Jeff Horn vs Viktor Plotnykov live on Epicentre.tv Australia only

[scrap iron]

Plotnykov has a heavily-padded record with a loss not too many fights ago against a non-descript 12-4-2 opponent. He did widely beat Vassell, who was coming off a grueling stoppage loss to Sam Egginton, but he has largely beaten dross and hence was ranked all the way down in the mid 70s by BoxRec despite the fancy win-loss ratio.

Now I think it was a good step-up fight for Horn and he clearly deserved the win, but very little he did in accomplishing this impressed me....there were few clean shots landed and he just seemed to walk forward and be able to move his hands fast enough to keep the advantage throughout the fight. Of course he is early in his career, has time to improve, and would hardly be the first to do so, but for someone who I have seen hyped so much he didn't live up to the billing in my opinion.

I have to admit it was a very faded version of Denton Vassell who Plotnykov beat a few months ago so that is fair comment. I think the reason why I was interested in this fight was because Horn was facing someone who I had actually heard of rather then a unknown Brazilian or an African who had never boxed outside their own country (Assis and Djardeng!!). I do want Horn to do well because Australia need a big name boxer who can mix it with the best in the world and now that Daniel Geale is coming towards the end of his career, Horn does seem the next likely candidate.

I had the disadvantage of watching Horn v Plotnykov on a dodgy internet stream so maybe you can give me more insight Crusader. Did Horn at any time have Plotnykov noticeably hurt and if it the fight wasn't stopped by the cut do you think Horn had any chance of stopping Plotnykov inside the scheduled ten round distance?

Cheers.

PS: Since when did the ringside doctor also double up as the cutsman and be allowed to work well over the one minute interval? WTF!

[crusader]

I didn't think Plotnykov was hurt at any point and I don't think that he was going to be stopped. He seems to have a solid chin and I didn't see Horn landing many clean shots.

I don't mean to suggest that Horn won't end up having a very successful career, and certainly many excellent fighters have given worse performances early in their careers, but as I've said it was a bit of a letdown considering what I was expecting based on the widespread praise I've seen him receive; I wasn't expecting another Pernell Whittaker as someone suggested, but I did expect more variety and sharpness. He got the job done though and I'll be interested to see how he looks as his career progresses and his opposition improves.

[Redback Rasta]

I couldn't believe the circus I was watching with Jeff Horn's cut. Nobody seemed to know the drill.

But regardless of the officials demonstrating their lack of understanding of the rules, Horn was fouled by a head clash. No amount of work could stop the blood flow (including the doctor's own) and Horn led on all the cards.

So a Horn win. Another career delay while the cut heals, and some red-faced officials need to go and read their rules books

[AntonS]

Horn's corner didn't know the rules either