Tonights action - Gomez, Foster, Jennings & Smith....

Jedi Knight · Post by **Jedi Knight** » 11 Feb 2005, 20:19

Good nights boxing, plenty to talk about with shocks, thrills and spills...

Gomez v Alvarez

Gomez starting aggressively but worringly was not pushing Alvarez back who looked to grow in confidence, picking the odd shot.
By round 3 Alvarez landed some big shots and took everything Gomez had thrown at him. At this point the Gomez defence is none existant, especially on the outside with Alvarez catching him with overhand rights, jabs and lefts.
Gomez gets battered in rounds 4 and 5 and looks unsteady on his legs at the start of six. Suffering from cuts on both eyes and caugt on the ropes after being on the canvass once, Micky Vann stops the action.

Gomez was simply outclassed by a slick hungry fighter.

Foster v Ruiz

Foster immidietly lands rights and lefts on the outside with Ruiz's chin held high and hands low. Foster keeps the pace going till the mid rounds where Ruiz becomes more confident and backs Foster up a couple of times and hurts him. Foster replies with continued pressure again reverting to catching Ruiz on the outside with flush shots. With both fighters having success in the tenth, Foster pulls out a big left hook, knocking Ruiz off his feet with the gum sheild blasted out of his mouth. Ruiz stars into space and doesn't beat the count.

Stunning stoppage but lots to work on with his defence.

Jennings v Dragomir

Jennings tries to start fast with Dragomir throwing wild punches with a few catching Micheal who takes 2 heavy shots in round two and starts to look a tad dis-organised. At the strat of the third Michael throws more accurate shots and catches Dragomir with a flush right hand sending spray off his head. Dragomir drops the the canvass and waits for the count with no desire to get up.

Again, great finish but defensive errors need to be ironed out.

Smith v Burton

Smith starts fast with classy combinations and starts to work on the soft mid section of the 33 year old journyman, Burton. After taking some sickening body punishment Burton takes a left to the side and falls the canvass, riling in pain.

Would have liked to have seen more of Smith. Graham obviously likes him..!

Jedi Knight · Post by **Jedi Knight** » 11 Feb 2005, 20:25

tuaman2004 wrote:How did ye do on the Prediction League, I went
Alvarez TKO 9
Foster TKO 6

I don't actually do it but sounds like you weren't far off. You predicted the upset...

Gomez needs to think about retirement IMO...

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 12 Feb 2005, 06:41

I honestly don't think Gomez ever was that good. It's only 12 months ago he was being raved about after the shock KO of Arthur and now he's shot? He's just been exposed for what he is, a very limited fighter who produces his best performances when he's pumping with adrenalin. And he fights stupid.

I would have thought they will line him up for Arthur now, surely the Scot will fancy the vengance on his record after seeing last nights display?

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 12 Feb 2005, 08:41

I agree with Goz, i never particuarly liked him either, another example of a fighter talked up into the stars by SKY Sports in a desperate attempt to protect there home fighters. Gomez is limited plain and simple, getting him to jab and move his head is like a glitzy paint job on an old Skoda, deep down he was no different. Yeah he was a warrior blah blah...the routine "Born in a car, raised in care homes..." story was inevitable to come out at some point and it did (in the fifth).

It's embarrassing and painful but our top fighters are just not up to very much when all is said and done, it also goes to show how worthless the WBU title is...if Gomez is proper World Class then i'm a Mexican road sweeper. He's a game, limited brawler picked off by an Argie brought in to extend him a few rounds and make the public believe he is something special. But again like happens so often these days with British Boxers lately, he was badly found out.

no1southpaw · Post by **no1southpaw** » 12 Feb 2005, 09:09

does anyone else agree but watching gomez,foster,and jennings all seemed to leave their leading hand very low after throwing a jab therefore, especially gomez, leaving themselves very open once the opponent sussed them out. does jennings always carry his hands under his chin to let him get caught easy like he did.but i did like both foster and jennings overall coming through shaky round to finish in style.and jennings admitted he was rubbish after fight,gomez retire before you get hurt please

