BoxRec

and credit too him for fighting pickering who was a british champion at the start of the year at super-bantam.

for a young guy who beat a very decent champion in simpson he could have been excused for having a much easier first defence instead of taking on a former british , commonwealth and european champion.

good on him and i think it will be a very interesting fight.

not many young fighters get tested enough on the way up , fighting simpson and pickering proves appleby wants to be tested and believes in his ability.

A shot Super Bantamweight.... it shouldn't be tough.

Pickering may well be a shell of his former self, and Appleby's power may start to tell around the middle section of the fight in this one.

dont think he is shot as he was champ at start of the year

shot is like roy jones was vs calzaghe

Shot is like going from a classy European champion to losing to Matthew Marsh decisively.

1 fight doesnt make you shot , come mate you have much better boxing knowledge than that - ive read some of your stuff on here.

its a good test against an experienced ex-champion at this time in applebys career

boxerbob wrote:1 fight doesnt make you shot , come mate you have much better boxing knowledge than that - ive read some of your stuff on here.

its a good test against an experienced ex-champion at this time in applebys career

Thanks for the compliment, but one fight can make you shot.... look at Gatti, Lacy etc.

Plus Pickering is 1-2 in his last 3, and his win wasn't exactly comfortable.... its been coming for a while

boxerbob wrote:1 fight doesnt make you shot , come mate you have much better boxing knowledge than that - ive read some of your stuff on here.

No but the 2 before that was suggesting that he is, Sean Hughes a decent test for a warm up fight ends up beating him, then in the Rematch he was Far from having it his own way until he stopped him... Marsh was to much for him and that was a weight below..

Comfortably Win for Appleby within the distance..

Appleby should blow him away within 4 rounds, Pickering is past his best and isn't doing himself any favours by moving up to take on bigger men at Featherweight.

i spoke to esham, he knows its a 'big ask' for himself......but to quote his words..

'i dont lie down for anyone' ...

Esham could spring a suprise here

Coco wrote:Esham could spring a suprise here

I'm sure you have a great respect for Esham(you have fought him, havent you ?), but I think the only surprise Pickering is capable of pulling is lasting the distance.

I thought I saw a noticeable decline in him when he fought Marc Callaghan, he won every round but Callaghan himself is past his prime and Pickering didn't impress me at all. That was followed by a 3rd round stoppage of Stevin Gethin, and then the 8th round points loss to Sean Hughes, where he possibly would of gotten himself stopped if it went 12.

After that he rematched Hughes and although looked a lot better than the time before and got the win, he was all over he place in the first 2 rounds. Looking very close to getting stopped in the first by the non puncher than is Hughes. He eventually got into the fight but even then it was clear he wasn't the Pickering of old.

He then found himself outworked over 12 by a determined young fighter, who imo isn't a patch on Appleby. There's very little to suggest for me that Pickering is capable of doing anything other than take a beating here. The Pickering who was European champion maybe but that man is gone and instead we have a fighter who is a shell of his former self.

All this combined with Paul Appleby being a very good prospect and having already beaten John Simpson, who in his present form at Featherweight is definitely a much tougher test than Pickering.

BigEars wrote:

Coco wrote:Esham could spring a suprise here

I'm sure you have a great respect for Esham(you have fought him, havent you ?), but I think the only surprise Pickering is capable of pulling is lasting the distance.

I thought I saw a noticeable decline in him when he fought Marc Callaghan, he won every round but Callaghan himself is past his prime and Pickering didn't impress me at all. That was followed by a 3rd round stoppage of Stevin Gethin, and then the 8th round points loss to Sean Hughes, where he possibly would of gotten himself stopped if it went 12.

After that he rematched Hughes and although looked a lot better than the time before and got the win, he was all over he place in the first 2 rounds. Looking very close to getting stopped in the first by the non puncher than is Hughes. He eventually got into the fight but even then it was clear he wasn't the Pickering of old.

He then found himself outworked over 12 by a determined young fighter, who imo isn't a patch on Appleby. There's very little to suggest for me that Pickering is capable of doing anything other than take a beating here. The Pickering who was European champion maybe but that man is gone and instead we have a fighter who is a shell of his former self.

All this combined with Paul Appleby being a very good prospect and having already beaten John Simpson, who in his present form at Featherweight is definitely a much tougher test than Pickering.

Certainly Esham is a big outsider here, he definately isn't as quick as he was, but he does have a dig and bags of experience, he first fought for this title at 9st 10 years ago.
It's a sensible first defence in that it's relatively low risk and there is a good chance he will learn as much in this fight as in all the rest put together.
With volontary first defences it is easy to look behind, but he does this at his peril. Up untill the Simpson fight, Paul had only fought the usual suspects, so his experience at this level is very limited. He squeezed home in that fight, but Esham has been top European level at his best and will present very different problems than the domestic class Simpson.
Pickering is a proud man who won't lie down for anyone, and he knows he's drinking in the last chance saloon

Pickering hasn't been the fighter he used to be for quite some time. This is almost a mismatch.

Pickering is a 5-1 outsider at the books for anyone interested