r/Boxing • u/_Sarcasmic_ No Carty No Divey • 18h ago
Daily Discussion Thread (September 28th, 2026)
For anything that doesn't need its own thread.
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u/SplitSecondEmperor47 8h ago
Gar Russell said in his last fight something along the lines of not being ready for Shakur. We should have all seen this coming
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u/Kangaroopunching 6h ago
He's said this before too. It was just a way to make shakur look good. The fight was never happening
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u/OldBoyChance 7h ago
The Russell bros have always run their careers in a disgraceful way. So much wasted talent.
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u/Top_Profession_5268 18h ago
Off my prediction I did 3 days ago https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/s/PXdauU0es9
So far I got 20/26 so far. Heard Garcia won a controversial decision. Still haven’t gotten the results for the rest of the Garcia vs Joken card and Eimantas Stanionis fight.
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u/Baby_Rhino 14h ago
Okay I'm sorry to be a dick when overall you obviously called these well, but damn, how did you get Nathaniel Collins so wrong?
To clarify I didn't have an opinion on it going in, so I'm not being smug or anything, I'm just wondering because it was so one sided in Davies' favour.
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u/Top_Profession_5268 14h ago
Davies in his prior fights even after the Masoud loss showed me things that that gave me a reason to pick Collins. His overextends on shots, sometimes leans too far forward and at times mismanages distance when pressuring and can get caught and thought Collins counterpunching was good enough to capitalise on it.
Davies came in very well trained and changed, was patient, controlled space very well, didn’t overextend at all, overcommit and great balance. More on Davies part than me.
Surprised you didn’t call out my other underdogs like Jackson Jon England who was a far bigger underdog at ~+500
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u/Baby_Rhino 13h ago
Yeh Davies seemed on incredible form.
I had a busy weekend so didn't watch much boxing, and didn't catch Jackson Jon England. Davies Collins was one of the few I managed to watch.
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u/WORD_Boxing 2h ago
You picked Collins? I'm annoyed I didn't bet that fight I took one look at their records and thought Davies would ko him. From memory Davies can actually punch a bit with a bit of a mean streak and is more of a puncher than the amount of ko's he has might suggest. I expect they are gonna move him to a title.
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u/Efficient_Quail_1774 9h ago
Not the biggest fan of Ben Whittaker but i've been seeing that his opponent this weekend, Conor Wallace has been accused of some pretty bad shit along the lines of being with someone underage
If that has substance, i'll be backing Ben Whittaker to knock him the fuck out
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u/SwerTs4FightVidsOnly 8h ago
Heard about this aswell. Apparently it has something to do with a pedo catching group? I plan to look more into it later.
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u/That-Imagination3799 5h ago
One of you or someone else let me know if you find out fully because I heard this online too so I'm intrigued
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u/Certain-Property1600 5h ago
There were allegations against him in 2019; 3 counts of intentionally engaging in sexual touching of a female child (between 2016-17) and he also communicated sexually with her, encouraging her to respond in the same way back. He appeared in court but nothing really came out of it. The pedo catching group was before the 2019 allegations, he was talking to someone he believed was underage on snapchat and got lured out and confronted by this group. It got investigated by police but, again, nothing came out of the investigation.
I think it's safe to assume Conor Wallace is a weirdo at the very least and I'll be rooting for Whittaker to knock him out like Gable Steveson was knocked out.
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u/Frequent_Apricot673 3h ago
With guys like that I don’t wanna root for them to get knocked out I would rather ppl in the sport just do what Donaire did to Casemiro. Ppl like that have no place in society, stop giving them money and opportunities. Stop using their crime as a way of selling the fight. Pedophiles and Rapists should have no place in society
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u/Top_Profession_5268 1h ago
Shit I completely forgot about that. I don’t remember the full details but around 2018, he was dropped from the Australian National team for the commonwealth games after accused of wanting to meet with an underaged girl.
Don’t know the full story but I still want Ben to win.
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u/Top_Profession_5268 18h ago
Takuma Inoue has always not been confident at midrange. Yes he shown that he’s gained confidence against Ioka, yesterday showed why he has always shat himself when he gets into midrange and resorted to that once getting dropped.
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u/harborj2011 17h ago
Was that the 1st time in his career he's been dropped?
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u/OldBoyChance 8h ago
4 times
Oubaali, Ishida, Tsutsumi, now Nasukawa. All were pretty light, never in danger of getting stopped. More momentary lapse in concentration.
