Anthony Joshua v Denis Bakhtov / Selby v Brunker

Evening All,

Another decent night of boxing on Sky tonight, and Joshua gets another test and his first outing sharing the top of the bill against Russian Denis Bakhtov. Bakhtov has definitely been around the block, and has been in with some decent opposition but lost whenever he's stepped up to around European/World level. He comes off a win over Konstantin Airich, just like Joshua is.

Selby's fight may not have a belt on the line, but he's up against unbeaten Australian Joel Brunker, whose biggest win was last time out against Mike Oliver. This is an eliminator for the IBF featherweight strap, currently held by US-based Russian Evgeny Gradovich. Big opportunity for Selby if he wins.

A few more fights around on the card too, but not sure which of the rest will get on TV - maybe John Wayne Hibbert or John Ryder.

A couple of early results from the undercard. One of my favourite fighters Eric Ochieng returns to the ring for the first time since he had to leave Prizefighter injured in April, he wins on points against journeyman William Warburton. At least he made some dough from the fight!

Joe Hughes gives Philip Bowes the first defeat of his career with a KO in the final round of a 10-round fight for the Southern Area light welter strap. Bowes goes down from a left hook, and his corner pulls him out as Hughes stepped up the pace.

Is it on t'telly yet?

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Originally Posted by ryanman

Is it on t'telly yet?

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Think it starts at at 8:30

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Originally Posted by Greenbeanz

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Originally Posted by ryanman

Is it on t'telly yet?

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Think it starts at at 8:30

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Yup, after the Rugby League grand final on Sky Sports. If you watched the grand final, you'll know why punching while an opponent is already on the floor is not allowed!

In other off-TV results, Matty Tew was stopped by Tommy Martin in the 7th round, John Wayne Hibbert beat Leonardo Gonzalez by 5th round stoppage, and Ohara Davies wins by second round KO over journeyman Andy Harris.

Well, the first televised fight of the night was pretty one sided, John Ryder was meant to be fighting Sergey Khomitsky, but ended up fighting Ghanaian Theophilus Tetteh, who was too light and too slow to really make an impact against Ryder. Eventually got a stoppage in the middle rounds, and although Tetteh was never in danger of getting KO'd, he just wasn't competitive.

Next up we have Ricky Boylan v Tyler Goodjohn.

Boylan has a hell of a chin!

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Originally Posted by ross

Boylan has a hell of a chin!

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You are right some huge bombs detonated there.

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Originally Posted by ross

Boylan has a hell of a chin!

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Yeah, cracking opening to this one, more like something you'd see at the York Hall than the 02 though!

If Boylan can keep to the body he can stop this bloke in a few rounds. Think he's shot his bolt in the first loading up on everything.

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Originally Posted by ross

If Boylan can keep to the body he can stop this bloke in a few rounds. Think he's shot his bolt in the first loading up on everything.

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Starting to look that way. Goodjohn is landing so many clean hooks that you have to start thinking Boylan is just tough enough to go through them. I have Goodjohn ahead on points, but Boylan's bodywork is troubling him.

Boylan would be exactly what any decent trainer would want. A blank canvas that they can work on who has good punch resistance. Crap defence but he can win this with the body shots.

This is turning into a decent fight.

Boylans pissing me off. He's clearly a bit tired now but he has the beating of Goodjohn with that left hook to the body but he's just stopped using it now.

Good fight for English title level.

If Boylan has the fitness to keep up that work he wins this inside the distance. He looks much stronger when he lets go.

This is a cracking little fight, and I have Goodjohn just outworking Boylan at times to put him 5-2 up with three to go. Boylan has improved over the last few rounds through, his defence reminds me of me though.

Good fight, both are winners. :)

Boylan fucked up!

He found something that was working then stopped doing it.

Good fight plan from Goodjohn, he adjusted halfway through to go more defensive and evasive, and if he let Boylan land at will to the body throughout I think he would have lost. I had Goodjohn winning 97-93, but it was competitive, and Boylan had gave it a very good shot. His punch resistance is really impressive too.

I've backed the Aussie here at 4/1 so Selby fans can relax. Selby has looked less and less impressive to me of late (if that even makes sense)

Brunker's record looks tidy, and he's got a couple of wins over in the USA so he's not going to be too bothered fighting over here. The fact that Selby is not that big of a ticket seller will also help Brunker settle down. Those sound like decent odds @Fenster.

He is undefeated.

