Price Harrison and Degale Live fight thread

[AlexHuckerby]

First topic message reminder :

Skelton just beat up a Croatian window cleaner, apparently that means he should fight the winner of Price Harrison.... God help us...

[Big Paul]

Just seen Furys comments and what a complete tool that lad is. Really hope Price knocks him in to next week but doubt Fury will take the fight. Maybe Bellew should move up to heavyweight just to knock him out, I'm sure the guys at match room would love that.

yeah I had time for both price and fury until last night. All fury had to do was say "well done David. We might meet at some point, it's up to my promoter etc" but to say what he did was just ridiculous.

I know the term LOL is well overused on the internet, but I literally did laugh out loud at his mini rant, there was something about him, he looked a little "well refreshed" for want of a better phrase.

As for Audley, oh dear, he looked great at the weigh in, looked pensive in the dressing room and looked terrified in the ring, his eyes were like saucers. I think at the start of his career people wanted him to do well, then about the time of the Herbie Hide incident people just started going off him.

After his second fight with Sprott, where he did show a bit of gumption I started warming to him again, then after shelling out £15 quid for the Haye fight, I thought he should pack it in. Last night just confirmed it, he's a circus act now.

[ShahenshahG]

Hes got a fair bit of talent as well. I think people would forgive him if he was actually Poopie. Just a couple of times he gave a glimpse of what might be there. He's like the emile heskey of boxing

[Big Paul]

Hes got a fair bit of talent as well. I think people would forgive him if he was actually Poopie. Just a couple of times he gave a glimpse of what might be there. He's like the emile heskey of boxing

No doubt about his talent, you don't get olympic gold medals by being useless, the fact that he couldn't use the talent makes his relatively disappointing career even more frustrating.

[ShahenshahG]

I think his gob condemned him more than his waste of talent he's like a snake oil salesman

[Cast a Shadow]

Hes got a fair bit of talent as well. I think people would forgive him if he was actually Poopie. Just a couple of times he gave a glimpse of what might be there. He's like the emile heskey of boxing

Which makes Danny Williams ii his 'Germany 1 England 5' moment. Owen got the goals, but Emile was majestic that night.

[ShahenshahG]

Exactly, he did what he should always do, he was a big powerful man and he hounded that defense like no mans business. The rest of the time, he spent with his chin in his hand and counting daisies.

[captain carrantuohil]

I think it kindest to draw a veil over Price-Harrison. David got the job done in the style which one expected; he is a superb prospect, particularly in today's threadbare heavyweight scene, and future fights will tell us more. I don't propose to waste words on Audley.

DeGale is an enigma to me. I said after the Groves fight that I felt that both fighters had plenty to learn and might be better served doing so away from the harsh lights of repeated title fights. James may be an inexperienced pro, but he's not in the first flush of youth, either, and he has thousands of rounds of amateur fighting and pro sparring under his belt.

What would slightly concern me is the fact that the amateurish habits are not obviously being ironed out as he goes along. The slight tendency to "pose for the camera" after landing a telling blow still seems to be there, along with a habit of coasting in the middle stages of a fight and giving away needless rounds. We saw this in the Groves fight; it was repeated against Wilczewski and again last night.

There's no doubt that DeGale has tremendous boxing ability and great natural speed. I am concerned that his boxing brain may not quite be a match for this natural talent. At the moment, the evidence is that he's a good class European-level fighter, still some distance away from the head men of the division. I have not yet seen anything to suggest that twelve months will be sufficient for him to be prepared to fight someone like Froch or Kessler, for example.

It's possible that James needs fresh words of advice in his corner - it can be difficult to improve when you've heard the same mentor for a long time. Whatever the solution, I do feel that DeGale needs plenty more practice before he is a reasonable match for the very best super-middleweights.

[tunes666]

You're the one doing the brush tarring HappySlapper, not me. My point, on evidence presented, Degale isn't going to go very far.

Well he was not great last night and is still showing some of the same weaknesses he has shown in his last 3 fights, so there is reason for concern on that front I guess.

But IMO your scoring of the fight was ridiculous. Degale won the fight, not easily but fairly conclusively... by about 3 rounds IMO.

And will Degale go far? Well you don't pull gold medals out of your back side, so the boy has talent, and in the pro game he has show he can rough it up for 12 rounds and take some punches so is not really showing any signs that he does not have the make up for it.

Given the guy has only had 2 fights within the last 17 months in a time he should have been fighting 4 or 5 times a year, then I would certainly not rule the guy out to come good..

[eddyfightfan]

bute held the belt for a while, and i think degale can end up at least that good.

