The RedCafe Boxing Thread

Decent set of fights tonight. In the UK it's all home favoured contests. As it often is with Matchroom.

Luke Campbell stopped Aboubeker Bechelaghem in 2. He had never been stopped before.
Matthew Macklin stopped Sandor Micsko in 2 also.
Sam Eggington just won the Commonwealth title, aged 21, by stopping Joseph Lamptey.
Kal Yafai just knocked out Isaac Quaye in round 1 in spectacular fashion.

Anthony Joshua up next with both of the American based fights for Ricky Burns (vs the p4p ranked and undefeated Omar Figueroa) and Jamie McDonnell (defending his WBA bantamweight strap vs Tomoki Kameda).

Staying over the pond, Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez fights James Kirkland later too.

Meanwhile in Germany, Felix Sturm is against the undefeated Russian breakthrough fighter Fedor Chudinov.
 
Hopefully, but still... I'm not buying into the AJ hype just yet. His Olympic Gold was a gift, and he's not fought anyone of note (yet).

If he wins the Kevin Johnson fight at the end of the month, I'll start taking legitimate interest.
 
Round 1 - Easy 3 minutes where Joshua coasted home in dominant fashion. Didn't push for the stoppage though.
Round 2 - A huge counter right hand over the top of a timid left jab laid the opponent flat out on his back midway through the round.
 
Easy win. Absolutely no opposition though.

Story of his career so far. Kevin Johnson will be one hell of a test, though... The guy went 12 rounds with Vitali (whos KO/win percentage is like 90%), so yeah.
 
Hell of a test coming on May 30th, i'm really looking forward to it. should be a great atmosphere and a very good match.
 
Story of his career so far. Kevin Johnson will be one hell of a test, though... The guy went 12 rounds with Vitali (whos KO/win percentage is like 90%), so yeah.

At the point of that fight Vitali's KO percentage was the highest of any champion in history! Having said that Johnson stunk out the joint big time and literally threw a single figure of compubox power shots (non jabs) in the whole fight!

Unrelated but does anyone agree with me that this guy is more skilled than Mayweather? Unlike Mayweather, his skill level means that he can always keep it on the outside, he doesn't have to foul like Mayweather does. The way he moves and gets back into range is incredible, it is all based on a cerebral boxing style and impeccable speed and balance. Add to that the power in his punch, his kidology with his jab and his opponents don't know how to get close to him. He doesn't have the style, personality or opponents to make a popular name for himself in the libertarian world of boxing and his style is also too cocky and devoid of fundamentals which has led to him getting tagged later in fights.

 
Story of his career so far. Kevin Johnson will be one hell of a test, though... The guy went 12 rounds with Vitali (whos KO/win percentage is like 90%), so yeah.
Oh, indeed.
 
@Classical Mechanic 100% agree. The most technically skilled boxer at world level today. Undoubtedly in my mind and many boxing journalists.
 
Why the hell is the ref grabbing Ricky Burns' hands midway through a very open contest here? Mental.
 
Can't wait for Canelo-Kirkland. High possibility that it's going to be a cracker.

Also agree on Rigo. Shame he can't get the big names in the ring with him. Guy had to fight on New Years Eve last year ffs.
 
Boxing judges... :wenger::rolleyes:

P4P, Mayweather would beat Rig in a fight.

Can't wait for Canelo-Kirkland. High possibility that it's going to be a cracker.

Also agree on Rigo. Shame he can't get the big names in the ring with him. Guy had to fight on New Years Eve last year ffs.

Can't see it myself. Canelo stops him in 6 rounds.
 
Last edited:
Canelo is 45-1-1 with 32 knockouts, and he's only 24. :lol:

Most of them were Mexican bums to be fair. A bit like Chavez Senior who had a massive record. Still, looks brilliant. Canelo was fecking explosive tonight...still so far from his peak. Brilliant performance.


On the debate about Rigo - the man is a sensation. If he (or GGG, or Kovalev) was American, he'd be world famous. Mental amateur record aswell of course. Hope for his sake he can get fights with Leo Santa Cruz and Frampton in the near future - they'd be a pretty good payday.
 
Hell of a knockout. For those that missed it...



If only that Alvarez turned up against Floyd. Sigh.
 
Canelo Cotto might happen next, can only see a Canelo win there. Good sportsmanship from him after the knock out as well. There's also talk about Canelo vs GGG which would be interesting.
 
Absolutely sensational stuff from Canelo. What a fight!

Only 24 as well. He's younger than Joshua but look at their CV's.

The next cash cow for boxing.
 
Canelo Cotto might happen next, can only see a Canelo win there. Good sportsmanship from him after the knock out as well. There's also talk about Canelo vs GGG which would be interesting.

Both fights would be huge and very interesting. Especially the GGG one.
 
Canelo is everything that's right with the sport. Hopefully he keeps winning a good percentage of his fights.
 
I do like him, but the moment he steps up to 160 is the moment Golovkin puts him in a coma. If the Cotto/Geale winner doesn't go on and fight GGG, I'm gonna be annoyed.
 
Absolutely sensational stuff from Canelo. What a fight!

Only 24 as well. He's younger than Joshua but look at their CV's.

The next cash cow for boxing.

Joshua has an Olympic gold medal whereas Canelo started fighting pro at 15 I think! I think that Golovkin would destroy Canelo. Jose Cotto had Canelo out on his feet at one point, one punch away from defeat.
 
I do like him, but the moment he steps up to 160 is the moment Golovkin puts him in a coma. If the Cotto/Geale winner doesn't go on and fight GGG, I'm gonna be annoyed.
I think if Cotto wins, it'll be Canelo-Cotto. If Geale wins, it'll be GGG-Canelo/Geale. Hopefully GGG can get the Lemieux fight after Monroe Jr, if he can't get Canelo or Cotto.
 
Joshua has an Olympic gold medal whereas Canelo started fighting pro at 15 I think! I think that Golovkin would destroy Canelo. Jose Cotto had Canelo out on his feet at one point, one punch away from defeat.

The Canelo of today is a completely different animal to the one that floundered against Jose Cotto. That fight was when he was 19 years old. He is now 24 and a much better fighter. I would say he would give GGG a pretty close fight.
 
I just can't see that, Irrational. GGG has put down some resilient top ten middleweights without looking phased, and I can't see that changing against Canelo, Geale, or even Cotto. GGG has to unify the belts, defend a few times, and move up to SMW in my opinion... Not much left for him at MW.
 
Joshua has an Olympic gold medal whereas Canelo started fighting pro at 15 I think! I think that Golovkin would destroy Canelo. Jose Cotto had Canelo out on his feet at one point, one punch away from defeat.

Canelo is getting better all the time. Even the Mayweather defeat helped his development massively.

GGG might well beat Canelo but I'd love to see that fight happen all the same. It would be GGG's toughest test to date for sure.
 
I just can't see that, Irrational. GGG has put down some resilient top ten middleweights without looking phased, and I can't see that changing against Canelo, Geale, or even Cotto. GGG has to unify the belts, defend a few times, and move up to SMW in my opinion... Not much left for him at MW.

Agreed, though GGG hasn't been truly tested by the elite of the division. I just think a fight with Canelo would be very interesting. Doubt it happens though, same applies to a potential fight with Ward if GGG moves up to SMW.
 
Styles make fights and I can see Canelo being tough for GGG. Golovkin will probably win rounds on activity mainly. But Canelo can take a punch, he won't be intimidated, and he's very good at counter-punching at mid-range. His superior handspeed makes it very interesting.