Kerry Hope-Grzegorz Proksa

Well that was a bit of a shock.

I had it very, very close - and I wouldn't have argued either way - as Hope struggled very early, but came into the fight as it went on.

I doubt Merthyr's finest will be going too much further - but I'm really delighted for him to finally win a serious title. On an historic day for Welsh sport - his achievement risks being forgotten - but I hope he gets a decent payday or two on the back of his success first.

Proksa shouldn't have failed this test. This is a guy, lest we forget, who beat Sebastian Sylvester in his last fight - and is a former youth world champion. He should have had far too much class for Hope.

Is there a rematch clause? Is that next up for both men?

Easily best fight of the night,surprised he won though considering he had a point deducted.

Sat there jaw to the floor mate.

So much for this guy having the beating of all of the English trio

I thought Proska did just enough but he wasn't impressive. He has been getting bigged up on this forum and others with people saying he beats all 3 of Macklin, Murray and Barker. I don't see it myself. Macklin and Murray would spark him out or make him quit and Barker would box his ears off.

Fair play to Hope he'll probably lose the rematch. The cut clearly changed the fight Proska looked like a guy that was to used to having everything his own way and didn't look comfortable having to dig deep. Not what you want to see from someone who is being talked about as a future World champion.

Welcome to the boards JADO

Cracking fight, I (foolishly) called it would be a TKO5 for Proksa, I also told all my mates to keep an eye out for him.

I would put the loss down to 3 things:

1. Proksa didn't take the fight seriously - He must have seen Hopes record and thought he would walk through and win by KO.

2. The Cut - It wasn't on the script, Proksa didn't know how to act after the cut and that showed some real inexperience.

3. Hopes punch resistance - Proksa can bang, when he's in control he can look very scary. It seemed his heart was broken from round 5 onwards.

Absolutley shocked by this performance form Proska. Really impressive v Sylvester but he was completley out of sorts tonight

Arite lads. Any of you bhoys going on the chatbox?

6oldenbhoy wrote:Arite lads. Any of you bhoys going on the chatbox?

Concentrating on the fight too much mate!

Why wasn't the fight stopped seeing as it was an accidental clash of heads that caused it? Seems a tad unfair sseing as the cut proved pivotal.

Having said that the Pole should habe manned up and won (I had him wining as he showed more class and threw the more telling punches).

Hope will be the worst European champion to date. Absolutely fuming that Proksa was so terrible since I've been a guilty party for bigging him up!

azania wrote:Why wasn't the fight stopped seeing as it was an accidental clash of heads that caused it? Seems a tad unfair sseing as the cut proved pivotal.

Having said that the Pole should habe manned up and won (I had him wining as he showed more class and threw the more telling punches).

Scintillating insight there az. Are you well? You used to stronger, lyrically speaking, than this...

As it happens - I was incredibly surprised when Hope took it. I wasn't really paying too much attention to rounds 2 and 3 - because I thought this was an easy win for Proksa based upon the first round.

However - after that point - he was hopeless! As for the cut - he can make a fuss, a la Devon Alexander and get the fight taken to the scorecards after 4 rounds - however, I have very seldom seen a boxer do that. Look at Khan-Barrera - that should have been an NC(1).

Anyway - doubt Proksa will win the rematch - but kudos to Hope. He had to win this one - and no-one, other than his mum probably - would have given him a hope in hell of winning this one. Great, great achievment. Matters not a jot that he won't go on to do too much afterwards - he's made European champion by beating the European champion. That's real. Well done Kerry.

I think that whenever a clash of heads causes a bad cut which will have an effect of a boxer's performance, the fight should be stopped and onto the cards (if after 4 rounds).

Boxers train hard and for a clash of heads to ruin that preperation is unfair and wrong.

azania wrote:I think that whenever a clash of heads causes a bad cut which will have an effect of a boxer's performance, the fight should be stopped and onto the cards (if after 4 rounds).

Boxers train hard and for a clash of heads to ruin that preperation is unfair and wrong.

You're preaching to the converted mate.

HOWEVER - I can see the other perspective - and in fairness - boxers have been cut throughout history and come back to win. We place rules like that, then Bob Fitzsimmons should be reinstated posthumously as the first man to ever regain the HW championship of the world. After all - Jeffries was cut to ribbons, some from punches, some probably not - and had THAT gone to the cards early - then Fitz would have won hands down.

On balance - I probably wouldn't change the laws too much. Safer not to interfere. Proksa can always win his title back, after all...

The amount of money involved in boxing and the damaging effect a loss can have on your earnings should be taken into consideration. Also it assists dirty fighters who are skilled in the use of their heads.

