BoxRec

Aren't sky meant to be showing this one on Sat, but it's not listed, anyone know ?

They should show it on the Joshua card - hopefully live - it's an afternoon fight in the states.

Yeah it's being shown as part of the Joshua coverage, they tweeted to confirm last night. Very poor promotion from Sky though - the fight doesn't even get a mention on the programme info.

I'd rather watch the Stevenson v Bika fight than a ten second Joshua blow out. Really poor from Sky, they need to do a lot better.

Ah afternoon fight is it, well that's great we can watch live on Sat night, but absolutely clueless presentation from the sky boxing team, actually showing a real fight other than the Eddie Hearn mismatches and they don't even mention it ?
What a bunch of clowns they are, I'm not even convinced they're showing it, as all that's listed after the great Anthony Joshua superfight is the Luke f******* Campbell story.

Definitely on SKY this Saturday as part of their Matchroom broadcast from Newcastle. Pretty much confirmed on Ringside last night.

They said they will be going live to this card after Newcastle so I'm hoping we get to see Beterbiev v Campillo before Stevenson v Bika. Both pretty straight forward matches really. Bika is solid but limited especially as he gets older. I'm itching to see Kovalev v Stevenson so I'm hoping there's no slip ups.

Stevenson should be too accurate, but Bika could land one of those wild swings, and I'm not convinced on Stevensons chin.

Fastcar said 5/6 hours of boxing but looks like it's only a 4 hour show, hopefully it gets extended.

Bika was hurt and dropped if I remember in the first Dirrell fight.

I think Stevenson will blast him out within 6. The odds are pretty dung though.

MightyWarrior wrote:Aren't sky meant to be showing this one on Sat, but it's not listed, anyone know ?

I was just thinking the same thing when looking through the listings on Sky.

Stevenson-Bika should be classed as the main event! The rest of the fights are pretty poor, Simmons v Dickinson should be the best fight on the card but I've seen Dickinson in a fair few stinkers.

Gavern will probably be stopped on his feet once the first flurry starts landing from AJ.

Bika to win by KO in rounds 9 through 12 pays a whopping 40/1.

Bika is getting on a bit and he's moving up in weight here, but Stevensons stamina is questionable. I think if Bika can hang tough and make it a rough fight, he could get to Stevenson as the fight wears on. At 40/1 its got to be worth a punt!

Bika's lost to every top opponent he's faced, he looked poor last time out, he hasn't won in nearly two years, and he's facing someone who is bigger, harder punching, faster, and more skilled than him. Considering this and the fact the he's never been a big puncher at world level, I don't see much of a chance for him. He was also hurt in both Dirrell fights and while he has a reputation for being durable I don't think he'll be able to absorb too many left before they seriously take their toll.

crusader wrote:Bika's lost to every top opponent he's faced, he looked poor last time out, he hasn't won in nearly two years, and he's facing someone who is bigger, harder punching, faster, and more skilled than him. Considering this and the fact the he's never been a big puncher at world level, I don't see much of a chance for him. He was also hurt in both Dirrell fights and while he has a reputation for being durable I don't think he'll be able to absorb too many left before they seriously take their toll.

Dirrell may be better than Stevenson.

I'm not counting Bika out. I also think Stevenson is currently one of the more overrated fighters out there.

Stevenson will beat him handily

Beterbiev on undercard too. Would fancy him to give Adonis and Kovalev huge problems, regardless of how few pro fights he's had. Could feasibly see Beterbiev Stevenson before Stevenson Kovalev

Beterbiev is an interesting one, they obviously rate him massively as he's being moved quicker than any light heavy prospect I can remember seeing. Cloud in his 4th or 5th fight and now another top 10 fighter ...but he was knocked down in his last fight, which was a shock, maybe he was off balance...in the Cloud fight he looked a monster - too good to be true or the real McCoy ?

Impractical Poster wrote:

crusader wrote:Bika's lost to every top opponent he's faced, he looked poor last time out, he hasn't won in nearly two years, and he's facing someone who is bigger, harder punching, faster, and more skilled than him. Considering this and the fact the he's never been a big puncher at world level, I don't see much of a chance for him. He was also hurt in both Dirrell fights and while he has a reputation for being durable I don't think he'll be able to absorb too many left before they seriously take their toll.

Dirrell may be better than Stevenson.

I'm not counting Bika out. I also think Stevenson is currently one of the more overrated fighters out there.

I don't think Dirrell is better than Stevenson and Bika is the only notable fighter he's faced so he still has much to prove. Stevenson has too many advantages for me to give Bika much of a shot and I don't think Bika has a style that is well-suited for moving up in weight.

