Flanagan / Matthews

megadodge

Just saw a beautiful display of boxing from Zolani Tete on the undercard.
He's the tall South African who destroyed Paul Butler one year ago and has signed up with Frank Warren since.

Tete must be a complete nightmare to fight. He's a 5'9" superfly/bantam, with a brilliant southpaw jab, superb footwork and control of distance. Worst of all though is if you manage to get inside he has an absolutely viscous short right hook and left uppercut.

Warren talking of a showdown with either Haskins or McDonnell. I'd fancy Tete against either.

Andre 3000

I really like Tete's style, he was fantastic against Butler and was superb again tonight. I would love to see him fight Cuadras or Inoue.

megadodge

Inoue would be a really interesting fight, as it would be a classic case of 'clash of styles'.

Inoue has the physicality and strength required to bully Tete on the inside, if he could actually get there without being clipped. Tete is very tall and skinny and you'd have to wonder what his punch resistance against a relentless heavy hitter would be like. He was stopped in the 5th in his first world title shot.

I have to say I really enjoy watching him box though.

Andre 3000

megadodge wrote: »

Inoue would be a really interesting fight, as it would be a classic case of 'clash of styles'.

Inoue has the physicality and strength required to bully Tete on the inside, if he could actually get there without being clipped. Tete is very tall and skinny and you'd have to wonder what his punch resistance against a relentless heavy hitter would be like. He was stopped in the 5th in his first world title shot.

I have to say I really enjoy watching him box though.

I am a shameless advocate of Inoue, I think he's one of the top 3 fighters on the planet but I think Tete gives him a good fight. Ultimately he probably gets knocked out but he would pose a few problems to Inoue. Cuadras would be a smashing unification bout though.

megadodge

While I always enjoy watching Paul Butler's classy boxing, Sanchez needs to commit more here if he wants to make any indents. He actually looks to have a decent left hook, but he doesn't throw it often enough and is virtually always out of range.

Farnell is just after telling Butler that he should be stopping this fella and I agree, even if Sanchez is hard to catch clean.

normanoffside

Is Robin Reid OK? He looks ill.

megadodge

normanoffside wrote: »

Is Robin Reid OK? He looks ill.

Looks pretty good for an ex-pro in his mid 40s.

megadodge

Flanagan wins first two rounds.

Cautious enough so far from Matthews. Flanagan is busier and looks sharp.

walshb

Let's hope the next ten aren't like the first two!

normanoffside

megadodge wrote: »

Looks pretty good for an ex-pro in his mid 40s.

Fair enough. I thought he looked smaller and maybe a little paler than before. Always loved the grim reaper, one of my favourite boxers. He gave Calzaghe his toughest fight IMO and could have snuck the points decision.

megadodge

I'll give Flanagan the third too. Close but he's landing more.

Henno30

Poor so far.

walshb

Henno30 wrote: »

Poor so far.

Southpaws!

walshb

Even the music-between rds is sh1t

walshb

Finally.

megadodge

Good 5th, mainly because Matthews seems to have woken up to the fact that he won't outbox Flanagan.

Still Flanagan's round and Matthews coming at him may suit his counters.

walshb

Derry needs to just throw the looping right more. Position the feet and catch Flanagan as Flanagan steps in

megadodge

Matthews just can't cope with Flanagan's excellent jab. He's really struggling to get close.

walshb

megadodge wrote: »

Matthews just can't cope with Flanagan's excellent jab. He's really struggling to get close.

And his lack of punch speed is hurting him!

Mantis Toboggan

Decent scrap, not much in it

walshb

Tyson Fury wrote: »

Decent scrap, not much in it

Flanagan looks the winner in nearly every rd.

megadodge

Richie Woodhall has it 86-84. I can't see it that close. I'm struggling to see any round that Matthews clearly won.

Henno30

Surely Flanagan's well up.

megadodge

This surely must be a wide UD in Flanagan's favour.

walshb

Flanagan by 5-6 points.

