Yafai's Gamble or was it Delusion?

[Thomastearns]

Is this one of the worst one sided boxing lessons ever handed out to an undefeated reigning world champion?

Steve Bunce wants to give Yafai (Britain's longest reigning champion) credit for taking on Chocolatito in an attempt to get increased
exposure on the world stage.

Fair enough, but after watching the fight you might want to ask Eddie Hearn a few questions.



https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indepe ... html%3famp

[Stuarty]

I got the impression they though RG was past it and ready to be taken. Big name for Yafai's slate, SFW is not his best weight, he was inactive etc... How wrong they were. Hopefully RG has a few more big performances left in him because he's great to watch.

[Enlightened-One]

Khalid Yafai was rated 5th at junior bantamweight by The RING, 4th by EPSN and 5th by TBRB before his loss last weekend.

So the boxing media rated the Brit above Roman Gonzalez. Yafai was also considered the betting favourite.

However, there's a reason why Larry Merchant's “theatre of the unexpected” expression has become so famous, is because upsets can happen. That’s the very unpredictable nature of boxing.

Eddie Hearn doesn’t need to answer any questions, because his man was beaten by the better fighter on the night. It happens! It’s as simple as that!

[margaret thatcher]

Look at the prediction game here, people had it 50-50 exactly. Expert picker Graham Houston liked Yafai here too. Yafai was also the betting favourite. A lot of people thought that Roman was past it and there for the taking. The way Yafai fought, standing toe to toe and trying to bully Roman, I bet he did too.

[littlepug]

It happens, everyone just underestimated Gonzales, crazy move by Yafai though to stand with him, as for other similar fights of this nature I’d say Bute v Froch.

[joshj909]

Calling it delusion implies that no boxer should take on risky opponents. He was the champion and he fought a top tier guy, like he should be. The best man won but Yafai is still a decent boxer.

[KiwiRider]

As others have said, it was the wrong game plan from the second round.
Height and reach squandered. Trading close range with a known puncher.
I accept that all indicators pointed to Roman being ripr for the picking, but not having another plan was remiss of Yafai and his team.
Plan A should have been jab and move out of range, throwing the odd power shot only when it is safe. Be patient and see what Chokkie had to offer.
Roman has his Kryptonite, but it isn't Yafai.

[boxing_rocks]

Yafai thought that Roman is shot. He may be partially right, and Gonzalez can't beat top 215-lbers. Yafai's problem is a lack of power. As soon as Roman realized that Yafai can't hurt him, he started his relentless attack. No plan would work for Yafai.

[Evander]

During the early to mid going while it lasted didn't strike me as one sided.
Yafai was in it, it could even be said had the power advantage.
He seemed to slack off and couldn't keep up with the pace, did he train properly because he should have had enough to take it to the later rounds at least.
There were moments when Gonzalez threw what could be described as "Arm Punches", you know, little power but volume and in your face a lot of the time.
I don't know, Gonzalez was good and clearly had a desire to win the contest and pushed hard enough to get the result.
Yafai didn't up his game.

[Thomastearns]

During the early to mid going while it lasted didn't strike me as one sided.
Yafai was in it, it could even be said had the power advantage.
He seemed to slack off and couldn't keep up with the pace, did he train properly because he should have had enough to take it to the later rounds at least.
There were moments when Gonzalez threw what could be described as "Arm Punches", you know, little power but volume and in your face a lot of the time.
I don't know, Gonzalez was good and clearly had a desire to win the contest and pushed hard enough to get the result.
Yafai didn't up his game.

Couldn't agree more.

I'd heard how good Roman Gonzalez was supposed to have been, but still, to see an unbeaten long time reigning champion being outboxed and unable to win a round - and then get KO'd like that - had a feeling of a catastrophic disaster.

As Adam Smith constantly reminded us, there are levels to this sport, and Roman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez with all his relaxed smoothness at the age of 32 is still in a different class to the brave and game Kal Yafai with his Lomachenko-like switching and endlessly confusing angles.

Yafai should take some heart in that he's unlikely to face a unique talent like Gonzalez ever again.