Friday Night Fights: Raheem - Cruz

Probably the worst FNF card on paper we've had this year so far.

At first I thought that the Cruz Raheem was facing was Cruz Carbajal and I thought this might be fairly entertaining. But that's not who this is Cristobal Cruz whom I know absolutely nothing about other then the fact that he has an underwhelming record.

Raheem hasn't been overly impressive himself though. He looked good against Rocky Juarez and Erik Morales, but then looked absolutely terrible against Freitas. How people thought he could have won that fight is completely beyond me, one of the more frustrating fights in recent memory.

He is a slick guy, fairly fast he actually reminds me a little bit of Cory Spinks right down to the stupid ring entrances. Stays on the outside and tries to do his work getting inside and then leaving. But unlike Spinks, Raheem throws one punch at a time and after that one punch he'll just grab on and then bend over.

I expect this one to go the distance and not be particulary exciting.

Nobody of real note on the undercard except a guy named Michael Torres who has been fighting on some good undercards. He is a welterweight facing some no hoper. And Richard Hall but he isn't a shell of what he used to be, although his fight against Letterlough was exciting but he didn't even look like he wanted to be in the ring against Johnson.

Bit disappointing after the fantastic card they put on the last 2 Wednesdays.

And please, contain all excitement to this thread ;D

I actually really like Raheem. The fight with Freitas was ugly but I felt Zahir just about did enough to win.

Regardless though he is a slick boxer and will pose problems for anyone at 135 imo.

His biggest problem is that he's an Ishe Smith type of fighter, a good slick, tactical fighter who can more than hold his own, but his style is not seen as particularly crowd pleasing and entertaining so he's always going to struggle to get the big fights.

I personally really like him though, I like his ring entrances coming in as an African tribal King and I enjoy watching slippery fighters.

I'm looking forward to this fight for sure. To be honest very rarely have I ever watched a FNF weekend and have actually heard of any of the fighters anyway so that doesn't bother me.

The Kelvin Davis fight was great last week, I've enjoyed both Samuel Miller fights and Jesse Feliciano stopping that prospect fighter a weeks back was great and aside from Jesse I'd never heard of any of them before so don't worry too much about the names not being recognisable.

FUCK CALZAGHE!!!!!

'I COULD UH WISH IH WEH ALOH LONGUH'

FUCK HIM >:mad >:mad >:mad

Yeah the cards as of late have been very good.

The Davis Smith fight was fantastic, and the Davis - Feliciano bout was one of the more interesting fights in all of boxing thus far this year imo. Diaconu KO'ing Hoye was awesome. Hell, even the Aiken - Carbajal fight was exciting. But this one lacks something.

I would like Raheem, like I said he reminds me of Cory Spinks but Spinks is exciting to me because he punches in combination. Raheem, I don't think I've ever seen him throw more then two punches at a time and that makes him boring. Because I don't think Spinks is boring. And that lead right hand worked so good against Morales but then he just looked off balance with it against Popo and it worked against him.

At his best, he is a good fighter who isn't bad to watch. I like defense but he is only slick on the outside, otherwise it's 1 punch on the inside and hanging on and that isn't truly slick imo.

zahir should win

Good to hear Calzaghe on American telee finally confirm that he wants Kessler or Taylor.

He'll have to saddle up to Kessler though if Miranda blows out Pavlik. Taylor answered Miranda's call & threats today at the presser...so Joe will either HAVE TO FACE KESS or wait out a years worth of inactivity.

Miranda or Pavlik are fighting for the right to face Taylor if I aint mistaken.

that white guts getting fucked up

That was a joke.

Christ almighty...Raheem wears some stupid ass lookin hats...& theyr'e always a size or two to big for him. ::**

Not to mention the mustache makes him look like a twat. I swear the only punch this George guy has is that crashing overhand right.

If Raheem loses this fight, I will LMAO! He shoulda, woulda, coulda. Enough said. He should win though.

that was a knockdown in the last round where rahims knee hit the floor while he was clinching

Raheem has worse balance then any other top level fighter in boxing. Hate to be so down on a guy who could be a very good fighter but he peaked with Morales imo.

ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzahir Raheem... If he gets the gift of fighting on TV again, I'll be doing something else. Hell, I ended up only half paying attention to this fight.

FNFs have been pretty good lately. I was surprised nobody talked about the Diaconu fight last week. Of course, I didn't either. I thought about it, but let too much time go by.

There have been a few threads on Diaconu, he really exploded onto the scene last week. Hoye was a good fighter and I knew nothing of Diaconu but he came out and exploded like Tyson. Love a good peek a boo fighter 8) I am willing to bet his next fight is on HBO.

How did Raheem look? I'm not a big fan of his at all but I recall that alot of people here were singing his praises when he beat an overweight,lazy Morales,who just didn't bother that night until the last few reounds whe he dropped Zahir. He looked absolutely WOEFUL v Freitas,truly a horrible horrible performance and anyone can look good against the amazingly flawed for a guy with Olypic pedigree Rocky Juarez. I'm not sold on Raheem at all and apart from how he fought in the Morales,I would not watch the guy in action.

what do u guys think?

