Nonito Donaire vs. Jeffrey Mathebula - Saturday night fight thread

[Rantcatrat]

Just finished watching. I thought Donaire won 8 rounds to 4. I scored it 116-111. I gave Mathebula 2 and 3 and then a couple in the second half of the fight -- I think 7 and 8. The judges' scorecards were definitely wide but I thought the HBO guys were giving Mathebula more credit than he deserved, given how pitter-pat all of his output was. Decent fight.

Pavlik would get destroyed by Froch, much less Ward. He should be aiming for Arthur Abraham - that's more his level.

The criticism on Pavlik is correct and exaggerated at the same time. Max Kellerman made the point during the broadcast, but think about it, who has he lost to? Future Hall of Famer, light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins and p4p Sergio Martinez. Clearly, Ward and Dirrell would be bad match-ups for him, but I like the Froch fight. Pavlik would be the underdog, likely lose, but you know going into it that it'll be a good action fight. Pavlik did finish a prime Jermain Taylor faster than Froch finished a past-his-prime Jermain Taylor, at Froch's weight, mind you. And a fight with Bute ain't half bad either. Bute could end his career, or Pavlik could end Bute's and earn a fight with Froch.

[shza]

Just finished watching. I thought Donaire won 8 rounds to 4. I scored it 116-111. I gave Mathebula 2 and 3 and then a couple in the second half of the fight -- I think 7 and 8. The judges' scorecards were definitely wide but I thought the HBO guys were giving Mathebula more credit than he deserved, given how pitter-pat all of his output was. Decent fight.

Pavlik would get destroyed by Froch, much less Ward. He should be aiming for Arthur Abraham - that's more his level.

The criticism on Pavlik is correct and exaggerated at the same time. Max Kellerman made the point during the broadcast, but think about it, who has he lost to? Future Hall of Famer, light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins and p4p Sergio Martinez. Clearly, Ward and Dirrell would be bad match-ups for him, but I like the Froch fight. Pavlik would be the underdog, likely lose, but you know going into it that it'll be a good action fight. Pavlik did finish a prime Jermain Taylor faster than Froch finished a past-his-prime Jermain Taylor, at Froch's weight, mind you. And a fight with Bute ain't half bad either. Bute could end his career, or Pavlik could end Bute's and earn a fight with Froch.

Sure, but then following those two losses, he gave up possibly the remainder of his prime and did nothing good for himself physically for the next two years. I don't think we're going to see the version of Pavlik that beat Taylor ever again. I was thoroughly unimpressed with him last night. He got hit a ton and did not look like he had the heavy hands he used to have, even putting aside the fact he's fighting 8 pounds up.

+1 on Hulk's Bika suggestion, btw. That's a nice choice.