I would like to see Ovill McKenzie get a world title shot

[Michael bennt]

With the likes of derry mathews and paul smith landing world title fights, I would now like to see ovil get one at cruiserweight, he has a punches chance against any of the champions!

[david1963]

Who would he beat at that weight? I can't see him winning a world title.

[ShadrachSimmo]

At the very least he deserves a decent pay day.

Maybe a shot at the European title which has been dominated by Russians and Germans in recent times.

[mahatma]

me to think he'd have a fair chance against any of the champions because if he hits you, you will go!- really blossoming toward the end of his career , like to see him fight Bellew again as well.
Hes got a great training team behind him at the Peacock gym deserves a chance at a world title

[hurlock]

......... this is where someone should post Zachary galifinankos doing that assmatic laugh

[DAVE2005]

He's fighting matty askin on the 14th march in Widnes.

[Michael bennt]

He's fighting matty askin on the 14th march in Widnes.

Askin isn't much, Oliv will wipe the floor with him

[littlepug]

Does ovill look any worse than Andries did when he was at domestic level ?

[Broomhall]

Does ovill look any worse than Andries did when he was at domestic level ?

Maybe not, but after hovering around British level for years Dennis put together an impressive run of form with 12 wins and a draw including Southern area and British titles, and a draw for the European.

Ovill got to string a few more wins together and who knows?

[rd350lc]

Gave Bellew all sorts of problems 1st time around , if Bellew can get a world title shot then why not ?

[DAVE2005]

He's fighting matty askin on the 14th march in Widnes.

Askin isn't much, Oliv will wipe the floor with him

Well,he's improved of late.
neither is mckenzie,he's been beat 12 times.

[garethhop]

Just went online and got a front row seat for £60 plus booking fee. Looked like the first ticket sold as well.

Enzo Mac on the card too.

[bripez]

Widnes seems a random location - Askin from Blackpool, McKenzie from Derby and Enzo from Wales.

It means all sets of supporters will need to travel and not sure many impartial locals will buy tickets.

[Dan Dares]

He's got a frightening dig and has a chance against anyone.

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

He's got a frightening dig and has a chance against anyone.

Really, lets examine the evidence of the hyperbole above.

His KO percentage is just over 50% in his wins, in his overall fight record, it's well below 50% - so he does not have a 'frightening dig' based on pure stats. People with frightening digs - name them - have a KO percentage well over 70-80% - even more, that is who posses 'frightening digs'.

He is a puncher at domestic level but his punch power has not been proven in true world class - true he floored Bellew who is fringe
world class and he prematurely stopped (thought he did genuinely hurt) an Enzo Maccrinelli who was a good 5 years past his prime - that
does not mean he has a chance against anyone - it isn't true what you are saying - but this is the standard this forum is going towards.

He will probably get his chance because there are 4 world title belts. He is as deserving on the fact there are four different rankings and seem that anyone can get a shot these days but he has yet to meet someone who is genuine worldclass - so what you have said (and I am being kind) is complete hyperbole.

[mickey1975]

Well said Git.

[crusader]

I think he'd be out of his depth against each of the 4 champions. His best chance would probably be against Hernandez, who to me seems most susceptible to being caught and stopped.

Lebedev and Huck, especially Huck, have fairly good chins and I doubt Ovill would simply knock them over if he lands something notable. Drozd's durability is more in question (although his stoppage loss seemed to be a stamina issue) but he's a good mover and arguably more difficult to hit than the others.

[seanilius]

I'd say he punches very hard. His accuracy and general skill level isn't great though. An elusive fighter will be able to anticipate and evade Ovill's power shots or at least take the sting out of them.

Wouldn't begrudge the guy a world title shot though. Would love to see him win one instead of Bellew.

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

I'd say he punches very hard. His accuracy and general skill level isn't great though. An elusive fighter will be able to anticipate and evade Ovill's power shots or at least take the sting out of them.

Wouldn't begrudge the guy a world title shot though. Would love to see him win one instead of Bellew.

The statistics would argue otherwise, and cement his level of opposition along with his KO ratio and it paints a different picture which is - he doesn't punch anywhere near hard enough to trouble world class opposition.

I wouldn't begrudge him a world title shot either - there are four world titles floating about - he qualifies for one of them surely.

[crusader]

His KO ratio is misleading because the large majority of his decision wins occurred early in his career, while seven of his last eight wins were stoppages with none of them lasting longer than five rounds and only one lasting longer than three rounds. In that stretch he also clearly showed that he had the power to hurt Bellew even though neither of his bouts with the latter raised his KO percentage.

