Andy Lee, Paul McCloskey this weekend

[Old bones Ian]

Couple of good fights in Ireland this saturday night, Lee v Willie Gibbs and McCloskey v Nigel Wright,

Certainly not an easy comeback for Lee after his loss last time out, Gibbs has lost his last couple, but is still a decent opponent. If Lee hasn't got his confidence back , and Gibbs takes him to the later rounds then things could get bad again for Lee.
But Andy has been saying all the right things,
"I could have taken an easier opponent, but I don't think that would have been right.
"Limerick people know their sport and I wouldn't expect them to turn up and pay good money to see me have an easy night. They pay good money to see a good fight, and I think myself and Gibbs will certainly give them their money's worth."

So i expect Lee to come out to prove a point, which he should do by the 7th.

Top of the undercard is McCloskey v Wright, this could be fight of the night, Wright proved a few doubters wrong even though he lost against Ajose Olusegun last time out, he showed he belonged at that level. McCloskey is coming off his best win over former champ Cesar Bazan.

I think this one might be close, but McCloskey can take a points win, it may be one of those fights where the scorecards don't show how close it was.

[BigEars]

I'm quite hyped for this, it's a much better card than last weeks one in Dublin .
Both Lee and McCloskey have been put into very dangerous fights and Haughian's opponent doesn't look like a scrub either .

Not only is Gibbs a very difficult comeback fight after Vera but Gibbs(imo) is a better fighter than Vera . Although what compensates for this is his style is better suited to Lee than Vera's was . In a way they are continuing on as if Lee had beaten Vera and it's refreshing to see . But if Lee hasn't been thought how to hold when hurt and improved his inside game significantly in the 4 months off then he could find himself in trouble again . I've a feeling we are going to see a very disciplined effective effort from Lee and that he will employ an almost Wladamir like strategy to the fight .
Gibbs will struggle if Lee won't engage him and like Dunne last week Lee just has to stay smart and he should win widely on points .

Although Wright is a very good opponent I have a lot of believe in the ability of Paul McCloskey . I think he's going to beat Wright and beat him clearly because I genuinely believe he is the 4th best European Light-Welter out there(after Hatton, Kotelnik and Witter) .
I expect Wright to make it tougher than the cards will look aswell, and I do expect him to win some rounds(especially if he can get that good jab of his working) but I feel Paul will be too quick, too elusive and that Nigel will struggle to get any rhythm going for a sustained period .

Haughian's opponent Langella isn't someone I've ever seen but his record indicates that he could be decent enough and that after the Grassellini fight this is quite possibly Stephen's biggest test . I think Haughian is starting to look pretty good and I don't think the loss(to Grassellini) is going to hurt his career to much if at all .

John O'Donnell and Jason McKay are on the undercard . McKay is chasing a Commonwealth title shot down at Middleweight and O'Donnell is having his 3rd fight since getting stopped by Solano in Vegas .

Keith Cresham, Irish-Canadian Logan McGuinness and Limerick's own Jamie Power complete the card .
Should be a very entertaining night .

[Jabby]

Lee within 3. It should take Andy a couple of rounds to figure out that he's being over cautious with a toothless lion. Once that happens, it's "lights out".

McClosky by a wide margin UD. Paul is world class but only a very few people know it. Wright will be in that select club after the bout.

[BigEars]

Just to remind everyone this is on tonight and will be streamed live on http://www.rte.ie/sport/webcastschedule.html
Coverage starts at 21:30 .

[Gray-Fox]

Brilliant.

[Coco]

The commentary is embarrasingly biased

[BigEars]

The commentary is embarrasingly biased

As per usual, can't beat a bit of propaganda










honestly though being Irish I am embarrassed by it

[Asterix]

Just to remind everyone this is on tonight and will be streamed live on http://www.rte.ie/sport/webcastschedule.html
Coverage starts at 21:30 .

Thanks for the link.

