So the weekend’s fights are all wrapped up and Tyson Fury didn’t threaten anyone. But, of course, there are still a few hours left, give him time!
There were some decent fights this weekend, even if there wasn’t any major events.
I’ve got a few thoughts regarding some of the weekend’s fights, and I decided to write about them, because I’m self-important like that.
Here they are:
Garcia vs. Guerrero
I thought Robert Guerrero (33-4-1, 18 KOs) came out strong, and was game throughout, but Danny Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs) started to time him at about the midway point and by that stage the fight seemed all but over.
That said, Guerrero was able to keep pressing and keep things interesting. It was a good fight, not great, just good.
Garcia
I’ve always heard people say that Garcia “gets the job done,” or “finds a way to win,” or other such comments, and that was very much the case last night. He hardly blew Geurrero away, but I thought he was clearly the better fighter.
Garcia has good, basic technique. He has a solid straight 1-2, decent footwork and is pretty agile and athletic, along with decent hand speed. His power at 147 doesn’t seem enough to hammer people, but he has accumulative power, and that can still result in plenty of late stoppages.
Everything he does is good, if not great. But when it all comes together as a package, Garcia has proven himself to be extremely effective.
But there are gaps and I think a number of the top guys at 147 show them up. He dips at the hips really clumsily. Sometimes he dips and pivots out, but other times he drops his upper body and is often static and rather than evading much, he just blindsides himself.
His hooks are his money punch, as demonstrated by his heavy knockouts of both Erik Morales and Rod Salka. But those hooks also seem to be the punch he throws with the worst form.
He either throws wide, open arm punches, or he closes his eyes and throws with his whole body. When that shot lands it’s really effective, but it’s risky. You’d think someone would eventually catch him out when he does it, but it hasn’t happened yet. So what do I know?
Guerrero
Since losing to Floyd Mayweather, Guerrero has made a war out of fighting Yoshihiro Kamegai, lost a valiant effort against Keith Thurman, barely snuck past Aron Martinez and fought a competitive loss to Garcia.
What’s left? I think he’s going to settle in as a gatekeeper for the top 10. He comes forward, gets in scraps and is exciting, but I don’t see him ever getting a major win again.
The question is, how long can he stay competitive whilst getting in hard battles?
Breazeale vs. Mansour
Dominic Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs) is what he is. If you take away any expectation that he should be a top dog in the division, he’s enough fun to watch. His hands are pretty slow, and he doesn’t do anything brilliantly, but he has good footwork and natural balance, okay fundamentals and seems like a reasonable athlete. I don’t find watching him a grave visual assault.
Last night he was seemingly on his way to a loss (or controversial win), as Amir Mansour (22-2-1, 16 KOs) was rushing him and catching him clean pretty regularly, despite giving up every conceivable physical advantage. Mansour showed us what we already know about Breazeale. That he’s not that good, and he’s pretty vulnerable. But I did find it interesting to see Breazeale show some grit and come back from getting knocked down and hurt pretty badly in the third round.
Breazeale should be easy to match in some interesting fights. There are plenty of fighters at heavyweight that will make for a tough test for the 30-year-old Olympian. Eventually he will lose to someone decent, and that almost happened last night. That, or he will get put in with one of the big boys, and that’ll be nothing but trouble for Breazeale.
Eyubov vs. Robinson
In something of a step up in competition, Bakhtiyar Eyubov (10-0, 10 KOs) looked really good in knocking out Jared Robinson (16-3-1, 7 KOs) in the third round, having battered him in the first couple rounds.
He looks good, with heavy hands and an exciting come-forward style. I’m not sure what his ceiling really is, as I haven’t seen enough of him to say with any confidence. But who really cares when he does a dance in a wig?
I’ve complained about fighters being too overzealous when they’ve just beat someone into a paste moments ago, and I felt the same here, but his dancing was just so entertaining that it forced me to be less of an uptight dork about it.
And the wig? What does a funny dance need more than a wig? Nothing. That’s what.
Easy work leads to dancing with a crazy wig for Bakhtiyar Eyubov. #ShoBox #Boxing https://t.co/nM3ier3qRT
— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) January 23, 2016
Brant vs Perez
Last week people were calling Deontay Wilder‘s knockout of Artur Szpilka the knockout of the year. And as if it wasn’t enough that we were calling the KO of the year in the middle of January, we’ve got another.
Rob Brant (19-0, 12 KOs) obliterated Decarlo Perez (15-4-1, 5 KOs). I don’t have anything funny to say about this. It’s just pretty brutal.
https://twitter.com/SHOsports/status/690763777101312000t
What did you make of the fights this weekend? Who impressed you most? What was your highlight?
