BoxRec

Some thoughts on the ITV2 show from Nottingham tonight.

1. ITV's efforts look encouraging, 2 hours of decent coverage, decent people, plus 9:15 again next Saturday.
2. Did Kotelnik find the blueprint for beating Witter? Use a tight guard and cover up early, then land accurate shots on an easier and easier target?
3. Mick Hennessey looks like a fat Jack Dee.

1). Its a promising start, no B/S - pretty much straight to the boxing some improvements will be needed (Mike quality and Holdsworth/McKenzie need to work on the chemistry). Matt Smith was acceptable as an interviewer/presneter but I suspect in will be Jim in the ITV1 shows (which will be better in that role).

2) Yes, I'm not sure what the Witter camp can argue now - the guy looks like a five round fighter for me. Cover up for 5 rounds and you've got a chance as N'dou and Koetlik showed.

3) Spot on.

Just expanding on the Witter fight, it is a little worrying this lack of steam, ideas or ambition if his opponent is still there at the halfway mark. Similar to the N'Dou fight, Junior was never in any great trouble, but he suddenly stops looking even vaguely dangerous and just seems to fanny around. He doesn't look all that tired, so what is the problem? He does seem to lose all elusiveness though, Kotelnik was hitting him accurately, and for a lot of those later rounds he wasn't getting anything at all through that tight guard the guy had. I think that was the tightest guard I can remember in a long time to be fair to Junior.

I thought he looked knackered in the corner, closing his eyes and breathing fairly heavy.

stujones wrote:I thought he looked knackered in the corner, closing his eyes and breathing fairly heavy.

You're probably right, what other logical explanation is there I guess? They are going to have to work on that pronto because there are a lot better fighters out there than Kotelnik who will be fair more dangerous when Junior starts to run out of gas.

I thought it was OK tonight, but I can't see it flying for prime-time Saturday night on ITV: Matt Smith was pretty good, I felt, especially as he has (at least to my knowledge) no experience with boxing. Commentry-wise, it was poor, if judged by prime-time standards: I like Holdsworth, but he really is a commentator for the fan, rather than the public. Duke Mckensie is not really a guy that provides smooth-flowing prose, either.

In fairness, it was a first attempt for some years by ITV, and a (relatively) small show at that. But if they're going to show Hatton in November, they need someone in the Ian Darke mould, who can convey the atmosphere at the venue, and also be somewhat less biased towards the 'home' fighters.

As I said on another thread though, wise move to start off on ITV2, I'm sure things will improve. No disrespect to the Hennessey fighters, but the big nights are coming with SN's fighters. Tonight was essentially a trial run.

I like Holdsworth, but he needs to stop announcing his own personal scorecard all the time like it is official fact, especially when he's on the more mainstream ITV. I think he is a little too used to commentating on his todd to obscure European contests.

Imagine what Hatton would do to Witter when he runs out of gas.

It's always a bad sign when the first punch the opponent lands is a stiff jab that catches the attention of the one who's meant to perform. That happened straight away tonight. Kotelnik's tight defence coupled with Witter generally looking flat with his punches told from the off that it might be a long night.

I thought it was a very close fight that could have gone either way. Never scored it, but may well have had the challenger nicking it by a round or two... Considering this was a EBU title fight on away turf for him, that was nowhere near enough.

One thing I've worried about with Junior for the past few years is how his style will cope with age. Maybe it's all the reflexive movement required from his boxing style, together with age, that's taking it out him in these later rounds?

3. Mick Hennessey looks like a fat Jack Dee.

lmao I thought that was Jack Dee The camera kept turning in his direction with one of the ropes over his face at most times

Are the shows going to be repeated on ITV?, at least with Sky if you went out on the Saturday night and missed the live show, you knew you could watch the repeat on Sunday morning.

topper123 wrote:Are the shows going to be repeated on ITV?, at least with Sky if you went out on the Saturday night and missed the live show, you knew you could watch the repeat on Sunday morning.

Exactly, i set the sky plus planner to record it but it stopped in the 9th round of froch. just trying to see if its repeated.

states wrote:I thought it was OK tonight, but I can't see it flying for prime-time Saturday night on ITV: Matt Smith was pretty good, I felt, especially as he has (at least to my knowledge) no experience with boxing. Commentry-wise, it was poor, if judged by prime-time standards: I like Holdsworth, but he really is a commentator for the fan, rather than the public. Duke Mckensie is not really a guy that provides smooth-flowing prose, either.

In fairness, it was a first attempt for some years by ITV, and a (relatively) small show at that. But if they're going to show Hatton in November, they need someone in the Ian Darke mould, who can convey the atmosphere at the venue, and also be somewhat less biased towards the 'home' fighters.

