:boxing: Boxing Bits ::01.31.15:: (or Boxi-Jour…Nah…)

The month of January is drawing to a close, so I thought I would close it out by doing something a little different. This little month-in-review edition of Boxing Bits is being done "Ani-Journal" style, which will feature me basically shooting the breeze about the boxing scene in an (largely-)informal manner.

So yeah, about this month…

—Jermain Taylor vs. Sergio Mora. It was mildly attractive nearly a decade ago and sounds mildly uninteresting now. Mora has been too injury-prone to really capitalize on his Contender success (and even healthy, has not always been able to come through on the biggest stage) and I'm not sure I am still comfortable with seeing Taylor fight after the ways he got KO'd years ago. I'll watch, but cautiously.

—It's amazing to see where Taylor is right now and where the man he twice bested, Bernard Hopkins, is. It took quite a while for The Alien Executioner Person to finally be made to look bad—something Taylor was not able to truly do—and I'd say that I would feel more comfortable watching the 50-year-old (as of the 15th) fight than the shot pugilist 14 years his junior…

—I don't know what cheat codes Sergei Kovalev used to up his EXP for his performance against Hopkins, but it appears that next opponent Jean Pascal and Adonis Stevenson are only keeping those belts warm for him. They better find codes for themselves, too, because they have looked anything but "Lv. 50" lately…

—Many were taken aback that Deontay Wilder actually had some skill in his victory against Bermane Stiverne, but he always showed some promise since he started. The real problem was his long-term babying, but the true telltale presence of his "intangibles" was that he did not regress terribly during that lengthy period (unlike so many others in similar plans). He did not grow by miles, either, nor did the competition by a great deal, but he has something solid to establish himself upon. As I said on Twitter, he stands a good chance against non-Klitschko fighters—some less than others…

—Obviously, by extension, Wilder would get creamed by Wladimir Klitschko. That sounds obvious, but with his size and power, I don't think I could absolutely count him out. That's not a ringing endorsement, but Klitschko has never fought someone with Wilder's combination of an athletic build and size (an inch taller and three inch-longer reach). Wilder is much less-skilled and experienced than he is and he isn't ready for that kind of step-up yet, but the match-up is more intriguing than at first blush—and likely even more so should Wilder improve and gain better stamina (another dilemma brought about by his career path). On one hand, it would be interesting to see Klitschko fight a guy his size and build that doesn't fight use a European style and has good power himself. On the other hand—despite what many said—Wilder's chin has yet to be truly tested (he did not take nearly enough there from the plodding and ill-fighting Stiverne to definitively say that)…

—Blah, blah, blah…Mayweather…blah, blah, blah…Pacquiao…


I hope you enjoyed this special edition of Boxing Bits. Until later…

—HD