BoxRec

I thought it was a gamble worth taking for Lawton. I did fancy Kirakosyan to win strongly (via stoppage in the middle rounds) but thought Scott could cause him problems if he didn't get involved. I was therefore surprised by how quickly Kirakosyan got to Lawton. I do agree though with the criticism angled at Lawton's corner for not withdrawing him at the end of the second round.

While we're on the subject of mismatches, I wonder how many people advocated Rendall Munroe going in with Kiko Martinez? Back then Rendall was at a similar level to Lawton (English title level having failed to win the British), a relative light hitter going in with a banger who had just bombed out Bernard Dunne. I wasn't expecting Munroe to last long, let alone win. Who knows where Munroe would have been now had his team not taken that audacious gamble?

Ben Carey wrote:
While we're on the subject of mismatches, I wonder how many people advocated Rendall Munroe going in with Kiko Martinez? Back then Rendall was at a similar level to Lawton (English title level having failed to win the British), a relative light hitter going in with a banger who had just bombed out Bernard Dunne. I wasn't expecting Munroe to last long, let alone win. Who knows where Munroe would have been now had his team not taken that audacious gamble?

good point

Ben Carey wrote:
While we're on the subject of mismatches, I wonder how many people advocated Rendall Munroe going in with Kiko Martinez? Back then Rendall was at a similar level to Lawton (English title level having failed to win the British), a relative light hitter going in with a banger who had just bombed out Bernard Dunne. I wasn't expecting Munroe to last long, let alone win. Who knows where Munroe would have been now had his team not taken that audacious gamble?

Monroe had indeed lost, once, and it was a reasonably close fight that went to points- he was most certainly on the comeback trail, too, having just won the English title.

whicker wrote:

Ben Carey wrote:
While we're on the subject of mismatches, I wonder how many people advocated Rendall Munroe going in with Kiko Martinez? Back then Rendall was at a similar level to Lawton (English title level having failed to win the British), a relative light hitter going in with a banger who had just bombed out Bernard Dunne. I wasn't expecting Munroe to last long, let alone win. Who knows where Munroe would have been now had his team not taken that audacious gamble?

Monroe had indeed lost, once, and it was a reasonably close fight that went to points- he was most certainly on the comeback trail, too, having just won the English title.

But you look at his losses to the likes of Khan, Murray and Thaxton at title level. One is a world titlist, one has won European and the other should definitely be Euro champ and possibly more. All three have boxed at a higher level than Morris.

More to the point, how did Lawton get nominated considering he had never made super-featherweight?

Ben Carey wrote:I thought it was a gamble worth taking for Lawton. I did fancy Kirakosyan to win strongly (via stoppage in the middle rounds) but thought Scott could cause him problems if he didn't get involved. I was therefore surprised by how quickly Kirakosyan got to Lawton. I do agree though with the criticism angled at Lawton's corner for not withdrawing him at the end of the second round.

While we're on the subject of mismatches, I wonder how many people advocated Rendall Munroe going in with Kiko Martinez? Back then Rendall was at a similar level to Lawton (English title level having failed to win the British), a relative light hitter going in with a banger who had just bombed out Bernard Dunne. I wasn't expecting Munroe to last long, let alone win. Who knows where Munroe would have been now had his team not taken that audacious gamble?

I don't think Munroe/Lawton examples can really be compared. I fancied Munroe to beat Martinez on points(and at 10/1 I'm kicking myself I didn't got to the bookies and back it), while I thought Lawton would be stopped early in this(and at 6/1 yet again I was annoyed I didn't back it). Martinez had shown flaws in his fights in Spain that could be exposed by Munroe, and Rendall hadn't looked chinny in his career so far.

Lawton had been stopped everytime he had stepped up in level, and although it was possible hise size could cause Kirakosyan problems he was going in against a guy with World Class Power and he's a little fragile around the chin. Combine this with Lawton's lack of punch and you reach the conclusion that even if Lawton could outbox him for a while he'd eventually succumb to the pressure.

