Skelton V Francis & Undercard

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 07 Feb 2004, 18:10

Skelton won well but had to go the distance, he nearly lost a fan tonight though, i was unimpressed with his showboating and felt if he was more businesslike and professional he would have stopped Francis who was a walking punchbag. Francis came to survive but Skelton threw away the chance of an impressive stoppage, despite this i feel he beats Michael Sprott if they meet and also i think he beats Danny Williams as well. But cut out the silly behaviour!

Danny Hunt was on the undercard but i'm sorry i cannot see the fuss about this kid. I had the fight a lot closer than McCrory and Darke and felt Maynard did well and was in with a shout until the end. Hunt aint the Beckham of Boxing no matter what Maloney says! He's an average brawler who will amount top nothing above British level judging by the two outings i have seen him in so far against Maynard and previously against Chill John.

Dynamite Dean Phillips · Post by **Dynamite Dean Phillips** » 07 Feb 2004, 18:28

Unbelievably, it is the first time I have seen Maynard fight since I was robbed of a decision to him in '95!, and I did not see any improvement other than the ability to do more rounds.

Hunt was targetting the body a lot, but from what I saw of it wasn't hitting correct. A lot of his shots were hitting Maynard's chest instead of the target area, which would have very little effect.

Hunt is young and on the learning curve; indeed that was a good learning fight for him.

Maynard is seeing his last days, and should call it a day for fear of being cast in the role of journeyman.

I turned the Skelton fight off after round 7, because I had seen enough. I could not sit through 5 more rounds of Francis just walking forward like a robot doing a whole lot of nothing.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 07 Feb 2004, 18:46

Yeah, Hunt well won the fight for me. Maynard had struggled to make the weight and also took the fight quite late, though did the 10 rounds okay. Can't believe BN went for Maynard. Hunt had trained hard and looked good in the gym. He certainly looked better than he did against Chill John last time out. Was surprised to hear boos from a packed York Hall crowd at the verdict. Just goes to show a lot of 'fans' were there to see Matt Skelton and weren't true boxing supporters.
Both Hunt and Skelton will benefit from doing 10 rounds tonight, but Skelton's showboating marred a solid win. He clearly let the occasion get to him. The jury's still out.

REAL_DEAL · Post by **REAL_DEAL** » 07 Feb 2004, 19:05

did boxing news get a good seat?

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 07 Feb 2004, 19:09

REAL_DEAL wrote:did boxing news get a good seat?

Yes, Warren is like any man you beat. He now wants to be friends.

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 07 Feb 2004, 19:26

Well I thought Francis might spring an upset, but was hoping he planned to throw more than 5 punches a round!

Skelton did well in his first 10 rounder, he might not hit as hard as we first thought, but I thought the Sky commentary was a bit harsh.
He did well for a boxer with just 11 fights. The clowning wasn't too offensive either, more down to nerves in his first big fight I think.
But Julius just wasn't there tonight..
Sprott should be an interesting one though.

Dynamite Dean Phillips · Post by **Dynamite Dean Phillips** » 07 Feb 2004, 19:57

btw Bennie,

Thanks for a good write up in BN.

PompeyScot · Post by **PompeyScot** » 07 Feb 2004, 20:14

Going to dive in at the deep end here, long time reader but first time poster on Boxrec.

Have to admit I was pretty well impressed by Skelton tonight, he didn't seem phased in his first big test against an opponent who, seemingly, was just there to survive and to make things a bit awkward for Matt. Francis disappointed but these are just the type of fights that Skelton needs at the moment, he didn't tire that badly and showed he could do the full 10 against a tricky opponent. I take him to beat Sprott.

By the way, good to see some actual boxers and 'names' posting on the forum. :) Got this week's copy of Boxing News this morning, am following this discussion with allegedly with interest, saw your write-up in there too Dean. Best wishes for the future.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 07 Feb 2004, 20:19

PompeyScot wrote:Going to dive in at the deep end here, long time reader but first time poster on Boxrec.

Have to admit I was pretty well impressed by Skelton tonight, he didn't seem phased in his first big test against an opponent who, seemingly, was just there to survive and to make things a bit awkward for Matt. Francis disappointed but these are just the type of fights that Skelton needs at the moment, he didn't tire that badly and showed he could do the full 10 against a tricky opponent. I take him to beat Sprott.

By the way, good to see some actual boxers and 'names' posting on the forum. :) Got this week's copy of Boxing News this morning, am following this discussion with allegedly with interest, saw your write-up in there too Dean. Best wishes for the future.

Welcome to the forum. I agree Skelton didn't look too bad tonight. Sky-TV seems to think knockouts count for everything in boxing (especially Adam Smith), but longer fights give a fighter so much more of an education and tell us so much more as well. We already knew Skelton could knock over opponents. Now we know he can go 10 good rounds and maintain his workrate.
I would fancy Matt to beat Sprott now.

Dynamite Dean Phillips · Post by **Dynamite Dean Phillips** » 07 Feb 2004, 20:41

Yes,

I think he (Skelton) would beat Sprott. Skelton's main asset is his size and strength. I think he would be too busy for Sprott and come out a points winner.

However, the quality of the british heavyweight scene isn't up to much at this time unfortunately.

beduff · Post by **beduff** » 07 Feb 2004, 22:02

the thing is with skelton he keeps saying its only his 12th contest which is true,but the thing is he is a ring veteran k1,kickboxing etc.as for being phased he has fought in front of forty thousand before so the crowd he fought in front of tonight will not bother him.he will beat sprott as ive sed in the past he is a certainty to be british champ,got to stop the show boating though or he will get caught with one they always do.fought well toniht considering julius did not want to fight.francis should retire he is shot and has been for years.

