The Super Six, my thoughts after the first two fights.

[Fenster]

I think it's coming apart at the seams already (as predicted).

Taylor should retire. Dirrell was "robbed." Froch is shit. Froch thinks he'll get robbed in Germany.

Dirrell-Abraham is gonna be as boring as hell. Good luck selling that.

No chance of this thing working.

[Kirkland Laing]

Give it a chance. Even if Taylor goes out they can bring in somebody like Bika with two fights to potentially make himself into a star. They're going to have trouble selling Dirrell-Abraham but maybe Andre might take a few quid extra to fight in front of 17000 people in Berlin. Gary Shaw might consider it too. They're a better-behaved audience than the Trent Arena and even the Scorpions is something you can survive.

[Bomp]

I think it's coming apart at the seams already (as predicted).

Taylor should retire. Dirrell was "robbed." Froch is shit. Froch thinks he'll get robbed in Germany.

Dirrell-Abraham is gonna be as boring as hell. Good luck selling that.

No chance of this thing working.

Can't help but think the same, promoters are already posturing cos the next rounds fights aren't set in stone.

[Rantcatrat]

I think it's coming apart at the seams already (as predicted).

Taylor should retire. Dirrell was "robbed." Froch is shit. Froch thinks he'll get robbed in Germany.

Dirrell-Abraham is gonna be as boring as hell. Good luck selling that.

No chance of this thing working.

Can't help but think the same, promoters are already posturing cos the next rounds fights aren't set in stone.

How are the next fights not set in stone? I thought it was Froch v. Kessler, Abraham v. Dirrell, and Ward v. Taylor (Allan Green).

[Myk_Myk]

How does it work if someone steps into Taylor's spot? It's a point system not elimination, right? So would they just start at zero and have one less fight to built points?

[killersheep]

How does it work if someone steps into Taylor's spot? It's a point system not elimination, right? So would they just start at zero and have one less fight to built points?

Allen Green would be the first alternate and would start with zero points, which is where Taylor left off, and since Green is about the same talent level as Taylor it is fair to the field. And yes Green will have only two chances to get points to qualify.

[Youngblood]

I never truly started getting excited about this, until just prefight for Abraham/Taylor. After that I was thru the roof and sold on it.

Was the Froch/Dirrell a bit of a black eye on it? Yea, some. But also...let us not deny that for sure bad judging and big differences of opinion are a fact of boxing. Wish they'd get it right all the time, but they won't. As well, even though it has caused a lot of debate, I don't think it will detract from the design at all. In fact, I know for sure I will be tuning in to see what Dirrell brings next time and if he learns from it, and further more, Froch...but moreso in his case, I'd like to see him flattened.

Overall I am more excited about it regardless of what happened. I suspect others are too. I doubt you wil find many who watched who won't watch it any more. I think it will only grow in excitement, and hopefully get better, and with more story lines.

Short of fighters pulling out, and people simply quitting for anything other then danger to their health reasons, I think it is a huge success for the boxing fans. For the sport. That it will bring new people to it, and as I read Kirkland write earlier in another thread...has the potential to become a mainstay in the boxing world, a successful format and in many divisions.

I like what I see so far. A lot.

[killersheep]

I never truly started getting excited about this, until just prefight for Abraham/Taylor. After that I was thru the roof and sold on it.

Was the Froch/Dirrell a bit of a black eye on it? Yea, some. But also...let us not deny that for sure bad judging and big differences of opinion are a fact of boxing. Wish they'd get it right all the time, but they won't. As well, even though it has caused a lot of debate, I don't think it will detract from the design at all. In fact, I know for sure I will be tuning in to see what Dirrell brings next time and if he learns from it, and further more, Froch...but moreso in his case, I'd like to see him flattened.

Overall I am more excited about it regardless of what happened. I suspect others are too. I doubt you wil find many who watched who won't watch it any more. I think it will only grow in excitement, and hopefully get better, and with more story lines.

Short of fighters pulling out, and people simply quitting for anything other then danger to their health reasons, I think it is a huge success for the boxing fans. For the sport. That it will bring new people to it, and as I read Kirkland write earlier in another thread...has the potential to become a mainstay in the boxing world, a successful format and in many divisions.

I like what I see so far. A lot.

Personally I'd like to see some mini-tournaments (top 4 of each division) in some of the lower weight classes. There's a some great fights that can't be made currently because the money isn't there for travel etc.

[Kirkland Laing]

I never truly started getting excited about this, until just prefight for Abraham/Taylor. After that I was thru the roof and sold on it.

Was the Froch/Dirrell a bit of a black eye on it? Yea, some. But also...let us not deny that for sure bad judging and big differences of opinion are a fact of boxing. Wish they'd get it right all the time, but they won't. As well, even though it has caused a lot of debate, I don't think it will detract from the design at all. In fact, I know for sure I will be tuning in to see what Dirrell brings next time and if he learns from it, and further more, Froch...but moreso in his case, I'd like to see him flattened.

Overall I am more excited about it regardless of what happened. I suspect others are too. I doubt you wil find many who watched who won't watch it any more. I think it will only grow in excitement, and hopefully get better, and with more story lines.

Short of fighters pulling out, and people simply quitting for anything other then danger to their health reasons, I think it is a huge success for the boxing fans. For the sport. That it will bring new people to it, and as I read Kirkland write earlier in another thread...has the potential to become a mainstay in the boxing world, a successful format and in many divisions.

I like what I see so far. A lot.