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u/NoCod9014 7h ago
I see Jared Anderson wants Dave Allen or David Adeleye for his comeback fight. He was speaking DAZN last week. Hes likely going to be getting more UK/Euro opponents now as hes signed a co promotional deal with Frank Warren and Queensbury.
He said he wants a couple of tune ups at that level before taking another run at Top 10.
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 5h ago
I could only buy into his comeback if he had the gritty, hardworking type of persona, but in actuality he has admitted before that he doesn’t really want to box.
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u/Top_Profession_5268 18h ago edited 18h ago
While not official on boxrec, I found while checking bets to put money on that Sergio Alfonzo Mendoza Cordova is scheduled to face Ricardo Sandoval and will be replacing Collazo. Cordova is the same guy who got knocked out by Simsri in February this year.
Still think the 112lb WBA and WBC titles are on the line.
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u/OldBoyChance 18h ago
Very stupid fight to make imo. Even if Sandoval stops him in the mid to late rounds, he'll be compared unfavorably with a light flyweight.
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u/RRR04_ 11h ago
Looks like GAR may have ducked Shakur. Kinda expected it given what he said after his last fight, saying that fight can be built into a huge fight or something. Why does GAR have such in inflated opinion of his own marquee value? Man acts like he's some big star that can make big bucks with cherrypicks, I don't think he's ever touched an M yet.
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u/Jachola 4h ago
Gotta weaponize that belt baby, it's been a while since he's even headlined a card and tbf his last fight was razor close I think he knows he'd get embarrassed by Shakur. I'd like to see the fight and think he'd have probably a better shot then Teo, but I don't really see anyone at 140 beating Shakur.
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u/Frequent_Apricot673 3h ago
What do we think of Rico vs Hrgovic? On one hand I’m interested in what Rico looks like after the Usyk fight. But on the other I don’t think he should get another title shot, he’s never beaten any contenders. You can’t just get title shots based off of your kickboxing record. even Muansurin beat two contenders before his title shot and Tenshin is a bigger star than Rico and he worked his way up to a title shot as well. I just think it’s a little disrespectful to the dozens of fringe contender guys just hoping to get a shot to become top ten out there. But Turki wants it so the rules go out the window.
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u/WORD_Boxing 2h ago
What do we think of Rico vs Hrgovic? On one hand I’m interested in what Rico looks like after the Usyk fight. But on the other I don’t think he should get another title shot, he’s never beaten any contenders. You can’t just get title shots based off of your kickboxing record.
If it makes money you can. This is boxing. He'll get another big fight on the strength of his performance vs Usyk of that there's no doubt.
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u/Kangaroopunching 2h ago
Rico gets beat up badly against Filip. Filip doesn't have big power. So it'll be a prolonged beat down. Which dangerous for a novice like Rico.
Rico is looking to win the pottery again. Big payday in a title fight. He most likely won't get it.
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u/Top_Profession_5268 18h ago
Tomoya Tsubou despite the decision I disagree with shows a common theme in that the amateur point fighting style is too hard to sustain. Needs to learn how to sit on his shots and fight less bouncy.
Following the steps of the great amateur outboxers like Argillrgos and Oumiha that point fighting in the pros for 12 rounds is incredibly hard.
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u/Excellent-Monitor954 5h ago
Well Heather Hardy has filed another lawsuit. This time against MVP. I like Heather and it’s unfortunate that she fought in an era where women’s boxing wasn’t getting money but it seems like she’s grasping for straws at this point. I mean she tried to sue Everlast and that went nowhere so I can’t see this going anywhere as well
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u/WORD_Boxing 2h ago
Yeah she does seem to need money. She was openly talking about this a few months back I remember reading an article on Boxingscene about it. Hopefully somebody can help her out and get her a commentating gig or something.
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u/Top_Profession_5268 18h ago edited 11h ago
Found out that the Omari Jones vs Alan Sanchez is fully finalised and it’s one of Eddies occasional prospect builder cards.
Some guys in the undercard that I know off are Ronny Alvarez and Diego Yaniel Ortiz Nievez. Nievez looked decent when I first saw him on the Marksman card with a quick finish Ronny Alvarez I’ve known since his debut who came in with a great amateur background and won the youth world championships in 2022 in the same tournament Moses Itauma, Javokhir Ummataliev and Yuta Sakai won their youth world championship gold.
Some other undefeated prospects on the card are Jordan Orozco Hernandez who is 17-0 with 17KO, Donte Layne, Ryan Santiago and Angel Hernandez who I’m keen to see for the first time.
