Nick Blackwell vs. Chris Eubank jr - March 26th 2016

[Mimmy]

I thought Nick's corner were poor last night to be honest. He should have been pulled out a couple of rounds before the doctor stopped it.

I was particularly surprised by Lockett (a man I respect a lot as a cornerman) telling Blackwell that the fight was going exactly according to plan I think between the 7th and 8th rounds. To my eye he had been bashed from pillar to post all fight, his nose was clearly broken from round 3 onwards, he was eating uppercut after uppercut and his eye was horribly swollen. Very poor judgement to allow him to continue.

Let's be realistic here. We're watching a sport where spectators revel in the joy of brutality and knockouts and a single punch can cause serious damage. Thems the facts.
Theres an equal chance that the damage caused to Nick Blackwell occurred earlier in the fight and the corner, referee, commentators and spectators can only look for signs that the losing fighter has no chance.

Blackwell under pressure was covering up, rolling and moving and it was Eubanks relentless assaults that prevented return of fire rather than landed shots. Nick looked lucid and by no means out of it between the latter rounds but seemed to have lost the drive and determination and I was surprised that the corner didn't lay it on the line a bit more. 'Your the champion etc.,' . Hindsights a wonderful thing but I think Nick's fighting resolve rather than decisions made by others is responsible for the outcome.

Strongly disagree with you. The corner and the referee have a responsibility to protect a fighter from himself. Of course Nick has fighting resolve, he's a warrior who would probably have fought to the death but the fact remains that he was getting badly beaten up round after round as was evidenced by his broken nose and grossly swollen eye and yet still his corner never at any point warned him that if he continued taking such a beating that they would have to pull him out. That is negligence in my view and this is the result. I'm not blaming the corner for the particular injury itself as we do not know when that was caused. However, allowing a fighter who was dominated to that degree to continue with those injuries is not protecting the fighter adequately.

I think Blackwell's corner were relying on Eubank to tire later on, it seemed so in the later rounds but he came alive again and was throwing lots of punches. His eye was pretty swollen by the 10th. his corner could have pulled him out but its all well and good the ifs and buts.

[Tarquin Tarpaulin IV]

I thought Nick's corner were poor last night to be honest. He should have been pulled out a couple of rounds before the doctor stopped it.

I was particularly surprised by Lockett (a man I respect a lot as a cornerman) telling Blackwell that the fight was going exactly according to plan I think between the 7th and 8th rounds. To my eye he had been bashed from pillar to post all fight, his nose was clearly broken from round 3 onwards, he was eating uppercut after uppercut and his eye was horribly swollen. Very poor judgement to allow him to continue.

Let's be realistic here. We're watching a sport where spectators revel in the joy of brutality and knockouts and a single punch can cause serious damage. Thems the facts.
Theres an equal chance that the damage caused to Nick Blackwell occurred earlier in the fight and the corner, referee, commentators and spectators can only look for signs that the losing fighter has no chance.

Blackwell under pressure was covering up, rolling and moving and it was Eubanks relentless assaults that prevented return of fire rather than landed shots. Nick looked lucid and by no means out of it between the latter rounds but seemed to have lost the drive and determination and I was surprised that the corner didn't lay it on the line a bit more. 'Your the champion etc.,' . Hindsights a wonderful thing but I think Nick's fighting resolve rather than decisions made by others is responsible for the outcome.

Strongly disagree with you. The corner and the referee have a responsibility to protect a fighter from himself. Of course Nick has fighting resolve, he's a warrior who would probably have fought to the death but the fact remains that he was getting badly beaten up round after round as was evidenced by his broken nose and grossly swollen eye and yet still his corner never at any point warned him that if he continued taking such a beating that they would have to pull him out. That is negligence in my view and this is the result. I'm not blaming the corner for the particular injury itself as we do not know when that was caused. However, allowing a fighter who was dominated to that degree to continue with those injuries is not protecting the fighter adequately.

Perhaps you need to step back a yard and look at the reality of boxing. Countless fighters have been lauded as superheros for boxing on with broken noses, broken jaws, broken hands, dislocated shoulders etc., and it's their personal resolve and not that of the cornerman that separates them from the rest and makes them the champions we applaud so loudly.

