Calzaghe v BIKA

computerrank · Post by **computerrank** » 21 Aug 2006, 17:56

... this fight is outside of what Calzaghe is to do ...

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 21 Aug 2006, 18:37

Not the best opponent.

Looked like he couldn't get another big name straight off the last big fight anyway, it happens. Big fight straight onto another big fight NEVER usually happens.

Hopefully the unification happens in February like the Sky link says.

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 21 Aug 2006, 18:45

Plus I guess if he'd just stand around waiting for a big name then he'd get ring rust so at least he's fighting someone.

pundit · Post by **pundit** » 21 Aug 2006, 19:15

Max Molyneux wrote:Not the best opponent.

Looked like he couldn't get another big name straight off the last big fight anyway, it happens. Big fight straight onto another big fight NEVER usually happens.

Hopefully the unification happens in February like the Sky link says.

No no, this is the best opponent. Bika is the best. Super -- super. Like Lacy but even better.

And anyway, whoever Calzaghe fights he'll rip him apart. So it doesn't matter really who exactly that is.

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 21 Aug 2006, 19:48

He'll rip your Danish boy apart if Beyer doesn't do it first.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4qGCg9VvQCo

See how fast Pudwill drops(about52 seconds into the vid)!

Max Molyneux · Post by **Max Molyneux** » 21 Aug 2006, 19:50

That vid has Alexander Ko'ing Tak into it too!

About 4 minutes and 20 seconds into it!

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 22 Aug 2006, 03:03

A CHANGE OF OPINION FROM ME

Just been watching a bit of Beyer-Bika. Beyer is a very skilled man. Bika appeared to be outboxing Beyer. He looked like he didn't have any trouble against the southpaw. He was landing clean jabs.

Now, ppl are saying that Bika has a loss to Soliman. At junior middle -this is not true, it was a pound under the m/w limit. Was it a genuine loss, or was it a robbery? I see it was an MD. A lot of African guys take fights late notice & end up surprising their opponents only to settle for losses that could well have been wins. (The featherweight Jackson Asiku springs to mind).

Now I have been very vocal against this. But Bika is no Salem or Ashira based on what I have seen. My biggest gripe is JC should be fighting someone a) well known or b) a bloody mandatory, because if he faces his good mandatories then his title reign looks better. i.e. Markussen.

So, it looks bad as it appears Warren has just plucked whoever he wanted out of the woodwork. But it appears that Bika can fight. And in his last fight, he showed something against elite competition. Have the calzaghe mandatories Markussen and Stieglitz done this? WOuld Markussen even accept a fight with calzaghe if it were offered, my guess is no.

If Bika was as good as he looked last time, then he can put up a decent fight.

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 22 Aug 2006, 05:00

Dress it up however you like boys but Bika is a blown up Middleweight who's best result is a 4 round technical draw. Calzaghe and Warren certainly like having the deck stacked in their favour.

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 22 Aug 2006, 05:32

nickd wrote:Dress it up however you like boys but Bika is a blown up Middleweight who's best result is a 4 round technical draw. Calzaghe and Warren certainly like having the deck stacked in their favour.

I'm not dressing it up. I was pissed yesterday but have simply reconsidered -by having a look at Bika. I'd rather see JC fight Kessler or Woods, but they've already got fights. So who does that leave but his mandatories? Markussen & Stieglitz. Could those two outbox Beyer for 4 rounds?

My guess is no they couldn't. If Bika - RECENTLY - has shown he can live with elite boxers then why would anyone prefer the other fighters I've mentioned? From the brief bits that I saw, Bika showed he could not only fight, but fight a southpaw.

WHO then should be the next Calzaghe foe? Someone tell me.

Everyone, cut the middleweight shit. Bika was entered in Gary Shaw's super middle prospect tournament & has fough as high as 171. He's only been a pro since around 2000, and hasn't - to my knowledge - fought below 158. Is it out of the question that simply he is naturally getting bigger?

I'm prepared to eat my words if it turns out to be a farce. But I'll say this now: Bika is way better than Ashira, Salem, Veit & Pudwill.

Lenny · Post by **Lenny** » 22 Aug 2006, 06:15

Stieglitz is his mandatory though and i'm sure people would except that as a making time fight. The other fighters are all busy NOW but it doesn't mean Joe couldn't have signed to fight them on this date before.

