BoxRec

saunders - looks to have adapted his style already , great balance for 1st fight , went up-stairs and downstairs very well , used a wide range of punches , very fast and accurate , best performance of the night for me.

gavin - no doubt had the harder opponent of the 3 , again punched very well to body and head , got his chin tested and had a very nasty cut , came through well and stopped his opponent , gritted his teeth when cut and showed heart , had more to deal with of the 3 and has adapted well

degale - least of the 3 to adapt his style , not many combinations , easy controlled the fight without ever looking for the stoppage , got his chin tested in the 4th , will need to do much more to convince as his opponent never had any hunger to win the fight except in the 4th , think that he will be better when a guy goes at him as hes a counter-puncher ,pity pat puinched need to go , of the 3 degales performance was 3rd

decent opening opponents for our 3 olympians , i was a bit worried at the weigh-in all all 23 opponents look much smaller , gavins guy was the best of the 3 and looked durable , shame for gavin as its a bad cut but of the 3 he would have learned most tonight as he was tested , saunders looked dynamite , hope hes given at least 2 years to fully develop , degale , he has to stop listening to the hype , a safety first performance will not earn him the respect of teh fans etc.

hopefully we will see saunders and degale within a month , gavin needs time for that cut to heal but he has time , looking forward to thier next fights.

saunders - 10

gavin - 9

degale - 7

saunders was the best of the night.

good speed and variety.

got the gloves in well to.

Saunders - very good
Gavin - ok got bored watching
DeGale - poor and hasn't done anything to his style

Saunders: A-

Gavin: C+

Degale: D

Degale just came across as a slapper who likes to pose. The product of a drunken night between Calzaghe and Witter in which he got all the worst genes of both. When both Nelson and Piper picked him as the best at the end of the night I couldn't believe it. He needs a lot of gym work to adapt. Looks like he wants to fight like a Brendan Ingle fighter.

Saunders was good, and Gavin wasn't as convincing as I would have liked but started to look good after he got cut and went to force the issue more.

Disappointing thing is that none of them seem to pack any power.

Cannibal wrote:Saunders: A-

Gavin: C+

Degale: D

Degale just came across as a slapper who likes to pose. The product of a drunken night between Calzaghe and Witter in which he got all the worst genes of both. When both Nelson and Piper picked him as the best at the end of the night I couldn't believe it. He needs a lot of gym work to adapt. Looks like he wants to fight like a Brendan Ingle fighter.

Saunders was good, and Gavin wasn't as convincing as I would have liked but started to look good after he got cut and went to force the issue more.

Disappointing thing is that none of them seem to pack any power.

i thought saunders showed a bit of pop, and degale wasnt looking to load up, didnt go looking for the ko. but gavin doesnt seem to have an ounce of power

Yeah a little worried about Gavins lack of power. I know the fella he was against hasn't been knocked out so far but they were talking about him fighting at super feather and he was tiny in comparison. I do think that we're only going to see the best from Gavin when the competition is upped, he's much more stylish than that fight suggested.

Billy Joe was always going to look the best on his debut IMO as his amateur style lends itself to an easy transition into the pros - he looked a very astute signing. Frankie is still finding himself as he converts from his perfect amateur technique. He was caught more than usual and his power did seem absent for long periods. That said, he showed grit and some good two fisted attacks when cut . He has plenty to work on in the coming weeks and months. As for Degale I have never rated him and saw what I expected: a fighter who was in the right place at the right time in the ams. He wont do much out of the vest IMO.

