The official MoFo boxing thread

I had to Google 30 for 30 had no idea what it was, might watch it myself. There's a fab four documentary on yt that you may be interested in after you've seen all of the fights. The
80s were awesome in boxing.
I'd say the HW division was quite weak until Tyson came at the end, but other than that there was plenty. I'm with you in that the Fab 4 were the highlight, I'd also add the 80s Lightweight-Welterweight divisions as among the best ever. With the start of Pernell the highlight of course

I haven't really been watching many combat sports in the past few years, but the past event is giving me a mini boxing rush, brought some nostalgia of the days of watching all the UFC events and the Klitschko fights in boxing. I really liked Vasyl Lomachenko, I was rooting from him since I saw his pre-interview simply since he's a Ukrainian, bit he ended up being very good and fun to watch. I'll be keeping an eye on him, and a closer eye on boxing in general.

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Loma is a class act. Widely regarded as one of the best amateur boxers of all time, i think he'll be an absolute star and i'll also be following/supporting him.

Potential for a great fight this Saturday is Canelo v Kirkland, assuming Kirkland is fit that is. I can't see Kirkland winning either way but it should be fun while it lasts.

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Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

Fab Four in the 80s

1980

Fab Four Fighter of the Year: Thomas Hearns

Fab Four Fight of the Year: Sugar Ray Leonard vs Roberto Duran I

Roberto Duran: 3-1, 2 KO
Marvin Hagler: 4-0, 3 KO
Thomas Hearns: 6-0, 6 KO (2 first round KO)
Sugar Ray Leonard: 2-1, 2 KO


After watching all of the fights involving the Fab Four guys in the first year of the 80s (except the first round KO of Eddie Gazo by Hitman Hearns, which I couldn't find,) those are the "awards" I'd give out. Not many exciting fights, but that's because most of them were just squash matches with these guys on the way up. The only two competitive and exciting fights were the Leonard/Duran bouts, the only two fights where both fighters were members of the Fabulous Four. Both really exciting action fights that were split, with the first one Duran getting the better of Leonard when Leonard questionably decided to brawl with Duran. The second fight became one of the most talked about events in boxing history when Roberto Duran just quit in the middle of the fight after being frustrated by Sugar Ray Leonard's antics and defensive abilities.

Thomas Hearns would have to be the Fab Four fighter of the year due to his busy schedule and dominating performances, knocking out all of his opponents and averaging a fight every two months in the year. He eventually knocked out Pipino Cuevas in devestating fashion to win the WBA Welterweight Championship. Had Duran won the second Leonard fight, or Leonard the first then either one of those fellows would have been my fighter of the year.

The two Duran/Leonard fights were by far the most exciting to watch, but Thomas Hearns was probably the individual boxer I had the most fun watching. With his big frame and power punches, he was a welterweight nightmare.

Marvin Hagler also had an impressive year that he capped off by winning WBA & WBC Middleweight Titles against Englishman Alan Minter in Wembley Arena. He busted Minter's face up causing four cuts that needed 15 stitches to seal, but the crowd wasn't happy about the referee's stoppage. They proceeded to sling bottles and other assorted items into the ring at Hagler, he didn't have time to celebrate his victory or be awarded his belts until a later date.

JJ what did you think?

RND1: No surprise I gave this to Ortiz, personally I agreed with the ref that the first was a slip rather than a knockdown.

Ortiz 1-0 Berto

RND 2: I give this round to Berto. His knockdown was feeble compared to Ortiz in the first but Ortiz is clearly losing his aggressive edge way too early.

Ortiz 1-1 Berti

RND 3: I'm happy that Ortiz didn't listen to his corner, if he did this fight would have been a lot less interesting. I give this round to Ortiz by the slimmest margin, he connected with more but the most important punches came from Berto.

Ortiz 2-1 Berto

I don't have the fastest internet and DailyMotion doesn't always agree with it, so right now my technology isn't fully cooperating. It's taking longer than I'd like to get through this, but here are my thoughts through three rounds:


I don't know anything about these guys, either one. At least not consciously. I am going in cold here, I don't even know the result of this fight, let's go.

Right away these two dudes come in banging and Berto hits the canvas early in the first round. The referee ruled that it wasn't a knock down, but rather a slip. It was close though as Ortiz landed a shot at the same time, questionable call there. No matter, because Ortiz sends Berto down soon after. A lot of activty early in the fight with Ortiz looking good.