Is there any reason for Bika than Stieglitz? Other than I imagine he will except the fight for a lot less money? He has a technical draw against Beyer you know

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 22 Aug 2006, 06:43

From leading man in a Hollywood blockbuster, Joe's manager has just signed him up for the equivalent to a walk on part in Eastenders - way to go Frank, Joe must be thrilled

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 22 Aug 2006, 06:53

Bika has a very solid jab. heavy, jarring. He has good punch anticipation. Beyer was snappy and fast, but he saw all of beyer's counter shots coming. So he's alert, has a fornicating hard jab, and seems well balanced. I had him winning 2-1-1 in rds vs Beyer (though the 4th wasn't completed). It was turning into beyer's equivalent of Ottke-Glen Johnson, or worst, base don what I saw.

Now, that doesn't mean that Beyer was so bad. Maybe it means that Bika was that good.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 22 Aug 2006, 06:59

viciousmaussa wrote:Bika has a very solid jab. heavy, jarring. He has good punch anticipation. Beyer was snappy and fast, but he saw all of beyer's counter shots coming. So he's alert, has a smeg hard jab, and seems well balanced. I had him winning 2-1-1 in rds vs Beyer (though the 4th wasn't completed). It was turning into beyer's equivalent of Ottke-Glen Johnson, or worst, base don what I saw.

Now, that doesn't mean that Beyer was so bad. Maybe it means that Bika was that good.

So he can box a bit, so what? He was 1 round up after 3 rounds, big deal, doesn't mean much.

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 22 Aug 2006, 06:59

Terence wrote:
viciousmaussa wrote:Bika has a very solid jab. heavy, jarring. He has good punch anticipation. Beyer was snappy and fast, but he saw all of beyer's counter shots coming. So he's alert, has a smeg hard jab, and seems well balanced.
Kessler has all that plus a WBA title. Joe could have kept a date with him. Bika is a non-opponent. Didn't Joe say he had about 2 fights left, one down and all that.

Yes, that is true about Kessler. & that is the big complaint -he could've easily got a fight with Beyer, or could've gone for kessler. But based on the present situation, I reckon Bika will give a better fight than Rudy Markussen - Calzaghe's mandatory of 2 years.

I'm saying this now, Bika is not a farce fight. A lot of ppl think he would've gone through that Gary Shaw s middle tourney like a bowling ball through skittles. we know now why he pulled out.

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 22 Aug 2006, 07:08

jamesmcdonnell wrote:
viciousmaussa wrote:Bika has a very solid jab. heavy, jarring. He has good punch anticipation. Beyer was snappy and fast, but he saw all of beyer's counter shots coming. So he's alert, has a smeg hard jab, and seems well balanced. I had him winning 2-1-1 in rds vs Beyer (though the 4th wasn't completed). It was turning into beyer's equivalent of Ottke-Glen Johnson, or worst, base don what I saw.

Now, that doesn't mean that Beyer was so bad. Maybe it means that Bika was that good.
So he can box a bit, so what? He was 1 round up after 3 rounds, big deal, doesn't mean much.

Well, are ppl forgetting that Beyer is an elite fighter? I saw no noticable decline in speed or reflexes. Yet Bika saw almost every punch coming, and that is no small thing vs a skilled & experienced leftie. How easy is it to see punches that come from the 'wrong side'' AND outjab a cakhander?

It could easily have been scored 3-1 in rds.

Certainly, for all we know beyer might have solved Bika and boxed his ears off rest of the fight. But what i sa win there was some world class ability. I'm not easily impressed, but I know SB can fight. I feel bad, as that DVD was on my shelf untouched for months.

That's the problem round here. Ppl are dissing Bika having not even seen him fight. It's already fixed in ppl's heads that this is another Ashira fight, which is bollox.

Even you said that you wouldn't be surprised if Beyer - with his southpaw stance - could surprise Kessler. What of a certain fighter who surprised Beyer...? & why did beyer quit from a cut UNDER his eye?

THEBUTCH · Post by **THEBUTCH** » 22 Aug 2006, 07:28

I first saw the announcement only yesterday on teletext and all I can say is it's business as usual for SN & Calzaghe. Complete farce.

The only fight that I'm excited about on that bill is the Murray-Burns British title eliminator.

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 22 Aug 2006, 07:32

Uncertain what Bika's proper weight is. Some are saying he should go back down to middle where he belongs. However, he is over 6', fairly well built. If he is a lown up middle, we would definitely find out vs Calzaghe. Not out of the question that he grew out of 160.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 22 Aug 2006, 07:58

Yep. It would be a bit different if Calzaghe were 27 and in his prime with another 10 defences left in him.

However Calzaghe has himself stated that he doesn't have many fights left, and is wasting time with this kind of fare. I know that it can be hard making meaningful fights, but how many times have we had fights of this standard against unknown or overmatched opponents.

