By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
There’s not a lot going on in the MMA world so the blog this week will be about boxing. If you’re not interested in boxing, sorry.
The Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua fight took place last weekend and, depending on what you were expecting, lived up or lived down to expectations.
First, on the undercard, Anderson Silva (34-11, 1 No Contest MMA, 4-2
Boxing) beat Tyron Woodley (19-7-1 MMA, 0-3 Boxing) 1:33 into the second round by TKO. The first round was pretty dreadful, as neither
man seemed to want to engage and throw many punches. Things picked up
in the second round, as Silva plastered Woodley with a huge right
uppercut and combination that dropped him. Woodley couldn’t answer the
10-count so the referee waved the fight off.
WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring Super Featherweight Champion Alycia
Baumgardner improved her record to 17-1 with 1 No Contest as she beat
Leila Beaudoin (who dropped to 13-2) by Decision after 12 three minute-rounds. This wasn’t a great fight by any stretch but it was decent. Unlike most women’s championship fights, which are two-minute rounds, this was contested with three-minute rounds, like men’s
championship fights are. That might have factored in also.
The main event saw former two-time Unified Heavyweight Champion (WBA,
WBC, WBO, and IBF Titles) Anthony Joshua (29-4) damage his reputation
by taking six rounds to finally put Jake Paul (12-2) away by Knockout at 1:31 of the sixth round. The first few rounds saw Joshua slowly
putter around the ring, as Paul tried to avoid any damage and nearly went for as many takedowns as he did land punches. It was ridiculous.
It was a real fight, though, as Paul got his jaw broken in a nasty way when Joshua finally put him down.
Sidenote- Paul didn’t get “knocked out”, as some sites are claiming,
he got knocked down and the referee rightly waved the fight off.
It’s just semantics so it’s not a huge deal but I figured I’d bring it up since some people really don’t like Paul for whatever their reason
is and might have wanted to see him eat canvas or go flat on his back.
That didn’t happen so you don’t have to look it up if that’s your reason for wanting to.
I think this did damage to Joshua’s reputation by the fight taking so long. I know some are saying that he was toying with Paul but you don’t toy with a man who’s trying to punk you out by spamming repeated
takedown attempts and grabbing your legs and trying to trip you.
Given Joshua’s controversial past (he and Paul are alike in that) you
would think that he would have wanted to walk through Paul like a Terminator rather than let him make a mockery of things.
Regardless, my other main complaint (other than a few bad buffering
instances midway through the 4 hour card) was the absurd length of the event.
There were only four fights on the main card, two of them were
scheduled for 6 rounds, the main event was scheduled for 8 rounds, and
the co-main was scheduled for 12 rounds. That’s 32 three-minute rounds
that you have to schedule for. That’s a bit over two hours when you
count the minute in between rounds. So there’s no reason they couldn’t
have done this event in three hours.
Instead, they decide to show the same hype segments multiple times
during the event. They basically looked at the terrible way WWE paces their shows and said “Hold my beer”.
It was midnight here when the main event ended and I turned the TV off. And I didn’t even watch the post-fight stuff with the “Official” result and all that.
I might be getting older but I think we can all agree that a
four-fight card shouldn’t take four hours.
*************
Misfits Boxing held an event last weekend that featured some names you might know.
MFB Heavyweight Champion Chase DeMoor improved his record to 5-1 in
the MFB and successfully defended his title for the third time against Andrew Tate (0-1 in MFB). It was a six-round fight, three-minute rounds. DeMoor won the Majority Decision. It was a terrible fight.
Neither guy looked good, though I guess you would say DeMoor looked
better since he won five of the six rounds, in my opinion.
Tony Ferguson (25-11 MMA) improved his MFB record to 2-0 and became
the undisputed MFB Middleweight Champion by beating Warren Spencer by
Decision after five-rounds. This was an entertaining fight. Spencer showed heart because Ferguson was laying a whooping on him, and even
dropped him in the second round. However, Spencer fought back and hurt
Ferguson in the fourth round, though Ferguson nearly got the stoppage win later in the fifth round.
That about does it for the news this week. Merry Christmas everyone.
Check out Nibble!
If you’re a collector (action figures, statues, comics, cards, and more), you should check out
Nibble on the Toyrat website!
It’s an amazing experience that allows you to catalog your own
collection, search for items you want (across multiple storefronts!),
and buy/sell items with other users! You can even create and order your own custom toys!
It’s an incredible tool that you can use and there’s so much more I
haven’t even mentioned. I would highly recommend that anyone interested in collecting should join. Thank you.
My new epic fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The End’s
Beginning. The exciting epic fantasy series Kingdom of Zarias
returns with the 4th book in the series. After the harrowing events of
Book 3 the residents of the Kingdom of Zarias continue on their paths.
Serena Summers continues to learn and grow as a fighter, desperately
seeking to become stronger before she loses anyone else in her life.
Daniel Summers discovers new parts of the world that open his eyes to
just how little he truly knows. A new hero, Lamar Abeers, arrives to join the fight against evil. Plus, Zach Summers, Tiana Highsmith, and
Xavien Ekens continue their journeys with their friends, and a new ruler of Vhaharen is crowned. The world has found a little peace.
However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence, the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the
world forever. This is Book 4 in the series. There’s lots of action, magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop game in novel form. It’s on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other places. If you’re interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you would check it out and support me. Thank you very much, have a good
day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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