I don't know if it'll run smoothly, you've got to say it probably won't, but even if they get two full rounds in it lets people see who the best boxers are and those matches then have more commercial value and are likely to get made. I think they'll manage to get down to a final two somehow. As for future tournaments there could be four, six or eight facing off in different formats, they'll try different things, but I think they're going to happen. HBO and Showtime are the only games in town, promoters are going to have to put their prospects in with each other if they're told to by the networks. HBO have signed a disastrous deal with GBP and they're getting future budgets cut anyway, they're going to want value for money in future. Add to that you get an eventual winner who's super marketable, you haven't gone and invested a ton of money on prospects like Ortiz and Angulo that don't give you any return on your investment.

[Bomp]

I think it's coming apart at the seams already (as predicted).

Taylor should retire. Dirrell was "robbed." Froch is shit. Froch thinks he'll get robbed in Germany.

Dirrell-Abraham is gonna be as boring as hell. Good luck selling that.

No chance of this thing working.

Can't help but think the same, promoters are already posturing cos the next rounds fights aren't set in stone.

How are the next fights not set in stone? I thought it was Froch v. Kessler, Abraham v. Dirrell, and Ward v. Taylor (Allan Green).

Line ups have been agred in principle, but purses and venues haven't been signed. Froch Kessler should be in Denmark, but Froch's team claim they're still trying to take it to Nottingham.

[Kev]

Can't help but think the same, promoters are already posturing cos the next rounds fights aren't set in stone.

How are the next fights not set in stone? I thought it was Froch v. Kessler, Abraham v. Dirrell, and Ward v. Taylor (Allan Green).

Line ups have been agred in principle, but purses and venues haven't been signed. Froch Kessler should be in Denmark, but Froch's team claim they're still trying to take it to Nottingham.

You do get the feeling that Froch thinks very much that he is the competitions true star.

Comparing his performance against Dirrell to Abraham's against Taylor I'd imagine the bargaining power mostly lies with King Artur when they fight, third round I believe.

Regarding Kessler maybe Froch is now bigger in the US and his uk fanbase might be bigger than Kessler's Danish one (but I don't know, I'm not very knowledgeble of the Scandinavian countries, but I imagine Denmark's population is considerably smaller than Britians?).

If Froch goes to Denmark he needs a knockout, which let's face it he is highly highly unlikely to get.

Also based on his last two performances he can't really be pleased, surely if I was him my confidence would be pretty low in terms of how I could do in this tournament.

Comparing him to Kessler and Abraham I think he is overmatched in every category except arrogance.

He may find a way to get out of the tournament yet methinks......

[JazMerkin]

Can't help but think the same, promoters are already posturing cos the next rounds fights aren't set in stone.

How are the next fights not set in stone? I thought it was Froch v. Kessler, Abraham v. Dirrell, and Ward v. Taylor (Allan Green).

Line ups have been agred in principle, but purses and venues haven't been signed. Froch Kessler should be in Denmark, but Froch's team claim they're still trying to take it to Nottingham.

I'll bet they bloody do, he won't be winning rounds for unloading vicious combos into thin air in Copenhagen. Or anywhere outside the East Midlands as a matter of fact.

I pretty much agree with Youngblood's post. I'm still excited, but a decision like that is obviously not how people wanted the tournament going. Have to say though that if Froch tries to get out of it as Bilbo suggests, he will lose all credibility especially with anyone who read his interview in the most recent Boxing Monthly. I mean even if he loses his next 2, in theory he could still easily find himself in the final should Dirrell & Taylor fail to get any points.

[Rantcatrat]

I think it's coming apart at the seams already (as predicted).

Taylor should retire. Dirrell was "robbed." Froch is shit. Froch thinks he'll get robbed in Germany.

Dirrell-Abraham is gonna be as boring as hell. Good luck selling that.

No chance of this thing working.

Tell me I'm wrong Fenster, but you've never been to excited about the tournament and you've never felt it would last.

The first weekend of fights provided a devestating knockout to an otherwise solid fight and a controversial win by a fighter who in my opinion has now been exposed.

With the exception of Dirrell who is as unfriendly to watch as any fighter on television, I am more excited about the tournament after this weekend than I was going into it. Abraham looked as tough as I expected. Froch looked as vulnerable as expected. Taylor is still a question mark, but he was a question mark going into it and even if he bows out of the tournament, Allan Green replacing him will be good expecially because his first fight is against Ward and the two don't get along at all. In the next fight, Kessler and Ward will be a good, hard-to-pick fight. Kessler will destroy Froch in the next round, which will be fun to see. Abraham should beat Dirrell, but his fights are fun to watch anyway (AA, not Dirrell).

I don't want to see Froch or Dirrell make it to the second round. That much I can say.

[Fenster]

I think it's coming apart at the seams already (as predicted).

Taylor should retire. Dirrell was "robbed." Froch is shit. Froch thinks he'll get robbed in Germany.

Dirrell-Abraham is gonna be as boring as hell. Good luck selling that.

No chance of this thing working.

Tell me I'm wrong Fenster, but you've never been to excited about the tournament and you've never felt it would last.

The first weekend of fights provided a devestating knockout to an otherwise solid fight and a controversial win by a fighter who in my opinion has now been exposed.

With the exception of Dirrell who is as unfriendly to watch as any fighter on television, I am more excited about the tournament after this weekend than I was going into it. Abraham looked as tough as I expected. Froch looked as vulnerable as expected. Taylor is still a question mark, but he was a question mark going into it and even if he bows out of the tournament, Allan Green replacing him will be good expecially because his first fight is against Ward and the two don't get along at all. In the next fight, Kessler and Ward will be a good, hard-to-pick fight. Kessler will destroy Froch in the next round, which will be fun to see. Abraham should beat Dirrell, but his fights are fun to watch anyway (AA, not Dirrell).

I don't want to see Froch or Dirrell make it to the second round. That much I can say.

You're not wrong - i've never felt it would work.. even more sure of that now.

Bear in mind I am a cynical cunt.