I think Nicky Piper's comments that Degale was brilliant were way off the mark. He was showboating too much and slapped his punches, preferring to throw flurries rather than planting the feet and punching with authority. Plus I think he might have been schooled by Anthony Small in the interview technique:

"It's a learning curve though"
"It's a learning curve though"
"It's a learning curve though"
"It's a learning curve though"
"It's a learning curve though"

I went to this- De Gale was getting booed, he was fighting amateur style. Saunder looked strong but the stoppage was a little premature, and Gavin was in a good little tear up!

i thought frankie gavin's was the most exciting out the 3! saunders was really good too , james degale the new fraudley

Lack of power is a concern. Means that Frank Warrenbis gonn a have to be etra careful when selecting his opponents

I'm a little worried about Degale. Hope he adapts soon though. He didnt how anything in that fight. Couldnt evn jab properly. Not sure the point of booing though, I thought such ignorant attitudes were confined to the USA

Cannibal wrote: Degale just came across as a slapper who likes to pose. The product of a drunken night between Calzaghe and Witter in which he got all the worst genes of both.

Sums up my thoughts, but more funny like

Degale could do with some snap.

Saunders - A-
Gavin - B
Degale - D

It was more entertaining than I thought but BJS was the only one I was impressed with.

Alarming that Gavin celebrated as though he'd just beaten Miguel Cotto..

Degale seems to be nicking a few of Naz's little mannerisms and he just doesn't have the charisma to carry it off. He has a lot to learn as a pro too. All arm punches.

chinny wrote: Alarming that Gavin celebrated as though he'd just beaten Miguel Cotto..

I noticed that as well but maybe it's down to relief following the olympic fiasco he must have felt a lot of frustration following that.

hitman09 wrote:Saunders - A-
Gavin - B
Degale - D

That's a ridiculous mark to give DeGale. His opponent hardly threw any punches and DeGale had huge pressure on him. They would have been better off putting him in with someone who would have had a go.

How people can draw conclusions from one four-rounder is beyond me. Saunders was in against by far the worst opponent.

[quote="banjo"][quote="chinny"] Alarming that Gavin celebrated as though he'd just beaten Miguel Cotto..[/quote]

I noticed that as well but maybe it's down to relief following the olympic fiasco he must have felt a lot of frustration following that.[/quote]

or could it of been that he was in front of a home crowd for his pro debut :??

Out of the 3,Frankie for me.He was up against the stronger fighter who went the distance with the former european champion(s-feather) and Frankie was cut from a headbutt(accident).Taken all that in,and winning by stoppage was a great win for him.

Saunders showed class combos and abit of a dig.

Degale,hmmmmm You can see the skill there,But Needs to stop the pity pat Punch's,can he delevelop a punch ?

beano wrote:

banjo wrote:

chinny wrote: Alarming that Gavin celebrated as though he'd just beaten Miguel Cotto..

I noticed that as well but maybe it's down to relief following the olympic fiasco he must have felt a lot of frustration following that.

or could it of been that he was in front of a home crowd for his pro debut :??

Quite possibly(I forgot it about that) any fighter who is turning pro would be nervous and especially one like Frankie who people have high expectations of, personally I thought he looked ok, it's a shame about the cut which will probably keep him out longer than he would like.

De Gale did Ok for me. Looked well skilled but maybe lacked a punch

What about the stoppages? The first one looked very premature to me, although I was in the crowd so might have missed something subtle that TV would have picked up on (legs going etc.)

Gavin's guy was taking an sustain battering, so that one seemed more reasonsable.

Bloody good support for Gavin too.

chinny wrote:
Alarming that Gavin celebrated as though he'd just beaten Miguel Cotto

He sounded like he was Warren's best mate calling him and powell a world class team and didn't some analyst give out about how little powell knows

I only saw Gavin and Degales fights. Gavin had a tough opponent for his debut and he did well. I thought Gavin lacked power though. Degale needs to do a lot of work in the gym, he still has lots of amateur traits. Too early to be critical but they were my observations. As for predicting how far any of them will go, that would be rediculous at this stage.

First of all it makes a refreshing change for debuts that aren't 1 round knockover jobs.

I thought they all showed very good skills and look forward to seeing them again. My concern with Degale is that I think his style requires greater punching power than he has. It will be interesting to see how he fares against somebody that really has a go at him. I think his workrate, stamina and ability to take a shot will be crucial for him.

I hope they all do well as I do get fed up of people waiting for our prospects to slip up, although having said that I can understand how the hype puts people off.