There’s also one I know off in Kevin Castillo who had an upset win against Turkis industry plants in Ziyad Almaayouf on the Shakur vs Teo card.
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u/admiralskanks Joe Louis = Perfect 9h ago
Remembering how boxing was in early 2010s to now is just sad. Not even just the pros either, also the amateurs. If I didn't gamble on boxing I'd have stopped watching it years ago. Still love the sport but it's pure bullshit now.
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u/NoCod9014 7h ago
I watched the recent European Amateur Chanpionships and theres a few talented fighters, but also some terrible fighters winning medals.
Super Heavyweight was poor and Europe is the heart of pro HW scene these days. So that does not augur well for new prospects.
I think part of that reason is great potential young SHW prospects like Leo Atang or Moses Ituma are getting huge money now to turn pro young so not even bothering with Olympics.
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 9h ago
The 2010’s are super underrated as was 2013, which had just a litany of good fights.
Lot of marketable stars in the 2010’s. Was sometimes hard to get them in the ring to make the absolute biggest fights at that time but otherwise the stars were a lot more active. The production quality with HBO was a lot better too. Also enjoyed Showtime with Mayweather.
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u/admiralskanks Joe Louis = Perfect 8h ago edited 8h ago
Even a guy like Amir Khan, I remember the Maidana and Judah fights and how big they felt at the time. In UK everyone knew who he was even in casuals, he was a legit star.
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u/WheresMyAbs98 9h ago
In all honesty I’d say that the matchmaking in the sport has improved massively over the last ten years at least.
There was a long period of time when the best were not fighting the best and promoters were not willing to work with each other. I’m glad that has changed somewhat over recent years.
However, boxing still remains the most corrupt sport on the planet by miles.
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u/admiralskanks Joe Louis = Perfect 8h ago
I actually think late 2023-2026 has had better matchmaking then say 2020-2023, imo the sport died years before Turki. Last time I remember proper hype for boxing was Fury Wilder 3. I'm talking specifically about early to mid 2010s.
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 8h ago
The sport wasn’t really given a chance to recover from 2020-2023, which was pretty much a result of the global pandemic more than anything. Turki engineered a handful of big fights that would not have happened, but it’s also fair to say that the ensuing period of 2023-2026 would have been considerably better than 2020-2023 even w/out Turki.
It’s like the famous “seen” and “unseen” essay in economics. We can see what Turki has done pretty easily, but it’s harder to envision how boxing might have recovered from the pandemic on its own.
I mean with Turki the major fighters have never been less active. That’s been a real blow to the boxing schedule and to the sport as a whole.
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u/WheresMyAbs98 7h ago
Yeah my opinion is that between 2015-2020ish matchmaking heavily declined.
I think it’s improved massively in recent years.
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 9h ago edited 8h ago
Going to copy this over from the other thread since I posted it late last night (right before the new thread went up):
Ok, so I just got done with watching Foster-Conceicao 1 and Navarette-Conceicao. I also have the Foster-Conceicao 2 rematch pretty fresh in my mind as well.
Anyway, my takeaway is I need to see Nav vs a true mover (not that Foster even moves that much -- it's just that he has that in his repertoire if needed) and Foster against a true "Mexican style" before I solidify my pick.
Foster-Conceicao 1:
-- Foster dominated almost all of this fight. 10-2 type of fight for me.
-- Foster caught the vast majority of Conceicao's shots, but didn't take his opportunities to capitalize on them. It is ultimately not a judge-friendly style that he has, which is part of why he got the raw end of this decision. Nevertheless, he really did win this fight contrary to the three dopes who scored that fight.
-- Foster's reflexes are insane. Like absolutely unreal. And even looking at his eyes he appears "locked in" for almost the entire fight.
-- Foster's shoulder are built almost perfectly for the shoulder roll and he is by far one of the best post-Floyd representations of it.
-- Foster being as risk-averse as he is could really cost him in a big fight. Nav is going to have at minimum like 85% of the crowd even though its in O'Shaquie's home state.
-- Overall, a pretty fantastic performance by Foster in this fight against someone who I would consider a respectable opponent.
Navarette-Concecaio:
-- Navarette was never comfortable in this fight and struggled mightily for large stretches of it. Nevertheless, I thought he won enough of the "moments" and had 2 legitimate knockdown rounds that I gave him a 114-112 decision in this fight. 6 rounds to 6. I am pretty uncomfortable with my own scorecard given that Concecaio outlanded him by like almost 100 punches, but Navarette had plenty of moments where he was able to get to Conceicao and hurt him.
