer tho.

yeah, lennox is one of the best of those years, but i wouldn't put him in a best ever class at heavyweight. not a chance. yeah, concerning mccall, i like boxers to be finishers and have that killer instinct. as much as i appreciate a nice guy, i'm not sure i always want that in boxing - it IS a pugilist sport afterall. i agree with you tho on a few fronts concerning lennox, he was the tops during his last few years and also that americans don't like him.

i think the reason is because he's a panderer. he claims jamaica sometimes, britain sometimes and even heard him claim "the bx" (bronx, nyc). he has to make up his mind who he's fighting for and be just that. and also, he keeps talking about tea and crumpets. hahaha. i'm ok with that because that's what's up where he's from - but again, it's boxing - that's not where i want to hear about that. i'm drinkin, talkin shit when i watch boxing and i like people who get me hype.

just to be clear, i've talked about naseem and lennox bad and i don't want to get the notion that i don't like british boxers. i LOVE watchin ricky hatton. that dude is a tough mother fucker, he is not scared of blood and he has a lot of vices, yet still shows up to fight - overweight or not. haha. i also like micky ward, tho i realize he's irish and not brit.

funny thing is when i lived in miami beach, i was hitting on some girl on the beach. we got to talking about boxing and she told me she liked lennox lewis, and i blew into a tirade about how much of a pussy he is. uh .... (the damn liquor) ... turns out, he was there - the girl was his first cousin! i didn't back off my point, but inside my chest was gettin all hot, thinkin he may come show me how much of a pussy he is! but he didn't .... whew!

Lol Naz was a complete twat, but I think you have to admire how much he just didn't give a fuck. His style was ridiculously entertaining to watch and for me he's probably the best entertainer I've ever seen in a boxing ring.

Sounds to me you enjoy the rougher style of boxers, the "hard men" as it were. I don't so much enjoy that myself and I prefer to see a boxer with a bit of class. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing a good tear up between fighters like hatton and ward and others like that, but when it comes to rating them I like to see boxers with more skill.

As for Lennox, the only thing I can think is that he must get bad press in America. He does 'claim' these places but I don't much care about that, I like him for what he does in the ring. And besides, why can't he fight for all of what he says? If he feels like he can why not. He's also a commentator on American boxing channels isn't he? I'm not a fan of commentators in general to be honest, they all tend to talk shit, in any sport.
As for his place in history, his era was a pretty good one. And he fought everyone. 3 time world champ, he fought great fighters, and when he lost he came back in style. He's had great victories over highly rated fighters, Golota for instance was rated to be a beast, but Lewis knocked him out first round. He even gave Klitschko a good brawl right at the end of his career when the Klitschko's were in their prime and he was retiring.
I think in all, Lennox was consistently a top fighter, dominated his era, why shouldn't he be considered one of the greatest. You can't argue with his record.

As for calling Lewis a pussy, haha that's a funny situation. Would of been really funny if he did come round and pay you a visit
I never think it's a good idea to call anyone who steps in the ring a pussy, every one of them puts their life on the line when they do.

[jackman]

Lol Naz was a complete twat, but I think you have to admire how much he just didn't give a fuck.
...
Sounds to me you enjoy the rougher style of boxers, the "hard men" as it were. I don't so much enjoy that myself and I prefer to see a boxer with a bit of class.
...
As for Lennox, ... besides, why can't he fight for all of what he says? If he feels like he can why not. He's also a commentator on American boxing channels isn't he? I'm not a fan of commentators in general to be honest, they all tend to talk shit, in any sport.
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Golota for instance was rated to be a beast, but Lewis knocked him out first round.
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I never think it's a good idea to call anyone who steps in the ring a pussy, every one of them puts their life on the line when they do.

point, naz was entertaining. another, yes, i certainly do tend to lean toward the tough guys. one omission from this is evander holyfield. tough as concrete nails, but after every fight he praised god for giving him whatever (strength, skill, will, blah). that makes me despise him.

i understand fully, your appreciation of the skill. i like that too, there were definitely some with both braun and skill. also, you make good points about lennox again. he can and does claim all of the places, so of course he is welcomed to do it. it's just why i and most other americans don't like him. golota on the other hand, was a shadow tough guy. he had the look and size to be imposing, but if you weren't intimidated, you found he had a glass chin. when hurt, instead of losing, he would opt to get disqualified by hitting you repeatedly in your balls. the polish hammer, lol.

yeah, i was guilty of what i hate hearing from others, calling someone in pro sports a pussy. i meant it relative to the best boxers and not relative to regular guys on the street. i fully realize that he may well break all but 2 bones in my face if he punched me. so that point is not lost on me, i spoke wrong in that instance. he's a knowlegable commentator but listening to him bores the piss out of me. roy jones is a great commentator to me.

[Napoléon]

point, naz was entertaining. another, yes, i certainly do tend to lean toward the tough guys. one omission from this is evander holyfield. tough as concrete nails, but after every fight he praised god for giving him whatever (strength, skill, will, blah). that makes me despise him.

