some good fights overall when you combined the cards. i personally find wilder-ortiz and bivol-barrera to be very good match ups. and uzecatgui-dirrell was a close fight last time that uze was ahead of until dq'd. of course lots of post fight drama with dirrells trainer and uncle sucker punching uze.
wilder to make a statement
Last edited by jamamb on 26 Feb 2018, 05:29, edited 1 time in total.
but i actually want to focus first on barrera-bivol
why is bivol treated as pretty much a sure thing?
bivol has really beaten no one that good. barrera is a big ass lhw and pretty strong. he gets dropped but recovers well. im not saying barrera should be the favourite but why does pretty much everyone see it as almost a sure thing?
they have one notable common opponent felix valera, and both dropped valera and won pretty much every round for a decision. bivol was dropped and barrera wasnt but overall it really wasnt that difference in terms of degree of control
Watching ortiz lately and he is very slow. Wilder should land but ortiz looks likehe has a chin and can old man wilder. You have to back ortiz at the odds
I am not sure how much ambition Ortiz still has. How will he react if and when Wilder starts landing the bombs?
What do folk here know about Igor Mikhalkin? Must confess I have never seen him. Thomas Oosthuizen is a decent name on his record but he doesn't appear to have beaten anyone else of serious repute, and his last inside distance win was nearly three years ago which suggests a lack of power that will be a major problem against Kovalev.
i know mikhalkin. he actually might be lower top 15 worldwide and was euro champ and a good workman fighter at euro level, but should be well out of his depth vs kov, especially given the lack of power.
doubt hed be competitive vs kov, stevenson, jack, gvozdyk, browne, etc. just too short on raw talent and strength.
actually i think mikhalkin wouldve been an excellent test for yarde
Bivol/Barrera is one of the fights of the weekend and should be a cracker, stylistically they match up well, both can dig and box a bit, Bivol destroyed Broadhurst easily and Barrera got off the floor to win fairly comfortably against Smith Jr, Barrera definitely has a better CV but he's vulnerable, Ward, Shabranskyy and Smith Jr all had him down but he did get up to go the distance and win the latter 2 so he's still durable
Not sure if Bivol will let him off the hook if he decks him though, Bivol can bang and he can finish, reckon he could stop Barrera around the 8th
TheLeprechaun wrote: ↑26 Feb 2018, 06:12
Watching ortiz lately and he is very slow. Wilder should land but ortiz looks likehe has a chin and can old man wilder. You have to back ortiz at the odds
What makes you think he has a chin? Has he ever been hit on his face?
TheLeprechaun wrote: ↑26 Feb 2018, 06:12
Watching ortiz lately and he is very slow. Wilder should land but ortiz looks likehe has a chin and can old man wilder. You have to back ortiz at the odds
What makes you think he has a chin? Has he ever been hit on his face?
Well, I am just going off how he looks. You can get a good impression of whether or not someone has a chin. David Price I never thought had a chin by looking at him. I actually think Yarde looks a bit chinny. Some guys just have that look. It's hard to explain. Ortiz does not look like he has a weak chin but you never know. I don't expect him to do anything against Wilder but due to the fact that Wilder is what he is, I will put small money on Ortiz to KO him. Simply because I dont want Wilder to get starched and not to have made some money off it.
Dominant performance from Bivol, won pretty much every round and although Barrera was making the rounds close and the fight competitive he was doing just enough to lose as the old saying goes, Barrera was actually pretty tight all night, rocked once or twice but not as sloppy as he's been lately, when he was hit clean he done a good job of keeping Bivol from getting that other big shot to really put him in trouble
Bivol was class again though, things weren't always easy and he had to work for his openings but he was still always in control, busier, fast combinations and a really strong jab, he didn't work the body as much as he probably should've to slow Barrera down but what a KO to end things, textbook right cross, Barrera felt that
