Haye v Harrison - How will it go?

[JazMerkin]

I can't defend (and haven't defended) Vitali's decision to fight Sosnowski except to say it was a "stay busy" fight. Sad to say this but the WBC has Ray Austin as the #1 contender right now.

Had Vitali fought Audley I would enjoy the beating Vitali would dish out on Audley but it would be a meaningless fight just like Sosnowski...that fight didn't prove anything.

I'll defend Wlad & his opponents till the cows come home, he really does try to make the best fights & while his fights can be used as visual sedatives on occasion, he's an exceptional fighter, worthy imo of being talked up among the 20 best HWs of all time.

Vitali on the other hand has had a truly shocking list of opponents since coming back, hell he's made Haye look like Ali with his choice of opposition (& that's what it is, I'm not buying this 3 mandatories a year BS).

Peter was an acceptable comeback fight even if he was in shit shape & really was outclassed by Wlad but for 3 rounds of the first fight. Gomez never had a chance, but that was fine to get the mandatory outta the way. Except then Arreola was the mandatory, but that was a good US exposure fight & hell he even got the mandatory delayed another few months so he could just make optional defences through to the end of this year.

Then he fights fucking Kevin Johnson, a prospect who should be nowhere near a title, a guy who makes the Michael Grant that took on Lennox look like B-Hop. I don't get how anyone was surprised how Johnson fought, he was fighting a guy who was 4 or 5 levels above where he should be, and just didn't know what to do. That this was somehow again passed off as a 'mandatory' (how does Vitali keep doing this?) is a farce. If any other top fighter took on a prospect (& not a great one at that) they'd be pilloried to high heaven.

But, no Vitali is still managing to outdo himself. First Albert Sosnowski who gave it his all, but really should be topping the card on club shows in Essex, and now Shannon Briggs, who will be dangerous for all of the first 27 seconds.

Vitali has the worst run of opposition of any fighter mentioned in the P4P discussion that I can think of. Seriously if there is someone with a more shoddy run please tell me??!

[amat]

I can't defend (and haven't defended) Vitali's decision to fight Sosnowski except to say it was a "stay busy" fight. Sad to say this but the WBC has Ray Austin as the #1 contender right now.

Had Vitali fought Audley I would enjoy the beating Vitali would dish out on Audley but it would be a meaningless fight just like Sosnowski...that fight didn't prove anything.

I'll defend Wlad & his opponents till the cows come home, he really does try to make the best fights & while his fights can be used as visual sedatives on occasion, he's an exceptional fighter, worthy imo of being talked up among the 20 best HWs of all time.

Vitali on the other hand has had a truly shocking list of opponents since coming back, hell he's made Haye look like Ali with his choice of opposition (& that's what it is, I'm not buying this 3 mandatories a year BS).

Peter was an acceptable comeback fight even if he was in shit shape & really was outclassed by Wlad but for 3 rounds of the first fight. Gomez never had a chance, but that was fine to get the mandatory outta the way. Except then Arreola was the mandatory, but that was a good US exposure fight & hell he even got the mandatory delayed another few months so he could just make optional defences through to the end of this year.

Then he fights fucking Kevin Johnson, a prospect who should be nowhere near a title, a guy who makes the Michael Grant that took on Lennox look like B-Hop. I don't get how anyone was surprised how Johnson fought, he was fighting a guy who was 4 or 5 levels above where he should be, and just didn't know what to do. That this was somehow again passed off as a 'mandatory' (how does Vitali keep doing this?) is a farce. If any other top fighter took on a prospect (& not a great one at that) they'd be pilloried to high heaven.

But, no Vitali is still managing to outdo himself. First Albert Sosnowski who gave it his all, but really should be topping the card on club shows in Essex, and now Shannon Briggs, who will be dangerous for all of the first 27 seconds.

Vitali has the worst run of opposition of any fighter mentioned in the P4P discussion that I can think of. Seriously if there is someone with a more shoddy run please tell me??!

I am in complete agreement. Only Arreola and Peter halfway deserved shots. Peter DID because he got seriously screwed by the WBC in the run-up and I'm glad he at least got a pay day. But Briggs-Sosnowski is an unbelievable that he's allowed to get away with this. There are 10K pages of Haye and rightfully so because his resume at heavyweight is shit but the guy ranked above him is worse.