Old bones Ian · Post by **Old bones Ian** » 12 Feb 2005, 10:11

no1southpaw wrote:does anyone else agree but watching gomez,foster,and jennings all seemed to leave their leading hand very low after throwing a jab therefore, especially gomez, leaving themselves very open once the opponent sussed them out. does jennings always carry his hands under his chin to let him get caught easy like he did.but i did like both foster and jennings overall coming through shaky round to finish in style.and jennings admitted he was rubbish after fight,gomez retire before you get hurt please

I'd agree with the hands, Gomez always left his left glove low leaving himself open to the right hand, i think that maybe Graham should teach some better defensive skills to his boxers, or maybe its the quality of the sparring

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 12 Feb 2005, 11:00

Well I find it hard to believe that Graham doesn't tell them to bring the jab back in quickly, but telling someone to do something and getting them to do it are two different things.

defensively i thought foster was the best on the night.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 12 Feb 2005, 11:36

On another note did anyone notice how long Gomez's shorts were? I mean they were trousers really, just thought i'd mention it seens as we had a thread about it a while back. Easily the longest i've seen in a ring.

Neri · Post by **Neri** » 12 Feb 2005, 12:39

toughness like that displayed by gomez is only going to be detrimental to him from now on. Amazing KO from Foster Jnr

tonyevs · Post by **tonyevs** » 12 Feb 2005, 13:28

Gomez took a terrible beating, I feel gutted for him, he is a fantastic character.I don`t know if anybody here knows him personally but I can`t help thinking alot of his image is tongue in cheek..and I don`t just mean the costume.
I do not see why he should retire, he fought as well as he ever has, its just his opponent last night was a level above him.
And how honest Billy Graham was.

He could still be a big player in the British super feather weights, just not any higher, there is no embarrassment there.
Gomez could still give Alex Arthur a good fight, Arthur I feel would apply different tactics next time and win but there would be no guarantee.

Stephen Foster had an excellent win but I felt he was just a little tight, he is still far off the finished article, as is Jennings.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 12 Feb 2005, 13:58

that left hook from Foster was an absolute fornicating pearler, great shot.

i thought Foster looked much improved from what I saw of him before, patient and more mature, but he was lucky in the 6th that his opponent wasn't a bigger puncher because he seemed to completely run out of gas for a time.

Foster showed grit though to fight his way back into things and ride the storm. He's some way of being a major player yet, and looking at his opponents record and the way he carried his chin, there's going to be much stiffer tests for him yet. That said, excellent result and good fight.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 12 Feb 2005, 14:23

steve689 wrote:On another note did anyone notice how long Gomez's shorts were? I mean they were trousers really, just thought i'd mention it seens as we had a thread about it a while back. Easily the longest i've seen in a ring.

You beat me to it.

Good initial assement by Jedi there, pretty much agree with everything. It was nice to see 4 fights in full - I would like to see more of Smith. The devision is poor, he could easily move into domestic title contention - I was very impressed. Burton is over weight, but is usually very tough and always tries.

Neri · Post by **Neri** » 12 Feb 2005, 14:28

All round it was a very impressive show. Credit to sky sports and warren

Maddawg · Post by **Maddawg** » 12 Feb 2005, 14:29

I can't get excited at all really about Foster! He seems a decent British level, possibly european level fighter. IMO he doesn't have the tools to mix it at genuine world level. All being said though, I give him credit for an entertaining ten rounds.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 12 Feb 2005, 14:30

Maddawg wrote:I can't get excited at all really about Foster! He seems a decent British level, possibly european level fighter. IMO he doesn't have the tools to mix it at genuine world level. All being said though, I give him credit for an entertaining ten rounds.

I would say he is more talented than his old man was.

