The British Press

[Glyn Leach]

Got the impression Khan 'lost it' personally, don't think he was listening to anything, just doing his own thing. No trainer, let alone Freddie Roach, would have told a fighter to do what Khan was doing at points in that fight.

[Scottrf]

Got the impression Khan 'lost it' personally, don't think he was listening to anything, just doing his own thing. No trainer, let alone Freddie Roach, would have told a fighter to do what Khan was doing at points in that fight.

Wasn't saying he was telling him to do it of course. But I rewatched the HBO version with the corners and only heard him mention avoiding the straight rights. Pacquiao is always vulnerable to uppercuts too. Seems like a Wildcard chink.

[Final round]

Got the impression Khan 'lost it' personally, don't think he was listening to anything, just doing his own thing. No trainer, let alone Freddie Roach, would have told a fighter to do what Khan was doing at points in that fight.

He definitely lost it, there seemed to be no visible gameplan in place although I'm sure there was and he just abandoned it when he got tagged and fought on instinct.

I'm going to watch it again but why did he not set up more attacks to the body after he had such success in the 1st round?

[Scottrf]

Got the impression Khan 'lost it' personally, don't think he was listening to anything, just doing his own thing. No trainer, let alone Freddie Roach, would have told a fighter to do what Khan was doing at points in that fight.

He definitely lost it, there seemed to be no visible gameplan in place although I'm sure there was and he just abandoned it when he got tagged and fought on instinct.

I'm going to watch it again but why did he not set up more attacks to the body after he had such success in the 1st round?

Probably fear of getting countered but like Roy Jones said, he's less likely to try to counter after being knocked down from a body shot in the first. He's going to try to guard.

It would have taken the wind out of Maidana's sails though which is what he needed towards the end. I think the scarcity of Maidana's attacks early on probably had much to do with what the shots to the body did to him.

[Final round]

Got the impression Khan 'lost it' personally, don't think he was listening to anything, just doing his own thing. No trainer, let alone Freddie Roach, would have told a fighter to do what Khan was doing at points in that fight.

He definitely lost it, there seemed to be no visible gameplan in place although I'm sure there was and he just abandoned it when he got tagged and fought on instinct.

I'm going to watch it again but why did he not set up more attacks to the body after he had such success in the 1st round?

Probably fear of getting countered but like Roy Jones said, he's less likely to try to counter after being knocked down from a body shot in the first. He's going to try to guard.

It would have taken the wind out of Maidana's sails though which is what he needed towards the end. I think the scarcity of Maidana's attacks early on probably had much to do with what the shots to the body did to him.

Yeah just watching with the HBO commentary and I heard Roy say that in the ninth I watched it with the sound down Sunday morning...

[Glyn Leach]

Wasn't saying he was telling him to do it of course. But I rewatched the HBO version with the corners and only heard him mention avoiding the straight rights. Pacquiao is always vulnerable to uppercuts too. Seems like a Wildcard chink.

Interesting Scott, not heard the HBO commentary.

[Scottrf]

Wasn't saying he was telling him to do it of course. But I rewatched the HBO version with the corners and only heard him mention avoiding the straight rights. Pacquiao is always vulnerable to uppercuts too. Seems like a Wildcard chink.

Interesting Scott, not heard the HBO commentary.

It's far better, always. But only referred to HBO because they show the corners. Apparently paying for the fights isn't enough on Sky, they have to advertise between rounds as well.

[Glyn Leach]

Must admit, I had no option but to watch it live on an overseas stream that had no sound! But it had no advert breaks, either. It seems to be a Sky thing, those horrible breaks between rounds - particularly irritating in PPVs. Hearing the corners is fascinating and affords viewers far greater insight - this being a case in point: You'd heard the corner, I hadn't, and as a result you know more about the fight than me. That's what happens. I really wish Sky would sort that out, very important aspect of watching a fight IMO. HBO not even cutting to ads for a normal fight broadcast makes Sky's doing it for a PPV look even more moneygrabbing.

[Wake up call]

HBO's broadcast was superb. I could even understand what Roy Jones was saying and that hasn't always happened in the past.

[WelshDevil]

Nothing is as it seems in boxing.

National press interested - in the fight or the venue?

Boxing forums and Magazines scratching each others backs? Crazy when you think mags ignored forums but now the ascendancy is with the forums/websites.

Journalists can only be from Magazines? Time and again, I've read better stuff on the net like from Bobby Mac that beats anything from commercial mags or Dan Rafael.