Crolla and Flanagan own 50 percent of the world belts. WTF?

Johner

30 fights in and Flanagan hasn't fought anyone decent yet, would like to see how he gets on upped in class.

walshb

I'd make Flanagan a clear favourite over Crolla!

megadodge

Johner wrote: »

30 fights in and Flanagan hasn't fought anyone decent yet, would like to see how he gets on upped in class.

Who exactly do you think is better than him at lightweight?
Linares?
I think he can take Linares.
Verjedo is still just a prospect (albeit a good one) who hasn't fought anyone at all.

walshb

Thank god for BoxNation. Had that been Sky it would've been PPV...

Crolla is a Sky fighter. PPV it is if they meet😝

Andre 3000

Crolla/Flanagan unification fight might actually make me vomit. The Lightweight division is in an absolute heap. I think even an aged and blown up Gamboa would destroy both of them.

megadodge

Andre 3000 wrote: »

Crolla/Flanagan unification fight might actually make me vomit. The Lightweight division is in an absolute heap. I think even an aged and blown up Gamboa would destroy both of them.

I think Flanagan would be a nightmare for Gamboa. A much taller fighter who's a southpaw that knows how to keep his distance and counter with very fast straight punches.

Andre 3000

megadodge wrote: »

I think Flanagan would be a nightmare for Gamboa. A much taller fighter who's a southpaw that knows how to keep his distance and counter with very fast straight punches.

Gamboa gave Crawford a very good fight for a few rounds, and Crawford is leagues above the likes of Flanagan. I think a properly trained and motivated Gamboa would take him. Pretty sure Gamboa dropped back down to super feather though.

There are some top fighters at Lightweight but it's a perfect platform for Verdejo to explode into stardom.

walshb

Mega, Flanagan is not all that. I'd fancy Luke Campbell to be a 50-50 fight. LW is a bit of a joke division.

megadodge

walshb wrote: »

Mega, Flanagan is not all that. I'd fancy Luke Campbell to be a 50-50 fight. LW is a bit of a joke division.

My whole point is that lightweight isn't particularly strong at world level right now. As a result there's nobody out there that I'd make a strong favourite over Flanagan. He has a difficult style to beat, whether you like him or not.

I don't feel the same about Crolla for example. He won't hold onto his title for long.

As for Gamboa, it's all about styles. The Cuban is now 34, it's nearly two years since the Crawford fight and he has had just two non-descript fights since. He's very small for a lightweight, well past his best and even at his best has a reckless style that is made for a boxer with sound fundamentals, particularly straight punching counter punchers. I was one of those predicting a Crawford type result well before it happened and made money on that actual result. Flanagan has the right style to beat him.

walshb

megadodge wrote: »

My whole point is that lightweight isn't particularly strong at world level right now. As a result there's nobody out there that I'd make a strong favourite over Flanagan. He has a difficult style to beat, whether you like him or not.

I don't feel the same about Crolla for example. He won't hold onto his title for long.

As for Gamboa, it's all about styles. The Cuban is now 34, it's nearly two years since the Crawford fight and he has had just two non-descript fights since. He's very small for a lightweight, well past his best and even at his best has a reckless style that is made for a boxer with sound fundamentals, particularly straight punching counter punchers. I was one of those predicting a Crawford type result well before it happened and made money on that actual result. Flanagan has the right style to beat him.

Gamboa fit and in shape would wipe the floor with Flanagan. Too fast and hits hard enough to really hurt Flanagan. The size you mention may be a key if the person with the advanatge is elite, ala Crawford. Flanagan so far has shown me that he is a decent fighter, but not elite, despite having a world belt. I think we all now can use discretion when assesssing pro boxers. Belts and titles don't tell the full story.

Gamboa had some good moments against Crawford in their fight, bearing in mind that Crawford was probabaly a WW on fight night. Flanagan is two leagues below Crawford.

Johner

What about Barthelemy?

Flanagan is a good solid fighter but when he's one of the top guys in the division you know it's not that great.