Valuev vs Hayes

Your knowledge of boxing and the low esteem in which you hold the fighters is appalling Aus.

Let me let you into the lives of those I mentioned yesterday:

Rod Douglas ~ now in his mid forties and living on benefits. He never made a lot of money out of boxing, despite fighting Herol Graham for the British title and representing this country in the USA Olympics in LA. He almost lost his life though through suffering a brain haemorage and only the quick thinking of his mother (he collapsed at her house after the fight) and the gifted skills of brain surgeon Peter Hamlyn saved his life after a four hour operation at the Royal London Hospital.

Gerald McClellan ~ Now a blind shambles of a man following a savage fight in the London Arena when he followed your esteemd wisdom and got his "head knocked off" by the fearsome Nigel Benn..................believe me if you ever witnessed Benn in the flesh at his peak you would shit yourself.

Michael Watson ~ STILL fighting for his recovery and mobility EIGHTEEN YEARS[/b] after he did what you seem to enjoy and took an uppercut to the chin from the awesome Chris Eubank, got lifted clean off his feet and bounced his head into the ring floor via the bottom rope. Thankfully Michael is now out of the wheelchair he was confined to for so long, completed the London Marathon in six days; still has only limited speech and is incontinent..................pleased with that one?

Kirkland Laing ~"The Gifted One" who took on and beat the renowned Roberto Duran in his youth. Duran went on to become a dollar millionaire. Kirk (suffering from mental illness) has disappeared from Hackney and is believed to be living back in his native Nottingham but not before he was shambling around the streets with a beard down to his navel, no shoes, dreadlocks cut off in a "prank" and falling off a fourth floor balcony. He fought over fifty times (way too many); gave all his money to prostitutes, druggies and wasters, paid for anyone who wanted to travel free to go to Reading to watch him fight in an absolute "nothing bout" at the age of 44.....................probably the finest boxer I ever saw in the flesh and one of the saddest figures I have ever spoken to in the street, it used to bring tears to my eyes to witness his demise on a weekly basis.

Aus, boxing is a highly skilfull sport that can be deadly in it's treatment of those who fall short just once of the technical expertise to stay out of trouble. It damages the brain so that those who suffer cannot make responsible decisions for themselves and yet when those guys are at their most vulnerable they get dispensed of like trash by all the hangers on and leeches who are already on the scent of their next meal ticket.

Not everybody can be born with the brain or intelligence to establish themselves in society the way they would wish. Some discover amazing athletic prowess which entertains and thrills millions, but it does not guarantee them immunity from the fall from grace that befalls such as those I have mentioned and have personal experience of meeting with the exception of McClellan who I included because I was there when he suffered that terrible beating. Rod Douglas came to my wedding in Hackney as a relative of my second wife, Michael Watson I met through Rod's mum and Kirkland Laing I used to give free bus rides to, and bung him a quid or two for a coffee.

It's very very sad what happened to these guys and they don't deserve as a profession to be disrespected, or as individuals to be derided.

I still remember the Benn-McClellan fight quite well. Benn should've been counted out quite early on in the fight. McClellan, a superb boxer, caught him with an absolute peach of a combination and was on his arse and through the ropes. What a wonderful period that was for boxing though. Watson V Benn, Eubank V Benn and Watson V Eubank fights were all absolute epics. Its was just awful to see what happened afterwards with Michael Watson and McClellan.

As for the Haye V Valuev fight it was plain to see who was the better boxer out of the two. Haye did what he needed to do and nothing else. Henry Cooper said on Friday that all he needed to do was to stay out of trouble and score points and thats what he did. You would have to be a fool to slug it out with a bloke that size with a head the size of Shrek. The only guy who beat him before, a guy called Ruslan Chagaev employed similar tactics and he was only 6 foot 1!! Chagaev also beat Briton Matt Skelton very easily over twelve rounds but got stopped in the 9th round by Wladimir Klitschko after stepping in as a replacement for David Haye.

It's worth noting that both Wladimir Klitschko and his older brother never fought Valuev. Probably a sensible choice because the pair of them don't have the speed to employ the same tactics employed by both Haye and Chagaev.

But Merse is quite right, if you have a superior technical ability you use it to your fullest advantage. Lennox Lewis had it and got out whilst the going was good. Even the mad Pole Andrew Golota had the sense to ignore his own corner and walk out of a fight with Mike Tyson. He'd sustained a broke facial bone and ruptured disc in his neck in the first couple of rounds. He took himself to hospital the next day, collapsed and almost died. But if he would've taken his corner's advice he would be another dead boxer. In a way I was also quite pleased that Ricky Hatton got knocked out so quickly against Manny Pacquiao. It was obvious from the first 30 seconds he was going to be beaten.

It's the maliciousness of some fighters that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. The recent banning of Antonio Margerito after his hand wraps were coated in plaster of paris before his comprehensive defeat to Shane Mosely. It was only an eagle-eyed Mosely cornerman that spotted it before any damage could've been done. It's now been alleged that he may have had coated hand wraps in his previous fight with the excellent Miguel Cotto whom he beat in the 11th round. Now that was a fight. I was lucky enough to see it on Setanta before it's demise but some of the gloss has been taken away because of the hand wrap issue.

There have been a few fights over the years where you got the impression that both fighters wanted to "knock each other's block off". Everybody remembers the Hagler V Hearn's fights back in the 1980's. There's one three round epic where tactics went completely out of the window it was just pure street fighting for less than 9 minutes. The other memorable clashes that I can remember were the Corrales/Castillo triology and the Gatti/Ward fights that were unbelievably entertaining. Gatti died earlier this year either by suicide or killed by his Brazilian wife (nobody knows for sure)

Also memorable are a couple of Carl Thompson fights, one where he knocked David Haye over to inflict his only loss and the other against South African Sebastian Rothen where he was second best for the whole fight and could've been knocked out a few times only to catch Rothen with the best punch you'll ever see.

There's a link to it. No sound unfortunately



I think Haye will beat John Ruiz quite easily and then it's one of the Klitschkos. My betting is that they'll wheel out Vitali first before risking Wladimir.

Who in their right mind could think they could get into the ring with this man and win?


















This Man

You lot live in a little fluffy cloud filled wonderland in my opinion, it`s a fight between two blokes, the end result is beating your opponent with your fists so you can win! This purists talk is what you hear from people that have never stepped into a ring! You show respect to your opponent before and after the bout but not during it, the job is to hit the other bloke with your fists, how the hell is that gentlemanly? It`s a scrap with rules, nothing more nothing less. If boxing is such a non-violent activity how come people get hospitalized, if it was such a gentlemans sport then how come the best boxers to have ever lived come from the streets and batter who ever they come up against, boulderdash I say and tosh, I suppose you get the same audiences at chess tournaments baying for blood! Grow up!

So what your saying is that boxing isn`t about punching someone(violence), is it chess and kisses or blood and thunder? I say you don`t know what your talking about but apparently I`m not allowed a view or an opinion only your gracious all high and mighty is allowed to speak so called words of wisdom! Next you`ll be telling that WWF is real!

Can you explain to me how punching someone in the head is not classed as violence? WWF is World Wrestling Federation, I suppose you think it`s all real and not staged and Hulk Hogan isn`t just a very poor actor! I feel boxing is a brutal violent sport in which one persons goal is to knock the other one out or if he can`t do that then at least win by punching the other bloke more times than he punches you, got it so far no violence eh! Don`t be daft!

Strange you should say that merse, was it not you who posted that no one should expect to watch sport free these days on TV. I know we were talking about football at the time, but why should pro boxing be any different.