BoxRec

Well this would not be so much of a poor matchup if it was Ashira pre-Masoe but after he got banged out by Masoe who was like 37 this raises some questions. His punch resistance is questionable BUT Masoe could hit although on the flip side he had been beaten in both of his previous steps up in class.

It is all about ifs and buts, what Ashira has left and what he can bring to the table, he did KO Jerry Elliott which doesn't happen often but his level of opposition has not been so stellar as Ian raised the name of Quentin Smith who has a record that makes Ricky Hatton look like he has taken on a group of hall of famers.

All in all it isn't an inspiring choice, with all the people available at the Super Middleweight (which isn't a weak division in my eyes despite what some people say) he could have found someone better than Ashira.

Manos de Oro wrote:This fight will show Calzaghe knocking over a guy 24 and 1 to the ITV viewers. That is all that matters from the business standpoint.

The fact he's also an inactive, 35 year old, bloated light-middleweight with a padded record, who will be completely unprepared for fighitng in front of a British crowd, is of no real interest to the casual Joe.

However, this NAFF match is par for the course with regard Calzaghe's recent history, so it's hard to be surprised. It wouldn't even be surprising if, somehow, this fight goes ahead but the Lacy fight falls through. That would be the icing on the cake for another glorious year in Calzaghe's 'reign'.

I am currently counting no chickens over Calzaghe-Lacy happening in November if at all, in fact i am fully prepared for it not to happen and will not be getting my hopes up. I mean Calzaghe fighting in September and then November...2 months later?? As someone mentioned in another post Calzaghe barely fights twice a year nowadays let alone twice in 2 months.

steve689 wrote:I am currently counting no chickens over Calzaghe-Lacy happening in November if at all, in fact i am fully prepared for it not to happen and will not be getting my hopes up. I mean Calzaghe fighting in September and then November...2 months later?? As someone mentioned in another post Calzaghe barely fights twice a year nowadays let alone twice in 2 months.

Same here. :(

To be honest I really doubt Calzaghe v Lacy will happen.

What's even more sad is that I am not sure if I even care anymore.

Oh dear, just checked Evans Ashira's website (http://www.ashiraoure.com/) and it appears he's 3-4 inches shorter than Calzaghe. How surprising. If you also look at the pictures of him in action they bring strong memories of the footage we saw of Samuel Kebede pre-fight: mostly empty dark halls. This fight is showing all the hallmarks of a SN knockover job. 8)

BTW, I agree with both your sentiments Steve and Joe.

Ashira fourght most of his career in Denmark on shows promoted by Anders Vester. Alot of his shows were sold out (around 1000-1500 seats) so its not like Kebede that fourght on Universum and MSE undercards.

Ashira was to have fourght on the August 13th Don King card so I persume that he is in good shape.

Ian 'Mr' McNeilly wrote:Did you get this from a decent source, Nick?

"Ashira, the African WARRIOR narrowly beaten in a legendary slugfest for the WORLD title...Ashira, the man who DESTROYED Jerry Elliott - something Howard Eastman and Brian Magee FAILED to do...Evans, the WRECKER of unbeaten records - in his most recent fight he HAMMERED highly touted American Quentin Smith who had racked up 21 straight wins. With only one loss in his whole CAREER and two great nations behind him, Ashira is COMING to Cardiff and will accept nothing less than VICTORY!"

Brilliant! I could hear smith through it all.

As for the fight, we should accept it as a tune up and look forward to lacy. For once, I think warren will deliver. Albeit in Wales.

of course, ashira would probably have been the opponent tune up or no, but the point is Lacy is next, I'm confident of that...

...

Got to agree this is probably one of Calzaghe`s worst opponents...that says something doesn`t it

By the look of Ashira`s record it looks like he has been on the wind-down the last couple of years also.

Piss-poor match-up that will benefit Calzaghe not one bit, how does this help sell him for his first ITV date as world champion and will it sharpen him for Lacy..

if this is true what a farce. Another Calzaghe bullshit fight.
Why not face a super middleweight for a warm up. Whats the point of this fight no warm up for Lacy. Least in November Calzaghe will be finished after Lacy knocks him out imo.

Bad match up – Ashira was a mooted opponent for Takaloo about three years ago. Calzaghe will walk through him. Hardly a warm-up for Lacy is it?

nickd wrote:Apparently Evans Ashira is the man for next months fight.

This is a very poor matchup, an all too familiar story.

http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=017132

This guys a middleweight and was KO'd in 2 by Masoe last year. Great credentials.

If this is a warm up fight for Lacy, it should be a non-title fight. Then it would be halfway acceptable. Thats what they did in the old days.

For this to be billed as a world title fight is utter bollocks and a complete con.

What are the odds that Joe gats "injured" in this fight, then the Lacy fight is off.

Shades of the Johnson fight, dont you think.

KO Atrist wrote:

nickd wrote:Apparently Evans Ashira is the man for next months fight.

This is a very poor matchup, an all too familiar story.

http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=017132

This guys a middleweight and was KO'd in 2 by Masoe last year. Great credentials.

If this is a warm up fight for Lacy, it should be a non-title fight. Then it would be halfway acceptable. Thats what they did in the old days.

