Blackwell stoppage.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I think eubank was indeed suggesting how to get him out of there, but im sure it was also in the back of his mind just how many hard flush shots blackwell was taking.

[Boxerbeetle]

Didn't end up watching the fight but gutted to hear what's happened to Blackwell and hope he recovers well.

Always a tough call in a title fight with experienced fighters but I seem to remember lockett not pulling another fighter out in the recent past. Even harder when you do back the fitness of your man and question your opponents

Gavin Rees against Broner maybe?

Enzo against Braehmer was a much more recent example, although that was purely down to his eye injury.

[SNG]

Finally watched the fight, not sure the ref should have stopped it earlier, the round with the huge Eubnak flurry was mainly missing shots, I thought the stoppage was right when it came. Obviously we wish it was earlier subsequently but I never thought Blackwell was in really serious trouble.

[Coco]

Gary is a thoughtful, knowledgeable man, who may well be beating himself up a bit after the negative press coverage.
However he is a guy who has his fighters best interest at heart and understands fighters too. Often in these situations it is too tough to call, it is easy to criticise someone after the event.
I bet Nick Blackwell would have never spoken to him again if he had been pulled out after 7 or 8 rounds, his career was on the line here and they would have had tremendous confidence in his fitness and durability.
Essentially it goes to show what a hard, dangerous job this is, a sport you can never ultimately make safe, which is why it is such a pulsating game.
Gavin Rees was a good example when Lockett pulled him out a bit early as he had given his best and was on a hiding to nothing. He was saved for another day and to make enough money for his retirement. Blackwell just kept on coming, like the fighter he is, in the belief he would break Eubanks heart, he was in the fight, he was the champion and fought like one and deserved his chance.
I would like to see Blackwell awarded the Lonsdale Belt for keeps, he has earned it.

[Sklar]

Gary is a thoughtful, knowledgeable man, who may well be beating himself up a bit after the negative press coverage.
However he is a guy who has his fighters best interest at heart and understands fighters too. Often in these situations it is too tough to call, it is easy to criticise someone after the event.
I bet Nick Blackwell would have never spoken to him again if he had been pulled out after 7 or 8 rounds, his career was on the line here and they would have had tremendous confidence in his fitness and durability.
Essentially it goes to show what a hard, dangerous job this is, a sport you can never ultimately make safe, which is why it is such a pulsating game.
Gavin Rees was a good example when Lockett pulled him out a bit early as he had given his best and was on a hiding to nothing. He was saved for another day and to make enough money for his retirement. Blackwell just kept on coming, like the fighter he is, in the belief he would break Eubanks heart, he was in the fight, he was the champion and fought like one and deserved his chance.
I would like to see Blackwell awarded the Lonsdale Belt for keeps, he has earned it.

Agree with all that apart from the last sentence.

[dalcumly]

I don't suppose many on here read the Daily Telegraph - but make an exception today. 3 very good articles on this fight. One from Peter Hamlyn who was the neurosurgeon who treated Michael Watson who thought the fight should have been stopped earlier and encourages the Board to influence referees. One from Mickey Vann who says the referee was exactly correct in his decision and one from a lady MP who fully supports boxing and all it can do for young people and society. I didn't know there were more more fatalities per head of population in horse riding and scuba diving than boxing and more head injuries in hockey than boxing !!
Worth a read .

Also as I started this thread could I ask that we have more comments on the pre-fight antagonism seen regularly in build up to big fights and how this now sits after what happened to Blackwell.

[Coco]

I don't suppose many on here read the Daily Telegraph - but make an exception today. 3 very good articles on this fight. One from Peter Hamlyn who was the neurosurgeon who treated Michael Watson who thought the fight should have been stopped earlier and encourages the Board to influence referees. One from Mickey Vann who says the referee was exactly correct in his decision and one from a lady MP who fully supports boxing and all it can do for young people and society. I didn't know there were more more fatalities per head of population in horse riding and scuba diving than boxing and more head injuries in hockey than boxing !!
Worth a read .

