Khomitsky fight too early for Etches?

[MightyWarrior]

Yes I noticed how nervous Etches looked before the fight, he seemed a little shell shocked by it all & I had a bad feeling about it at the time. Watt at least noticed he was tentative, Halling as usual noticed nothing at all.

[Crazyboy]

absolutely!!

I said in another post, it could be the wake up call he needs to prepare for the big leagues. He knows now that anything can happen...

Course he can come back and I hope he does

[expe]

I accept he needed stepping up, but this was matchmaking suicide. There was NOTHING to gain as the OP said, if he wins he's beat a 40 year old who's past it, but if he loses he's been found out.

I'm all for tough matchmaking, but if I was his manager I wouldn't have been putting him anywhere near Khomitsky.

Hindsight is 20:20 mate; Blackwell seemed to be handling Khomitsky okay and prior to this fight you'd place Blackwell on round about the same level as Etches right?

Getting knocked like that isn't good. But it could be the making of Etches too and the wake up call he needed to tighten up his passive defense and be more defensively responsible after his letting his own punches go.

Blackwell had already fought Murray, Saunders and Bursak, he fell short against all three, although he pushed Bursak very close, but he had experience of boxing better fighters than Khomitsky, Etches hadn't really been in with a live opponent yet.

[Pugilist-specialist]

Jesus, poor kid what a terrible photo that is. He can definitely come back from this, he took some hard whacks earlier in the fight, so I don't think he's chinny, he just walked onto a perfect shot - and he can certainly punch himself, as the Russian's marked up face showed after.
For inspiration he doesn't need to look any further than Derry Matthews, three straight knockout losses, but bounces back and fighting for a world title in a few weeks time.

Number one priority for Adam now is: get a defence.

The Ingle gym is renowned for producing champions. Adam left, explaining in the press that he was way down the pecking order, to join a trainer without that history in boxing (although I'm unaware of his thai boxers' record).

[manno]

I know what your saying pugilist about andy but do you think that the Ingle gym was the right fit for Adam tho? I know you can change fighters but etches was never gonna be fluid enough or diverse enough (mentally) to be succesfull at wincobank. John Keaton, chris Saunders, mick mills were aggresive bangers but not as one dimensional as Etches imo. You can only work with what youve got as a trainer and I dont think dominic, emanuel steward or Dynamo wouldve prevented that happening. Etches wasnt equipped, experienced enough or plain good enough to deal with Khomitsky. Im not digging the kid out cos he lost as ive sais previous known him a long time but he is capable of British title contention at best.
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[Boxerbeetle]

I know what your saying pugilist about andy but do you think that the Ingle gym was the right fit for Adam tho? I know you can change fighters but etches was never gonna be fluid enough or diverse enough (mentally) to be succesfull at wincobank. John Keaton, chris Saunders, mick mills were aggresive bangers but not as one dimensional as Etches imo. You can only work with what youve got as a trainer and I dont think dominic, emanuel steward or Dynamo wouldve prevented that happening. Etches wasnt equipped, experienced enough or plain good enough to deal with Khomitsky. Im not digging the kid out cos he lost as ive sais previous known him a long time but he is capable of British title contention at best.
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To be honest, I doubt the Ingles would have agreed to put him in with Khomitsky at this stage.

[Pugilist-specialist]

I know what your saying pugilist about andy but do you think that the Ingle gym was the right fit for Adam tho? I know you can change fighters but etches was never gonna be fluid enough or diverse enough (mentally) to be succesfull at wincobank. John Keaton, chris Saunders, mick mills were aggresive bangers but not as one dimensional as Etches imo. You can only work with what youve got as a trainer and I dont think dominic, emanuel steward or Dynamo wouldve prevented that happening. Etches wasnt equipped, experienced enough or plain good enough to deal with Khomitsky. Im not digging the kid out cos he lost as ive sais previous known him a long time but he is capable of British title contention at best.
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I don't think they were going to turn him into Junior Witter!
There's a lot of experience and professionalism at that gym, along with the competitiveness and high-quality sparring every day makes it a good place to learn.
Adam has said he wants to be a world champion. To then say that he's left a gym because he's down the pecking order sounds contradictory.

