Counter-puncher wrote:Yes Lennox, look I admit my posts have been a bit mischievous but you Sheffield lads are so quick to bite defensively its difficult to resist. I find you a good poster and your insights are appreciated and if I lived anywhere near Sheffield and had a kid wanted to box you are 100% right where I would send him. And yes esham was a fine boxer who made a good career for himself.

I too would like to express my admiration for Esham, quality fighter. Enjoyed watching him. & I like lennox, seems a decent enough bloke.
I still contend that it's bollocks, the idea of him being on the level of Martinez.
Having a close mate swear down that--despite being KO'd inside a round--mitigating circumstances prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was on the level of the guy who did him just will not cut it for me: he never got close to beating anyone near that level again & never beat anyone that good in the first place. Had he done so, I would be willing to concede the point. But he didn't.
Let's give lennox & Esham the benefit of the doubt & look historically for one-round KO's suffered by guys who were transparently on their opponent's level. Let's say, just for an example--Tim Witherspoon & Bonecrusher Smith II, Smith KO1 'Spoon.
Could you say "Smith was leagues above Spoon, he KO'd him in one round" there?
No.
Spoon had beaten Smith already, went on to beat far better fighters in the latter part of Tim's career than Smith managed in the latter part of
his career, & had achieved more than Bonecrusher anyway by the time they fought.
So you can go, based on the available evidence, that "Oh Tim didn't have his head on right, I was totally disappointed in him with that performance".
When all your evidence is a mate swearing blind that--despite never coming close to beating anyone on that level ever again or before--that the sufferer of a first-round KO is equal to his conqueror...
Esham never beat anyone that good before; had not faced Martinez previously; & never beat anyone that good again (whether he fought them or not is moot; he lost to fighters way below this level).
Sorry for going on at length here, but I hope you can see, lennox mate, why I thought it prudent to call you out.
PS: I thought it ludicrous to invoke ODLH, BTW. That was just ridiculous. ODLH was never KO'd in one round by anyone. Esham suffered flash knockdowns against unknown clubfighters in village halls. They were both boxers. There the similarity ends.