The old saying one punch can change a fight is still held dear but you don't get to land it if your pulled out at the first sign of weakness. In that respect Eubank Jr looked a lot more heavy handed so should the plug have been pulled in the 3rd or 4th rounds?
I think it worth noting that we were getting snippets from each corner, not the full picture so who's to say what Lockett was saying off camera?

[Tarquin Tarpaulin IV]

Let's be realistic here. We're watching a sport where spectators revel in the joy of brutality and knockouts and a single punch can cause serious damage. Thems the facts.
Theres an equal chance that the damage caused to Nick Blackwell occurred earlier in the fight and the corner, referee, commentators and spectators can only look for signs that the losing fighter has no chance.

Blackwell under pressure was covering up, rolling and moving and it was Eubanks relentless assaults that prevented return of fire rather than landed shots. Nick looked lucid and by no means out of it between the latter rounds but seemed to have lost the drive and determination and I was surprised that the corner didn't lay it on the line a bit more. 'Your the champion etc.,' . Hindsights a wonderful thing but I think Nick's fighting resolve rather than decisions made by others is responsible for the outcome.

Strongly disagree with you. The corner and the referee have a responsibility to protect a fighter from himself. Of course Nick has fighting resolve, he's a warrior who would probably have fought to the death but the fact remains that he was getting badly beaten up round after round as was evidenced by his broken nose and grossly swollen eye and yet still his corner never at any point warned him that if he continued taking such a beating that they would have to pull him out. That is negligence in my view and this is the result. I'm not blaming the corner for the particular injury itself as we do not know when that was caused. However, allowing a fighter who was dominated to that degree to continue with those injuries is not protecting the fighter adequately.

I think Blackwell's corner were relying on Eubank to tire later on, it seemed so in the later rounds but he came alive again and was throwing lots of punches. His eye was pretty swollen by the 10th. his corner could have pulled him out but its all well and good the ifs and buts.

Thats how I read it. Ali let Foreman pummel him for 7 and a half rounds before KOing Big George in the 8th and it's gone down in history as a boxing masterclass.

[gb]

I think that you're missing a few subtle differences. Foreman visibly tires from the 3rd round onwards, with his punches losing their snap as the fight goes on. Ali also doesn't have a broken nose and a closed eye. They also weren't fighting in the African heat, and Blackwell isn't a former work champ. We can argue all day about the actions of the corner/ ref/ doctor, but one bloke having the shit beaten out of him round after round shouldn't be compared to The Rumble In The Jungle.

[rhino222]

a few medical points from my perspective.....

humans are put into 'drug induced comas' for head injuries or other severe trauma, it allows the body to rest and also allows the clinicians to drop the blood pressure to a level that, if you were awake, you would feel feint and your vital organs would not get perfused with o2. it basically an anaesthetic and a ventilator breathes for you, all of your blood gasses etc can be closely monitored, all of your body needs can be taken care of, and it gives you the best chance of surviving bad trauma or bad airway related issues.

brain bleeds do not all need operating on, a lot of it depends on the severity of the bleed and the area of the brian affected. the CT scans will be immediately seen by consultant neurosurgeon who makes the operate/dont operate call.

whether operated on or not some of these injuries can be life changing or even fatal. nick has fitnesss on his side and good drive. his future welfare is in the lap of the gods. fingers crossed he makes a full recovery and lives/leads a normal life and gets back pike fishing as soon as possible!! )

good luck nick, fight hard mate, slowly slowly, one day and one step at a time.

well battled both fighters, personally i found it a very enjoyable if not great fight. potentially a contender for FOTY.

[SteveDow]

Let's be realistic here. We're watching a sport where spectators revel in the joy of brutality and knockouts and a single punch can cause serious damage. Thems the facts.
Theres an equal chance that the damage caused to Nick Blackwell occurred earlier in the fight and the corner, referee, commentators and spectators can only look for signs that the losing fighter has no chance.

Blackwell under pressure was covering up, rolling and moving and it was Eubanks relentless assaults that prevented return of fire rather than landed shots. Nick looked lucid and by no means out of it between the latter rounds but seemed to have lost the drive and determination and I was surprised that the corner didn't lay it on the line a bit more. 'Your the champion etc.,' . Hindsights a wonderful thing but I think Nick's fighting resolve rather than decisions made by others is responsible for the outcome.