Anyway from what I saw for the first couple of rounds, the Pole looked decent and nothing more.

He wasn't winning as easily as he should have been against Hope.

Am wondering whether the fact they were both southpaws might have hindered Proksa a bit. Maybe he has the curse of the lefty. Great against orthodox fighters - but just will always struggle when they come up against fellow lefties...

As you say - decent, nothing more - and probably not even to say that now. He shouldn't be losing to Hope if he wants to go further.

That said - if he goes away, learns from why he lost and comes back stronger - I'll support him. A defeat shouldn't end a career, after all.

For what its worth, I scored it to him after that dodgy KD. Close fight. Never heard of Hope and probably never will again after his next fight. The Pole can come back and win the title again, go ahead and lose to every other half decent guy he meets.

Where was that supposed punch power? He hit Hope cleanly a few times without much effect.

It's the fight frequency which makes a defeat so damaging nowadays.

I would not say Proska was terrible, more like a combination of underestimating Hope and Kerry producing the fight of his life. He took a LOT of hard flush shots even when Proska was clearly drained and on another day he would of hit the canvas.

azania wrote:For what its worth, I scored it to him after that dodgy KD. Close fight. Never heard of Hope and probably never will again after his next fight. The Pole can come back and win the title again, go ahead and lose to every other half decent guy he meets.

Where was that supposed punch power? He hit Hope cleanly a few times without much effect.

Hope was a major prospect from the Calzaghe gym a few years ago - being talked about as someone who might mature into a decent fighter. However - he had the misfortune to be caught up in the Calzaghe-v-Warren affair and the quality of matchmaking really took a dip - and he ended up being matched against opponents he really wasn't ready for. Surprised you hadn't heard of him - he had a little hype about him at one stage.

Anyway - as you say - he hit Hope flush - but a lot of credit needs to go to Hope. He was not expected to produce that performance - and I don't know if he'll ever be able to replicate it.

I'm a die-hard romantic - someone achieving a career highlight win from journeyman status really appeals to me - and yes, Cindarella man is one of my favourite films (even though I know its a bit [lot] inaccurate...)

The sheer arrogance with which Proksa fought last night was bordering on the insane. No sympathy for him losing his title on a close decision at all, cut or no cut.

Will confess that prior to this, the only time I'd seen Proksa in action was the Sylvester fight, a bout in which he did shine, in all fairness. That said, I found some of the hype surrounding him a little overblown, and last night serves as yet another stark reminder of why we need to be oh-so-careful in selling any fighter as the next big thing without at least three or four performances befitting of such an honour.

Maybe he overperformed against Sylveser, maybe he underperformed last night, or perhaps the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But whatever the truth, it seems Proksa totally underestimated his opponent, and he clearly got his tactics very, very wrong. Why he persisted with the Pernell Whitaker / Nicolino Locche impressions when his reflexes and body movement clearly weren't even close to being good enough and while he was taking so many punches, I'll never know.

Equally worrying was that Hope just seemed to outwork and outlast him. In many rounds, Proksa was only working for 90 of the 180 second stanza. Granted, not all his fights in future will be fought at such a pace (and all credit to Hope and his team for whipping himself in to superb shape), but it's an area where he'll have to improve.

The future of the Middleweight division? On the strength of that performance, it's a resounding 'no.' Will be interesting to see if he can rebuild and prove me wrong.

All ranting aside, I'm delighted for Hope. I doubt he'll ever put in a better shift than that, but what a night to do it! Like Oxring says, I always enjoy a good underdog story.

Well done to Hope firstly, faught a great fight.

Just feel that Proksa was probably guilty of believing his own hype. Only towards the end did he seem to sense some urgency, prior to this he was throwing big punches, expecting one of them to do the job for him.

Showed inexperience but this will hopefully have done him some good.

Surprised Steffan hasn't posted yet hailing the second coming in Hope haha

Proska is a frustrating fighter to watch. He seems incapable of throwing combinations. I think if he had sought to set up his shots and throw in bunches he could have overwhelmed Hope. Instead he was winding up big single shots, head-hunting and missing wildly.

Perhaps this was because he did not have the conditioning to fight that way but he certainly will progress njo further unless he can learn to set up his attacks behind his jab and throw more effective combinations.

With regards to his heart, I actually think Proska showed that he can tough it out. He clearly gave his all and fought on through the cut, which looked very nasty indeed. I was also impressed with the manner he accpeted his defeat in a fight which i actually had him winning by one round (after the controversial KD)

Really pleased for Kerry Hope. It would be great to see him build on this victory and get a few more high-profile fights in the near future.