[reggaereggae]

Jesus, poor kid what a terrible photo that is. He can definitely come back from this, he took some hard whacks earlier in the fight, so I don't think he's chinny, he just walked onto a perfect shot - and he can certainly punch himself, as the Russian's marked up face showed after.
For inspiration he doesn't need to look any further than Derry Matthews, three straight knockout losses, but bounces back and fighting for a world title in a few weeks time.

Number one priority for Adam now is: get a defence.

I don't mean to be a pedant (actually I love it:-) but Khomitsky is not Russian, he's from Belarus, and born in Ukraine.
(Funnily enough I actually thought he was Polish and so checked.... I was wrong!)

[palooka]

I feel for Adam, he really does seem a lovely lad. He did seem nervous and tentative on Saturday, he didn't seem to use any head movement or show any gumption or guile when selecting his punches. He didn't seem to have amassed much experience from his 18 bouts and just appeared to be a strong and heavy handed brawler. He walked into a hard and accurate punch and it happens, he can come again as he's young but must concentrate on his stylistic weaknesses and not just his strengths.

[Broomhall]

I feel for Adam, he really does seem a lovely lad. He did seem nervous and tentative on Saturday, he didn't seem to use any head movement or show any gumption or guile when selecting his punches. He didn't seem to have amassed much experience from his 18 bouts and just appeared to be a strong and heavy handed brawler. He walked into a hard and accurate punch and it happens, he can come again as he's young but must concentrate on his stylistic weaknesses and not just his strengths.

yeah but you got to give props to the boy Khomitsky. Travels to the other guys backyard all the time. Don't know what he gets paid but he is a great marker for any young fighter. I thought Etches matchmaking was ok, and this was a winnable fight for him and worth the risk. At some stage every fighter needs to take that step and on this occasion the dice didn't roll his way...but this is boxing and that is why we love it I geuss.

[palooka]

That's fair comment, Broomhall - Khomitsky is a tough customer and he really does come to compete; it'd be interesting to see how well he could do if he were the house fighter and had a promoter who'd help him to capitalise on his victories.

[samwbr]

Looked like the first decent shot Khomitsky caught him with in the first was a shock, could only see one winner from then on despite the bit of success etches had in the 3rd.

[handsofstone]

I didn't think it came too early despite the KO loss,its not ideal but its how he comes back from it that will determine how far he can go,Khan got obliterated in a round from Prescott and went on to become unified world champion and one of the most recognisable boxers in the world

After 18 fights,Etches really should have learned to move his head,I'm not wanting to sound harsh but it really is as simple at that,if he can learn that, with the tools he already has then he can get right back in the mix

But yeah I think the Khomitsky fight was a great bit of match making, we give promoters a lot of flak for feeding us mis matches so we cant complain when fighters loss when they go into 50-50's,as tough as Sergey is,he's still over 40 and you would think a top talent like Adam could compete with him,which he was until he got caught with 1 punch

[BOYOVERTHEHILL]

No.
Adam is NOT a top talent.
He's average and this fight was never 50/50.
Crazy

[Broomhall]

No.
Adam is NOT a top talent.
He's average and this fight was never 50/50.
Crazy

Part of the problem may be that we never really knew where Etches was ability wise as there are no significant british fighters on his resume, but the fact remains that Khomitsky like all step ups was a calculated risk, a post 40 fighter with a recent draw against Blackwell. Etches team must have thought their fighter was up to the task or they wouldnt have made the match.

I have seen it happen many times in the past, and thank goodness it does (sorry for Etches it happened to him) because it makes the game much less predictable.

I remember the first time my little boxing heart was broken when my then favourite fghter Vernon Sollas got chinned by the unheralded, but tough little european Cotena, and then many times since. We found out that Sollas could box and punch but he couldnt fight. He never learned how to fight and was never the same. Etches has a similar task in front of him now if he can learn how to fight then he has a future, if not that is the harsh reality of this game.

[arlovski]

done a little vid on this fight, highlighting what people have already said as the obvious deciding factor- Etches lack of a sound defence, and Khomitsky's nouse/experience.