That said, I don't think he's stopped anyone as durable as Huck or Lebedev and he's never beaten anyone close to their level, or the level of the arguably less durable champions Drozd and Hernandez; these fighters are far better overall than his typical opposition, and I imagine that he'd find it much more difficult to effectively swing for the fences as he has recently.

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

His KO ratio is misleading because the large majority of his decision wins occurred early in his career, while seven of his last eight wins were stoppages with none of them lasting longer than five rounds and only one lasting longer than three rounds. In that stretch he also clearly showed that he had the power to hurt Bellew even though neither of his bouts with the latter raised his KO percentage.

But they were all domestic opposition. And you don't gain power half way through your career - you have genuine power or you don't.

That said, I'm don't think he's stopped anyone as durable as Huck or Lebedev and he's never beaten anyone close to their level, or the level of the arguably less durable champions Drozd and Hernandez. These fighters are also far better overall than his typical opposition, and I imagine that he'd find it much more difficult to effectively swing for the fences as he's done recently.

He has fought nowhere near that opposition, It would be like West Brom beating a second string Manchester United in the league cup thinking they would have a chance against a full strength Barcelona at the Nou Camp.

[crusader]

For my point it doesn't matter if they were all domestic opposition, because his opposition was no better when he was commonly winning by decision. You keep mentioning stats but there is a clear trajectory towards a much higher proportion of stoppage wins against an arguably superior level of opposition.

I agree that his opposition has been nowhere near the level of the champions, and that is something that must be considered when assessing how effective he'd be against them; I suspect that he'd be out of his depth not only against each of the four title holders but several contenders as well.

[el_grande_mauro_mina]

It doesn't matter if they were all domestic opposition, because his opposition was no better when he was commonly winning by decision. You keep mentioning stats but there is a clear trajectory towards a much higher proportion of stoppage wins against an arguably superior level of opposition.

Course it matters! Are you serious? And also, something you are forgetting was in those early days he was losing by decision also, if he was such a vaunted power puncher - he would have knocked them out also as the people he lost to were also domestic class. No power puncher, not one who is meant to KO world class opponents - has a 34.5% KO ratio. I would also argue that the people he has been beating recently are pretty consistent as in quality of opposition he has faced throughout his career (solid domestic class) and every time he has slightly stepped up. His vaunted punch power has been wanting.

I agree that his opposition has been nowhere near the level of the champions, and that is something that must be considered when assessing how effective he'd be against them.

You are not wrong there.

[crusader]

Course it matters! Are you serious? And also, something you are forgetting was in those early days he was losing by decision also, if he was such a vaunted power puncher - he would have knocked them out also as the people he lost to were also domestic class. No power puncher, not one who is meant to KO world class opponents - has a 34.5% KO ratio. I would also argue that the people he has been beating recently are pretty consistent as in quality of opposition he has faced throughout his career (solid domestic class) and every time he has slightly stepped up. His vaunted punch power has been wanting.

Now that I think of it you're right that his recent opposition level matters in relation to my point, but it matters in that it eliminates the possibility of his recent stoppage streak being due to his opposition getting worse. The opposition that he tended to beat by decision earlier in his career was no better than domestic level and arguably worse than the opposition that he's tending to stop now, so his overall KO ratio that you keep mentioning is in large part a product of an earlier version of McKenzie and not the current, more damaging one. If we're talking about how the current version would do against a title holder I think it's far better to base our assessments on his more recent showings, so I think his KO ratio is misleading when it's not unpacked.

It's true that against his best opponents his power hasn't gotten the job done like it has at a lower level. I think a significant part of that is due to him not having the skill to connect as cleanly or frequently against his best foes (e.g. he clearly showed that he could hurt Bellew when he landed but apart from the second round of their first bout he couldn't land much) but it may well be that his best opponents took his power relatively well even he landed well. As mentioned, I suspect that champions like Huck and Lebedev are far more durable than his typical opposition so I don't think people should think that he has a solid puncher's chance against them just because he's blown away good domestic level fighters.

[seanilius]

[quote="It's true that against his best opponents his power hasn't gotten the job done like it has at a lower level. I think a significant part of that is due to him not having the skill to connect as cleanly or frequently against his best foes (e.g. he clearly showed that he could hurt Bellew when he landed but apart from the second round of their first bout he couldn't land much) but it may well be that his best opponents took his power relatively well even he landed well. As mentioned, I suspect that champions like Huck and Lebedev are far more durable than his typical opposition so I don't think people should think that he has a solid puncher's chance against them just because he's blown away good domestic level fighters.[/quote]