BoxRec

Anybody hear anything about him lately? Didn't see his last fight which he won 58-56 but that was almost two months ago. Hope he watched his weight over the Christmas as I thought he looked far too soft against Ernie Smith. He should have gone for a rematch there, wasn't a bad little battle and losing against somebody with 87 losses and only 12 wins was a total humiliation. Something tells me this guy is going to bow out silently.

Hillyard lost the fight to Smith because of he got on the refs bad side nothing more nothing less.

Agreed he looks a little bit flabby at times, but I'm sure he'll be back looks a good prospect

Kev

johnswan1 wrote:Anybody hear anything about him lately? Didn't see his last fight which he won 58-56 but that was almost two months ago. Hope he watched his weight over the Christmas as I thought he looked far too soft against Ernie Smith. He should have gone for a rematch there, wasn't a bad little battle and losing against somebody with 87 losses and only 12 wins was a total humiliation. Something tells me this guy is going to bow out silently.

Bit of a bold call, John. Info or just a bad feeling? He looks half decent to me and has a dig on him.

I have said from when i first saw Hillyard he looked fleshy and he could probably boil down a weight division of two. It was his clowning around and annoying the ref that cosr him versus Smith, ignoring that result i would say he still has a future in the game certainly aspiring to British level anyway.

Ian 'Mr' McNeilly wrote:

johnswan1 wrote:Anybody hear anything about him lately? Didn't see his last fight which he won 58-56 but that was almost two months ago. Hope he watched his weight over the Christmas as I thought he looked far too soft against Ernie Smith. He should have gone for a rematch there, wasn't a bad little battle and losing against somebody with 87 losses and only 12 wins was a total humiliation. Something tells me this guy is going to bow out silently.

Bit of a bold call, John. Info or just a bad feeling? He looks half decent to me and has a dig on him.

Well Ian/Steve, a year and a day on, has your opinion of Hillyard changed now? His record stands at 5-3 now, I haven't seen his past couple of fights (has anybody else here?) and I see he's fighting on the Witter undercard next weekend.

Anyone know any info on his before he turned pro. Did he have an extensive amateur record? Is he a controvesial character outside of the ring?

He seems to have gathered a fair amount of attention as a "hot prospect" - something he doesn't look to me. Not saying he is awful but I think it will be Fringe British title class at best. Somewhere on the lines of a Gary Logan or Lee Swaby. Seems to have had alot of footage/press when there are better prospects (like Fewkes) getting relatively ignored.

I spoke to George before his last fight, he was main sparring partner for Howard Eastman. and he was looking to get back with a win against Portman, I didn't see the fight so can't comment. He was gutted about his loss to Ernie Smith, just said it was man vs. boy as he fell for Smith's windups prior to the fight.

He has now moved to Tony Sims gym so we'll be able to judge him better over his next few fights starting next Saturday

It appears the general consensus is that this “prospect” is lazy.

I spoke to Marcus Portman in the last week, who beat him before Christmas, and he said he was shocked that he only beat him by one-point. Marcus also said that once Hillyard realised that he couldn’t outbox him, he became lazy and settled for the points defeat.

Lack of urgency is likely to hamper him.

Tom Podmore.

Writing off Hillyard so early in his career is a mistake, the Portman loss was only by a point and it could have gone either way.
Tyan Booth who also beat Hillyard is a good boxer , so no shame in losing to him either.

If Hillyard has cracked down on his training and learnt from his mistakes he can still have a say on the domestic scene, 2007 will be make or break for George.

Hillyard's doing well IMO. No wonder he's got a 5-3 record. He facing good opposition. If he was in the SN fold he'd probably be 8-0 with a good KO percentage too. Stop getting so concerned about the bare stats.

8-0 looks more attractive on the surface but it doesn't guarantee that the owner of that record can fight. Hillyard has already proved he's got substance in his short career IMO. I couldn't believe it when I saw him matched against Portman at that stage of his career. Despite the loss I was still impressed with how well George competed given his short fall of experience in the pro ranks. And over 8x3's already, what's that all about? Give the lad a chance.

If George wants it bad enough, he can make it IMO. He's just a youngster really, so shouldn't be put under too much scrutiny just yet.

I saw his last two - he got completely outboxed by the slippery Ingle fighter Tyan Booth - couldn't put a glove on him - and then lost to Portman, who looked massive next to him. That's the only two times I've seen him fight and he didn't look great.

george is fighting on the witter undercard on the witter/hatton ppv bill next fri.

i know not of the opponent nor if george has signed with HS.

george is a decent prospect who has been matched hard. therefore his personal tactic of trying to load up all of the time will not lead him to a 10-0(9) record like it would have done for other promoters.

all in all george is doing ok and still learning...albeit, the hard way.

He's good to watch but he looks to me like he may have some character flaws that could hamper him, has tendancy to show off to the crowd and also gets frustrated quite easily and seems always to be looking for the Ko... also his conditioning doesnt always seem to be 100% and for a fighter with his style that could be a fatal flaw. He certainly has some talent and could get up to British title level if he improves enough but I think theres also the danger that if he continues the way he is and picks up a few more defeats he could end up falling into journeyman status...

rhino222 wrote:george is fighting on the witter undercard on the witter/hatton ppv bill next fri.

i know not of the opponent nor if george has signed with HS.

george is a decent prospect who has been matched hard. therefore his personal tactic of trying to load up all of the time will not lead him to a 10-0(9) record like it would have done for other promoters.

all in all george is doing ok and still learning...albeit, the hard way.

He's fighting Tony Randell - it's on BBN's schedules

silkov wrote:He's good to watch but he looks to me like he may have some character flaws that could hamper him, has tendancy to show off to the crowd and also gets frustrated quite easily and seems always to be looking for the Ko... also his conditioning doesnt always seem to be 100% and for a fighter with his style that could be a fatal flaw. He certainly has some talent and could get up to British title level if he improves enough but I think theres also the danger that if he continues the way he is and picks up a few more defeats he could end up falling into journeyman status...

I think he looks for the KO because his conditioning isn't as good as it should be, if he was a bit fitter, then the punches would flow better.

good point, get yourself in shape then george, and the fists will flow, cos you have talent young man.