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Originally Posted by Master

He is undefeated.

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Based on the first few rounds, he'll need to change something if he is going to still be undefeated tomorrow.

Good stuff from Selby. Aussie Joe is going the same way as my dosh... down the drain

Selby reminds me a little bit of Eric Morales.

Eric Morales? Spit....

Must admit I'm looking forward to get to the end or the point where Selby actually wants to finish him. He seems to really have to wear his opponents all the way down before looking for the finish.

I think we were (or I was) fooled by the KO of Smith. Even with that stoppage, he's clearly not a big puncher, good skills, bit of a liberty the comms getting on his back because they were getting bored

Great finish, eventually, and personally really great to see Chris Sanigar looking healthy and doing well with the Welsh Wizard

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Originally Posted by Fenster

I think we were (or I was) fooled by the KO of Smith. Even with that stoppage, he's clearly not a big puncher, good skills, bit of a liberty the comms getting on his back because they were getting bored

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I think he's done the groundwork, and I don't think Gradovich will dominate him, and I reckon Selby might be the next Welsh world champion. We don't have many, so optimism is taking over. May even update my sig to reflect this if I can be arsed!

Not bad for your ninth fight. Class work. Lewis Wtf?

Once again, that was brief from Joshua. There was one flurry from Bakhtov in the second where Joshua did look a bit messy when there were punches coming back at him, but I reckon he's got a fair few fights more until he actually gets some proper punches coming back at him.

Just brutal.
Bakhtov took some sickening punches.
Good stoppage I thought personally. Bakhtov was going to show a dangerous amount of toughness I think.

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Originally Posted by ryanman

Just brutal.
Bakhtov took some sickening punches.
Good stoppage I thought personally. Bakhtov was going to show a dangerous amount of toughness I think.

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I thought it was a good stoppage too but IJ Lewis seemed like he changed his mind.

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Originally Posted by Greenbeanz

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Originally Posted by ryanman

Just brutal.
Bakhtov took some sickening punches.
Good stoppage I thought personally. Bakhtov was going to show a dangerous amount of toughness I think.

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I thought it was a good stoppage too but IJ Lewis seemed like he changed his mind.

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He does that a lot come to think of it.

I still think Hughie Fury is a better prospect. Joshua chins fighters out that have mixed in "world" class but Fury is getting the experience from not being able to put a dent in journeymen. You'll see...

I missed the Selby fight as I was out with my dogs but caught the Joshua fight and I'm still not sold as impressive as he is. How he broke through the guard was incredible. Pure power behind sound fundamentals. Still unsure whether he's more Lewis or more Bruno but the day is young. It may seem narrow minded but I want to see him punched.

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Originally Posted by IamInuit

I missed the Selby fight as I was out with my dogs but caught the Joshua fight and I'm still not sold as impressive as he is. How he broke through the guard was incredible. Pure power behind sound fundamentals. Still unsure whether he's more Lewis or more Bruno but the day is young. It may seem narrow minded but I want to see him punched.

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Totally agree. He looked good but when he came in to finish he got caught with a few hooks and I am curious to see how he reacts when a puncher catches him with one of those, or if he will have the intelligence to avoid those shots when facing someone he knows can hurt him. He says all the right things about hitting and not getting hit, but he lacks experience (in terms of time spent, not level of competition) even at amateur level and what experience he does have is based on breaking people down by allying his natural physical gifts to the application of an effective strategy. I sometimes feel with these promising young fighters that their chin is on a precipice and one good punch could send their career spiralling into the abyss. Obviously Eddie Hearn is keen to avoid that and AJ seems to have his head screwed on. I just hope he doesn't start to believe in his own hype right before they put him in with a David Haye or even a Derek Chisora. In fact I hope he is able to retain the same sense of humility he has kept up until this point, because it indicates his awareness of the need for a gradual progression, and that bodes well for his chances of reaching the pinnacle.

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Originally Posted by IamInuit

I missed the Selby fight as I was out with my dogs but caught the Joshua fight and I'm still not sold as impressive as he is. How he broke through the guard was incredible. Pure power behind sound fundamentals. Still unsure whether he's more Lewis or more Bruno but the day is young. It may seem narrow minded but I want to see him punched.

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Selby boxed within himself as usual until he hurt Bunker, then he went in to finish him I like
watching Selby, he's a funny fighter he just does enough to win,! I was impressed with this
performance got a good chance of being a World Champion.