Boxing 2025

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

Nothing surprises me anymore. He'll probably last and I'll hate it all even more.

[cdbearsfan]

If he is seriously hurt, or worse, the organisers should go to prison.

[PaulWinch again]

If he is seriously hurt, or worse, the organisers should go to prison.

Definitely. It’s ridiculous.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

If anybody gets bored tonight I came across this yesterday, never seen it before but it's ideal when you want to see two boxers really go at it every round. Canelo Alvarez v Lanardo Tyner. Sounds even better in Spanish.

[dave.woodhall]

If he is seriously hurt, or worse, the organisers should go to prison.

He won't get seriously hurt.

[dave.woodhall]

And didn't.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Much ado about nothing. Either Joshoa needs to retire or that was a fix.

[cdbearsfan]

Aye. Because I'm a pisshead/insomniac I watched it in spite of myself. Every time Joshua had him on the ropes in the first few rounds he backed off again. He definitely started trying eventually and I found myself shouting "stay down" at the end but regardless, Paul came out of that with more credit than Joshua despite the inevitable outcome. Embarrassing from Joshua.

[dave.woodhall]

I happened to wake up and thought I might as well watch it. Paul was unlike anyone Joshua had ever fought; his first instinct was to run, his second was to hold and his third was to fall down. For a boxer who's been out of the ring for so long that can take a bit of time to get used to, but it shouldn't have been four rounds. Once Joshua got going he didn't take long but you can't overlook the fact that he stepped up immediately the second half of the fight started.

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

I haven't seen it, but from what I've read and to be fair to Joshua, it's really hard to hit someone who won't engage. Paul was always going to do that so I'm not surprised it lasted longer than what people thought it would.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

The thought did cross my mind what would have happened if AJ had positioned himself on the outside. Eight rounds without a punch thrown? In AJ's defence, I guess after so long out and so hard training, he wanted more than a couple of minutes out there. Sounds like he broke Paul's jaw with the knockout punch, so he's still got it. Fitness wise, it was a surprise to see Paul struggle so early but then boxers are elite athletes and even I'd struggle after a few body blows like those dished out tonight.

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

I've just seen a few clips and it looked like at points Paul was literally running away and at times hugging Joshua's knees. It looked embarrassing. I didn't realise the ring was bigger than usual as well. I don't really blame AJ if your opponent is running away like a child. Disgrace to the sport.

[Drummond]

Not sleeping well at the moment, woke up, realised it was in so watched it.

Paul literally doing anything to avoid being hit, including what looked like begging at Joshua's feet for a few rounds. That and doing a Charlie Chaplin impression.

Then when he finally did get hit, in the chest, he fell over. One shot to the head and got his jaw broken.

Farcical.

[paul_e]

I'm leaning to a similar conclusion to a few that AJ wanted, for whatever reason, a longer fight than just 1 or 2 rounds. As said above he was backing off early on when he could've ended the fight.

I don't think it was rigged, just that he had in his mind what he wanted from the fight and he decided to wait until he could do that. The fact that the knockout was his signature punch and he'd not been able to land it earlier felt like it was important to him.

[Somniloquism]

I woke up to the R2 news this morning and Steve Bunce mentioned the bigger but legal ring and that Paul was running away for most of it and then was stopped with the first solid punch Joshua managed to land.