rio wrote:In his last couple of fights Welliver has been beaten by a Japanese novice, a journeyman and an OAP, he is totally irrelevant. What makes you think he would beat Leapai who would handly beat the 3 fighters named above?
Fuji is more than a novice. He is an experienced combat vet who is hard core and has god skills. Welliver rocked his arse early and almost got him out of there. It was not a great result but it was not some club fighter. Tank Williams almost kntfo Robert Helenius in his next fight after Welliver.....a Majority razor thin decision. He never staggered Welliver once but Helenius came close to going asleep. And I would not bet too much on Alex Leapai being abe to take Sherman Williams rights hands very well. Welliver has 10 times the chin as Leapai.
As for this last loss. Bronco Billy didn't beat shizit. It was like Vitali Klitschko vs Chris Byrd. Wright could never in a million years win any other way. But on paper this loss is not as bad as Fuji....though Fuji would Bronco Bust Billy Wright. And Chauncy is edging towards early retirement. He has a successful gym in Spokane and he has all kinds of irons in all kinds of fires. Plus he is a new dad. So this loss doesn't really matter.
In a normal fight, I'd have bet the house on Welliver to stop Wright. But I knew they were pals and even though I am the biggest Chauncy Welliver fan in history outside of Washington State, I would not have bet a red cent on him to win before this fight. Chauncy was already semi retired and Billy is the Mr Money Bags. I've seen Dexter Dunworth enough to know how the game goes. Dexter is the Down Under extremely poor mans version of Wright. The only fight he ever lost was the one he set up his own opponent for. Stacy Goodson made sure he got the wins after that. Whenever 2 high intellect boxing guys agree to make a match on the club scene they usually know who is going to win over 98% of the time. Billy didn't make this match based on the 2% or less reality that he would win. He may have an ego but he isn't boxing illiterate. If he was he'd be matching himself with somebody who would spark him quick. He made the match knowing Chauncy was retiring, knowing he was a fresh dad and not training, maybe even knowing he had a bad wing going into the fight. I'm not gonna say a dive occurred as they competed and busted on eachother enough that things could have happened contrary to Billy winning. His old arse coulda went down from any of the shots landing flush on his big head. But I didn't like the smell of it from the start.
On the overall deal....Chauncy Welliver is a big heavy guy. Good skills and not a lot of power. He overachieved to reach #5 in the world in a couple big sanctioning bodies and he won many regional belts while traveling the globe. He never got knocked down in 400 Pro HW Rounds. He faced up to Olympic Gold Medalist competition. He made a few bucks and he made a ton of contacts for future opportunities. And then he is getting out young near the 30 year old mark. Not bad at all.
Plus he still has a good record and youth on his side if he wants or needs to make a run and take on some guys on the bigger stages for pay days. Maybe he will finish with a bang for the fans and step to some of the best Ausie guys? I'd like to see it and have wanted the biggest of fights for him which he didn't wind up landing. Because losing to a Leapai or a Browne or any good punchers with good records is not bad. Sometimes losing is even winning. If Welliver had just gotten 1 more win vs Tank Williams Povetkin was going to give him a shit. That was 2 points away from occurring. He probably lasted all 12 rounds in a World Title fight and even if he lost on points his stock would have went up. Wladimir might beat the hell out of him...like he does to everybody...but Welliver had one of the best chances in the world to take him the full 12 and still be fighting him at the end without being a run away punk like the others who have lasted. Because his chin is his #1 tool. They don't build beards like Welliver's very often.
And don't forget this. Chauncy was running around having people call him The Fat Dorky White Guy in New Zealand around 25 years old. Like #300 in the world or so. He was doing ok but he was not going for it his best or near it. And then he went for it and dropped all the way down to about 230 pounds fighting weight. He sucked it up for a couple years and was one of the most active HW's on the planet in terms of fighting and he was participating in top camps like Povetkin's camp for Chagaev. He may have overdid it being too damn bust in that stretch and been best off staying at a fresher and more energetic 245-250 pounds. But you never know till you go for it and do it. 2nd guessing is always easy. He went for it and now knows how high he could have went if he tried his hardest....#5 in the world.
And I give props to Alex Leapai for doing this now too. After never leaving Australia and looking at the end of his rope...he started to get on the horse and go take the chances and fights to get in. He went for it even if he gets beat up for it. He made it to the title shot. He will be at minimum always a world title challenger. Kudos to him for that and the pay day.
