Rolling Boxing Thread / Anticipating Manny vs. Mayweather

What sort of reputation does Merchant have? Is this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLtPy42LhGM&feature=related anything to go by?

Lots of people seem to hate him, but he's also popular enough that HBO couldn't demote/can him when they wanted to bring in Max Kellerman to do color/interviews full time (thank god for that, Kellerman is a nightmare).

I like him a lot - it's kind of nice to have a rambling old sportswriter type talking rather than high-sheen tv people.

"Dom Passantino left the group I hope Ricky Hatton gives Floyd Mayweather a fuckin good hiding."

merchant is a) always drunk as shit b) always asks the fighters really demeaning questions

it's pretty entertaining but at the same time i wish his slurring old ass would just die in a fire

And well done to Joe Calzaghe BBC Sports Personality Of The Year.
Justice has been done.

Watched the whole thing on youtube, very entertainting. I love Hatton, but Mayweather is a fucking genius, probably the second best fighter (next to RJJ) of my generation.

I put Mayweather above RJJ.

I keep reading that as RJG and thinking you are all mad.

I'd back an RSJ against either of them.

Alex Arthur looks to have left it all in the gym, big shock on if he doesn't stop catching these right hands.

Two great rounds there from Arthur to show I don't know shit.

who is RSJ?

Rolled Steel Joist.

Cracking fight. Left to the body from Arthur in the 9th looked to have taken all the fight out of Foster but then he somehow came back and floored Arthur with a huge right hand in the 11th. Arthur did well to beat the count and hang on for a narrow win.

Just gonna watch the Khan fight. 10 minutes?

started

1st round Khan, St Clair looks up for it tho.

3-0 I think.

This is a proper fight now. Biggest test Khan's had yet and I'm not sure if he'll pass it.

I.E. he's gonna have to keep his cool

If he can get a points win then it will put the end to the can he go 12 rounds stuff.

7th: good round for Khan. Could've been a turning point but he stepped up and reasserted himself.

Neither look like knocking the other out so far. But who knows what will happen.

I'll say one thing, Khan can box a bit.

I think Khan had better watch himself to the last second, I can still see St Clair catching him. That said, he's taken a couple of decent shots.

I think Khan had better watch himself to the last second,

St Clair don't look beat tho. These last 3 are gonna be dy-nu-mite.

Classy performance. Slightly disappointed St Clair didn't show a bit more at the end there.

Comfortable win for Khan. He looked very good.

120-108 wow

All 3 judges gave him all 12 rounds. Tiny bit generous, maybe.

And I cant really argue with that either though. St Clair didn't really do anything

I thought he mixed it up a bit between 7 and 10.

this shit on hbo paul williams v. quintana is about the biggest mismatch looking fight ive ever watched except quintana caught dude w/ a few good shots in rd 1

has been a quality fight. williams technique looks like it sux and he'd get pwned by mayweather or even cotto i would guess

wowowowowowow new welterweight champ of the world 1st loss for p will

kellerman's lips look methier than usual, poor max

Lennox Lewis is ok, but fuck this Max Kellerman/guy-who's-not-Jim-Lampley noise

Honestly, I never understood the Kellerman hate.

Loud, obnoxious, rarely adds anything of interest and seems to occasionally play favorites with his remarks. What's not to like?

Is he on ILX?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/boxing/7253985.stm

Joe Calzaghe has been warned he "better be willing to die" by Bernard Hopkins ahead of their 19 April light-heavyweight contest in Las Vegas.

Hopkins repeatedly said the phrase to Calzaghe when the two men staged the traditional face off following a press conference on Tuesday.

"I feel in an executioner mood," said Hopkins, who addressed the media wearing a black hood.

"I am going to punish him and punish him slowly."

Undisputed super-middleweight champion Calzaghe, 35, is unbeaten in 44 professional fights.

He laughed off the episode, as he had done before Christmas when Hopkins, 43, Ring Magazine's light-heavyweight champion, claimed during a previous confrontation that he would "never lose to a white boy".

"He's doing what he has to do to psyche himself up," said Calzaghe. "I'm enjoying it. This is a new phase for me, my first fight in the States.

"I came to watch the Ricky Hatton fight against Floyd Mayweather and saw the support he had and that's the only thing missing from my career, a big name, someone like Hopkins and all the bull that surrounds it.

"He can be the bad guy now but I'm going to be the bad guy come 19 April.

"I've been through all this before. I've been undefeated 17 years so nothing intimidates me.

MACCARINELLI VS HAYE. BIGGEST UK FIGHT FOR A DECADE. WHO WILL WIN: GAZ TOP ON STEROIDS OR A BOYZ II MEN BODYGUARD CIRCA 1994?

Tough call, I'm going with Haye inside 8. There's no way I think it'll go the distance.

TYSON VS HOLYFIELD III - WILL THIS BE A BIGGER FARCE THAN MAYWEATHER VS BIG SHOW?

(and who will make the most money?)

If they made Tyson/Holyfield a play-off for the right to fight the winner of Mayweather/Show, I'd buy a ticket.

I'm torn between Haye and Maccarinelli. I remember seeing Haye's debut fight when BBC2 used to have weekly schlub boxing contests on a Thursday night, I was basically "Wow, I fuck w/this dude". But Maccarinelli is good ol' boy as well. It's not going past eight rounds, it may well be over in two tbh.

What time does the actual fight start?

2am

Vasquez vs. Marquez III was great.

Cheers Dom. Reckon I'll stay up for it.

from the bbc
0030: Best guess on fight time is somewhere between 0230 and 0300 but no-one is quite sure. One thing is for certain, the atmosphere at a packed O2 Arena is quite tasty. A full house of 14,000-odd fans and a few lagers have been had in the long wait for the main event. In case you were wondering, first bell is so late because of the US market. The plan is to launch both of these fighters as major world stars by exposing them to the money men across the Pond.

I reckon 3am - that's when Freeview customers are being told to switch from c34 to c38 if they've subscribed.

Drunk and tired but I think I'll make it.

Mitchell vs Johanneson was a great fight - excellent mix of styles. Mitchell did well to come back from a shaky couple of rounds and win but he gets caught far too often to convince me he's ever going to reach the top. Johanneson looked rock solid until that body shot early in the ninth took the wind out if him.

we're on now!