By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
There’s no MMA events or big news to discuss so this entire column will be about the Triller Fight Club: Legends 2 event, which is strictly boxing. I’m not buying the event, nor would I have recommended it to anyone, but I’ll watch enough to give some thoughts. Like I said, there’s no MMA news to talk about so here we are.
I’m writing this part before the event as I watch college football. It’s a four fight card, let’s go through each fight one at a time.
Andy Vences (129.4) vs. Jono Carrol (130)
Vences is a 30 year old professional boxer with a record of 23-2-1. Johnathan Beresford, known as Jono Carrol, is a 29 year old professional boxer with a record of 18-2-1. They’re both decisions guys so it’s almost a guarantee that this goes the distance. I’ll go with Carrol but I think it’s a split decision.
What happened
Carrol won by Majority Decision. It was a close match and easily could have been a draw.
David Haye (211.5) vs. Joe Fournier (195.5)
Haye is only 40 years old, though he’s been retired for three years. Haye always had good power, finishing 26 of his 28 wins by knockout. He was also very tough and a champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight.
On the other hand, Fournier is 9-0 with 1 No Contest for a Fournier win that was overturned after he tested positive for banned substances. However, Fournier has thus far fought guys named Joe who probably train at their local YMCA. His last fight was against a musician in his first ever boxing match.
Haye will win this match any way he wants to. If he wants to stop Fournier late he will or he might let it go to the decision. I think he’ll stop him in the 7th round.
What happened
Haye won by decision. He was in total control throughout the fight. No real surprise to anyone.
Anderson Silva (192.6) vs. Tito Ortiz (200)
Tito missed the 195 lb. weight limit that Silva requested, which was a source of contention between the two. They’re both 46 years old and far from what they once were so I guess this is pretty even. I guess I’ll predict Silva to win by knockout in the later rounds. I’m more okay with this because it doesn’t feel like either guy is in danger of being turned into a potato like Evander Holyfield might.
What happened
Silva knocked out Ortiz in 81 seconds. I wasn’t expecting Silva to look this good. Ortiz looked old and slow, which he is, but I still thought he would look better here than he did. That’s on me, though, I should have known better. Silva turned Ortiz’s lights out with a big overhand right.
Evander Holyfield (225.4) vs. Vitor Belfort (206.2)
I’m really not a big fan of Holyfield competing in this fight. He turns 59 years old in about a month and a half. He shouldn’t be getting into a boxing ring with anybody. Holyfield was originally going to fight Kevin McBride (best known for beating Mike Tyson in Tyson’s last fight) back in June but the card they were going to fight on kept getting postponed so it was called. Then last week Belfort’s original opponent, Oscar De La Hoya, pulled out of his fight and Holyfield stepped in. Holyfield got cleared for the fight but I’m still not a fan.
As for Belfort, he’s a MMA legend but he hasn’t fought MMA in over three years. That’s better than the ten years since Holyfield has fought but that just tells you that this is a farce. I guess I’ll go with Belfort by decision but I don’t truly know what to think about this fight.
What happened
Belfort won by knockout 1:49 into the first round. Again, I should have known better. Holyfield looked really old and slow. Belfort knocked him down then swarmed him later and forced the ref to stop the fight.
I had figured that Holyfield would look old and slow but where I went wrong is I expected Belfort to be slow as well. This fight shouldn’t have happened.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank. Thank you for reading.
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