Strongly disagree with you. The corner and the referee have a responsibility to protect a fighter from himself. Of course Nick has fighting resolve, he's a warrior who would probably have fought to the death but the fact remains that he was getting badly beaten up round after round as was evidenced by his broken nose and grossly swollen eye and yet still his corner never at any point warned him that if he continued taking such a beating that they would have to pull him out. That is negligence in my view and this is the result. I'm not blaming the corner for the particular injury itself as we do not know when that was caused. However, allowing a fighter who was dominated to that degree to continue with those injuries is not protecting the fighter adequately.

Perhaps you need to step back a yard and look at the reality of boxing. Countless fighters have been lauded as superheros for boxing on with broken noses, broken jaws, broken hands, dislocated shoulders etc., and it's their personal resolve and not that of the cornerman that separates them from the rest and makes them the champions we applaud so loudly.

The old saying one punch can change a fight is still held dear but you don't get to land it if your pulled out at the first sign of weakness. In that respect Eubank Jr looked a lot more heavy handed so should the plug have been pulled in the 3rd or 4th rounds?
I think it worth noting that we were getting snippets from each corner, not the full picture so who's to say what Lockett was saying off camera?

I understand the reality of boxing full well having been a fan for the best part of 25 years and in my view the corner did a very poor job there.

The fact that Lockett said in between rounds 7 and 8 that the fight was going perfectly to plan when his fighter had been pummelled senseless for almost every round tells me he misread what was happening and that has possibly had very serious consequences.

In the past I have been a strong advocate of referees giving a fighter every chance to continue and when Groves was stopped prematurely I was up in arms about it. However, anyone who could not see that Blackwell was taking way too much punishment there is a poor reader of a fight. There were times when Eubank was landing with multiple unanswered shots which should at the very least raise the question of the fight being stopped. This did not happen and even when the fight was actually stopped Lockett was still willing to let his man go out for another round. I can't see how anyone can suggest this was the right decision at the time whether looking with hindsight or not.

[Dixonian]

I think that you're missing a few subtle differences. Foreman visibly tires from the 3rd round onwards, with his punches losing their snap as the fight goes on. Ali also doesn't have a broken nose and a closed eye. They also weren't fighting in the African heat, and Blackwell isn't a former work champ. We can argue all day about the actions of the corner/ ref/ doctor, but one bloke having the poo beaten out of him round after round shouldn't be compared to The Rumble In The Jungle.

Yeah rumble in the jungle is not the best example... Ali was landing at will with the straight right throughout. He fought whenever he wanted and Foreman indeed gassed really early.

[Mimmy]

Strongly disagree with you. The corner and the referee have a responsibility to protect a fighter from himself. Of course Nick has fighting resolve, he's a warrior who would probably have fought to the death but the fact remains that he was getting badly beaten up round after round as was evidenced by his broken nose and grossly swollen eye and yet still his corner never at any point warned him that if he continued taking such a beating that they would have to pull him out. That is negligence in my view and this is the result. I'm not blaming the corner for the particular injury itself as we do not know when that was caused. However, allowing a fighter who was dominated to that degree to continue with those injuries is not protecting the fighter adequately.

Perhaps you need to step back a yard and look at the reality of boxing. Countless fighters have been lauded as superheros for boxing on with broken noses, broken jaws, broken hands, dislocated shoulders etc., and it's their personal resolve and not that of the cornerman that separates them from the rest and makes them the champions we applaud so loudly.

The old saying one punch can change a fight is still held dear but you don't get to land it if your pulled out at the first sign of weakness. In that respect Eubank Jr looked a lot more heavy handed so should the plug have been pulled in the 3rd or 4th rounds?
I think it worth noting that we were getting snippets from each corner, not the full picture so who's to say what Lockett was saying off camera?

I understand the reality of boxing full well having been a fan for the best part of 25 years and in my view the corner did a very poor job there.

The fact that Lockett said in between rounds 7 and 8 that the fight was going perfectly to plan when his fighter had been pummelled senseless for almost every round tells me he misread what was happening and that has possibly had very serious consequences.