Martinez was far less proven and known than Kirakosyan, as was his power. That was a more educated gamble.
Of course I still think getting Lawton in there with Kirakosyan was worth it, just because of the Russian's advanced age and the possibility that he'd have become shot since we last saw him destroying Carl Johanneson. It was sort of one last throw of the dice to try and get Lawton a title, and they went for one of the biggest ones out there(being the European). Had Kirakosyan turned up past it, it would have been a great achievement for Lawton to win something as big as the European title, and they'd have probably been able to get him a few good defences before he'd run into a mandatory like Gulyakevich. The massive rewards, were worth the huge risk.


Edit: Lawton may not have made Super-featherweight before, but 1lb of in a non-title fight v Derry Matthews in his fight before was enough to justify that. I just want to know why wasn't it Gulyakevich in the other corner to Kirakosyan ?, surely he must have been paid step aside money as he was on this bill aswell.

Hagler2002 wrote:

oliverfennell wrote:Uh oh, it's Hagler's "free money" time. So, Lawton on points it is!

Free effing money!!!!!

Fair play

gobbles wrote:More to the point, how did Lawton get nominated considering he had never made super-featherweight?

European title doesn't seem too strict on whom they let box for it.

BigEars wrote:

Ben Carey wrote:I thought it was a gamble worth taking for Lawton. I did fancy Kirakosyan to win strongly (via stoppage in the middle rounds) but thought Scott could cause him problems if he didn't get involved. I was therefore surprised by how quickly Kirakosyan got to Lawton. I do agree though with the criticism angled at Lawton's corner for not withdrawing him at the end of the second round.

While we're on the subject of mismatches, I wonder how many people advocated Rendall Munroe going in with Kiko Martinez? Back then Rendall was at a similar level to Lawton (English title level having failed to win the British), a relative light hitter going in with a banger who had just bombed out Bernard Dunne. I wasn't expecting Munroe to last long, let alone win. Who knows where Munroe would have been now had his team not taken that audacious gamble?

I don't think Munroe/Lawton examples can really be compared. I fancied Munroe to beat Martinez on points(and at 10/1 I'm kicking myself I didn't got to the bookies and back it), while I thought Lawton would be stopped early in this(and at 6/1 yet again I was annoyed I didn't back it). Martinez had shown flaws in his fights in Spain that could be exposed by Munroe, and Rendall hadn't looked chinny in his career so far.

Lawton had been stopped everytime he had stepped up in level, and although it was possible hise size could cause Kirakosyan problems he was going in against a guy with World Class Power and he's a little fragile around the chin. Combine this with Lawton's lack of punch and you reach the conclusion that even if Lawton could outbox him for a while he'd eventually succumb to the pressure.

Martinez was far less proven and known than Kirakosyan, as was his power. That was a more educated gamble.
Of course I still think getting Lawton in there with Kirakosyan was worth it, just because of the Russian's advanced age and the possibility that he'd have become shot since we last saw him destroying Carl Johanneson. It was sort of one last throw of the dice to try and get Lawton a title, and they went for one of the biggest ones out there(being the European). Had Kirakosyan turned up past it, it would have been a great achievement for Lawton to win something as big as the European title, and they'd have probably been able to get him a few good defences before he'd run into a mandatory like Gulyakevich. The massive rewards, were worth the huge risk.


Edit: Lawton may not have made Super-featherweight before, but 1lb of in a non-title fight v Derry Matthews in his fight before was enough to justify that. I just want to know why wasn't it Gulyakevich in the other corner to Kirakosyan ?, surely he must have been paid step aside money as he was on this bill aswell.

Hi Big Ears,

You make some good points. Some gambles are bigger than others and tipping Munroe to beat Martinez was a great shout on your part. I acknowledge that Martinez was raw but his victory over Dunne, and in the manner, could be considered a better win than anything Kirakosyan had managed i.e Martinez beating Dunne on paper was better than Kirakosyan beating Carl Johanneson.

Kirakosyan was 36 and had also largely treaded water against Euro also-rans since losing to Gulykevich. I am in agreement though that Kirakosyan's power was always going to give Lawton major problems, I just didn't expect him to take Scott out so early.