As I said on another thread though, wise move to start off on ITV2, I'm sure things will improve. No disrespect to the Hennessey fighters, but the big nights are coming with SN's fighters. Tonight was essentially a trial run.

Some really good points there and very much what I was thinking.

Froch and Witter last night were not attractive fighters for the general public, Witter can be explosive but last night he was miles away from that, but on a positive side I think he came across very very well to the camera in his interview, no bad mouthing, no big idiotic bragging just good sensible reply`s...I liked him and I`m sure other people watching did also.

Froch`s style is just so horrible, and not all of that can be laid at Mathew Barney, Froch is always this horrible to watch, he fights like a bully and big-head, when he starts to get on top what does he do....drop his hands and stupidly pose in front of his opponent ....this is old and the public don`t like it. :x
And even when he was interviewed after he contradicted himself continually, it was like listening to Audley Harrison

I do like Steve Holdsworth, he is good and level headed, but he`s so laid back and the enthusiasm isn`t there like with Jim Watt, like you say Holdsworth is for the boxing fan who knows what he`s watching whereas Jim Watt who can make a boring fight sound edge of seat stuff.
Duke McKenzie I like because he makes so many mistakes he`s great, its like watching boxing with my wife, she too will always come out with a prediction just before it goes horribly wrong or make a good remark only to spoil it with her next.

Not sure if this was the best to whet the publics appetite but next weeks will surely be, can`t wait.

Didn't see the fight but from what I'm hearing stamina wise, Witter would be dismantled by Hatton. Think of the fact that Witter has stamina for 5 rounds and then also think of the fact that Hatton is one of the most lethal body and pressure fighters around today and Hattons style could cut what little stamina Witter has in half.

Hatton would come charging foward and Witter would try to be all silky and try to bring Hatton in, hit and move but Hatton will keep coming forward forcing Witter to keep it up at a fast pace and along with the body punches Hatton is sure to land Witter will be blowing by the 3rd and it will turn into a toe to toe affair from then on where Hatton will dominate and Witter would probably get stopped if he lets it get to the stage where Hatton can just walk right up to him and trade.

jonny wrote:

topper123 wrote:Are the shows going to be repeated on ITV?, at least with Sky if you went out on the Saturday night and missed the live show, you knew you could watch the repeat on Sunday morning.

Exactly, i set the sky plus planner to record it but it stopped in the 9th round of froch. just trying to see if its repeated.

The show over ran by about 10 minutes, I assume thats why you missed the last few rounds.

Just my thoughts quickly on last nights ITV2 coverage which I just watched on tape (only just catching the end of the Froch fight).

I don't like ITV and never have. Their coverage of everything is generally crap and they have an uncanny knack for fornicating up the unfuckable. They even somehow mess it up when they poach the BBC's best presenters.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see last nights effort which I thought was spot on to be honest. From the opening music (very nostalgic), the editing/presentation of the highlight reel, getting Holdsworth on was a masterstroke.

I thought the camera angles were a little unusual, were they trying to emulate the way they did it on 'The Contender' show? Just wondering what you all thought about that, maybe it was just my hangover....

As for Witter, when faced with a real quality opponent who can put some consistent pressure on he will turn into what I always said he was. A Light-Welterweight Johnny Nelson.

I've not been Froch's biggest fan to date and still think he hugely overrates himself but he did pretty well last night against the stinkiest opponent in the world and wasn't that far away from possibly forcing a stoppage.

stujones wrote:I thought he looked knackered in the corner, closing his eyes and breathing fairly heavy.

Witter looked knackered in the middle rounds against Kotelnik, as he did against NDou.

Hatton would have steamrollered Witter in 8 rounds.

KOJOE90 wrote:The show over ran by about 10 minutes, I assume thats why you missed the last few rounds.

I think it ran over by closer to half an hour? My DVD recorder also ran out at round 9 and i echo the point that it is good when SKY show the fights as they often repeat them once or mostly twice so i could have tried again. Surely with all the shite they show on ITV2 or 3 they could have edged a repeat in on Sunday morning? Maybe it is something they need to consider for the future.

Watching Witter i thought a draw was a fair result but Kotelnik could have nicked it, no way was the fight 117-111, as much as Witter protested i thought 115-114 was an accurate reflection and that could have been either way. He was the same versus N'dou, he runs out of ideas/steam after round 6, his power i think has been exaggerated as well after a string of KO's over let's be honest low quality opposition, i don't think he is as hard hitting as many suggest. His only real notable KO in his winning run was over Battaglia IMO.