Colin Hart was finished in 1985 but these critters let him live. British Press, is old school and so far up their backsides that its unreal. They look down on anything internet.

I see on Boxing sites better writers and more interesting than anything in a magazine. One guy is getting paid and the other not - that's wrong. Magazines ain't looking for new talent - its jobs for the boys. Thats the reality.

[gobbles]

Nothing is as it seems in boxing.

National press interested - in the fight or the venue?

Boxing forums and Magazines scratching each others backs? Crazy when you think mags ignored forums but now the ascendancy is with the forums/websites.

Journalists can only be from Magazines? Time and again, I've read better stuff on the net like from Bobby Mac that beats anything from commercial mags or Dan Rafael.

Colin Hart was finished in 1985 but these critters let him live. British Press, is old school and so far up their backsides that its unreal. They look down on anything internet.

I see on Boxing sites better writers and more interesting than anything in a magazine. One guy is getting paid and the other not - that's wrong. Magazines ain't looking for new talent - its jobs for the boys. Thats the reality.

What a load of old guff.

Sweeping statements and generalisations. Do you read every national paper, every boxing magazine?
The fact that you bring up Colin Hart would suggest that you don't.

[WelshDevil]

Nothing is as it seems in boxing.

National press interested - in the fight or the venue?

Boxing forums and Magazines scratching each others backs? Crazy when you think mags ignored forums but now the ascendancy is with the forums/websites.

Journalists can only be from Magazines? Time and again, I've read better stuff on the net like from Bobby Mac that beats anything from commercial mags or Dan Rafael.

Colin Hart was finished in 1985 but these critters let him live. British Press, is old school and so far up their backsides that its unreal. They look down on anything internet.

I see on Boxing sites better writers and more interesting than anything in a magazine. One guy is getting paid and the other not - that's wrong. Magazines ain't looking for new talent - its jobs for the boys. Thats the reality.

What a load of old guff.

Sweeping statements and generalisations. Do you read every national paper, every boxing magazine?
The fact that you bring up Colin Hart would suggest that you don't.

Uh? I run 2 websites - boxing of course. I schedule writers to write. I know Hart is crap from when I was 10 years old and my Granddads told me. Later I read his crap.

Where are my generalisations? And what qualifies you to disagree with my statements?

[gobbles]

British press is "old school" - that's a total generalisation. Fact is Hart hasn't been a national paper correspondent for 20 years. If you look at who were the boxing correspondents 15 years ago, how many are there now? Sun? No. Mirror? No. Times? No. Telegraph? No. Guardian? No. etc, etc.

You mention Rafael looking down on anything internet, when he is an internet writer.
Boxing News is a fantastic magazine right now. Boxing Monthly has improved so much in the past 3-4 years.

I don't knock internet writing, you get some very good and some very bad. But I know national writers have to work hard to get stuff in the paper in a media obsessed with football, just as people at Sky have to fight hard with their bosses to get boxing on screen, just as guys at Radio 5 have to work hard to get fights covered.

The old "writers go for the venue not the fight" might work for a few chief sports writers, but it hardly counts for boxing correspondents.

[Buncey]

If the British boxing press sit down with Roach and De La Hoya in Las Vegas and they talk about Floyd then they will serve up Floyd. It's simple.
Should the press reach out for Bradley and Alexander for a quote? Probably, but national newspaper editors are not interested in B and A.
Editors want to know if Ricky is coming back...if Khan is the world's greatest fighter...if Khan can make 50 million...is Khan the new Conteh...can Khan be bigger and better than Lewis...is Khan getting married...blah, blah, blah...
They are not interested in whether Cervantes would box Khan's ears off or how Tszyu would have played with him...they want big, sexy tales.
Well, nearly all want that: I handled it differently in the Independent on Monday...forget fantasy and just sit back and enjoy a fun fight.
Khan, by the way, is on my BBC London 94.9 show tonight (Thurs) between 8-9pm.

Adios and thanks.

[oliverfennell]

As others have said, of course it's a no-brainer that a newspaper will lead with recognisable names. Us complaining about Khan and Mayweather getting precedence over Froch and Bradley is just like the music nerds whining about Britney Spears getting more exposure over their artistically-better but commercially-unknown favourite band. Not saying it's right or wrong, but name value sells. That much was proven by the success of Haye-Harrison.

And the papers themselves aren't saying "Khan is ready to beat Mayweather", they're simply quoting those who said it, and framing their articles around them. In any case, even if it's unrealistic, is it any different to the routine "England will win the World Cup" stories that we get in every tournament?