[Coco]

8 rounds gone, turned the volume down, got Wright clearly ahead with his clean accurate punching, esp the jab, McClusky is a bit busted up, his right eye almost closed.
The Irishman is desperately winging away, but not getting his shots home

[Asterix]

8 rounds gone, turned the volume down, got Wright clearly ahead with his clean accurate punching, esp the jab, McClusky is a bit busted up, his right eye almost closed.
The Irishman is desperately winging away, but not getting his shots home

Wright punches very well. Lovely jab.

[Coco]

McCluskey looks fleshy around the girth too, get the feeling they didn't rate Wright much beforehand

[Coco]

The Irishman tried hard in the last couple of rounds but was too far behind to pull it back Wright wins it for me 96-94

[Coco]

Christ the referee gave it to McCluskey 97-93

[Asterix]

97-93 to McCloskey.

[BigEars]

McCluskey looks fleshy around the girth too, get the feeling they didn't rate Wright much beforehand

He's always fleshy, should be a Lightweight tbh .
Missed the first 4 rounds but that was very close for the other 6 .
To have McCloskey winning by 4 is a joke though, there was only a point or two in that(from what I saw) .

[steve689]

I have a terrible stop-start link. Really frustrating.

Was Wright robbed? Maybe McCloskey isn't as good as we first thought. Maybe my preview got it spot on!!

http://www.britishboxing.net/news_3637- ... oskey.html

[Coco]

I have a terrible stop-start link. Really frustrating.

Was Wright robbed? Maybe McCloskey isn't as good as we first thought. Maybe my preview got it spot on!!

http://www.britishboxing.net/news_3637- ... oskey.html

Lol looks like you were right! All the rounds were competitive, and both fighters threw plenty of shots, but I felt Wright landed his shots cleanly far more.
A lot of the action was in close and I felt the Englishman blocked and slipped a lot of shots.
On the outside Wrights jab was clearly in command

[Asterix]

It cool how they don't show us any advertisements, just a screen saying "Commercial Break". I wish ITV, C4 and C5 did the same. :P

[BigEars]

I have a terrible stop-start link. Really frustrating.

Was Wright robbed? Maybe McCloskey isn't as good as we first thought. Maybe my preview got it spot on!!

http://www.britishboxing.net/news_3637- ... oskey.html

Lol looks like you were right! All the rounds were competitive, and both fighters threw plenty of shots, but I felt Wright landed his shots cleanly far more.
A lot of the action was in close and I felt the Englishman blocked and slipped a lot of shots.
On the outside Wrights jab was clearly in command

Looking around other forums it seems most people had McCloskey just winning it , with the 4 rounds I missed being crucial to his victory .

But I'll watch it again tomorrow(it'll be on RTÉ website) and see what I make of it . Whichever way though it was close and that certainly hurts McCloskey's greater title ambitions .

[steve689]

Yet again it makes John Breen's statements about McCloskey being beyond the British title invalid. They are always going on about the European title and excuse me if i'm wrong but doesn't Paul have to at least beat a top ten opponent first before they even rate him in the EBU for a title shot? It has to be a Euro top ten opponent next for my money.

Even better, get him rated for a crack at David Barnes. This IBF Intercontinental route might mean they can pick some good learning fights but when they get a live one (like Wright) it can all go pear shaped. It's time to chase the proper titles.

[Asterix]

I like Gibbs' entrance.

[BigEars]

Yet again it makes John Breen's statements about McCloskey being beyond the British title invalid. They are always going on about the European title and excuse me if i'm wrong but doesn't Paul have to at least beat a top ten opponent first before they even rate him in the EBU for a title shot? It has to be a Euro top ten opponent next for my money.

Even better, get him rated for a crack at David Barnes. This IBF Intercontinental route might mean they can pick some good learning fights but when they get a live one (like Wright) it can all go pear shaped. It's time to chase the proper titles.

You only have to be ranked at all by the EBU to fight for the title . Paul was 14th before tonight, Wright was 20th . So Paul will quite possibly be ranked in Europe's top 10 next month and even if he isn't he is still eligible for a shot as a voluntary at Branco .

[exittored]

These irish commentators are funny as feck

[exittored]

what the feck has andy lee got on his stomach?

[exittored]

After watching some shite Heavyweight fights last few days, really enjoying this fight