In the past I have been a strong advocate of referees giving a fighter every chance to continue and when Groves was stopped prematurely I was up in arms about it. However, anyone who could not see that Blackwell was taking way too much punishment there is a poor reader of a fight. There were times when Eubank was landing with multiple unanswered shots which should at the very least raise the question of the fight being stopped. This did not happen and even when the fight was actually stopped Lockett was still willing to let his man go out for another round. I can't see how anyone can suggest this was the right decision at the time whether looking with hindsight or not.

Ive also said in this thread some other refs would have stopped the fight in those unnswered flurries. Mickey Vann or Larry Oconnel would have jump in, im pretty sure Larry would have. That ref had no intention of jumping in, I watched him in those unanswered punches. Maybe a lot was hitting gloves or arms etc but Blakwell was way behind on points, I never gave him a round. It was clear Blackwell was getting busted up, its been a long time since ive seen so much blood come from a boxers nose. Blackwell never seemed hurt to the point he was wobbling so there is an argument that the fight never needed to be stopped.

As it was only a British title at stake I think maybe he did take too much and the corner could have saved their man from further punishment. The corner said to Blackwell at some point, 'do you like taking uppercuts?' So they saw what was happening in there.

Its all well and good harping on now, if Blackwell had pulled it around and beat Jr, it would have been fight of the year and we would be all saying so. I know we all have knee jerk reactions when bad things happen. Just hope the fella pulls through and recovers.

[Tarquin Tarpaulin IV]

I think that you're missing a few subtle differences. Foreman visibly tires from the 3rd round onwards, with his punches losing their snap as the fight goes on. Ali also doesn't have a broken nose and a closed eye. They also weren't fighting in the African heat, and Blackwell isn't a former work champ. We can argue all day about the actions of the corner/ ref/ doctor, but one bloke having the poo beaten out of him round after round shouldn't be compared to The Rumble In The Jungle.

Your taking my example literally. Ali was prepared to take body punches all night long. Blackwell, no matter how ill thought out or unplanned was happy or had little choice but to take uppercuts. In one the gameplan worked in the other it didn't but both relied on the opponent to tire.

[Tarquin Tarpaulin IV]

Strongly disagree with you. The corner and the referee have a responsibility to protect a fighter from himself. Of course Nick has fighting resolve, he's a warrior who would probably have fought to the death but the fact remains that he was getting badly beaten up round after round as was evidenced by his broken nose and grossly swollen eye and yet still his corner never at any point warned him that if he continued taking such a beating that they would have to pull him out. That is negligence in my view and this is the result. I'm not blaming the corner for the particular injury itself as we do not know when that was caused. However, allowing a fighter who was dominated to that degree to continue with those injuries is not protecting the fighter adequately.

Perhaps you need to step back a yard and look at the reality of boxing. Countless fighters have been lauded as superheros for boxing on with broken noses, broken jaws, broken hands, dislocated shoulders etc., and it's their personal resolve and not that of the cornerman that separates them from the rest and makes them the champions we applaud so loudly.

The old saying one punch can change a fight is still held dear but you don't get to land it if your pulled out at the first sign of weakness. In that respect Eubank Jr looked a lot more heavy handed so should the plug have been pulled in the 3rd or 4th rounds?
I think it worth noting that we were getting snippets from each corner, not the full picture so who's to say what Lockett was saying off camera?

I understand the reality of boxing full well having been a fan for the best part of 25 years and in my view the corner did a very poor job there.

The fact that Lockett said in between rounds 7 and 8 that the fight was going perfectly to plan when his fighter had been pummelled senseless for almost every round tells me he misread what was happening and that has possibly had very serious consequences.

In the past I have been a strong advocate of referees giving a fighter every chance to continue and when Groves was stopped prematurely I was up in arms about it. However, anyone who could not see that Blackwell was taking way too much punishment there is a poor reader of a fight. There were times when Eubank was landing with multiple unanswered shots which should at the very least raise the question of the fight being stopped. This did not happen and even when the fight was actually stopped Lockett was still willing to let his man go out for another round. I can't see how anyone can suggest this was the right decision at the time whether looking with hindsight or not.