Between the first and second round Berto's corner tells him "Don't worry about that sh*t." I don't think I'd give the same advice. When Ortiz connected, Berto felt. Worry about that sh*t, man, worry about that sh*t.

The second round was about Berto trying not to get hit while generating some offense, and ultimately getting a bit of a lucky knock down. It counts the same way, so that's not taking anything away from Berto, but Ortiz wasn't hurt just off-balance and unlucky.

Round two must have been a confidence builder for Berto as he came out swinging to start the third, but once the slugfest started going Ortiz quickly gained control. I don't know how this will bode for Ortiz the longer the fight goes, but right now he is controlling the fight with superior power and a superior chin. He's rocked Berto on multiple occasions.

Ortiz 2-1

RND 4: Quite a sad round. I think the lay back strategy is warranted and beautiful sometimes, the obvious example being Ali-Foreman but this just had me hoping Berto getting KO'd.

Also JJ I don't know who wins yet either

RND 5: My favourite so far. I loved the hesitance from both initially, mutual respect is something brought up often but it only seems true in situations like the first 30 seconds of that round. No doubt Ortz round anyway.

Ortiz 4-1 Berto

Round 4

Between the third and fourth, Berto's corner gives him my favorite boxing advice: "Touch the body." Body shots can be so devestating and will break a dude down, I hope he listens.

Welp. He didn't listen. Berto is just giving the round to Ortiz, possibly hoping Ortiz will tire early. Perhaps Berto still isn't feeling right from the punishment he took earlier, dunno, either way Berto didn't really do any fighting in this round. Ortiz should have recognized that Berto was wanting him to punch himself out and gone to the body to wear Berto down too.

Ortiz 3-1 Berto

Maybe it's because I am relatively new to the sport, but I value aggression and pace quite a bit. I love the guys who bring it right at their opponents. Ortiz has been doing that while Berto hasn't quite been doing that. Berto was a little more active than in round 4, but Ortiz took round 5.

Ortiz 4-1 Berto

OK watch 6 and 7 now JJ.

RND 6: Dunno about you JJ, but I love both of these guys. The round was Bertos, not by much actually in the complete inverse of the previous round I felt Berto was constantly throwing meaningless punches. I think the end kind of proved that.

Ortiz 4-2 Berto

RND7: Difficult round to score. Despite the noise of the crowd during Bertos barrages I think this was a resting round that went to Ortiz.

Ortiz 5-2 Berto

Tell me when your ready JJ.

Berto is starting to fall behind, if Ortiz doesn't start fading soon, it's going to be bad for Berto.

Berto is doing more work now and he was winning round 6 even before he landed a beautiful knock down shot on Ortiz sending him sprawling to the canvas. I don't know if Ortiz was all that hurt, but when you get countered right on the button, you're probably going down. His legs don't seem there though, so he is either wearing down or if that punch had more on it than I initially thought. Berto was dominating this round, he probably would have knocked Ortiz down again if he wasn't up against the ropes. Then out of nowhere, Ortiz knocks Berto down. Holy moly. What a round, man. Ortiz still looked worse for ware in this round, he could be losing his legs. Berto gets the round, but no 10-8.

Round 7 is going to have to be pretty damn good to live up to the previous round.

*I remember hearing the line "Does anybody think we've seen the last knock down in this fight?" recently. I must have either seen one of the guys fight on HBO or seen the a preview for one of their fights recently. That's the extent of my knowledge of either guy, sadly. Back to the fight*

These dudes are throwing leather. Hard. Nobody went down in round 7, but both guys are going for it. Not an easy round to score, as I don't know how many of those hard shots really landed. I agree with Camo, I give the slight edge to Ortiz in this round.

Ortiz 5-2 Berto.

Same score so far bro. Great write ups. Tell me when you're ready for the next two.

I am ready.

Ok I'm starting the next round

RND 8: Worst round of the fight easy so far. The only person I was a fan of there was the ref, the constant tit-for-tat punches in the back of the head doesn't appeal to me at all. I'll give this round to Berto by a hair.

Ortiz 5-3 Berto

RND 9: Another dissapointing round. Usually I don't give a crap about penalties, but Ortiz really irritated me during the last few rounds and I think the only way to score that round is by penalizing Ortiz. So this goes to Berto.

Ortiz 5-4 Berto

Tell me when you're ready JJ. We may as well do 10 and 11 then finish with the last round.