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So apparently in the Philippines today, AJ Banal fought Rafael Concepcion. And.....
Boxing News -- Fightnews.com : EkEZplZlEFTCpKlddM
He got KO'd in the 10th. Got to admit, I did not see this coming. Apparently he was up on the cards but got his body worked and then got hit clean and took a knee and got counted out. Wow, haven't seen this fight yet but am certainly surprised.
HUGE!!! upset IMO.... Huge!!!
Rafael was overweight and according to his team was having trouble loosing weight leading up to the fight.
For everythng I read and saw about Banal I thought Banal would blast past Rafael so I guess Banal was just all hype.
Also Rafael had to weigh in I think 4 times in a time span of 2 hrs. until he made weight.
I don't know if he was all hype. He's still only like 19, and he technically is just a beautiful fighter. Really I mean the way he sits down on his punches, sets them up, seems everything he does is just technically perfect. I too am very surprised, but he's 19 with this superstardom in his homeland, I wouldn't be surprised to find out he was a bit to overconfident and just got rough housed by a tough fighter.
True, but when you can't beat a weight drained fighter who needed 2 hrs. to drop weight in order to make the weight and had been struggling with it?Quote:
Originally Posted by amat
There's gonna be a lot of people questioning that...
I saw the fight. I've been the only pinoy here who doubted him and it's on record. I've seen all pinoy fighters over the years and learned to spot whether one is real or not. It'll be a long story so I wont go into that though. The moment the 1st round ended, I knew he'd be tested there, and to everyone's suprise (not me though), he didn't make it. Sad to say many pinoy fighters lack fighting spirit or the heart, and tend to crumble under pressure. Lots of them got a questionable chins too. Most of the hyped pinoy fighters so far survived either on big punches or on good boxing technique, or both and Banal was one of them - I saw through that. From Rodel Mayol, Boom Boom, and now to Banal, sad to say as a pinoy, they went one by one...
About the fight, Banal had opportunity to knock out his opponent couple of times but he just didn't. He lacked the killer instinct and instead chose to be cautious even when he had the opportunity. The KO itself looked more like as he was spent than a real KO - he was on his knees but never even tried to get up. As the local analysts were saying, it could probably have been due to body shots, though I'm not sure. He looked tired the last couple of rounds...
Mick I don't think its that bad of a lost for banal. His still young and he fought a guy who was stronger imo. the guy does not even belong in that weight anymore but banal still took him on.
Almost like how castillo beat chico in the rematch. Weight issue is one thing but when you didn't drain on time like the other guy, you saved your strenght. Which is an advantage for the guy having to weigh in multiple times then the guy who was exact. Its almost like a strategy really, to gain the advantage.
Also seem like Banal is vulnerable to the body, he himself may need to move up. His only 20 i believe so eventually he will go up in weight. Maybe a rematch is in order.
All in all, sad story for the Philippines especially to KKisser who predicted that Banal will be a champion.
That's cool. Im really good at spotting whether Swiss fighters are real or not. Same with most Latinos and some German ones. Ill admit, I havent got around to learning how to spot good pinoy fighters though. Jeez I have so many different nations still to cover. Maybe someday I'll get there.Quote:
Originally Posted by pacfan