There are plenty of people who dislike boxing and consider any form of fistic punishment to be 'way too much' and many boxing aficionados who would have called for a stoppage in a lower level bout. This was a British Title fight with Blackwell entering the ring as champion.
As mentioned by another poster. Had Blackwell rallied it would have been a contender for fight of the year.

[jamesmcdonnell]

a few medical points from my perspective.....

humans are put into 'drug induced comas' for head injuries or other severe trauma, it allows the body to rest and also allows the clinicians to drop the blood pressure to a level that, if you were awake, you would feel feint and your vital organs would not get perfused with o2. it basically an anaesthetic and a ventilator breathes for you, all of your blood gasses etc can be closely monitored, all of your body needs can be taken care of, and it gives you the best chance of surviving bad trauma or bad airway related issues.

brain bleeds do not all need operating on, a lot of it depends on the severity of the bleed and the area of the brian affected. the CT scans will be immediately seen by consultant neurosurgeon who makes the operate/dont operate call.

whether operated on or not some of these injuries can be life changing or even fatal. nick has fitnesss on his side and good drive. his future welfare is in the lap of the gods. fingers crossed he makes a full recovery and lives/leads a normal life and gets back pike fishing as soon as possible!! )

good luck nick, fight hard mate, slowly slowly, one day and one step at a time.

well battled both fighters, personally i found it a very enjoyable if not great fight. potentially a contender for FOTY.

I thought the fight was far too one sided for FOTY candidate.

[SteveDow]

Perhaps you need to step back a yard and look at the reality of boxing. Countless fighters have been lauded as superheros for boxing on with broken noses, broken jaws, broken hands, dislocated shoulders etc., and it's their personal resolve and not that of the cornerman that separates them from the rest and makes them the champions we applaud so loudly.

The old saying one punch can change a fight is still held dear but you don't get to land it if your pulled out at the first sign of weakness. In that respect Eubank Jr looked a lot more heavy handed so should the plug have been pulled in the 3rd or 4th rounds?
I think it worth noting that we were getting snippets from each corner, not the full picture so who's to say what Lockett was saying off camera?

I understand the reality of boxing full well having been a fan for the best part of 25 years and in my view the corner did a very poor job there.

The fact that Lockett said in between rounds 7 and 8 that the fight was going perfectly to plan when his fighter had been pummelled senseless for almost every round tells me he misread what was happening and that has possibly had very serious consequences.

In the past I have been a strong advocate of referees giving a fighter every chance to continue and when Groves was stopped prematurely I was up in arms about it. However, anyone who could not see that Blackwell was taking way too much punishment there is a poor reader of a fight. There were times when Eubank was landing with multiple unanswered shots which should at the very least raise the question of the fight being stopped. This did not happen and even when the fight was actually stopped Lockett was still willing to let his man go out for another round. I can't see how anyone can suggest this was the right decision at the time whether looking with hindsight or not.

There are plenty of people who dislike boxing and consider any form of fistic punishment to be 'way too much' and many boxing aficionados who would have called for a stoppage in a lower level bout. This was a British Title fight with Blackwell entering the ring as champion.
As mentioned by another poster. Had Blackwell rallied it would have been a contender for fight of the year.

There may well be but I am not one of them. I love exciting all action fights but that had turned into a one sided beat down which Blackwell had little chance of rallying in and when that happens responsible action needs to be taken either by the referee or the corner. A very good recent example of such responsible action came when Kovalev fought Pascal in January when Roach warned him he would pull him out should he keep taking shots and did so when he didn't stop doing this. In my view that is how a corner should operate and the beating Pascal took was nowhere near as bad as that which Blackwell took last night.

I appreciate that getting the balance right can be tricky but it was a very obvious call to make to pull him out last night and it did not happen.

[Stuarty]

I understand the reality of boxing full well having been a fan for the best part of 25 years and in my view the corner did a very poor job there.

The fact that Lockett said in between rounds 7 and 8 that the fight was going perfectly to plan when his fighter had been pummelled senseless for almost every round tells me he misread what was happening and that has possibly had very serious consequences.

