LEE HASKINS

THEBUTCH · Post by **THEBUTCH** » 10 Apr 2006, 09:54

[quote="THEBUTCH"]Well said J and Big_Bob.

That was a serious step up for Haskins. His toughest fight since Moses Kinuya. This fight wasn't totally unlike the Kinuya bout in that Lee lost his way a little in the middle rounds but pulled himself together and finished well. It seemed clear to me Haskins drew on his experience gathered against Moses for Mbityi and I think Lee will benefit greatly from this tough, tough challenge from the South African and learn some important lessons for the future.

Clearly, to me, he seemed way to confident of putting Mbityi away early and that was a daft way to treat a proven performer (at Commonwealth level) such as Mbityi.

The knockdown not being called was diabolical refering. A really bad call.

But on the plus side, Haskins came through some rough patches while still winning most of the rounds. His fitness looked very good and his strength seemed to hold up well too. If not, he might well have been stopped by someone who obviously came to win. That, to me, is a very good plus point.

In terms of the scoring I think it compared favourably with Culshaw, Kelly and Robinson. I think only Kelly handled Mbityi that much better than Haskins did.

It was also a good, tough fight too, I thought, despite a messy first few rounds. Unlike most of you I'm looking forward to seeing more of Haskins, you can't look great everytime. I would suggest he stays at Commonwealth level for another fight or two before considering the EBU title, but even then he still has a very powerful punch to make up some of his shortcomings.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 10 Apr 2006, 11:04

It was 3 years since the Robinson fight, and 6 and 7 years since the Kelly and Culshaw fights.

Mibityi must have slowed down a fair bit since those fights, he wasn't great - looked like a fighter who maybe should have already retired.

Old bones Ian · Post by **Old bones Ian** » 11 Apr 2006, 06:37

I would like to see Haskins get some international fights in the superflyweight division, I think he had a bit of a battle to get down to 112lbs, so maybe the supflys would suit him its limit is 115lbs.

There are no british fights at fly out there for Haskins, so he wouldn't be missing out on paydays by taking the move up.