Yeah that's another thing. Evander was another fighter who made Lennox's era a good one. Holyfield was and is considered by most fight fans as one of the greatest fighters in heavyweight history, but I'll go back to my point about Lennox not recieving his due credit. Lennox was the better of the two, or at least his equal and proved it in the ring despite the controversy surrounding the fights. So why then would Lewis not be considered one of the greatest as well.

As for him praising god all the time, Tyson did this with 'Allah' quite a bit too haha. You still like him though

i understand fully, your appreciation of the skill. i like that too, there were definitely some with both braun and skill. also, you make good points about lennox again. he can and does claim all of the places, so of course he is welcomed to do it. it's just why i and most other americans don't like him. golota on the other hand, was a shadow tough guy. he had the look and size to be imposing, but if you weren't intimidated, you found he had a glass chin. when hurt, instead of losing, he would opt to get disqualified by hitting you repeatedly in your balls. the polish hammer, lol.

True, Golota was a dirty bastard of a fighter. Maybe he did have a glass jaw, certainly he didn't put up much of a fight against Lewis. And if that's the case then I get why you don't like him, all I don't get is that most people don't appreciate how good he really was.

yeah, i was guilty of what i hate hearing from others, calling someone in pro sports a pussy. i meant it relative to the best boxers and not relative to regular guys on the street. i fully realize that he may well break all but 2 bones in my face if he punched me. so that point is not lost on me, i spoke wrong in that instance. he's a knowlegable commentator but listening to him bores the piss out of me. roy jones is a great commentator to me.

Yeah I get what you meant by it. It's just funny because everyone who says it would never say it to their faces haha.

I've never heard them commentate really so I don't know how good commentators they are.

[jackman]

As for him praising god all the time, Tyson did this with 'Allah' quite a bit too haha. You still like him though

haha. fucker! he also has a tatoo of mao on his shoulder. besides, before prison, he was "eating people's kids", after prison, he was praising allah. prison'll make people pick SOMEthing to believe in.

Yeah I get what you meant by it. It's just funny because everyone who says it would never say it to their faces haha.

true. but i definitely think holyfield is 6th in heavyweights of all times. lennox, probably 10th in my eyes, which is still very high. just he was weak when teh division was strongest, then later in his career, he stepped up and beat the big names like tyson and holyfield when they were on the decline. the fact that i like neither holyfield nor lewis doesn't mean i deny their skill.

[Napoléon]

just he was weak when teh division was strongest, then later in his career, he stepped up and beat the big names like tyson and holyfield when they were on the decline

I'd disagree with that.

Tyson is actually a year younger than Lewis, people seem to forget that. The fact that he had a meltdown when he should of been boxing isn't Lewis's fault.

Whether he took them on later in his career or earlier doesn't fit with me. He beat them, that's all there is to it.

[StatCrux]

So who is your favorite all time boxer? For me it has to be Julio Cesar Chavez!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SqBK0SZWos

The skill at 2:04 is phenomenal!

[Rev. Rye]

I'm somewhat interested in boxing, and I'm even considering taking it up myself (strictly for exercise; my vision is imperfect, and thus, I am not allowed to fight.)

Also, last year, when all the Borders stores closed down, I bought a biography of Barney Ross and I was impressed. Beat Boxers, Hitler, and heroin. Damn. And if the name sounds familiar, it's because Sly Stallone seems to admire him as well; he named the main character in The Expendables after him. I may put a stone on Barney Ross' grave next time I'm out in Rosemont.

Here's one of his fights. Sorry for the foreign language commentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAQJkgQYohM

[jackman]

nap: yeah, we're not gonna agree on that one. age doesn't matter, when realizing someone's career is dwindling. bernard hopkins was whipping tail into his mid 40s, but most boxers are considered over the hill at 32. don't forget, tyson was heavyweight champ of the world when he was 20. he'd been on top of the game long enough that his full dedication waned. lennox won his first title when he was 24, pretty impressive but he wasn't the prodigy that iron mike was. success whipped tyson's ass more than lennox could.

stat: i'm going to have to say that pre-prison iron mike tyson is my g.o.a.t.

[Napoléon]

nap: yeah, we're not gonna agree on that one. age doesn't matter, when realizing someone's career is dwindling. bernard hopkins was whipping tail into his mid 40s, but most boxers are considered over the hill at 32. don't forget, tyson was heavyweight champ of the world when he was 20. he'd been on top of the game long enough that his full dedication waned. lennox won his first title when he was 24, pretty impressive but he wasn't the prodigy that iron mike was. success whipped tyson's ass more than lennox could.

I'm not doubting tyson was an absolute animal, before his meltdown he was looking to be one of the best ever. But you have to look at their whole career in my opinion to consider them up there with the best. If they have half a career epic and the other half shit, then they're only half as good as they should have been.

Take nothing away from tyson though, in his prime, he was damn near untouchable.

stat: i'm going to have to say that pre-prison iron mike tyson is my g.o.a.t.

Ali would of smashed him

[Minimalist]

I lost all interest in boxing after Muhammad Ali got old.