For this to be billed as a world title fight is utter bollocks and a complete con.

Exactly. And that's just what I've said:

http://www.britishboxing.net/?page=news&id=869

KO Atrist wrote:

nickd wrote:Apparently Evans Ashira is the man for next months fight.

This is a very poor matchup, an all too familiar story.

http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=017132

This guys a middleweight and was KO'd in 2 by Masoe last year. Great credentials.

If this is a warm up fight for Lacy, it should be a non-title fight. Then it would be halfway acceptable. Thats what they did in the old days.

For this to be billed as a world title fight is utter bollocks and a complete con.

Lets be honest, if this was the old days at least half of Calzaghe's title defences would have been non title fights!!

I agree that its a bad match up but if we want to see Lacy - Calzaghe later this year Team Calzaghe can't risk Joe lossing to some big name fighter in September, also they cant risk Joe being cut etc or having a brutal 12 round brawl when he has a big fight lined up for November, anyway i will accept this fight on the knowledge that we have Calzaghe - Lacy in November

Foggy wrote:I agree that its a bad match up but if we want to see Lacy - Calzaghe later this year Team Calzaghe can't risk Joe lossing to some big name fighter in September, also they cant risk Joe being cut etc or having a brutal 12 round brawl when he has a big fight lined up for November, anyway i will accept this fight on the knowledge that we have Calzaghe - Lacy in November

I agree to an extent, but him fighting twice in 8 weeks just doesnt seem right to me. Not a fighter as 'injury prone', temperemental and unreliable as Sicknote himself anyway. We don't 'have' Calzaghe v Lacy in November just like we didn't 'have' Calzaghe v Johnson in the end last year..... not until the pre fight staredown in the ring at the very least.....

Another underwhelming choice from Frankie boy - no surprises here as it was never gonna be a tough one - but this Kenyan fall guy looks as poor as anything we've seen for some time - This is what he serves up for his first big ITV date?? Hmmmmm

Khan would probably knock this guy out.

I can't quite understand the reaction to this opponent, it was pretty effing obvious they wanted someone who would not be around for more than a couple of rounds, considering the planned big fight is so soon afterwards.

I'm not defending any of it but there seems to be an uproar in this thread, who did you expect to see in the opposite corner?

At least a true supermiddleweight and not a beefed up smaller guy.

I truly think Calzaghe is going to pay for all these easy opponents when he faces Lacy, whatever anyones thought on Lacy he is by far the toughest fight of Calzaghe's career, and after so long in the comfort zone I think he's going to find it hard. And Lacy hits a LOT harder than Salem and Mitchell who both dropped him heavily so there is a suggestion his punch resistance may be on the wane - he is 32 after all. If that's the case he is in trouble! Calzaghe has always eaten the right hand and those overhands and uppercuts Lacy was landing on Reid looked mightily impressive at times. Of course there is the chance Calzaghe will look a million turkish lira and box his ears off, but can he do that with a guy constantly pressuring him as opposed to against some obscure club fighter standing in punching range but doing fornicate all....

Kilburn wrote:I can't quite understand the reaction to this opponent, it was pretty effing obvious they wanted someone who would not be around for more than a couple of rounds, considering the planned big fight is so soon afterwards.

I'm not defending any of it but there seems to be an uproar in this thread, who did you expect to see in the opposite corner?

A Genuine super middleweight for one.

Of course, SN haven't said anything about this opponent yet so we may yet be jumping the gun.

The announcement is due for Monday apparently. (they can save on press conference costs then by announcing both fights on the same day!)

nickd wrote:Lacy hits a LOT harder than Mitchell

Settle down Nick, I know you badly want to see Calzaghe get flattened but this Lacy aint Julian Jackson.

Kilburn wrote:

nickd wrote:Lacy hits a LOT harder than Mitchell

Settle down Nick, I know you badly want to see Calzaghe get flattened but this Lacy aint Julian Jackson.

I'm not saying he is but I think he's a bigger hitter than Mitchell. Do you not think so?

jamesmcdonnell wrote:A Genuine super middleweight for one.

But what is the difference? If it were a genuine super middle it still wouldn't have been a competitive match 2 months before the proposed fight with Lacy. Imagine if someone came into the ring and shut up shop for 12 rounds, that would be the worst thing to happen. At least this way Calzaghe gets through in quick, exciting fashion and doesn't get upstaged by Khan bombing someone out on the undercard.

nickd wrote:

Kilburn wrote:

nickd wrote:Lacy hits a LOT harder than Mitchell

Settle down Nick, I know you badly want to see Calzaghe get flattened but this Lacy aint Julian Jackson.

I'm not saying he is but I think he's a bigger hitter than Mitchell. Do you not think so?

You think he hits a LOT harder than Mitchell. I don't think he does.

Err, does it occur to you Kilburn that Joe may need to have a bit of a workout before facing a monster like Lacy? He's not exactly had a hectic schedule of late and bowling over a middlweight in 2 rounds won't help much.

I know what your saying, but Lacy is right in the groove, he's young, active, and at the height of his powers, i would have thought that getting a durable SM might be an idea. Of course then there's the risk of injury.