William Joppy tragedy unfolds

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 14 Dec 2003, 16:58

Joppy was fighting last night in the wake of the death of his 6-week-old baby daughter, Vashti. She died in July while in the custody of a baby sitter, who allegedly dropped the baby on her head.
She died after being in a coma for a week.

Lugh · Post by **Lugh** » 15 Dec 2003, 09:35

Pretty grim.

It's a wonder the guy could even fight at all.

Does make a mockery of all the supposed motivation grief can generate - Tyson Douglas was supposed to be a result of a promise Buster made to the spirit of his dying mother.

You'd be hard pushed to think of a more grevious occurence than Joppy's loss, yet he was tamed within three rounds and then received an extended beating.

I'll bet he'll be glad to see the back of '03!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 15 Dec 2003, 09:54

Tragic for William Joppy. I didn't see the whole of the Hopkins fights. to those that did, how would you assess a rematch against Howard Eastman now?

Could Eastman go the extra furlong or would Joppy outslick him again?

Lugh · Post by **Lugh** » 15 Dec 2003, 09:57

lightsoot wrote:Tragic for William Joppy. I didn't see the whole of the Hopkins fights. to those that did, how would you assess a rematch against Howard Eastman now?

Could Eastman go the extra furlong or would Joppy outslick him again?

Not sure that the result would be any different personally - asking Eastman to up his work-rate (only chance to win IMO) is a bit like asking Johnny Nelson to be a bit more exciting.

Kilburn · Post by **Kilburn** » 15 Dec 2003, 09:59

It's hard to say Mr lightsoot. I suppose if we all had a vote now you'd get a majority going for Eastman to win decisively in a Joppy rematch. It was a bad beating Joppy took from Hopkins while Eastman has been looking at least as good as he did 2 years ago (although I would be inclined to say Howard has got no better, no worse).

Dunno really.

Glad to be of help.

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 15 Dec 2003, 10:42

Poor Joppy is a finished fighter I think - that was a helluva prolonged beating he took and I really hope he's made enough cash to retire and look after his family.
At the press conf' he had a towel covering his head and ice packs held to both sides of his hugely swolen face.
He could barely speak and there were apparently some very white faces in the press.

He had no chance on winning yet his corner, the doctor and the referee let it go on to the bitter end - everyone must have known he'd make 50K if he stayed on his feet, and were probably willing him on - but was it really worth it? I doubt it.

Priff · Post by **Priff** » 15 Dec 2003, 10:50

Lugh wrote: Does make a mockery of all the supposed motivation grief can generate - Tyson Douglas was supposed to be a result of a promise Buster made to the spirit of his dying mother.

A good example of this was in Snooker.
In the mid-session James Wattana was informed of his father's death
He came out and compiled a 147 break.
Snooker is a sport where, once you're on the table, YOU have FULL control of the outcome. In boxing however, it does rather depend on the other guy too.