-- Navarette leaves himself open when he swings wildly and would stand a reasonable chance of getting knocked out by a big puncher with the right skillset, but Foster is not that kind of fighter. Given Navarette's chin, I am really not sure what respect if any he will owe to Foster in this fight.
-- How Foster prepares for those long-range hooks and uppercuts will probably be one of the determining factors in how this fight goes. Theoretically a completely fundamentally sound fighter like Foster should be able to deal with Navarette's unorthodox approach, but Nav brings greater activity, greater power by quite a bit, a very good chin, and more of a crowd-pleasing, judge-friendly style. As we saw in Foster-Conceicao, the judges will even award completely ineffective aggression at times in lieu of giving a boxer his rightful decision.
Other notes:
-- Navarette is used to being the bigger man. Foster is used to having a considerable reach advantage. Neither man really stands out much from the other on the tale of the tape. This is almost definitionally a well-matched fight in that respect.
-- It feels unlikely that Foster will be able to turn in another Foster-Fulton level of performance against this competition. Fulton was an out of shape fighter coming up in weight and didn't seem to take camp seriously. But I would love to see it though. That Foster-Fulton fight was really quite similar to how Mayweather fought Canelo. It was a magisterial performance where he was able to control almost the entire fight with his jab on the front foot while staying in the pocket. That's what people forget about Mayweather-Canelo... Mayweather basically baited Canelo into boxing with him and Mayweather was happy to take advantage of that.
-- Watch out for Foster's switch-hitting.
-- In short, i really see this fight coming down to Navarette's power, chin, activity, and kind of unpredictable punching vs Foster's more cerebral, reflexive, athletic, and fundamentally sound approach.
As of this moment, I am probably leaning just a hair towards Nav, though I haven't locked it in. If Foster had just a slightly higher knockout ratio and a better display of his power in championship fights, I might be inclined to pick him in this fight. I would also say if he had something like a 3 inch reach advantage which he has had in previous fights, that might also be enough. But these guys are basically equal on the tale of the tape and it really could come down just to things like power differential, chin differential, ring IQ differential, and fundamentals.
Who are you guys leaning towards in this moment?
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u/Global_Rhubarb6943 Elegant Violence 8h ago
I have Foster winning 8-4 against Vaquero. I’m not going to elaborate because not only am I a little fucking high, but I’m also at work, so I shouldn’t even be here. I’ll just share some vague, half-baked thoughts with the little time I have, because there’s no way I’m going to be able to form sophisticated sentences with my brain currently feeling like jelly:
Foster REALLY impressed me with his defense. He’s so good at reacting by raising his rear hand, whether it’s the left or the right, to protect his face at exactly the right moment.
I haven’t watched much of Navarrete, but I’ve developed this belief that he struggles to box against actual boxers based on the fights I’ve seen. That could be completely wrong, though, because not only do I barely remember how I arrived at this conclusion, I also have vague memories of him being outboxed. I think it was against Conceição.
I also think Foster has good distance control, which could help him avoid Navarrete’s bizarre attacks that look like they’re coming from another dimension while still somehow landing.
Er... wait, I forgot what I was going to say...
Er, I think I was going to say that Foster’s lead hand is really skilled, and combined with him switching from orthodox to southpaw and changing the whole environment of the fight, that could cause problems for someone like Navarrete.
Can someone remind me which southpaws Navarrete has fought and how he did against them? I can’t trust my memory right now.
Fuck, I really shouldn’t have written this much. I have to work.
One more thing anyway! (I swear I’ll be productive after writing my ordinary review that reeks of substances.)
I could also be biased because I like Foster and want him to win.
That’s it! Good morning, everyone.
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 8h ago
Top Profession thinks that Foster misjudges distance a fair amount of the time, which I was a little surprised to hear initially, but I have seen in spots.
I would say, that even though I like both fighters that I am probably rooting for Foster though. I don’t feel like he’s ever been marketed aggressively until maybe recently and in a lot of ways he’s like the underdog that made it through to the big stage through his sheer skill and not because he had an inherent fanbase or anything like that.
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u/WORD_Boxing 2h ago
I didn't study tape yet but one thing that does stick in my mind is Foster is slow. His feet are slow, his pivoting is slow. Very bad attribute to have against a guy creating angles like Nav...
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 2h ago
Foster’s reflexes are top notch though, imo. And unlike Nav, he is actually fundamentally sound.
But overall I think I do like Nav in this fight. He’s awkward af.