Aside from Lacy, Calzaghe championship career has been a massive dissapointment, with only Brewer, Mitchell and I guess Sheika to relieve the tedium of dissapointment after dissapointment.

Joe is a cracking fighter, no matter what level of opposition he's had to stay unbeaten as long as he has is some achievement, and aside from Reid, and Brewer, when else did he come close to being beat?

However, his career is being pissed away, and I have a nagging feeling that the Johnson fight won't happen, and if Johnson loses, what are the odds that terms will never be met with Clinton Woods? What will we be left with then, defence number 324 (or whatever it is) against some other nonentity?

Hatton has is critics for the direction his career has taken, myself among them, but he's gotten off his arse, gone to America, moved up a weight (something Joe has claimed he has to do due to weight making problems since I can remember, but yet to actually do), and taken a belt.

Arguably Hatton's career hasn't been moved amazingly skillfully since leaving SN, but he's at least looking for the big challenges, whether or not he gets them is another matter as he seems to be back to square one at the moment.

Joe's ambition seems to me to have died some time ago, as the gravy kept on rolling in from the WBO title which he himself first said he would never be satisfied in. That's not to say his career is without achievement, but I'm left with the disconcerting feeling there could have a lot more to rave about, but who knows, perhaps Joe would have gotten beaten and been on the way down by now, we'll never know.

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 22 Aug 2006, 08:14

In 2005 and 05 Calzaghe seemed to have no ambition. If he was truly ambitious he would've taken on Ottke (WBC/IBF champ) and Mads Larsen. I think his ambition is misguided.

I reckon the Johnson fight WILL happen, if Johnson gets the IBF light heavyweight title. That's one trinket Joe has wanted for years. Johnson's promoters put some money up to make sure that Warren won purse bids for Woods-Johnson 3.

But if Woods wins, who knows.

I think the Eubank, Woodhall, Reid, Sheika, Brewer, Mitchell & Lacy wins have been good. The current Woods and Johnson are a 1/2 level above those, so I hope Calzaghe takes them on.

Bika is not a shit fight. But he is being thrown in the deep end a bit. One thing's for sure, he knows how to fight a southpaw and he appears to have world class ability.

lvlarc · Post by **lvlarc** » 22 Aug 2006, 10:16

I'm glad at least someone has bothered to get the Bika-Beyer fight before commenting on how shit this fight is.

If you think this fight is a total farce, then who would of you preferred to see Calzaghe fighting in October, providing they are available? There are only a few better names and this way he's keeping busy hopefully ready for the unification. The timing is great with Beyer-Kessler fighting on the same date with both having equal time to prepare for the unification.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 22 Aug 2006, 10:41

Calzaghe has zero intention of ever fighting Kessler as far as I can see. You won't hear any mention of the fact there are any other world champs during the build up to the fight, and any time Kessler has been mentioned it' as a nonentity.

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 22 Aug 2006, 11:01

I gave Bika a good chance of the upset going into the Beyer fight - he'd gone to Japan and upset the local boy a couple of times, so obviously had a winning mind set, and Beyer has looked vunerable of late.
He looked like giving Beyer a tough night before the head clash....

But Calzaghe is supposedly a top 10 fighter and there have been far too many obscure names on his record for the fans to have much patience for yet ANOTHER one.

Must have been gritted teeth at ITV when Frank put this lemon on the table.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 22 Aug 2006, 11:13

Yes perception is the important thing. Who has heard of this fellow outside of 'boxing internet anoraks?' I've not been following the sport too vigorously of late due to other factors, but the fact I've never even heard of this dude says it all. If I've never heard of him, what hope is there for the average ITV viewer?

Bard of Boxrec · Post by **Bard of Boxrec** » 22 Aug 2006, 13:04

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Yes perception is the important thing. Who has heard of this fellow outside of 'boxing internet anoraks?' I've not been following the sport too vigorously of late due to other factors, but the fact I've never even heard of this dude says it all. If I've never heard of him, what hope is there for the average ITV viewer?

has the average ITV viewer heard of kessler? beyer? hell the average ITV viewer probably hasn't heard of clinton woods.

Goz wrote:I'll be keeping an eye on the Calzaghe W12 price at the bookies.

People seem to have missed the most important post of the thread. Goz is right, some good money could be made here on the pts win. I see calzaghe breaking his breadstick hands again.

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 22 Aug 2006, 13:13

Yeah, the 'ITV viewer' either bought Sky or stopped following boxing in 1995!