You may be intrigued by a fight in which one man is slower, less skilled, much less hard-hitting, has worse recent form, lost his last fight widely, hasn't won a meaningful fight at the weight, hasn't won in nearly two years, and was dropped and hurt multiple times by someone who shows no signs of punching as hard as Stevenson, but I'm not.

MightyWarrior wrote:Beterbiev is an interesting one, they obviously rate him massively as he's being moved quicker than any light heavy prospect I can remember seeing. Cloud in his 4th or 5th fight and now another top 10 fighter ...but he was knocked down in his last fight, which was a shock, maybe he was off balance...in the Cloud fight he looked a monster - too good to be true or the real McCoy ?

He's good but probably a bit overrated in my view. The Cloud win was impressive due to the brevity and brutality of it but I think Cloud deserved to lose three consecutive bouts entering the fight, and in my view he was clearly past it. He also was tailor-made for Beterbiev as he lacks boxing skill and likes to trade with opponents, which is generally not a good approach to take against Beterbiev. Page stuck to boxing in the first round against Beterbiev and to me highlighted some technical and defense issues while raising questions about Beterbiev's chin, though he obviously wasn't good enough to keep that up.

I'm not sold on Beterbiev being a monster who would beat Kovalev and Stevenson but I expect him to do well in the future and he's one of the more exciting fighters at the weight.

crusader wrote:
He's good but probably a bit overrated in my view. The Cloud win was impressive due to the brevity and brutality of it but I think Cloud deserved to lose three consecutive bouts entering the fight, and in my view he was clearly past it. He also was tailor-made for Beterbiev as he lacks boxing skill and likes to trade with opponents, which is generally not a good approach to take against Beterbiev. Page stuck to boxing in the first round against Beterbiev and to me highlighted some technical and defense issues while raising questions about Beterbiev's chin, though he obviously wasn't good enough to keep that up.

I'm not sold on Beterbiev being a monster who would beat Kovalev and Stevenson but I expect him to do well in the future and he's one of the more exciting fighters at the weight.

I think Reggie's desperate hyping--like a lot of Reggie's posting these days--of him is more due to Reggie being deliberately contrary so he can dismiss the Stevenson-Kovalev fight & further deflect anti-Haymon sentiment, frankly.

Beterbiev has the head movement & defence of Adam Etches, MightyWarrior mate. Hugely strong & a very hard puncher, but time will tell.

I was wondering why this fight wasn't on my listings,Bika is just awful to watch although his first fight with Anthony Dirrell was a cracker but I'm looking forward to this one,Stevenson's power means he's must see plus he has a bit of vulnerability about him which is always good

I can see him putting Sakio down maybe more than once but I can't see Adonis knocking him out although who knows how Bika will react to taking fast,hard punches from a LHW

Beterbiev-Campillo will be fun too hopefully,Artur obviously had to come back from a KD against Page but he showed he does have power,Gabriel on the other hand beat Thomas Williams Jr who was being tipped for big things so he has shown he has something left and he certainly has more ambition than Cloud

crusader wrote:
I don't think Dirrell is better than Stevenson and Bika is the only notable fighter he's faced so he still has much to prove. Stevenson has too many advantages for me to give Bika much of a shot and I don't think Bika has a style that is well-suited for moving up in weight.

You may be intrigued by a fight in which one man is slower, less skilled, much less hard-hitting, has worse recent form, lost his last fight widely, hasn't won a meaningful fight at the weight, hasn't won in nearly two years, and was dropped and hurt multiple times by someone who shows no signs of punching as hard as Stevenson, but I'm not.

Ok

Eddie just tweeted that Stevenson should be on around 9pm UK time, with Joshua following around 10ish. Good news.

handsofstone wrote:I was wondering why this fight wasn't on my listings,Bika is just awful to watch although his first fight with Anthony Dirrell was a cracker but I'm looking forward to this one,Stevenson's power means he's must see plus he has a bit of vulnerability about him which is always good

Bika/Codrington was a cracker too and I also enjoyed his fight with Ward; his style is ugly but watching how more skilled fighters try to cope with it can make the fights interesting

I wonder what fights Sky will show tonight, I know they'll show Stevenson and Joshua's fight in full but I have a feeling we'll be treated to highlights of Wilson-Nelson and Beterbiev,hopefully Simmons fight gets shown and I wouldn't mind seeing Flynn and Jeff Saunders

I've been pondering all week wether or not to bet Bika by KO in rounds 9-12 at 40/1 with Ladbrokes. I finally went for it today only find the country i reside in cannot use Ladbrokes. So its a token bet of £10 with Bet365 on Bika to win by KO at 12/1.

Long shot i know, it was the 40/1 that had me going. Now i'm going to sit back and watch Stevenson drill Bika in 3 rounds