BoxRec

First couple of rounds and Im not overly impressed with Calzaghe so far tonight, he seems to be fighting very straight up.. a bit hesitant in his punching and unsure of what to do.

No doubting hes winning and dominating the fight, landing some good body punches and hes cut Ashira at the end of round two, though it was accidental, but far from a great performance ..... so far.

Come on Neil, keep me informed!

Well hes dominating the fight...and Ashiras cut isnt getting any worse, the corner seems to have done a good job. Calzaghes had a few good combinations but the Kenyan looks hard to put down so Calzaghes tending to sit back a little and lead off the jab. He obviously looks a wee bit rusty.

Ashiras fightinging very low from a crouch which Calzaghe seems to be having a bit bother with

First six to Calzaghes so far.

So far it looks like a point win for Joe then? Exciting stuff.

End of round 8 and its becoming very apparent that theres a problem with Calzaghes left hand, hes barely throwing it and fighting pretty much one handed. Pretty much just ploding along now....

Calzaghe 8 rounds up

12 rounds, Calzaghe winning easily enough... unanimous decision never dropped a round on any of the scorecards.. fighting from round 4 with a useless left hand after connecting with an uppercut, so not a bad peformance considering.

Ashira brought very little to the fight.

Bit of a disappointing bout all round. Hopefully the hand isnt hurt too bad and its a quick recovery, but given Joes hand problems it doesnt look too good. Warrens stating that it looks very doubtfull to fight Lacy in Novemebr and hes looking to pencil it in early next year, possibly early February

Gutted about the injury, can't believe they only picked up on it 5 rounds later


Roll on February!

Obviously the critics will have a field day with this, but no doubt the injury was very real and I would imagine severe.

Should he have had this defence, I would have said no - 8 weeks was too close for such a big fight.

Shame, but I cannot see it happening till next year, and who knows perhaps Team Lacy might to a Johnson and say "You had your chance, you blew it".

Feel for Joe tonight, I have to say though that I think Ashira was possibly the worst Calzaghe challenger so far, him or McIntyre.

What's funny is that good old Calzaghe predicted that he would get a hand injury in his silly column last month before the fight. Let's hope Lacy moves on to better things now, Joe can rematch Viet in 2006.

stujones wrote:Obviously the critics will have a field day with this, but no doubt the injury was very real and I would imagine severe.

Should he have had this defence, I would have said no - 8 weeks was too close for such a big fight.

Shame, but I cannot see it happening till next year, and who knows perhaps Team Lacy might to a Johnson and say "You had your chance, you blew it".

Feel for Joe tonight, I have to say though that I think Ashira was possibly the worst Calzaghe challenger so far, him or McIntyre.

Ashira was terrible...fighting a 1 handed guy from the 4th round and still done nothing, he was even worse than i expected.

Let's hope Lacy moves on to better things now, Joe can rematch Viet in 2006.

Lets hope he fights Lacy more like.

He wasn't too bad for someone fighting with one arm though and it ain't his fault he injured it again.

calzaghe came out fast and it looked like he'd get him out of there, then the hand went.

story of the night really.

i wasn't impressed in the rds before the injury. calzaghe's a lot slower now. if he has such bad hands why was he slapping so much? also, woods was lacklustre last night and he couldn't put Gonzales who was exhausted away nor could he sustain anything. good job they won't be fighting each other, as it'd be fornicating lacklustre.

lacy can always fight kessler or beyer.

Don King was spouting allsorts of crap before this fight bout how Ashira was gonna beat Calzaghe. Oh dear oh dear.

Mmmh, do you think calzaghe actually hurt his hand?

I'm not sure if i buy it. He said his hand was mashed after he knew it was in the bag with the right hand jab.

I dunno, but i have a feeling he is just making it up to get out of the lacy fight?

However, i thought calzaghe did pretty ok, he dominated the early rounds and if he did use his left i would of predicted a KO or stoppage around round 8.

nas7232 wrote:however, i thought calzaghe did pretty ok, he dominated the early rounds and if he did use his left i would of predicted a KO or stoppage around round 8.

That shows how poor Ashira was-done nothing of note.

I watched it with my son and from the second round I noted he brought his punches up onto Evans elbow.

he is so wild with his winging, swiping punches, no wonder he hits what he shouldn`t.

Lacy no probs

nas7232 wrote:Mmmh, do you think calzaghe actually hurt his hand?

I'm not sure if i buy it. He said his hand was mashed after he knew it was in the bag with the right hand jab.

I dunno, but i have a feeling he is just making it up to get out of the lacy fight?

However, i thought calzaghe did pretty ok, he dominated the early rounds and if he did use his left i would of predicted a KO or stoppage around round 8.

If he was making it up he wouldn't of fought with one hand. He could of fought withboth and still said it hurt.

Plus as longas he fights Lacy Februaury isn't that long and no one knows how bad it is yet.

I reckon a fight with lacy in november was never going to happen....far too soon after this fight with or wirhout injury.

Longas it happens I don't mind waiting till february to watch Joe whoop Lacy.

stujones wrote:Feel for Joe tonight, I have to say though that I think Ashira was possibly the worst Calzaghe challenger so far, him or McIntyre.

He's up against tough competition then! What about Miguel Jiminez, he was piss poor as well. Frankly Calzghe should never have taken this fight in the first place with the proposed Lacy match so near. Couldn't Warren have made Macaranelli - Nelson or Macaranelli V Someone half decent for this date instead and preserved the Lacy date? Tonight just makes Calzaghe an even bigger joke whether or not it's his fault, that will be the public perception.

Aslong as it happens. It would be pretty annoying if we waited till then and he pulls out with another reason. If he is gonna do that then i just hope he mans up and says it early so lacy can pursue his career with other fighters.

tonyevs wrote:I watched it with my son and from the second round I noted he brought his punches up onto Evans elbow.

he is so wild with his winging, swiping punches, no wonder he hits what he shouldn`t.

Lacy no probs

It was just a stupid, reckless display, almost like he wanted to go out there and break his hand to avoid the Lacy fight, so he wouldn't be accused of a fake injury.

Anyone remember his measured performance against Mger Muyfufguyfgldkfjoewfh? I don't even think he slapped once during that one.

Lacy must have been watching in total disgust. If he had any sense he'd just go after Kessler or try and persuade Beyer that he can provide one last payday for him.

I don't doubt the injury was genuine but the fact Calzaghe was expecting it beforehand makes it harder to take, Calzaghe appeared to have lost a lot of speed and rhythym and even in the "good early rounds" was boaring in and slapping without much method.

I had to turn the commentary off half way through, i couldn't listen to that shit any longer, one after another "why doesn't this great champion get the credit he deserves" or "he has made 17 world title defences give him some respect" when the reason he doesn't get so much recognition was plain to see in this very matchup, it was a poor defence.

And i am sure towards the end when my sound came back on i heard the Mighty Duke say "Ashira is pleased because he has gone 12 rounds with the best pound for pound boxer on the planet" i will recheck it later but i am sure he said that

Ashira also got an injury, he injured his right shoulder in the 5th.