Kevin Mitchell vs. Ismael Barroso - December 12th 2015

[stujones]

Crolla didn't outstrength Murray though, in fact Murrays strength was what gave him his better moments early on. Crolla bested Murray because he was so much more polished offensively and defensively, which meant he was landing at a better percentage which meant Murray got his usual facial damage and gassed from all his wasted effort and missed shots. Lack of manstrength wasn't Murrays problem, an inability to land clean shots and put shots together was, always.

I'm quibbling slightly as I agree with most of what you said but I think you got Murray read all wrong.

I agree with a large part of what you saying - particularly Murray's lack of defence - but early doors he landed a fair amount clean and, as you say, had some good moments (as he did against Mitchell) but I never felt "ohh, he's got Crolla/Mitchell going here" Didn't really have the power/strength to get Crolla/Mitchell to consider fighting a different fight or just look weary. Whereas Derry Matthews always had that strength (and always will if you ask me) to get Crolla off his game.

Murray was a one dimensional (a pretty damn good dimension though) fighter that if he couldn't trouble you with his 100 punches a round style onslaught then he would lose. Yes, I would agree with you about his lack of polish offensively and defensively.... but in both fights, and the Rios fight also, he landed enough clean shots to surely earn the respect of the opponent and make them more focused on their own defence as opposed to their offensive. But no, he didn't have enough to put them off their game..... Burns vs Mitchell immediately had enough to put Mitchell off his game - even before he landed cleanly, you could see Mitchell was showing distress signs - as he was vs Katisidis and Barrosa - but less so Linares (who is probably be most celebrated fighter he has faced).

Ricky Hatton defensively and even offensively was far far less polished than Kostya Tszyu that night in 2005, but it was his sheer strength - both in absorbing Kostya's shots and offensively that made Kostya fight a different fight.

Mitchell seems like a very easy fighter to predict when he would lose. I tipped him to beat Burns when they fought but realised in the opener that he was not going to do this (even though he did well in the round) - you could see it in his eyes that he was weary of Burns as soon as Ricky landed half cleanly. Similarly last night, he was doing okay but you could see he was not comfortable at all. Against Murray, he always looked comfortable even though he took some meaty shots. The two times where I've seen Mitchell come through he has has looked in distress was against that guy he won in the 11th round against recently and Carl Johannsson. Both of those times he had similar expression and was burning up lots of nervous energy but he actually came through.

[crusader]

Barroso looked very impressive.

Ya he looked good. I hadn't seen much of him and expected a simple, crude banger (typical of South Americans with padded KO records) but he showed skill and variety too.

[PredatorHayds]

Awful matchmaking from Matchroom.

Sky calling it a eliminator but the Crolla-Mitchell fight could of been made with ease as a voluntary.

Why you'd bring a guy from there with that record to fight Mitchell who's losses have all been by stoppage is stupid.

Crolla outboxes Barroso in a fight that doesn't exactly scream box office.

The Campbell- Mendy fight is another one which was awful matchmaking.

[keirw]

Awful matchmaking from Matchroom.

Sky calling it a eliminator but the Crolla-Mitchell fight could of been made with ease as a voluntary.

Why you'd bring a guy from there with that record to fight Mitchell who's losses have all been by stoppage is stupid.

Crolla outboxes Barroso in a fight that doesn't exactly scream box office.

The Campbell- Mendy fight is another one which was awful matchmaking.

Agree about Campbell vs Mendy being a strange piece of matchmaking, far too much of a jump from Coyle. We shouldn't moan too much as prospects can't be wrapped in cotton wool forever, at least they were willing to take a chance for once, even if it didn't pay off this time.

But they mis-judged the ability of Barosso big time. I think that to be able to sell the Crolla/Mitchell fight easier they wanted to get Mitchell a decent win over someone who looked good on paper but ultimately wasn't in Mitchell's league.
Ultimately, Barosso wasn't that man, he looks like he will be a real handful for just about anyone in the division.

[keirw]

Awful matchmaking from Matchroom.

Sky calling it a eliminator but the Crolla-Mitchell fight could of been made with ease as a voluntary.

Why you'd bring a guy from there with that record to fight Mitchell who's losses have all been by stoppage is stupid.

Crolla outboxes Barroso in a fight that doesn't exactly scream box office.

