BoxRec

OK, Im a big Michael Gomez fan, always have been, but I know full well that Mike is a heavy underdog tomorrow...so does the Boxing community....so why has he been brought in??

When Gomez was first named as the opponent I expected Mike to come out all guns blazing, slagging Khan to hell and mentioning the AAA destruction till the cows come home..

I fast forward a month and the whole promotion appears to be about Khan, ITV having black and white stills of Khan beating guys up...Mike isnt even being mentioned...what the hell is going on??

Am I missing something here, couldnt this have become a real event for the ITV public? Why am I having guys coming up to me asking who the Mexican fella Gomez is???? And we wonder why Boxing isnt mainstream anymore

I agree this should be a straight forward defence for Khan, but the general public could easily be whipped into a frenzy(myself included) by Gomez's previous exploits in and out of the ring. A few Gomez style spats at the press conference would have really whetted the appetite.
Unfortunately Micheal didn't even turn up. Either he is trying to lure the Olympian into a false sense of security or is only turning up for the payday

I think you've got a valid point, but it's probably made slightly more problematic by the difficulties of selling Gomez.... given he's a super-featherweight who's best win was five years ago and who has lost to fighters well below Khan's level.

I think the problem is most people feel (and rightly so) that Gomez has about as much chance of winning a I do becoming the King of Thailand. If it goes the distance I'll be surprised - if it goes past 8 I'll be surprised.

Maybe because Khan may leave Warren when his contract expires after the fight.

scottmallon wrote:I think the problem is most people feel (and rightly so) that Gomez has about as much chance of winning a I do becoming the King of Thailand. If it goes the distance I'll be surprised - if it goes past 8 I'll be surprised.

well I have £20 on Gomez to win by KO - its worth a punt at 15/1.

Mike didnt help promotion by his no show at the presser - but I agree, I thought this would be at fever pitch by now but its just a whimper!!

Maybe Mike is too "unorthodox" to be unleashed on the squeaky clean Khan audience?

Well it's sold out, so I'm not sure SN have had the motivation to build it up. If Gomez had turned up at the presser maybe Gomrz would have got more of a slice of the action.

Although I'm not going for a conspiracy theory here, I found it a bit odd a) Gomez not turning up for the presser and b) this weird thing about Gomez saying he was working with Oliver Harrison to wind up Khan. I don't believe for a moment Khan's team, Powell and/or SN would not have known if this was the case.

This fight has the potential to be a terrible massacre. Gomez did not look hot vs Johanesson. Hopfully Khan can get him out of there early. Gomez is much smaller. He looked like he couldn't defend himself vs big shots, vs Johanesson, last time. The slip in Gomez's speed and timing should really be evident here. Amir won't be able to miss.

More to the question, what is Khan going to do after this fight? Will he re-sign with Frank? Will every fighter who becomes big go it alone and either a) form their own promotional company or b) get carried by some US outfit, with HBO pulling the strings, or both.

Well according to reliable reports Mike has trained well..maybe if he had trained this well for other fights he may have achieved a bit more...

But as I said, this isnt about whether its REALLY competetive, this is about how the ITV public could become excited.

And as Terry pointed aout, Mike has been ordered to be on good behaviour, no wonder he didnt turn up at the presser, hes being treated like a kid

he didnt turn up to the presser because SN changed the day and mikes training right up till the fight had included, onthe advice of his conditioning coach, an afternoon sleep... change the whole pattern because sn change the date and time.... ?

Any pics form the wiegh in?

I personally thik it would be a good Match-up. Don't get me wrong, i think Khan is favorite, but IMO it's about 60/40.

Is the undercard on TV or is it just Khan v Gomez?

This will be like the Earl fight. With Khan having his last fight under his deal with Warren, the trainer situation/upheaval, and with the WBO title shot in sight, all has gone static -understandably. Seems like a bit of a non event.

observer1 wrote:I personally thik it would be a good Match-up. Don't get me wrong, i think Khan is favorite, but IMO it's about 60/40.

Make it more like 95/5.

I was at the weigh in and Mikey was at pains to stress how serious he had taken this fight and stating that he hadn't had a pint since December !!
He looked in fine fettle to be fair - but don't believe that Mikey has changed one bit.
He was full of wind ups with his trainer and quote "likely to be a handful" at the hotel !
Did he say something outrageous to Setanta - something about fancy paying a gypsy boy £30k to hand Khan his arse ?!?
Much as I would love a shock, can't see it.
Warren did not turn up - most unusual I would say.
However, this is the last fight on the ITV contract and potentially Khan's last fight with Warren.
Why try as a Promotor if the show's over ?
As an aside - what was Bendall doing turning up 1.5 pounds over ?
He made the weight eventually - but looked shagged doing it.

Its the ITV connection in all this as to the reason they have not got hell for leather to get this promotion huge.

It's like you say, the last of the deal.

so does that mean no more boxing on ITV???.... not sorry to see warren go but sorry to see boxing go.... cant ITV do a deal with Henessey and someother promotors and get the game back on track..... warrens turned it into shite over the past few years...

thepocketrocket wrote:but I know full well that Mike is a heavy underdog tomorrow...so does the Boxing community....so why has he been brought in??

Because the public have wisened up to the fact all Khans opponents have been non-punchers .. so now they can show Gomez bashing Alex Arthur to defeat before they actually fight .. . And skip over the fact Gomez is a s-feather and should have stayed retired a few years ago. As brave and tough as Gomez is .. he is too small and too old now ... its a disgusting and dangerous fight, and one that highlights just how much Simon Block etc. are biased to SN.

thepocketrocket wrote:Why am I having guys coming up to me asking who the Mexican fella Gomez is???? And we wonder why Boxing isnt mainstream anymore

Because the people asking the question are typical Khan fans .. and not boxing fans

Shame on anybody who thinks this is anything less than 99% in Khans favour.

1/33 for Khan to win (Coral's). That's the kind of odds allegedly likes!

You only have 2 guys in the ring. One of them being 1/33 to win. What kind of match up is that? A piss poor one.

mate of mine in the betting game reckons ppl are lumping on khan 1st round, apparently theres a rumour its nailed on, hopefully just bollocks tho..

Mensa07 wrote:mate of mine in the betting game reckons ppl are lumping on khan 1st round, apparently theres a rumour its nailed on, hopefully just bollocks tho..

I wouldnt be surprised really, cant blame gomez if he just takes the money and gets out of there early... he'll be in there with a much younger, fresher, stronger opponent... I hope Micheal doesnt take a prolonged beating... sometimes he can be too brave for his own good, the ref and his corner needs to keep an eye on him tonight...

Autobarn wrote:This will be like the Earl fight. With Khan having his last fight under his deal with Warren, the trainer situation/upheaval, and with the WBO title shot in sight, all has gone static -understandably. Seems like a bit of a non event.

I still remember a few 'Well-Respected" 'posters insisting Earl was Knock Khan out, if not, they would never post in another Khan thread again... Well.. we all know the rest...