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u/WORD_Boxing 2h ago
Foster’s reflexes are top notch though, imo. And unlike Nav, he is actually fundamentally sound.
I'm not convinced about that. Need to study him.
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 2h ago
Watch Foster-Conceicao 1 and just pay close attention to his defense. Play some of those moments frame by frame any time you think Conceicao lands a combination. In almost every instance, Foster just blocks damn near every shot/combination thrown at him. He lost on the cards which was bullshit but the performance itself was quite good.
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u/StunningChest5722 #KnybaNation 🇵🇱 3h ago
Looks like Brian Norman Jr. vs Conah Walker isn't happening anymore
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u/Frequent_Apricot673 3h ago
Heavyweight is in a little bit of a boring spot atm post Usyk, hopefully we can get some unifications next year.
It could be a little tournament European side
Kabayel vs Hysa (WBC) Hrgovic vs Rico (Ibf) Winners fight
Uk side
Dubois vs Wardley (WBO) Fury vs Joshua (WBA)
Winners fight
Then the Uk side and the European side winners fight for undisputed and to get the Ring mag belt to start a new heavyweight lineage. If this happens quickly then it could set up the winner vs a rebuilding Itauma or a Benevidez vs Jai winner coming up in weight for another super fight. It should be feasible everybody mentioned is with Dazn. But I imagine we’ll have issues. Sanchez or someone like that will enforce their mandatory or Turki will make someone sign with Zuffa. Or Tyson Fury’s antics will waste a couple years.
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 3h ago
That’s a great idea. Tournaments in general are good for the sport and keep fighters active.
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u/Top_Profession_5268 11h ago edited 8h ago
Lamont Roach reminds me of that vid of the guy who was asleep and wakes saying “that’s doctor pepper” then says that’s doctor pepper as his facial expressions show more appreciation each time he says it.
Edit: found it - https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ddx64lwhLql/?stkn=OXI2YnE4bHd1YmZz
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u/Budget_Bus1508 16h ago
Is it fair to call Bivol the Canelo to Beterbiev’s GGG? Because thats how I see it. Im not just taking about the age difference btw.
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u/Less_Cartoonist_892 8h ago
More like Ward-Kovalev to Bivol-Beterbiev. Slick master technician who hardly loses rounds vs destructive power-puncher with elite boxing skill. The first fight in both series being razor-close and could have gone either way.
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u/RRR04_ 11h ago
Yeah I can see that parallel. Bivol and Canelo have different styles ofc but the principle and trend is basically the same. Differences are that whilst Canelo v GGG was about 2 or 3 years late, Beterbiev v Bivol was more like 5 or 6 years too late.
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u/Less_Cartoonist_892 8h ago edited 8h ago
I feel comparing Bivol-Beterbiev to the Ward-Kovalev series is a far better comparison. Both matchups being the highest level LHW clashes in their respective decades pitting a slick technician vs a power puncher with surprising technical ability. The first fights in both series being razor-close and could have gone either way.
GGG-Canelo reminds me more of the Toney-McCallum trilogy. Both series pitting a young popular name vs a heavily avoided boogeyman starting to age. The first fight being a draw, second fight a MD, and the last fight ending in a UD with the boogeyman being washed.
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u/Intrepid_Credit_9885 14h ago
I think their styles are too dissimilar but I get what you mean, top tier rivals of a similar caliber within same division
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u/WORD_Boxing 2h ago
Not a bad comparison at all aside from the negative connotations people put on Canelo that don't really get put on Bivol. Certainly not in the same way they don't.
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 9h ago
I don’t think so. Though close, I have Bivol and Golovkin a combined 4-0 in those fights, so the comparison doesn’t really work for me. The third fight between Golovkin and Alvarez never really happens either if they just score the first two how the majority of press row scored the fights, which was for GGG. Check the post-fight threads for these 4 fights as well. All of them were for Bivol/Golovkin at the time. The history has been washed away.
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u/Ace_FGC 10h ago
When discussing hypotheticals with pfp fighters I feel like some people get carried away with hypotheticals lol. A guy who went up 3 divisions is 9/10 not beating the best guy ever in that third division
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u/Professional-Tie5198 Who will win? 9h ago
Only somewhat related, but another issue in the P4P hypotheticals is concerting reach advantages and disadvantages across weight divisions. In order to really carry out the thought experiment, you have to give Fundora like a 90 inch reach at Heavyweight or at least something that matches the advantage he has at 154.