The Campbell- Mendy fight is another one which was awful matchmaking.

Agree about Campbell vs Mendy being a strange piece of matchmaking, far too much of a jump from Coyle. We shouldn't moan too much as prospects can't be wrapped in cotton wool forever, at least they were willing to take a chance for once, even if it didn't pay off this time.

But they mis-judged the ability of Barosso big time. I think that to be able to sell the Crolla/Mitchell fight easier they wanted to get Mitchell a decent win over someone who looked good on paper but in the end wasn't in Mitchell's league.
Ultimately, Barosso wasn't that man, he looks like he will be a real handful for just about anyone in the division.

[keirw]

Awful matchmaking from Matchroom.

Sky calling it a eliminator but the Crolla-Mitchell fight could of been made with ease as a voluntary.

Why you'd bring a guy from there with that record to fight Mitchell who's losses have all been by stoppage is stupid.

Crolla outboxes Barroso in a fight that doesn't exactly scream box office.

The Campbell- Mendy fight is another one which was awful matchmaking.

Agree about Campbell vs Mendy being a strange piece of matchmaking, far too much of a jump from Coyle. We shouldn't moan too much as prospects can't be wrapped in cotton wool forever, at least they were willing to take a chance for once, even if it didn't pay off this time.

But they mis-judged the ability of Barosso big time. I think that to be able to sell the Crolla/Mitchell fight easier they wanted to get Mitchell a decent win over someone who looked good on paper but in the end wasn't in Mitchell's league.
Ultimately, Barosso wasn't that man, he looks like he will be a real handful for just about anyone in the division.

[PredatorHayds]

Awful matchmaking from Matchroom.

Sky calling it a eliminator but the Crolla-Mitchell fight could of been made with ease as a voluntary.

Why you'd bring a guy from there with that record to fight Mitchell who's losses have all been by stoppage is stupid.

Crolla outboxes Barroso in a fight that doesn't exactly scream box office.

The Campbell- Mendy fight is another one which was awful matchmaking.

Agree about Campbell vs Mendy being a strange piece of matchmaking, far too much of a jump from Coyle. We shouldn't moan too much as prospects can't be wrapped in cotton wool forever, at least they were willing to take a chance for once, even if it didn't pay off this time.

But they mis-judged the ability of Barosso big time. I think that to be able to sell the Crolla/Mitchell fight easier they wanted to get Mitchell a decent win over someone who looked good on paper but in the end wasn't in Mitchell's league.
Ultimately, Barosso wasn't that man, he looks like he will be a real handful for just about anyone in the division.

They obviously just looked at his record and thought just a fighter with a dodgy record which sometimes happens for South American fighters.

The clues for me though was that he'd travelled abroad and won before.
Also if your fighter is ranked early teens in the world why risk a title fight for someone ranked in the mid 60s. The risk-reward balance was way off in this fight. (Approx numbers using boxrec rankings)

[expe]

Awful matchmaking from Matchroom.

Sky calling it a eliminator but the Crolla-Mitchell fight could of been made with ease as a voluntary.

Why you'd bring a guy from there with that record to fight Mitchell who's losses have all been by stoppage is stupid.

Crolla outboxes Barroso in a fight that doesn't exactly scream box office.

The Campbell- Mendy fight is another one which was awful matchmaking.

Agree about Campbell vs Mendy being a strange piece of matchmaking, far too much of a jump from Coyle. We shouldn't moan too much as prospects can't be wrapped in cotton wool forever, at least they were willing to take a chance for once, even if it didn't pay off this time.

But they mis-judged the ability of Barosso big time. I think that to be able to sell the Crolla/Mitchell fight easier they wanted to get Mitchell a decent win over someone who looked good on paper but ultimately wasn't in Mitchell's league.
Ultimately, Barosso wasn't that man, he looks like he will be a real handful for just about anyone in the division.

I don't think Mendy was that big of a step up really, he's durable and experienced but whenever he's stepped above French title level in the past he's been beaten comfortably, wouldn't be unfair to him to say that he's somewhere around domestic level if he was from here. The sort of opponent Campbell should beat by a decent margin on points but the fight exposed a lot of his shortcomings, lack of power and strength, he had nothing to keep Mendy off him and struggled to hold up close and the lack of variety in his work, him stepping back and throwing a one-two is far too predictable. It was clear that Mendy and his team had picked that up and worked on a plan to counter it and Campbell ran out of ideas.

