Friday Fight Night: 23rd June.

[stujones]

Well, a good bill of Boxing IMO.

Paulie Malignaggi looked pretty damn good IMO. He's very fast and has bags of work rate and stamina, plus a good chin. I thought he won every round with 2 10-8's there aswell... To do that vs Lovermore shows you are world class. Seems to be hitting with more authority now also, not a massive puncher (far from it) but his power got Lovemore's respect once or twice.

I think he would be two busy for Junior, I still think Hatton might be able to outwork him down the stretch to win via a close decision (ala Cotto vs Malignaggi) - but Ricky would have to be on Kostya Tszyu form, because style wise - he would cause problems.

The Undercard contained two good bouts. Thought Johnny Nelson needed shooting for his score card in the second fight. Talk about a bottle job - what was it 5 level rounds in an 8 rounder. I thought that the Ecuadorian was winning the latter rounds, but the decision was correct. I think Nelson realised that he was giving too many level rounds early, so had to give level rounds late to stop him for suggesting the Jefferson lost the fight. Overall, I was a bit dissapointed in Johnny's commentary, I thought it was clear that Jefferson was trying to score a KO with every punch and would never sustain (something Watt immediately stated in his breakdown)... Johnny didn't spot this and also didn't spot that he was tiring untill the last round, I thought he seemed pretty tired from the 6th.

The Cordova fight was another competitive one - can't see either going much further though.

Actually looked like a very decent bill. I would have liked to have seen Dirrell vs Curtis Stevens which was also on the card. That looked like a decent step up for Dirrell.

[ArtOfWar]

Paulie looked pretty good, but it's a common thing to see people get carried away with a fighters performance. You've always got to look at who it was against and what stage of their career the opponent was at. N'dou is 35 years old and followed Paulie round the ring with absolutely no purpose. He looked like crap. Paulie is a decent fighter, but he's nothing special. I think Witter & certainly Hatton would beat him.

In fact I'd be very disappointed if Hatton fought Paulie if he gets by Casttilo. That's a crappy match up and it's not a big match up which Hatton says he wants from now on. Hatton either needs to move up again or he needs to fight Witter in a big domestic dust up. I'd prefer the former. The big fights are at welterweight, so he's gonna have to grit his teeth and take the leap again.

[stujones]

Paulie looked pretty good, but it's a common thing to see people get carried away with a fighters performance. You've always got to look at who it was against and what stage of their career the opponent was at. N'dou is 35 years old and followed Paulie round the ring with absolutely no purpose. He looked like crap. Paulie is a decent fighter, but he's nothing special. I think Witter & certainly Hatton would beat him.

In fact I'd be very disappointed if Hatton fought Paulie if he gets by Casttilo. That's a crappy match up and it's not a big match up which Hatton says he wants from now on. Hatton either needs to move up again or he needs to fight Witter in a big domestic dust up. I'd prefer the former. The big fights are at welterweight, so he's gonna have to grit his teeth and take the leap again.

Couldn't what you have said about Malignaggi be applied to Witter. When has he shown himself to be special. Hatton, I agree with - although if Ricky fades like he did vs Urango then I think its very possible for Malignaggi to fiddle his way to a points win.

Witter struggled vs Ndou and it was an Ndou who had less time to prepare for the fight. He far from won every round and for me it was the same Ndou who looked "crap" last weekend. All he did was follow Witter in straight lines last time.

Witter has alot to prove at this level. To big struggles vs Kotelnik and Ndou is not good form and it looks like Corley is pretty much done. I think Paulie is quicker, has a MUCH better punch output and a good enough chin.

[emile]

Actually looked like a very decent bill. I would have liked to have seen Dirrell vs Curtis Stevens which was also on the card. That looked like a decent step up for Dirrell.

You should find the comments from when the fight was shown live here, and you'll change your mind about wanting to have seen it.

[ArtOfWar]

Paulie looked pretty good, but it's a common thing to see people get carried away with a fighters performance. You've always got to look at who it was against and what stage of their career the opponent was at. N'dou is 35 years old and followed Paulie round the ring with absolutely no purpose. He looked like crap. Paulie is a decent fighter, but he's nothing special. I think Witter & certainly Hatton would beat him.

In fact I'd be very disappointed if Hatton fought Paulie if he gets by Casttilo. That's a crappy match up and it's not a big match up which Hatton says he wants from now on. Hatton either needs to move up again or he needs to fight Witter in a big domestic dust up. I'd prefer the former. The big fights are at welterweight, so he's gonna have to grit his teeth and take the leap again.

Couldn't what you have said about Malignaggi be applied to Witter. When has he shown himself to be special. Hatton, I agree with - although if Ricky fades like he did vs Urango then I think its very possible for Malignaggi to fiddle his way to a points win.

Witter struggled vs Ndou and it was an Ndou who had less time to prepare for the fight. He far from won every round and for me it was the same Ndou who looked "crap" last weekend. All he did was follow Witter in straight lines last time.

Witter has alot to prove at this level. To big struggles vs Kotelnik and Ndou is not good form and it looks like Corley is pretty much done. I think Paulie is quicker, has a MUCH better punch output and a good enough chin.

It definitely could and should be applied to Witter. To be honest I'm not one of the people who's all that keen on the Hatton/Witter fight. I think it's a terrible style match up and will be dreadful to watch. I'd just rather see a big stadium showdown with Witter over a meaningless fight with Malignaggi, because at least the Witter fight has some meaning on the home front. The Malignaggi fight has no meaning anywhere, because Malignaggi is a paper champion, who's claim to fame is getting his arse kicked by Cotto. Like I said previously, I think Hatton has to step up in weight again if he's really serious about making big fights, because he's missed the boat at light welter.

[stujones]

Agree with most of that Art of War, although I thought Malignaggi vs Cotto was close. The right winner maybe, but it showed that Malignaggi is up there with practically anyone.

I think had it just been Cotto who moved up and the likes of Hatton and Mayweather were champions, then I would hope that Malignaggi would have got a shot at one of the real champions - cause he proved that night he deserved another crack IMO.

I agree with what you say about the Welter devision, that is where it is for Hatton. Hence why I said I wouldn't mind him saying "thanks for the ride, but I'm retiring" on Sunday.

[hitman_hatton1]

The Malignaggi fight has no meaning anywhere, because Malignaggi is a paper champion, who's claim to fame is getting his arse kicked by Cotto.

did u hear that stuff malignaggi was coming out with about n'dou being better than castillo. malignaggi would fiddle his way to a pts loss against hatton.

i don't wanna see it either.