In the past I have been a strong advocate of referees giving a fighter every chance to continue and when Groves was stopped prematurely I was up in arms about it. However, anyone who could not see that Blackwell was taking way too much punishment there is a poor reader of a fight. There were times when Eubank was landing with multiple unanswered shots which should at the very least raise the question of the fight being stopped. This did not happen and even when the fight was actually stopped Lockett was still willing to let his man go out for another round. I can't see how anyone can suggest this was the right decision at the time whether looking with hindsight or not.

There are plenty of people who dislike boxing and consider any form of fistic punishment to be 'way too much' and many boxing aficionados who would have called for a stoppage in a lower level bout. This was a British Title fight with Blackwell entering the ring as champion.
As mentioned by another poster. Had Blackwell rallied it would have been a contender for fight of the year.

There may well be but I am not one of them. I love exciting all action fights but that had turned into a one sided beat down which Blackwell had little chance of rallying in and when that happens responsible action needs to be taken either by the referee or the corner. A very good recent example of such responsible action came when Kovalev fought Pascal in January when Roach warned him he would pull him out should he keep taking shots and did so when he didn't stop doing this. In my view that is how a corner should operate and the beating Pascal took was nowhere near as bad as that which Blackwell took last night.

I appreciate that getting the balance right can be tricky but it was a very obvious call to make to pull him out last night and it did not happen.

Get what you're saying but I don't think it's right to point fingers at this time. It's all too easy to look back and form opinions. You're right where you point out 'how a corner should be run'. It's too hard in the moment to judge certain situations. Hopefully Nick makes a full recovery and then we can reflect on last night and use the findings to make our sport safer and better.

[SteveDow]

There are plenty of people who dislike boxing and consider any form of fistic punishment to be 'way too much' and many boxing aficionados who would have called for a stoppage in a lower level bout. This was a British Title fight with Blackwell entering the ring as champion.
As mentioned by another poster. Had Blackwell rallied it would have been a contender for fight of the year.

There may well be but I am not one of them. I love exciting all action fights but that had turned into a one sided beat down which Blackwell had little chance of rallying in and when that happens responsible action needs to be taken either by the referee or the corner. A very good recent example of such responsible action came when Kovalev fought Pascal in January when Roach warned him he would pull him out should he keep taking shots and did so when he didn't stop doing this. In my view that is how a corner should operate and the beating Pascal took was nowhere near as bad as that which Blackwell took last night.


I appreciate that getting the balance right can be tricky but it was a very obvious call to make to pull him out last night and it did not happen.

Get what you're saying but I don't think it's right to point fingers at this time. It's all too easy to look back and form opinions. You're right where you point out 'how a corner should be run'. It's too hard in the moment to judge certain situations. Hopefully Nick makes a full recovery and then we can reflect on last night and use the findings to make our sport safer and better.

Absolutely agree with your sentiments on Nick and I've probably made my point on it now. I'm sure all involved can hopefully take some lesson from this episode although it is very tricky to judge at times when to throw in the towel.

[palooka]

It's easy to forget that boxing is a dangerous sport and that boxers can and do get killed and damaged while we watch. Gary Lockett and the rest of his team know Nick Blackwell far far better than any of us and for sure they have his best interests at heart, the damage that is done earlier can be hidden and become apparent later. Blackwell prides himself on his fitness, heart and toughness, he will have known he would need to take punches and come on strong later. It is becoming clear that Eubank Jnr is a much stronger and better fighter than it first seemed and I hope Eubank Jnr and Snr are OK as well. Some of the carnival proceedings should be reigned in, boxing is a serious business.

[Twinkle Toes]

I understand the reality of boxing full well having been a fan for the best part of 25 years and in my view the corner did a very poor job there.

The fact that Lockett said in between rounds 7 and 8 that the fight was going perfectly to plan when his fighter had been pummelled senseless for almost every round tells me he misread what was happening and that has possibly had very serious consequences.

In the past I have been a strong advocate of referees giving a fighter every chance to continue and when Groves was stopped prematurely I was up in arms about it. However, anyone who could not see that Blackwell was taking way too much punishment there is a poor reader of a fight. There were times when Eubank was landing with multiple unanswered shots which should at the very least raise the question of the fight being stopped. This did not happen and even when the fight was actually stopped Lockett was still willing to let his man go out for another round. I can't see how anyone can suggest this was the right decision at the time whether looking with hindsight or not.