I can't really defend Witter's performance. Hatton would have bullied Kotelnik all over the ring, while Mayweather would have broken him down with relative ease.

Froch v Barney was actually an alright fight, Barney landing with plenty of solid shots (although I did miss the action from the 9th). My only problem with Froch is that he seems to take that loose, economical style a bit far. It's alright not wanting to use up energy for no reason but it really does make him look slower than he really is for periods, until he decides to open up. He'll soon drop a decision when he steps up if he doesn't box with a tad more urgency.

Froch definately needs to start raising his hands NOW...we have been discussing this more or less since his first fight and it is a serious point. Holdsworth said this is the stage of a career when you learn habits bad and good and holding his left so low is a bad habit and he will pay when he moves up in class. Also he neglects the jab way to much, McCracken should be sorting out these problems if you ask me. All in all it was a good performance, he dominated Barney late on who just arguably beat Ulrich, that is good form.

I thought Witter looked pretty awful, and there's a few serious openings in his style.

1 His balance isn't that great, when forced backward, he looks disorganised, and often turns to the side before walking away, he doesn't change direction well, and pulls his head back in a straight line from shots.

2 He is too used to battering overmatched opponents, once it goes a few rounds and someone is still there, he seems to run out of ideas completely. All Kotelnik did was stand right in front of him with his guard up and Witter looked completely flummoxed.

3 He doesn't seem capable of punching whilst his opponent is punching, a serious problem against pressure fighters, or someone quicker like Floyd.

4 He is wild with his punches when he gets frustrated, and leaves himself totally open, Cotto, Mayweather and Hatton would have a lot of openings.

5 Doesn't use the jab enough and relies on hooks and uppercuts too much.

6 Doesn't seem to have that much tactical acumen, where was his plan to winkle Kotelnik out of his shell, he appeared to just give up once he saw Kotelnik wasn't going anywhere.

I know Witter claimed he felt flat, but what kind of excuse is that. Even Hatton's worst performance, his fight against Vilches, was better and more urgent than that. I am fairly confident that Hatton would have battered Kotelnik, he would have worked the body, got him to the ropes and fucked him over.

Witter was better against N'dou, but the same thing happened, around the middle rounds he seemed to run out of gas and ideas, and almost lost the fight as a result. I had him winning it, but not by much.

His claim he would have knocked Tszyu out is frankly laughable based on that performance. kotelnik was hitting him at will with the left hook, christ, Tszyu would have murdered him.

It's all well and good saying 'oh I had an off night' but you don't get second chances,

I just want to reiterate I have nothing against Witter, but there are a lot of flaws there, and his talk about dominating Tszyu just makes him look silly when he turns in a mediocre performance against Kotelnik.

Yes, Kotelnik was technically proficient, he had a decent defence, but he really didn't do very much or throw many shots, and yet he was in with a shout of winning on two cards, not a good sign for Witter.

I think Mayweather would have a field day with Witter, he's too easy to hit. Hatton would have a few tough moments early on and then walk through him in the middle rounds. Junior's defence wouldn't be good enough to deal with constant aggression. Cotto would time him with a big shot and knock his block off.

lvlarc_uk wrote:

3. Mick Hennessey looks like a fat Jack Dee.

lmao I thought that was Jack Dee The camera kept turning in his direction with one of the ropes over his face at most times

Hennessy looks like Billy Bunter

His suit fits so bad, Ive seen better dressed wounds.

Not ideal fights to showcase Froch and Witter in - no-one has ever seen an entertaining Barney fight, and even Witter was predicting a long night with the very tough Kotelnik.

Only watched a few rounds to be honest, so I'm not sure how good or bad they looked. But from what I hear, it's probably a good thing Oscar doesn't get ITV.

Holdsworth - not bad I suppose, though I've never liked him too much: the bloke just sounds too smug for my liking.

Duke................well, if he's the best they can come up with...but why not try one of the hundreds of other retired UK fighters out there?
Colin Jones maybe?

Duke's a nice guy, but his commentary is so banal it's unbelievable.

Take the Witter fight for instance "Absolutely Steve......he's leading him and song and dance. This kid would have more chance of hitting the guy with a bag of rice."

If rumours are to be believed, John Rawling and McGuigan are taking over commentry duties from now on.

Isn't Mcguigan contracted to Sky?

That would be a good pairing. Rawling is knowledgable, calm and an intelligent pundit, McGuigan is more excitable, but insightful and brings a good sense of atmosphere to proceedings.

I think that's a bit of a dream team if they get the chemistry right. Bit like the old days of Watt and Gutteridge I think it was.