Rather than being bad matchmaking I just think Campbell got found out, he hasn't adapted well to the pros yet and while he was a great amateur, those skills will only carry him so far.

[PredatorHayds]

Awful matchmaking from Matchroom.

Sky calling it a eliminator but the Crolla-Mitchell fight could of been made with ease as a voluntary.

Why you'd bring a guy from there with that record to fight Mitchell who's losses have all been by stoppage is stupid.

Crolla outboxes Barroso in a fight that doesn't exactly scream box office.

The Campbell- Mendy fight is another one which was awful matchmaking.

Agree about Campbell vs Mendy being a strange piece of matchmaking, far too much of a jump from Coyle. We shouldn't moan too much as prospects can't be wrapped in cotton wool forever, at least they were willing to take a chance for once, even if it didn't pay off this time.

But they mis-judged the ability of Barosso big time. I think that to be able to sell the Crolla/Mitchell fight easier they wanted to get Mitchell a decent win over someone who looked good on paper but ultimately wasn't in Mitchell's league.
Ultimately, Barosso wasn't that man, he looks like he will be a real handful for just about anyone in the division.

I don't think Mendy was that big of a step up really, he's durable and experienced but whenever he's stepped above French title level in the past he's been beaten comfortably, wouldn't be unfair to him to say that he's somewhere around domestic level if he was from here. The sort of opponent Campbell should beat by a decent margin on points but the fight exposed a lot of his shortcomings, lack of power and strength, he had nothing to keep Mendy off him and struggled to hold up close and the lack of variety in his work, him stepping back and throwing a one-two is far too predictable. It was clear that Mendy and his team had picked that up and worked on a plan to counter it and Campbell ran out of ideas.

Rather than being bad matchmaking I just think Campbell got found out, he hasn't adapted well to the pros yet and while he was a great amateur, those skills will only carry him so far.

What do you think about Campbell's weight?

He won gold at bantam yet fights at lightweight. It's a huge jump in a short space of time.

Mendy looked huge compared to Campbell on Saturday.
I always wondered if he could do super-feather and is just at lightweight because of the gulf of world level operators we have at the weight.

[crusader]

Awful matchmaking from Matchroom.

Sky calling it a eliminator but the Crolla-Mitchell fight could of been made with ease as a voluntary.

Why you'd bring a guy from there with that record to fight Mitchell who's losses have all been by stoppage is stupid.

Crolla outboxes Barroso in a fight that doesn't exactly scream box office.

The Campbell- Mendy fight is another one which was awful matchmaking.

Agree about Campbell vs Mendy being a strange piece of matchmaking, far too much of a jump from Coyle. We shouldn't moan too much as prospects can't be wrapped in cotton wool forever, at least they were willing to take a chance for once, even if it didn't pay off this time.

But they mis-judged the ability of Barosso big time. I think that to be able to sell the Crolla/Mitchell fight easier they wanted to get Mitchell a decent win over someone who looked good on paper but ultimately wasn't in Mitchell's league.
Ultimately, Barosso wasn't that man, he looks like he will be a real handful for just about anyone in the division.

I don't think Mendy was that big of a step up really, he's durable and experienced but whenever he's stepped above French title level in the past he's been beaten comfortably, wouldn't be unfair to him to say that he's somewhere around domestic level if he was from here. The sort of opponent Campbell should beat by a decent margin on points but the fight exposed a lot of his shortcomings, lack of power and strength, he had nothing to keep Mendy off him and struggled to hold up close and the lack of variety in his work, him stepping back and throwing a one-two is far too predictable. It was clear that Mendy and his team had picked that up and worked on a plan to counter it and Campbell ran out of ideas.

Rather than being bad matchmaking I just think Campbell got found out, he hasn't adapted well to the pros yet and while he was a great amateur, those skills will only carry him so far.

I agree.

It seemed like a fight Campbell should've won if he were good as generally thought.

[palooka]

Campbell was beaten by a better, more experienced pro though he looks somewhat preoccupied, he didn't seem especially focussed on the bout. He will improve as he goes along though may not be as successful as many hoped for him.