Ulysses · Post by **Ulysses** » 08 Feb 2004, 08:13

That fight reminded me why the heavyweight division is my least favourite. I just fight it hard to watch sometimes.

Twinkle Toes · Post by **Twinkle Toes** » 08 Feb 2004, 08:35

I did expect Skelton to win by a knockout, so to me it was a bit of a let down.

As for Julius, he did plenty of scowling before the first bell, but then when the first bell sounded he went into punch bag mode. Although he deserves credit for fiddling his way through ten rounds. It wasn't a pretty site.

Asd for Skelton, he did ok, nothing exciting, I still don't believe the hype. Skelton Vs Sprott should be a lot more competitive. Sprott has decent hand speed, and that will be a big factor in a fight with Skelton.

Hunt is way overatted. The lad needs to go at his own pace, but the plaudits he is getting are making it sound as though he is the next coming. I thought he struggled badly against Chill John, and again last night he made a meal of dealing with Maynard. His lack of a dig is gong to curtail any ambitions he has + he is far to open to a shot.

Still a long way to go for Hunt imo.

TerribleTerry · Post by **TerribleTerry** » 08 Feb 2004, 08:55

Skelton's work rate and, at times, movement were impressive but I felt he was leaning in too much, smothering his own work and lessening the effect of his own shots.
He didn't look to be punching as hard as previously advertised and I think a fighter with a strong versatile jab will break up his rythmn/momentum.

Good solid win nonetheless which puts him in line for Sprott.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 08 Feb 2004, 09:05

The only thing that marred Skelton's performance was his showboating. Coming two weeks after the Danny Williams fiasco, he was stupid doing all that.

jameswilson · Post by **jameswilson** » 08 Feb 2004, 09:14

Im an Audley fan and thus a Skelton critic, but tonight he did earn my respect. He has proved he can punch, but before this fight I was saying he cant go the distance and he cant take a solid shot. The solid shot thing still needs to be answered but he can certainly go the distance. Roll on Sprotty and I think Skelton will win. Audley and Skelton are the 2 top Heavyweights in this country (excluding Akiwande) and should a miracle happen and the 2 fight we would be in for one hell of a fight.

overhand_right · Post by **overhand_right** » 08 Feb 2004, 09:26

does this mean we can stop hearing about this 'big power' skelton supposedly had?

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 08 Feb 2004, 10:48

I was dissapointed in Skelton, he did what he had to do, but the showboating was rediculous at times. Julius is good, but has never been a world beater and is certainly in decline. We are being told that Skelton is a world beater, but that wasn't a world beaters performance. All of the world beaters stop Francis.

As for Hunt vs Maynard, I quite enjoyed this bout. Considering Maynard took the fight at short notice I thought he performed well and showed he's still in the level of the better fighters in this compact devision. Hunt was more impressive than we was against John, but I just don't think he can go much futher, his lack of power worries me. I scored the fight for Hunt, but it was a lot closer than what the Sky crew had it IMO - what was Ian John Lewis' scorecard - I was in a pub and there was no volume.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 08 Feb 2004, 10:58

stujones wrote:I was dissapointed in Skelton, he did what he had to do, but the showboating was rediculous at times. Julius is good, but has never been a world beater and is certainly in decline. We are being told that Skelton is a world beater, but that wasn't a world beaters performance. All of the world beaters stop Francis.

As for Hunt vs Maynard, I quite enjoyed this bout. Considering Maynard took the fight at short notice I thought he performed well and showed he's still in the level of the better fighters in this compact devision. Hunt was more impressive than we was against John, but I just don't think he can go much futher, his lack of power worries me. I scored the fight for Hunt, but it was a lot closer than what the Sky crew had it IMO - what was Ian John Lewis' scorecard - I was in a pub and there was no volume.

Score: 97-94.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 08 Feb 2004, 11:02

Cheers, thats a fairly accurate card, alot of the round were close, but Hunt was just shading them - I had it by 2 for Hunt.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 08 Feb 2004, 11:05

stujones wrote:Cheers, thats a fairly accurate card, alot of the round were close, but Hunt was just shading them - I had it by 2 for Hunt.

John-Lewis ruled a knockodwn against Maynard when it was just a slip. That would have made the card a lot closer. But Hunt would have still won of course. I stuck £30 on him on skybet at 7/4 (thanks to The Goods posting those odds), which always looked a pretty good bet.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 08 Feb 2004, 11:44

overhand_right wrote:does this mean we can stop hearing about this 'big power' skelton supposedly had?

I think he has got decent power, Draskovic has never been stopped before and he clearly didn't fancy taking anymore power shots. At times last night Skelton weakened Francis particuarly to the body, with more sustained attacks and less pratting about he could have stopped him IMO. If he fights Sprott and applies himself well enough then he could easily stop Sprott who don't forget has been stopped before and can be hurt. I pick Skelton by late TKO, IF he applies himself correctly.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 08 Feb 2004, 14:10

Lets not forget, whilst I'm think the fact that Skelton didn't finish off Francis was significant. In Michael Sprott he's not facing Mr Super Chin, he's been stopped on a number of occasions.

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 09 Feb 2004, 05:23

I think we could be seeing Skelton find his level. Failing to stop Julius Francis is indicative of not being remotely world class.

Admittedly I think Francis was more fired up for this against a UK rival headlining a Sky televised show than he would be flying out to Moscow to face Maskaev with 7 days notice.

I feel Audley would pick him apart and stop him though....

The REAL McCoy · Post by **The REAL McCoy** » 09 Feb 2004, 05:41

bennie wrote:The only thing that marred Skelton's performance was his showboating. Coming two weeks after the Danny Williams fiasco, he was stupid doing all that.

Yeah, Ian Darke said he had never seen Skelton showboating before, but Matt was showboating just as much in his fight against Michael Holden