Got the fights on DVD, watch the regularly - as McGuigan said after the first fight if Thompson wasn't hurt then he deserves an Oscar. He WAS gone, he's got amazing recovery power (as shown against Rothman) but he was hurt just as badly. You cannot act the way he staggered with glazy eyes in one of those rounds. I admit the KD wasn't that much of a damaging blow.
He was also rocked in the rematch, and Eubank did try and sieze the moment - but wasn't hurt as nearly as bad.
Well nobody apart from Carl Thompson himself could ever convince me that Eubank had him in serious trouble at any stage.
I don't care who you are you don't just flick from being out on your feet to being fighting fit just like that. Thompson was trying to clown around but unfortunately nearly everyone took it seriously, that's why you saw NO strange stuff in the rematch.
And really, did Thompson show recovery powers against Rothman? All he really did was absorb 10 rounds of punishment before finally finding the punch he needed. Surely it's more accurate to say Thompson shows amazing determination and bravery.
As I said, it is the ability to absorb punishment. However, Thompson after looking totally knackered by round 4, had enough left to deck Rothmann heavily in the 5th, and again in the 9th.
You are the only person who seems so convinced that Thompson was clowning, I think he was just able to fire back when hurt. Some fighters are most dangerous when hurt.
Nigel Benn was similar, he was often staggered, but always came roaring back, it is a pig-headedness and ability to stay calm even though hurt and under fire.
Like I said, when Carl Thompson comes out and says "Okay I admit it, I was genuinely all over the place in the first fight with Eubank, even though he couldn't hurt me in the rematch, and even though in my interview afterwards I told everyone I was clowning" then I'll admit I saw it all wrong.
As if that is ever going to happen. According to Carl he wasn't hurt against Rothmann either, which is complete bollocks, I sat at ringside, and Carl was all over the shop.
DavidPayne wrote:Thompson was obviously 'clowning' when Uriah Grant was shaking him with jabs too then?
No. But then against Grant (or any other fighter for that matter) we didn't see Thompson standing square on, dropping his head and hands, bending over like he's about to curl up into a ball only to suddenly, miraculously regain all his strength in a split second and nail his opponent with his best punch.
I reckon he was clowning around when he pretended to get knocked out by Davis, Sellers and Ashley too - don't these guys have any sense of humour?! That Carl is such a card!
Put another way, you could say that Carl has a shit chin and gets hurt often, and carries on regardless. This notion of him as some sort of fancy dan Sugar Ray Leonard type trickster, I find faintly preposterous. He's about as much a fancy dan as a Gnu on roller skates.
Look guys, I'm not saying Thompson has a good chin because it's plain to see he hasn't. He's been repeatedly hurt throughout his career. But against Eubank, an average punching supermiddleweight, Thompson could not be shaken up. He faked it in the first fight, in the return he fought without the clowning and surprise surprise was never in trouble.
Kilburn wrote:Look guys, I'm not saying Thompson has a good chin because it's plain to see he hasn't. He's been repeatedly hurt throughout his career. But against Eubank, an average punching supermiddleweight, Thompson could not be shaken up. He faked it in the first fight, in the return he fought without the clowning and surprise surprise was never in trouble.
Ah dear, I've done my best. If you guys want to watch Thompson v Eubank 1 and marvel at how close to defeat the champion was (even though he wasn't) then go ahead. I won't try and spoil the fantasy any more!
Christ, looks we have our own resident chav-couple-outside-a-boozer-on-a-friday-night here.
JM is the bloke with the black eye, crap 'tasche, lovebites and hooky Burberry baseball cap. J is the one tottering around in 6" wedges, feckin' huge hoop earings and too much mascara...
When you live in a city with as many numpties as Plymouth, you instantly associate the words "leave it (insert name)" with some Swilly Bird with a bad 'do screeching at her bloke outside of the Octagon pub, The Barn, or somewhere else on Union Street (ask J-C, he'll tell you) so the picture of you and JM as the poster-couple for day-glo Kappa tracksuit trousers just popped into my head as soon as I saw it. Sorry mate, couldn't resist!
haha I know mate grew up in exmouth and went to college in Exeter, (in fact used to play rugby against Plymouth albion on numerous occasions) so phrases such as "where to" instead of where shall we meet, "grockles" instead of holidaymakers and combine harvester instead of car are familiar to me haha!
"Where to". Ah, now there's a janner phrase. I catch myself saying it occasionally. I even added "or no" to the end of a quetsion over the weekend, as in "we goin' to the pub, or no?". The missus laughed like a drain...