Neri · Post by **Neri** » 12 Feb 2005, 14:32

He is far from the finished article though. Fights like the one he had last night are only going to improve him. I think he can go far if he takes his time when stepping the class of opposition up

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 12 Feb 2005, 14:48

Neri1983 wrote:All round it was a very impressive show. Credit to sky sports and warren

Yes I thought it was one of the most competitive and entertaining full bills they've put on recently, and thoroughly enjoyed it, it was precisely the kind of thing we need on a regular basis, meaningful contests where at least one fight is a 50-50, in this case three of them were arguably 50-50's.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 12 Feb 2005, 15:00

I am stuck at work at the moment so haven't seen anything other than Gomez's fight...however i like the look of Paul Smith, he is quietly moving along at a nice pace and shows good all round ability thus far. I think he could sneak through as a talent.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 13 Feb 2005, 09:49

With regards to the Gomez V Alvarez fight I didn't go along with many of the comments the Sky commentators were making during the first two rounds.

Allthough Gomez may have shaded them, Alvarez was already landing some precise punishing shots to the body and head the the Sky team hardly mentioned.

Manos de Oro · Post by **Manos de Oro** » 13 Feb 2005, 12:09

Foster Jr. had a good win, that last hook was a peach. One thing though - wasn't he behind on the cards when he stopped Gary Thornhill? I seem to remember that's the way it went. The commentators said something on Friday that made me think of that. Can't remember exactly what.

Anyone else get the impression Mr. Warren is attempting to secure another cash cow in the Manchester area with Foster? I noticed him watching intently at ringside during the fight. He looks a good prospect. Could be good insurance if another Manchester-based fighter goes tits-up in June *cough*...

Paul Smith is building a good resume, his punches looked forced though. And Burton was an embarrasment to himself.

glittermonkey · Post by **glittermonkey** » 13 Feb 2005, 15:33

I think that might be the first card that Sky have shown for a long time where I've really enjoyed all the fights. Okay, so Smith's match was over early, but it was still a decent night of boxing.

Sadly Gomez proved me right in believing this second coming to be nothing of the sort. All the old faults were there in abundance once more, and it resulted in a one sided beating. I think that once Alvarez showed he could take what Gomez had to offer, there was only going to be one winner.

Should he retire? No, I don't think he should, not just yet anyway. There are still good fights for him at domestic level, fights that he stands a good chance of winning too, most notably the winner of Docherty vs Arthur. Should he choose to fight on however, he'll probably spend the remainder of his career just one defeat away from retirement.

Foster did well I thought. It was exactly the kind of learning fight that will be of immense benefit when he steps up to the top of the domestic tree, or indeed, if he improves enough to go further. If (when) it gets tough in the future he'll know that he's been through tough periods of fights before, and come through. Valuable experience, and what turned out to be very good match-making.

Not too impressed with Jennings though. He summed it up when he described his display as "rubbish". He's so much better than he showed on Friday, and I thought he was pretty lucky to escape with a victory, considering how sloppy his defence looked at times. Whether it was complacency, nerves, or just a case of him being too eager to impress, I've no idea, but it was poor. I've still got good hopes for his career, especially since he's discovered how to plant his feet a little more, but there are things that he really needs to tighten up on. You just can't throw something and then back away along straight lines with your gloves down, at any level that's asking for trouble.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 13 Feb 2005, 15:44

KOJOE90 wrote:With regards to the Gomez V Alvarez fight I didn't go along with many of the comments the Sky commentators were making during the first two rounds.

Allthough Gomez may have shaded them, Alvarez was already landing some precise punishing shots to the body and head the the Sky team hardly mentioned.

I only gave Gomez the 1st round. I scored the second a draw, and he never won a round after that. The fourth I had a 10-8 even without a knockdown.

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 13 Feb 2005, 16:59

Caught the replay yesterday, Gomez looked awful. He seems to think he's a massive puncher these days and has no plan b. I think Arthur will make mincemeat of him in a rematch if it happens. I read today Warren is looking to put on a rematch I really dont think thats a good idea.