BoxRec

bigzab wrote:Why isn't Arthur Abraham a poll option??????????

Because he's a middleweight and De La Hoya is not and won't fight at 160 lbs - and he's hardly an established fighter or even a well known name for the US market.

If Wright wins vs Taylor, do you think it will be possible to repeat the Sugar Ray Leonard vs Donny Lalonde fiasco and have both Wright and DLH at Light Middle fighting for the Middleweight title.

Wasn't Lalonde forced to come in at some ridiculous catchweight under the 168 Super Middle limit, like 164 or something.

Leonard didn't half twat him.

what i found equally ridiculous was leonard-hearns 2. for the super middleweight titles, but at leonard's request they had to come in around 160, so he could weaken Hearns

personally i thin it stank like shit that hopkins had to come in low for oscar. hopkins was a skinny old guy and he came in at frigging 156. what makes me laugh is that hopkins actually outthought and outboxed him, as opposed to acting bigger and stronger

viciousmaussa wrote:what i found equally ridiculous was leonard-hearns 2. for the super middleweight titles, but at leonard's request they had to come in around 160, so he could weaken Hearns

personally i thin it stank like shit that hopkins had to come in low for oscar. hopkins was a skinny old guy and he came in at frigging 156. what makes me laugh is that hopkins actually outthought and outboxed him, as opposed to acting bigger and stronger

Did Hopkins HAVE to come in light? I thought that was Hopkins strategic decision?

I don't recall Hopkins being forced to come in light, find it hard to see him agreeing to that. Hopkins often came in at under 160 anyway, he was never a big middleweight, he said he could make light middle if he wanted to.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I don't recall Hopkins being forced to come in light, find it hard to see him agreeing to that. Hopkins often came in at under 160 anyway, he was never a big middleweight, he said he could make light middle if he wanted to.

before the fight was even finalisd, hopkins said something like this 'i know there'll be some kind of catchweight bullshit on the contract'

could be a strategic thing, as half the fight was won by convincing dlh coming at him, standin front of him, allowing hopkins to pick him off. only other fight he was very light in was trinidad, where he was 157. check out the keith holmes fight, hopkins put a lot of weight on after the weigh in, he was huge in that one comparatively

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Wasn't Lalonde forced to come in at some ridiculous catchweight under the 168 Super Middle limit, like 164 or something.

Leonard didn't half twat him.

I cannot remember, according to Boxrec he was 167, but his weight did flucuate a lot so not sure how drained he was. He was as low as 165 less than two years previous.

I did think it was B/S that the Light Heavy title was on the line, but thought the weight drained angle was more made up by Leonard critics.

It was an excellent fight, Leonard showed tremendous heart - Lalonde twatted him on a few occasions including just before the stoppage.

Both showed great fighting spirit.

Leonard showed that even at higher weights he could punch, one thing I always liked about Leonard was that despite the fancy dan image, he had a huge fighting heart, and could punch his way out of trouble when needed. He took some brutal shots from Hearns in their 1st fight, and turned around a fight he was certain to lose with a display of clinical finishing.

bigzab wrote: Did Hopkins HAVE to come in light? I thought that was Hopkins strategic decision?

Correct, it was purely tactical by Hopkins. No enforced stipulations or nonsense at all.