Also as I started this thread could I ask that we have more comments on the pre-fight antagonism seen regularly in build up to big fights and how this now sits after what happened to Blackwell.

PRE fight antagonism is part of the hype, fights needs to be sold and it also helps boxers get their fighting head on.
When is comes down to it, a fight is fight.

[Oiky]

the pre fight talk is a part of pro boxing we will never see change it is part of what gets ppv buys, ticket sales, and general interest in a fight

[gazza8]

Gary is a thoughtful, knowledgeable man, who may well be beating himself up a bit after the negative press coverage.
However he is a guy who has his fighters best interest at heart and understands fighters too. Often in these situations it is too tough to call, it is easy to criticise someone after the event.
I bet Nick Blackwell would have never spoken to him again if he had been pulled out after 7 or 8 rounds, his career was on the line here and they would have had tremendous confidence in his fitness and durability.
Essentially it goes to show what a hard, dangerous job this is, a sport you can never ultimately make safe, which is why it is such a pulsating game.
Gavin Rees was a good example when Lockett pulled him out a bit early as he had given his best and was on a hiding to nothing. He was saved for another day and to make enough money for his retirement. Blackwell just kept on coming, like the fighter he is, in the belief he would break Eubanks heart, he was in the fight, he was the champion and fought like one and deserved his chance.
I would like to see Blackwell awarded the Lonsdale Belt for keeps, he has earned it.

The lonsdale belt for keeps is just silly its actually patronising to the fighter.

Have to disagree also that Blackwell kept coming back..ok he was throwing back but with the exception of 1 shot where Eubank had gassed himself and was caught of balance he never landed a meaningfull shot....he never slowed Eubank or hurt him and although i never saw any official cards I had only give NB 1 round so he was well behind. Hindsight is a great thing but i thought he should have been pulled out 2 rounds before.

Locket knows the fighter better than any of us and did what he thought was best...would it have made any difference stopping the fight earlier? know 1 knows

[BigSexy]

I don't think that the ref should have stopped it any earlier. Ref's get plenty of criticism, often justified, but I had no problems with the way Saturday panned out. Stoppage-wise. Obviously nobody wanted Blackwell to end up in hospital.

Blackwell was taking a beating. A hell of a beating. I had him down 7-2 when it was stopped, and about to be 8-2.

Barring the obvious swelling though, Blackwell was still covering up okay, moving and throwing the occasional retort. They weren't exactly power punches or anything meaningful, but a fighter in serious trouble usually won't throw anything at all. Even at the time of the stoppage, through stupidity or pride, he looked as though he had the mental capability to want to fight on too.

Lockett said in the corner, I can't recall if it was before R9 or R10, that this was "part of the plan"... Now obviously the plan wasn't to take quite as severe a beating, but clearly the plan was to come on late having let Junior punch himself out, to a degree.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I don't think that the ref should have stopped it any earlier. Ref's get plenty of criticism, often justified, but I had no problems with the way Saturday panned out. Stoppage-wise. Obviously nobody wanted Blackwell to end up in hospital.

Blackwell was taking a beating. A hell of a beating. I had him down 7-2 when it was stopped, and about to be 8-2.

Barring the obvious swelling though, Blackwell was still covering up okay, moving and throwing the occasional retort. They weren't exactly power punches or anything meaningful, but a fighter in serious trouble usually won't throw anything at all. Even at the time of the stoppage, through stupidity or pride, he looked as though he had the mental capability to want to fight on too.

Lockett said in the corner, I can't recall if it was before R9 or R10, that this was "part of the plan"... Now obviously the plan wasn't to take quite as severe a beating, but clearly the plan was to come on late having let Junior punch himself out, to a degree.

Yes, but that plan was obviously shot to be bits, I think Lockett was a bit delusional. When he made that speech in the corner, Blackwell just stared blankly back and said 'Yeah.'

