Time to Regroup for those who were upset.

My defeat against Ross Puritty and my victory over Axel Schulz were the most important fights of my career. I think it was a great advantage for me to lose one fight. I feel more stabile now. I know that I made a couple of mistakes before and after the loss we repeated some and changed some of my exercises and wiped out those mistakes

--Wlad Klitschko

It bothered me to see James down like that. Me and him go way back and it was bigger than just boxing with us…

--Ann Wolfe

In recent weeks, we have seen a number of astounding upsets.

Fan-friendly Siberian Ruslan Provodnikov (19-1, 13 KO’s) was out-boxed by slick Mauricio Herrera back in January.

David Lemieux prepared for a marathon but was done in by an inexplicable sprint in Montreal. His trainer and manager stepped in and wisely saved him for another day much like Adam Booth did with David Hayewhen “The Haymaker” was stopped by Carl Thompson.

James Kirkland was exposed as a bully type who intimidated and overwhelmed. He was crunched by feather-fisted but smart fighter named Nobuhiro Ishida who would not be intimated. “The Mandingo Warrior” found himself in a reverse blowout. And Pops and Ann were not there to help.

Jose Manuel Lopez found that he could not cope with someone who had a better chin and he too was waxed. Orlando Salido has a deceptive record and is one tough customer.

Marcu Maidana and most everyone else sensed he would walk through Erik Morales but found out otherwise. Fortunately for “El Chino,” he survived the close one.

Andre Berto met someone who came in prepared and with tremendous will. While both showed great heart, a rejuvenated “Vicious Victor” prevailed over the fast but somewhat chinny welterweight champion by out-brawling him and taking a popular114-111, 114-112, 115-110 UD.

The unstoppable Jason Booth was finally stopped by Kiko “La Sensacion” Martinez. It was not the first time Kiko had done in a high flyer (as Bernard Dun found out in 2007)

Lee Purdy got an upset stoppage over Craig Watson and also the British welterweight title.
Back to the Drawing Board

Ruslan Provodnikov (19-1, 13 KO’s) has won two bouts since his upset loss including a stoppage over tough Ivan Popoca this past weekend. He now has Buddy McGirt in his corner and seems to have regrouped.

The question is: Can the others follow suit? I’m betting Lemieux and Berto can because they have smart people around them, but I have my doubts about “Juanma” and Kirkland. The Puerto Rican slugger can be lured into unnecessary exchanges and has a chin that has “weak” written all over it. As for Kirkland, once a bully type has been beaten, the mystique quickly disappears. However, should he decide to go back to Ann Wolfe and Pops, he just might be able to get back into the picture.

What do you think?

I think too much attention is paid to the psychology of overcoming a loss. In the old days it was no big deal- you were fighting again next Tuesday so you got back in the ring and got on with life. (for example, joey maxim was ko'd in 1 by, i believe, lloyd marshall and, two fights and 21 days later, outpointed him) It may be a bigger deal if you've been hand fed easy opposition your whole career and one bites you back.

Joe Gans fought Sam Langford a day after Holly.

The higher your annointed on the house of cards the harder you fall on your ass. I think Kirkland is def such. Lean towards that being the case with Berto though with many more gears then Kirkland, leaps and bounds but always struck me mentally unsure.

Nvm

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Originally Posted by CFH

NVM

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Didn't Kenny Norton star in a movie by the same name?

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Originally Posted by greynotsoold

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Originally Posted by CFH

NVM

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Didn't Kenny Norton star in a movie by the same name?

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Yeah, apparently I should google a bit more.

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Originally Posted by greynotsoold

I think too much attention is paid to the psychology of overcoming a loss. In the old days it was no big deal- you were fighting again next Tuesday so you got back in the ring and got on with life. (for example, joey maxim was ko'd in 1 by, i believe, lloyd marshall and, two fights and 21 days later, outpointed him) It may be a bigger deal if you've been hand fed easy opposition your whole career and one bites you back.

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Nicely said. I also think Berto has a major, major issue. Either his feet just naturally stink or he doesn't have a trainer who can teach even a good athlete. Either way it's a problem. JuanMa is a smaller Gatti. Heavy handed, gutsy and never met a punch he could dodge. I think he too is who he is.

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Originally Posted by IamInuit

Joe Gans fought Sam Langford a day after Holly.

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One of the absolutely sick things in history. Plus Gans had to take a train from Boston to Philly...or maybe the reverse. That had to be a ten hour trip back then. Geeze.

I wouldn't say JuanMa's chin is necessarily weak. The right hook that floored him would've knocked most fighters out. He took some very big shots between rounds 3-6 and kept coming forward but the accumulation of punches he was taking was too much and the referee was right to stop the fight.

I'm sure Juan Ma will bounce straight back. He's hardly been exposed or anything, after all he already has wins over the likes of Ponce De Leon, Lueveno and R Marquez.

We knew he could be hurt, we saw it against Mtgawa's and Concepcion but he has always managed to find a way to win.

He was definitely hurt against Salido but fighting back at the time of the stoppage.

It was a great fight and a deserved win for a nearly man like Salido, to finally get his big moment.

Juan Ma will regroup and then can back to being one of the best in the division. Gamboa is looking like the man in the division for now though.


Might be harder for Kirkland, but Khan was a world champ only a year or so on from his catastrophic loss. No reason why Kirkland can't bounce back.

Mentally he can put it down to lots of things, bad training camp, prison, premature stoppage, whatever he needs to to justify the loss.

He will need to fight smarter in future though.

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Originally Posted by Spicoli

The higher your annointed on the house of cards the harder you fall on your ass. I think Kirkland is def such. Lean towards that being the case with Berto though with many more gears then Kirkland, leaps and bounds but always struck me mentally unsure.

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+1