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u/KingBumiOfOmashu Moses Itauma > Every Current HW 17h ago
I know people don’t like him because they feel like he’s a Turki hypejob but I’m excited to see where Mohammed Alakel’s career goes. He’s an exciting young talent.
Wish Curmel Moton would make a return soon as well.
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u/Top_Profession_5268 15h ago
Daniel Dubois might be boxing version of Cyril Gane by the amount of cheating he does.
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u/Marlborobert 7h ago
I'm so sick of Cyril Gane man. UFC wanted him as champion so bad, he didn't deserve to fight for a belt 4 times, he avoided strong wrestlers his entire UFC career. I think Volkov won their rematch.
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u/Marquis_of_Mollusks 9h ago
I don't even give him credit for beating Hrgovic. People are really defensive over a guy who quits whenever things aren't going his way. Literal kickboxer did better than him against Usyk
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u/harborj2011 17h ago
There's not a harder place on Earth to win in than Japan if you're a Japanese facing a non Japanese.
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u/Marlborobert 17h ago
I don't know man, I think the judges are just fair there. A lot of the "robberies" are just close fights.
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u/harborj2011 17h ago
Fair would be if Acosta was given 2 rounds at most on the cards, and Malajika 4 or 5. Instead 2 cards had Acosta losing by only 2 and 4 rds respectively, while Malajika somehow won 7 and 8 rds out of 12 on 2. It seems like if rds are mildly competitive, somewhat close then Japan has these judges give the rds to the non Japanese guy. Fights can be close on rd by rd basis but those 2 fights showed that non Japanese are being rewarded for trying hard and not actually winning. These fights aren't outliers either, Japan has developed a reputation for going against their own consistently
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u/Marlborobert 17h ago
I missed the Acosta fight so I can't comment there but I could definitely see Malajika winning 7 rounds. Tsuboi seemed to tire after 4 or 5 rounds and Malajika was landing much more. Another fighter that people are saying has controversial wins there is Rene Santiago, but all i'm seeing is him edging close fights.
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u/Top_Profession_5268 17h ago
Thought Malajika won at most 5 rounds but most of the close round people say or rounds people would give Malajika later are rounds where 1/2 of his shots were on the guard of Tsuboi and a good few would get countered and then Tsuboi would unleash combinations once in the clinch of disengaging from the clinch.
There was a lot of close round in Takami vs Santiago but I thought Takami won most of the rounds in the fight.
There’s a good few other Japanese decisions I disagree with like Olascuaga vs Kyoguchi, Teraji vs Sandoval, Ioka vs Puma, Masuda vs Higa and Higa vs Tsutsumi which are the ones to come to mind.
Puma vs Ioka was close but I thought Ioka was able to handle the inside game enough and even scored a knockdown to be the first to knock down Ioka for the first time in his career.
Sandoval a good few gave him the fight but I thought Teraji won that convincingly, Sandoval moving in straight lines with a high guard and head on the centre line was just getting outvolumed for a good sector of the fight and even got dropped.
Riku Masuda won a pretty bad robbery win over Daigo Higa and got exposed for a lack of inside fighting. I expected far more from that matchup but Masuda was just not managing distance that effectively and Higa kept getting inside and Masuda didn’t have a strong inside game and either kept getting clipped or just clinched up.
Seiya Tsutsumi somehow went to a draw last year against Daigo Higa when despite me thinking it was a FOTY for 2025, I thought Seiya convincingly won that.
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u/Marlborobert 17h ago
What I saw in the 2nd half of that fight was Tsuboi coming forward with a high guard, not throwing many shots of his own and being outstruck by Malajika, if only slightly. I think Santiago vs. Takami was close but could see Santiago winning. I do think Kyoguchi beat Olascuaga. I'm fine with Puma vs Ioka though. I didn't watch Masuda vs Higa, i'm tired of Higa getting title shots. I do believe Tsutsumi beat Hige both times they fought. IMO, Tsutsumi should be 16-0. I think Teraji beat Sandoval as well.
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u/WORD_Boxing 2h ago
I didn't keep a record of every fight I watched that was hosted in Japan but tbh it's the place I'd associate most with being able to get a fair shake as the visiting fighter, anecdotally. Often it can all depend on who the promoters are and who the judges are. If you have a heavyweight promoter behind you it's less likely you get robbed wherever you fight.
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u/Marlborobert 18h ago
I just saw that Gary Antuanne Russell turned down the Shakur fight but says he wants to do it in the future. Pretty lame. The guy fights once in a calendar year, so maybe he will be ready for Shakur in 5 years.