Blackwell looked totally defeated by that point, he was really just hanging in there. People say he was 'in the fight' but he wasn't, he was occasionally throwing one back, but was having no impact on Eubank when he did, was taking lots of unanswered shots , and was clearly a mile behind on the cards, with no chance of turning the fight around, as he wasn't landing anything meaningful. The best shot he landed in the entire fight was when Eubank was busy shouting at Saunders and the Furies and left himself wide open.

I'm not laying into Lockett, but it seems that it should have been clear that the plan was well and truly done, you can't come on strong in the last 4 rounds if you've taken an absolute pasting, and you are In fact more tired and physically beaten than your opponent, and you lack the one shot power to produce a miracle. Blackwell's plan was based on pressure and grinding Eubank down, and he was never going to do that after 8 rounds of eating heavy shots.

I was surprised to not at least hear the corner say 'If you keep taking shots like that we're pulling you out' - Lockett was obviously concerned about the number of uppercuts he was taking, so I did find it a little odd.

I fear that Blackwell's reputation for toughness allowed both the corner and ref to overlook the one sided nature of the contest.

Whether or not as fighter is still 'in the fight' the amount of punishment, and the one sided nature of a fight should surely be taken into consideration.

If none of this had happened, and somehow Blackwell had managed to survive until the 12th taking that punishment - to what end would that have been. We might have been saying how tough he was, but should fighters be allowed to take that kind of a sustained beating for the sake of their pride?

[Loftgroov]

This also brings me to another point I've made often on here. The animosity build up pre-fight, and encouraged by all concerned. In the ring before the fight we had the world heavyweight champion, a world middleweight champion, the promoter and a host of others in Blackwell's corner. What was their purpose? To intimidate Eubank !! Then when it all goes wrong they're full of apologies. There is always this danger. In fact did the TV not also say that they didn't even touch gloves on the ref's instruction. LET'S CUT THIS OUT ONCE AND FOR ALL. It's a sport not a fight in the street between a bunch of thugs.

I agree but its all about ratings sadly. That sort of behaviour really appeals to a lot of people that follow boxing (present company excluded), and lets not forget its made all the more possible and frequent through social media.

Your average fighting-watching Chav just laps it up. Why do you think Fast Eddie always refers to Josh Warrington fights as an amazing atmosphere? I think its just hordes of pissed up cretins shouting, but that's just me.

Promoters will give the punters what they want. That will never change. So if anything its just a sad reflection on society. Two boxers stepping into the ring and fighting isn't as interesting if not preceded by all manner of threats, tribal abuse and putdowns.

[BigSexy]

I don't think that the ref should have stopped it any earlier. Ref's get plenty of criticism, often justified, but I had no problems with the way Saturday panned out. Stoppage-wise. Obviously nobody wanted Blackwell to end up in hospital.

Blackwell was taking a beating. A hell of a beating. I had him down 7-2 when it was stopped, and about to be 8-2.

Barring the obvious swelling though, Blackwell was still covering up okay, moving and throwing the occasional retort. They weren't exactly power punches or anything meaningful, but a fighter in serious trouble usually won't throw anything at all. Even at the time of the stoppage, through stupidity or pride, he looked as though he had the mental capability to want to fight on too.

Lockett said in the corner, I can't recall if it was before R9 or R10, that this was "part of the plan"... Now obviously the plan wasn't to take quite as severe a beating, but clearly the plan was to come on late having let Junior punch himself out, to a degree.

Yes, but that plan was obviously shot to be bits, I think Lockett was a bit delusional. When he made that speech in the corner, Blackwell just stared blankly back and said 'Yeah.'

Blackwell looked totally defeated by that point, he was really just hanging in there. People say he was 'in the fight' but he wasn't, he was occasionally throwing one back, but was having no impact on Eubank when he did, was taking lots of unanswered shots , and was clearly a mile behind on the cards, with no chance of turning the fight around, as he wasn't landing anything meaningful. The best shot he landed in the entire fight was when Eubank was busy shouting at Saunders and the Furies and left himself wide open.