I think he hugs way too much for a lightweight :P and I think his shyt scared to get hit thats why he hugs so damn much >:mad I know that chin isn't so strong ;D i want to see someone knock him out 8)

zahir " King hug-a-lot" raheem :P

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Originally Posted by El Gamo

How did Raheem look? I'm not a big fan of his at all but I recall that alot of people here were singing his praises when he beat an overweight,lazy Morales,who just didn't bother that night until the last few reounds whe he dropped Zahir. He looked absolutely WOEFUL v Freitas,truly a horrible horrible performance and anyone can look good against the amazingly flawed for a guy with Olypic pedigree Rocky Juarez. I'm not sold on Raheem at all and apart from how he fought in the Morales,I would not watch the guy in action.

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I don't like him at all, i think his boring, balance is awfull his whole defense is just to hug u tender just awfull fighter, has potential but he doesn't know how to shine.

I would like to see a Diamond (5) Vs. Raheem (6) fight. Pretty sure Kid Diamond would KO him into oblivion.

ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzahir Raheem... If he gets the gift of fighting on TV again, I'll be doing something else. Hell, I ended up only half paying attention to this fight. Myk

Same goes for me...

I surfed the net and just listened to the fight.

This fight was snooze worthy.

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Originally Posted by BoxingGorilla

I would like to see a Diamond (5) Vs. Raheem (6) fight. Pretty sure Kid Diamond would KO him into oblivion.

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yea i'd love to see kid diamond fight him, zahir is just awfull and he wonders why he doesn't make it to the big screen, geez he had a much slower shorter weaker oppenent last night and he didn't even impress for a sec. awful awful awful fight raheem hugged more then punch bad for boxing we don't need any more fighters like this.

I'm convinced that Raheem and John Ruiz are brothers, or train together.

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Originally Posted by El Gamo

How did Raheem look? I'm not a big fan of his at all but I recall that alot of people here were singing his praises when he beat an overweight,lazy Morales,who just didn't bother that night until the last few reounds whe he dropped Zahir. He looked absolutely WOEFUL v Freitas,truly a horrible horrible performance and anyone can look good against the amazingly flawed for a guy with Olypic pedigree Rocky Juarez. I'm not sold on Raheem at all and apart from how he fought in the Morales,I would not watch the guy in action.

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Raheem looked like Raheem always looks and dominated the fight. People just don't like his style.

And please, don't start with the "Morales didn't try to fight until the late rounds" crap.

Give Raheem credit. Morales tried to fight him all night but got hit with every counter right hand Raheem threw. And his style foiled Morales.

Raheem is a good fighter and he has a style that could beat a lot of people out there, but it's not exciting, which is why people do not want to fight him. Too much risk and too little reward. But I would bet on him against Kid Diamond or anyone.

Raheem isn't that much of a risk. He isn't avoided because he's a huge risk. Winky was avoided because he is a huge risk.

It's that he's completely one dimensional, throws one punch at a time, and has awful balance which makes for terrible fights that nobody likes. He just isn't that good of a fighter. He looked good beating Morales, but that was because Morales was a shell in the ring that night. In his follow up, he goes out and bent over at the hip every fight.

The guy he was fighting was made for a fast, accurate counterpuncher like Zahir Raheem should be. He was wide open and leading with his head, yet Raheem threw nothing as he was coming forward. He would either scoot away or tie up.

Then when Raheem was on the outside and the guy wasn't charging forward, he would lunge in with one punch and tie up.

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Originally Posted by Majesty

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Originally Posted by El Gamo

How did Raheem look? I'm not a big fan of his at all but I recall that alot of people here were singing his praises when he beat an overweight,lazy Morales,who just didn't bother that night until the last few reounds whe he dropped Zahir. He looked absolutely WOEFUL v Freitas,truly a horrible horrible performance and anyone can look good against the amazingly flawed for a guy with Olypic pedigree Rocky Juarez. I'm not sold on Raheem at all and apart from how he fought in the Morales,I would not watch the guy in action.

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Raheem looked like Raheem always looks and dominated the fight. People just don't like his style.

And please, don't start with the "Morales didn't try to fight until the late rounds" crap.

Give Raheem credit. Morales tried to fight him all night but got hit with every counter right hand Raheem threw. And his style foiled Morales.

Raheem is a good fighter and he has a style that could beat a lot of people out there, but it's not exciting, which is why people do not want to fight him. Too much risk and too little reward. But I would bet on him against Kid Diamond or anyone.

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I gotta :sadclick: you this is the first time i have to completely disagree with someone in this forum. raheem did not look dominant, he look like a tired boxer in a 10 round fight, all he did was hug and no he is not avoided so that crap you should not say anymore and no he is not a big risk, your completely wrong i just have to say. I'll be accepting a sadclick back i know you'll want to sad click me back but thats ok because i just had to tell you the realzzz.


ooh yea raheem is a awfull fighter, can't see how anyone could be a fan of him ;D

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Originally Posted by Unknowndonor

I'm convinced that Raheem and John Ruiz are brothers, or train together.

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+118 :coolclick: thats what i was thinking too, he remind me of ruiz. For a lightweight raheem hugs way too much.