Your thoughts on Prize Fighter, the Super-Middleweights

Good morning gents, thought I'd share my views and gather yours on last night's edition of everyone's favourite eight man slug fest, Prize Fighter.

First off, I reckon that last night's edition was one of the best we've seen so far. A good mix of decisions and wins inside schedule, a bit of controversy, and some quality performances from the fellas involved, with the exception of Robin Reid, who looked flat from the off and a caricature of the excellent fighter he was back in the nineties. If ever a former champion needed to accept reality and slip gracefully in to retirement, it's now.

As games as Ainscough was, I thought that the scoring in his quarter final win against Reed was absolutely terrible, just about as clear a 'home town decision' as you can get. Particularly worrying was the one scorecard which gave him the bout by a score of 30-28, which should have been impossible given the way that he was thoroughly dominated and then decked in that third round. Lewis (the judge in question) should really be asked to explain his scoring there, but I doubt that will be the case.

Was happy to see that my pick to win the tournament just did that, and Fielding really did look class at times last night. A tough opening round in his first fight against Maxwell, but as soon as he began to step back, box at range and take his time a little bit more, he looked a class apart from everyone else in the field, for my money.

Dilks, as the pre-tournament favourite, will naturally be disappointed with falling at the first hurdle, but Jahmaine Smyle really fought like a mad man in that scrap and, after a dominant Dilks round to open, simply walked the Liverpool lad down and didn't allow him to utilise the superior boxing skills he had, always a possibility in such a short fight. I don't think that this spells the end for Dilks, but he's got a long way to go if he's going to re-establish himself at the high end of the domestic scene.

Tobias Webb had clearly ran out of steam by the time he reached the final after hard-fought wins over Reid and Smyle, but he showed enough to suggest that he can reach or at least challenge at British title level at some point in the future. I thought the accuracy of his punches in such a frenetic format and kind of fight was very good, and I think he has a future ahead of him if he improves his stamina. Not sure if he had to shed a lot of excess weight in training, but he did seem to be struggling against non-descript punches in the final, and the swelling on the side of his head which appeared suddenly may suggest some struggles on the scales.

But overall, a great night's entertainment, some good talking points and a worthy winner, with whom I was very impressed. If anyone wants to add anything, off you go. Cheers lads.

R Rocky was quality last night. Of all the Prizefighters I've seen, although I might be biased, his performance has impressed me the most.

3 stoppages in one night, thats the way to do it.

Soldier_Of _Fortune wrote:R Rocky was quality last night. Of all the Prizefighters I've seen, although I might be biased, his performance has impressed me the most.

3 stoppages in one night, thats the way to do it.

He certainly was. First man to ever win Prize Fighter via three consecutive stoppages, and compared to some other line ups this wasn't a bad field, either. I'd seen him box once before and it was obvious that he had the basics nicely covered; now, he's found some power from somewhere too, and looks like one we should be keeping our eye on.

88Chris05 wrote:

Soldier_Of _Fortune wrote:R Rocky was quality last night. Of all the Prizefighters I've seen, although I might be biased, his performance has impressed me the most.

3 stoppages in one night, thats the way to do it.

He certainly was. First man to ever win Prize Fighter via three consecutive stoppages, and compared to some other line ups this wasn't a bad field, either. I'd seen him box once before and it was obvious that he had the basics nicely covered; now, he's found some power from somewhere too, and looks like one we should be keeping our eye on.

From watching him in the ABA finals when he got beat by some Hungarian (British ABAs I know) He was only 19 at the time and he was in his 30's. I knew he would be boxing professionally. Hes got good skills and good power.

He first 3 fights where at light heavy and he only had 5 days to get down to suppermiddle, which makes his performance more impressive. Hes big for a supermiddle.

No one gave him a chance last night really. Did you see the swelling on the side of Webbs head after the left hook that put him down for the 1st knockdown?

I did, yeah. As I said in the article, though, it was strange how suddenly that swelling appeared, and I think that Webb was more or less done before the first bell of the final had even rung. Fielding caught him once or twice, but Webb had taken bigger shots in his semi final against Smyle and walked through them. Perhaps Webb was dehydrated, maybe he struggled with the weight, or maybe he was just totally knackered, who knows?

Don't think it would have made too much difference, though. Fielding was in great form, was full of confidence and had the crowd behind him, he wasn't going to be denied.

A good summary 88Chris05 and agree with everything.

The scoring with Ainscough vs Reed was terrible and that judge who gave it 30-28 should be just be banned.

Webb looks like he could end up being decent euro level fighter with the right training, and liked the way Fielding ulitised his height/reach advantage. Fielding speed was also very impressive for a big man. It wouldnt suprise me to see Warren take him under his wing.

It would have been interesting to see a fresher Webb take on Fielding , i think he gave it an initail go but at the end of round 1. With the retirement I got the impression the fighter and his camp where happy to call it a day. They knew he had nothing left in the tank so it would have been pointless going out on his shield in the fight.

can't argue with any of that Chris would like to see webb and fielding in 8 or 10 rounder would obviously be a lot closer than last night. fielding still needs a bit of work he was a bit to open at times last night it wasn't exploited but a better fighter or maybe a frsh webb would have. Don't really know where he goes from here though. PF can be a launching pad to british and european title fights but that level is very competitive just now and he couldn't cut it their yet. Hope they don't try to fast track him like what happened with casey.

I thought it was an ok prizefighter. Would like to see a fight between Fielding and Webb over a longer distance because I think Webb looks a decent prospect.

Check out the review I did on my blogsite.

http://thesweetscienceuk.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/rocky-blasts-his-way-through/

any comments left on the site would be greatly appreciated.

I just have a query on the prizefighter rules. Do knockdowns not result in the loss of a point or something?

Im refering specifically to the fight between Reed and Ainsclough. One judge scored it 30-28 to Ainsclough? How can this be the case given there was a knockdown in the third in favour of Reed?

manos de piedra wrote:I just have a query on the prizefighter rules. Do knockdowns not result in the loss of a point or something?

Im refering specifically to the fight between Reed and Ainsclough. One judge scored it 30-28 to Ainsclough? How can this be the case given there was a knockdown in the third in favour of Reed?

He got it wrong. Althought there is a rumour that they are told not to score even fights, and he would have if he scored it 10-8. He scored the final round 10-10.

Scottrf wrote:

manos de piedra wrote:I just have a query on the prizefighter rules. Do knockdowns not result in the loss of a point or something?

Im refering specifically to the fight between Reed and Ainsclough. One judge scored it 30-28 to Ainsclough? How can this be the case given there was a knockdown in the third in favour of Reed?

He got it wrong. Althought there is a rumour that they are told not to score even fights, and he would have if he scored it 10-8. He scored the final round 10-10.

You would think when there is such an obvious error they would review it or at least ask the judge to explain the logic. 10-10 for that final round would have been an awful score regardless of the knock down (clearly Reed won it) but when you consider it was a legit knockdown to boot then it really is just amateur.

I must say I am no fan of prizefighter and find it a complete mangling of boxing. When it was introduced I had hoped it was just a fad that would disappear.

I only watched it last night. I enjoyed it - thought it was one of the best prizefighters yet. Although clearly disappointed with the referee's score with the Ainscough/Reed fight.

Was pleasantly surprised with Rocky Fielden. Never heard of him and for someone to come in at 5 days notice and KO all his opponents is fantastic! Looks a very good boxer, is a big chap and has some good skills.

How far do you think he can go?

I met Reed today and he wasn't really down about it, just back to training. Abit miffed about losing out on around 4K thanks to some dodgy judges which is understandable.