I'm not laying into Lockett, but it seems that it should have been clear that the plan was well and truly done, you can't come on strong in the last 4 rounds if you've taken an absolute pasting, and you are In fact more tired and physically beaten than your opponent, and you lack the one shot power to produce a miracle. Blackwell's plan was based on pressure and grinding Eubank down, and he was never going to do that after 8 rounds of eating heavy shots.

I was surprised to not at least hear the corner say 'If you keep taking shots like that we're pulling you out' - Lockett was obviously concerned about the number of uppercuts he was taking, so I did find it a little odd.

I fear that Blackwell's reputation for toughness allowed both the corner and ref to overlook the one sided nature of the contest.

Whether or not as fighter is still 'in the fight' the amount of punishment, and the one sided nature of a fight should surely be taken into consideration.

If none of this had happened, and somehow Blackwell had managed to survive until the 12th taking that punishment - to what end would that have been. We might have been saying how tough he was, but should fighters be allowed to take that kind of a sustained beating for the sake of their pride?

All fair points there mate.

I fear though if fighters start to get pulled our just because their losing by some distance on points, a lot of fights and fighters will be pulled early. There'll be plenty of trainers who will think "You're not winning so what's the point in continuing". I'm not applying this to the Blackwell situation, but just generally if a precedent was set.

Fans would sharp turn away from the sport if that happened. Which it may or may not.

Perhaps more onus could be applied to referees. In the instance of Blackwell for instance, he has a word with the corner around R8-R9. Just a word to say "another round like that and it's over".

I've not thought about this point too much before I type it, but just throwing it out, would it be worth a referee, pre-fight in the dressing room, ask a fighter/corner about their general plan for the fight. I don't know if this happens already so forgive me, but even if the plan given to the ref is as vague as "we're looking to come on strong late in the fight"... then a ref can look at R7-10, and see if there has been any improvement and have a word in the corner saying "you said you were coming on late, I'm not seeing any evidence of that so any more sustained beating and I'll have to call this one off"

Just thinking aloud there, forgive me if it sounds like total bollocks!

[stujones]

I've been debating the stoppage with my old man since the fight.

I don't know if it is Eubank's style - which he leaves himself so open to walk onto shots when he goes for the attack or he does too many school boy mistakes (like seemingly call out BJS DURING the fight) I just always thought Blackwell was always in the fight. He was losing most (if not all) of the rounds but there was never a 10-8 type round (this wasn't Calzaghe vs Lacy or Klitchsko vs Briggs) - Eubank was seemingly getting tired also (as was Blackwell).

I think Lockett and the referee / doctor did an impeccable job. My old man thought the ref (not corner) should have stopped it a round or so before, but for me Blackwell was always in the fight.

Although I did think it looked like he was getting dejected in the 10th. It would have been interesting to have seen what happened at the end of the 10th - thankfully, it got stopped when it did in hindsight.

But if Lockett and Loughlan are reading this - I think you both did an excellent job.

It is interesting to read the comparison with the O Sullivan fight.... for me O Sullivan quit as much as Collins pulled him out. I was critical there, but I think Collins was spot on in hinsight... O Sullivan was losing his snap and Eubank hadn't. This time though, I felt Blackwell hadn't lost his snap (although was throwing a lot less in the 10th) and Eubank seemed to be having more rest rounds in this fight. I always thought there was a chance for Blackwell here - even though he was a mile down on the cards.

[Batley18]

Blackwell was an absolute warrior. Didn't show any signs of the punches hurting him, and kept walking forward. I don't think it was one sided enough, or that Blackwell was inactive enough for the fight to be called off. While he was losing, the mentality would have been to have connected a big shot on Eubank Jr in order to retain the belt and win it outright. Boxing is a brutal sport, and unfortunately this is sometimes the result...could not have been foreseen.