Haven't included the good moments Etches did have offensively as i just wanted to focus on defence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tMgwlBsp5o

Adam seems a decent lad, hope he rebuilds and comes back better+stronger from the setback

[MR T]

done a little vid on this fight, highlighting what people have already said as the obvious deciding factor- Etches lack of a sound defence, and Khomitsky's nouse/experience.

Haven't included the good moments Etches did have offensively as i just wanted to focus on defence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tMgwlBsp5o

Adam seems a decent lad, hope he rebuilds and comes back better+stronger from the setback

Enjoyed that, nice video

[arlovski]

done a little vid on this fight, highlighting what people have already said as the obvious deciding factor- Etches lack of a sound defence, and Khomitsky's nouse/experience.

Haven't included the good moments Etches did have offensively as i just wanted to focus on defence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tMgwlBsp5o

Adam seems a decent lad, hope he rebuilds and comes back better+stronger from the setback

Enjoyed that, nice video

cheers mate.

I feel a bit bad making it, Etches does seem really sound.

It was obvious from the first round that he was in trouble here though - walking square onto jabs, Khomitsky immediately looking to time counters etc.

On another point, the commentary, as per, was shocking. Halling hasn't got a clue, he said Etches was starting to 'really take over' after the 3rd, it was 'such a measured performance' etc, when it was obvious, to me at least, that it was him who was getting caught clean more and more and was getting more tentative with his own jab because he was getting countered so frequently.

Don't know whether can see things, and just doesn't mention them to toe the party/home fighter line, or whether he just is clueless and doesn't understand the subtleties of the sport, that he's paid to know and talk about. Either way, it's appalling.

[mickey1975]

It was a good match, he got beat. That's about it really.

[Boxerbeetle]

done a little vid on this fight, highlighting what people have already said as the obvious deciding factor- Etches lack of a sound defence, and Khomitsky's nouse/experience.

Haven't included the good moments Etches did have offensively as i just wanted to focus on defence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tMgwlBsp5o

Adam seems a decent lad, hope he rebuilds and comes back better+stronger from the setback

Enjoyed that, nice video

cheers mate.

I feel a bit bad making it, Etches does seem really sound.

It was obvious from the first round that he was in trouble here though - walking square onto jabs, Khomitsky immediately looking to time counters etc.

On another point, the commentary, as per, was shocking. Halling hasn't got a clue, he said Etches was starting to 'really take over' after the 3rd, it was 'such a measured performance' etc, when it was obvious, to me at least, that it was him who was getting caught clean more and more and was getting more tentative with his own jab because he was getting countered so frequently.

Don't know whether can see things, and just doesn't mention them to toe the party/home fighter line, or whether he just is clueless and doesn't understand the subtleties of the sport, that he's paid to know and talk about. Either way, it's appalling.

Halling is totally clueless, terrible commentator.

[arlovski]

It was a good match, he got beat. That's about it really.

Touted British prospect, undefeated with 80% KO record, fights 40 year old with solid, if unspectacular skills, and gets iced out in 4 rounds after showing defensive qualities of a complete novice.

Something's obviously gone wrong in the matchmaking or previous development of one of our prospects, worthy of discussion imo

[black panther]

It was a good match, he got beat. That's about it really.

Touted British prospect, undefeated with 80% KO record, fights 40 year old with solid, if unspectacular skills, and gets iced out in 4 rounds after showing defensive qualities of a complete novice.

Something's obviously gone wrong in the matchmaking or previous development of one of our prospects, worthy of discussion imo

It was hardly "a good match" either. Khomitsky looked a league above.

[mickey1975]

It was a good match, he got beat. That's about it really.

Touted British prospect, undefeated with 80% KO record, fights 40 year old with solid, if unspectacular skills, and gets iced out in 4 rounds after showing defensive qualities of a complete novice.

Something's obviously gone wrong in the matchmaking or previous development of one of our prospects, worthy of discussion imo

They stepped him up, he got beat. It WAS good matchmaking. If you can do the business, you'll win. You've got to find out sometime.