Mixed Boxing Results

Just some brief thoughts to keep the blog posts rolling ....

... Tim Bradley was simply way, way better than Carlos Abregu. I figured it would be a skill mismatch, and it was. But I didn't think the disparity would be so great that Abregu would effectively stop trying. Anyway, Bradley tried to call out Pacquiao after the fight, but Max Kellerman not-so-subtly said "good luck, who else you want?", at which point Bradley called out the entire 140 lbs. division.

... Alfredo Angulo isn't exactly the most versatile fighter in the world, but what he does, he does very well, and when Joachim Alcine let him start working on the inside, that was it. The stoppage came at the last moment of the first round, but it was good stoppage -- Alcine was out on his feet against the ropes and was at risk of serious injury.

... Somebody just won a ton of money by picking "over" for the David Tua/Monte Barrett fight. Everybody, and I mean everybody, was picking Tua KO1. After all, he's a gigantic puncher, and Barrett's chin has looked, well, less than stellar of late. But apparently Barrett fought his heart out, even knocking Tua down for the first time in his career in the 12th round, and many folks thought he deserved the nod. Barrett had already announced he was retiring after this fight regardless of the outcome, and it's a promise I hope he keeps. He seemed like a nice guy, always tried his best, and had a perfectly respectable career. Now he enjoy his retirement.

... Ishe Smith continues his streak of losing agonizingly close decisions, in large part because he doesn't have a high enough work rate. I had him winning the fight narrowly, but like basically every other Smith fight it could have gone either way (the 97-91 card was absurdly wide though). He did score a nice knockdown though. Also, towards the end of the fight when he did open up, he was astonishingly good at it, which makes me wonder why he doesn't do it more often. So frustrating.

... It's hard to say whether Zab Judah is "back" or not after his knockout win over Jose Armando Santa Cruz, but he certainly looked pretty sharp, and I think folks were a little too harsh ragging on the talent level of Santa Cruz. The big difference was that Judah actually finished Santa Cruz -- the last time I saw him on FNF, he was doing stupid little "throat slash" gestures instead of actually fighting his staggered opponent, so that's a step in the right direction. The hand speed is still mostly there, and it is still blinding, which would make Judah an intriguing match-up against anyone at 140. Khan, particularly, would be a battle of the blazers, but unfortunately Judah can punch, so that fight likely won't happen any time soon.