[azania]

I think you're overrating this french guy, Az, his stamina and will to win are to be commended, but his actual ability and technique didn't appear to be all that impressive.

I don't think I'm overrating Mohammedi. He reminds me of Sakio Bika. If memory serves me right, he gave JC nightmares with his bullish strength. Ditto Ward. There are some gus who are strong and will always plod forward. He is one of them.

[tunes666]

I think you're overrating this french guy, Az, his stamina and will to win are to be commended, but his actual ability and technique didn't appear to be all that impressive.

I don't think I'm overrating Mohammedi. He reminds me of Sakio Bika. If memory serves me right, he gave JC nightmares with his bullish strength. Ditto Ward. There are some gus who are strong and will always plod forward. He is one of them.

If Degale has world ambitions then he needs to be dealing with guys like this with a bit more ease IMO.
That being said, this guy was no bum. He was the France champ and has never been blown over by anyone and has had one or two tricky fights him self.

Over all Degale won the fight but has not shown any needed improvement, seeing as he has barley been in the ring recently, then it would be fair to let him get back into his stride before he is written off.

My worry is he does not listen, and this includes that maybe he needs a new coach, which seemed relevant in the Groves fight where he was mentally unfocused and over confident.

[azania]

After a year out of the ring he didn't do too badly. He got tested and came through. He learned more that Price did against Audley. Every boxer with world title ambitions go through dogfights.

[eddyfightfan]

that fight had parallels with the brook vs jones fight. a strong tough fighter who comes forward and can make classy guys look ordinary.

[AlexHuckerby]

Difference is, it seemed more like Brook ran out of stamina to keep him off whereas Degale didn't look as though he possessed the ability.

[eddyfightfan]

i dont think it was inability, he just seemed content to sit on the ropes, more bad judgement than anything

[6oldenbhoy]

Why do people keep saying that Degale has been out of the ring for a year? He last fought at the end of April. I make that less than 6 months between bouts.

[azania]

Still inactive. One fight a year is hardly pushing things.

[6oldenbhoy]

Yeah he has been inactive, but not to the extent people have been making out. Last night was a pretty poor performance. I think Degale has talent, but also a lot of flaws. His lack of a good boxing brain was highlighted by his inability to fight to a gameplan.

The Frenchman deserves credit, he was a lot better than I expected. But Degale spent far to much time on the ropes inviting his opponent onto him. When in thr centre of the ring the gulf in class was evident.

[KingMonkey]

Degale desperately needs to change trainer, there's nothing else for it. Between the pair of them they'd be lucky to rub a handful of brain cells together, it's agony to watch. All this talk of Degale having bags of talent are starting to look questionable. His footwork is abysmal, his punches lacking basic technique and VERY little ring IQ.

He's obviously got ability but he needs someone else to get it out of him.

[tunes666]

Why do people keep saying that Degale has been out of the ring for a year? He last fought at the end of April. I make that less than 6 months between bouts.

His last fight was about 6 months ago... but he has only had 2 fights in about 17 months... This is not enough for any boxer let alone a boxer who needs to learn and progress... He should be fighting 4 times a year..

[tunes666]

Why do people keep saying that Degale has been out of the ring for a year? He last fought at the end of April. I make that less than 6 months between bouts.

His last fight was about 6 months ago... but he has only had 2 fights in about 17 months... This is not enough for any boxer let alone a boxer who needs to learn and progress... He should be fighting 4 times a year..

to be fair he's had promoter issues. Although you could argue he still has, signing with fat mick!

Then again, he's probably the most watched pro boxer on British tv. Will be interesting to see the viewing figures. If only channel five would advertise it being on a bit more! I'm not sure I saw one advert for it.

Looking back at alot of his interviews I get the feeling he was just annoyed at how Frank was not getting him enough fights, he always brought it up.. So I think he will get what he wants with mick even if he is no better than Warren, I also think Terrestrial TV suits him as allot of casual fans know him from the Olympics and will watch him.. Thing is Warren has so many fighters that if one goes flat he can affored to walk, where Mick cant...

[Hibbz]

I don't watch a great deal of boxing or know much about it but I really enjoyed the Degale match. In fact both the times I watched him I've enjoyed it, the other was the Groves one which I was disappointed he lost.

He actually seems to enjoy boxing and fights with a lot of skill rather than just trying to win at all costs.

James Degale, "putting the fun back into boxing".

I also laughed at the Tyson Fury nonsense when they were trying to get him to shut up and he called someone Price's gay lover. Very amusing.

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