I agree with this.

Lockett did a poor job looking after his man, Blackwell was in trouble well before the eventual ending, and that is the point. He was a beaten man, with the fight 'beaten' out of him. He was brave to have lasted as long as he did yes, but he was on a way ticket to losing. At a time like this the fighter needs protecting. Thank god he got the lump on his head, if he'd hung on for the 12 rounds, which he might well have done, we'd likely have a different story today.

Trainers are not beyond critique, and that's all it is by the way. It's not pointing fingers of blame, and the corner work last night appeared to be lacking experience.

Best wishes to Nick

[gazza8]

well battled both fighters, personally i found it a very enjoyable if not great fight. potentially a contender for FOTY.

I thought the fight was far too one sided for FOTY candidate.

Schooling of the year maybe...i dont see how Eubank lost any more than 1 round the 2nd..and that was debateable. no where near a FOTY

[gazza8]

well battled both fighters, personally i found it a very enjoyable if not great fight. potentially a contender for FOTY.

I thought the fight was far too one sided for FOTY candidate.

Schooling of the year maybe...i dont see how Eubank lost any more than 1 round the 2nd..and that was debateable. no where near a FOTY

Im a big Fury fan but i thought team Hennesey especially BJS looked really amatuer and lacked class with there taunts at Eubank.

I thought he should have been pulled out a few rounds before..he was well behind and didnt look anywhere close to having the power to slow Eubank let alone stop him..he was taking a pounding from the third round on..Lockett knows the fighter better than any of us i guess.

Hope for a speedy recovery to NB

[SAPFO]

There was moment in between rounds when the camera was on Blackwell. He looked well done, only heart kept him in it for the remaining rounds. I said to the Mrs he's done, they need to pull him out. No harm in living to fight another day.

[expe]

well battled both fighters, personally i found it a very enjoyable if not great fight. potentially a contender for FOTY.

I thought the fight was far too one sided for FOTY candidate.

Schooling of the year maybe...i dont see how Eubank lost any more than 1 round the 2nd..and that was debateable. no where near a FOTY

Im a big Fury fan but i thought team Hennesey especially BJS looked really amatuer and lacked class with there taunts at Eubank.

I thought he should have been pulled out a few rounds before..he was well behind and didnt look anywhere close to having the power to slow Eubank let alone stop him..he was taking a pounding from the third round on..Lockett knows the fighter better than any of us i guess.

Hope for a speedy recovery to NB

Blackwell won the 6th too unless the judges fell for the old fight in the last 30 seconds trick that Eubank pulled, 1st and 9th were both very close too, was only really the 7th and 8th round when Blackwell got caught on the ropes and Eubank unloaded that he took any sort of prolonged beating.

[SteveDow]

I understand the reality of boxing full well having been a fan for the best part of 25 years and in my view the corner did a very poor job there.

The fact that Lockett said in between rounds 7 and 8 that the fight was going perfectly to plan when his fighter had been pummelled senseless for almost every round tells me he misread what was happening and that has possibly had very serious consequences.

In the past I have been a strong advocate of referees giving a fighter every chance to continue and when Groves was stopped prematurely I was up in arms about it. However, anyone who could not see that Blackwell was taking way too much punishment there is a poor reader of a fight. There were times when Eubank was landing with multiple unanswered shots which should at the very least raise the question of the fight being stopped. This did not happen and even when the fight was actually stopped Lockett was still willing to let his man go out for another round. I can't see how anyone can suggest this was the right decision at the time whether looking with hindsight or not.

I agree with this.

Lockett did a poor job looking after his man, Blackwell was in trouble well before the eventual ending, and that is the point. He was a beaten man, with the fight 'beaten' out of him. He was brave to have lasted as long as he did yes, but he was on a way ticket to losing. At a time like this the fighter needs protecting. Thank god he got the lump on his head, if he'd hung on for the 12 rounds, which he might well have done, we'd likely have a different story today.

Trainers are not beyond critique, and that's all it is by the way. It's not pointing fingers of blame, and the corner work last night appeared to be lacking experience.

Best wishes to Nick

Hear hear. Anyway, let's just hope Nick makes a full recovery.