Morales vs Pacquiao

[H2O Man]

Are there any other boxing fans on DU? There used to be a few. Good super=featherweight bout on tonight.

[H2O Man]

1. Luckily

I have a few friends who will be over tonight, to watch what could easily be the "Fight of the Year" for 2005.

I am, however, disappointed in the lack of interest in the greatest of sports. Boxing has traditionally fascinated authors and intellectuals. No other sport comes close to reflecting the greater society than boxing.

[Lauri16]

2. I like boxing

but i'll be watching the b-ball games.
As for the fight, I like Morales. Ya think it'll go the distance?

[Rican1]

3. Should be a great fight

I also think Morales will win, but Pacquiao is so quick and is one of the most exciting fighters out there.

[TroubleMan]

4. Wanna see it....I hope HBO reruns it later

They've been showing previous fights by them the last two days.

[MessiahRp]

6. The rerun will air next week

They have a Vargas fight live on Boxing After Dark on Mar. 26th so the opening fight on that show will be a replay of Manny vs. Morales

Rp

[H2O Man]

5. Morales won a decision

Heck of a good fight. Pacquiao is more athletic, and came close to winning. But Morales showed more skill, and won a fair 7-5 decision. All three judges had it the same.

I noticed Bob Arum was the promoter. He puts together a higher quality card than Don King.

Glad to hear from more DU boxing fans!

[Lauri16]

7. Ditto about Bob Arum

I much prefer watching the fight cards that he puts together.

I read about the fight in the paper this morning. Damn, I wish I had watched that instead!

Hey H2O, what do you think about the Klitchko's?

[H2O Man]

8. I've always thought

that the Klitchko brothers were very good. Both are athletic and intelligent. I think that their being as intelligent as they are, along with their having been schooled in European-style amateur boxing, created some limitations. While boxing is like any other sport, in that the smarter athletes tend to be more successful, in the ring there is little time to think. A boxer has to be spontaneous, and with the exception of the Lennox Lewis fight, I never thought either brother was relaxed enough in the ring. That indicated they were thinking too much; they needed someone who could help them to be relaxed. A relexed fighter never gets tired easily, and can take punishment without getting hurt seriously. An unrelaxed, stiff fighter tires too quickly, and can't roll with punches to avoid being injured. I would love to have had 6 weeks with either of them before their fights: I think they'd be undefeated.

[MessiahRp]

9. Wladimir isn't that great but Vitali is awesome...

What makes Vitali such a fun champion is that while he's much bigger than most of his opponents he throws a ton. More than most heavyweights he's out there racking up the punchstat numbers.

Now this also gets him in trouble because while he can be a smart tactical fighter who dominates because he picks opponents apart, his constant throwing tires him out easy.

Maybe that's why he is more fun too. He can crush opponents, or get in serious trouble from being really gassed in later rounds.

It makes the World Championship bouts unpredictable, which to me is more fun than knowing Mike Tyson is going to kill someone in 90 seconds.

Wladimir on the other hand needs to develop a better chin. He's going to always be the overrated of the two if he doesn't.

I think we really need Vitali to unify the titles and get in the ring with Chris Byrd to settle that score.

The heavyweight division needs a top guy to take the reigns and give us a champion to watch contenders aim for. Splitting the titles up just to create more watered down title fights is killing the sport.

[H2O Man]

12. Chris Byrd:

I'm the only Chris Byrd fan in my family. I enjoy watching guys who hit without being hit. But he shouldn't be fighting the "super heavyweights." The only splitting of a title that I could recognize would be to make the heavyweights two divisions; there were never talented guys who were over 220 pounds before. Guys like Liston were considered giants at 214 lbs! (I know there were Primo Carnera's and Jess Willards, but never a time where it was common.)

The "multi-" titles were a farce. Just a scheme to make money. I've never believed in it. I would favor regional "titles," however. It has never hurt to have a European heavyweight champion, for example. In amateur boxing, there are plenty of smaller regional titles that help give a structure to the sport.

Being the toughest guy in your neighborhood is one thing. Being the NYC Golden Gloves Champion is another. Then there are the nationals, and of course the Olympics. A similar structure could help professional boxing.

I agree with your opinions of the brothers. I'd add that Mike's dominance of the heavyweights was relatively short-lived. Once Cus died, he was not going to improve much -- just some physical maturity -- but the discipline was out the window. I remember one of the adult volunteers in a program I ran had been one of the last guards in the facility where Mike was housed before he was signed over to Cus. The guy told me, when Mike was a young contender, that he was a punk, and would self-destruct before our eyes. It was sad to watch, because Mike could have had a place on the upper tier of the greatest champions.

[MessiahRp]

10. What do you think of a Taylor-Hopkins fight?

Talk is Hopkins has a timed offer on the table for Taylor to accept but I think with another fight or two first Taylor will KO Hopkins. I think Hopkins is a great counterpuncher these days but he can be beaten and possibly overwhelmed by a younger, strounger, hungrier Taylor.

What do you think?

[H2O Man]

11. As a rule

older fighters always continue too long, and eventually get beat by a younger man. If we look through Bernard's record we find when he was young, he beat the older guys. There is no reason for Bernard to continue fighting: he has his money, and he has his place i history. There are no contenders out there who will increase his stature, but there are a couple who could beat him in the near future. Better to retire on top.

[H2O Man]

13. Taylor vs Hopkins is on.

They had both on as guests on last night's ESPN Friday Night Fights. I noticed a couple things: first, Taylor seemed confident without being brash or disrespectful; second, the clips of film show that Taylor has a bad habit of cocking his right when he is going to throw an overhand punch. His elbow goes out, and the hand gets pulled back. Hopkins is five inches taller, and if I see Taylor's bad habit, Bernard does, too .... and that is a bad mistake to make with a taller man who counter-punches. Not only does that leave his side open, but his chin is there to be hit. Remember that I pointed this out when they fight; it may be Hopkin's best bet to exploit.

I'm surprised that his trainer hasn't addressed this. Taylor is far too fast to have a lesser opponent take advantage of it. But it's not a good habit to develop, and it could be the kink in his armor that Bernard needs to win.