MY TOP TEN FIGHTS OF 2019 PT.A
: Bassey Edet Jr.
Pazzports@Gmail.com
Dear Reader,
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Have you ever wondered like I sometimes always do when lost in thoughts, why you get excited about things that do not seem to make sense to other people? Well this article is about one of those things, it is about the fight world, a blend of sports referred to as ‘’the sweet science’’ by the purists or ‘’Boxing’’ in the normal parlance and the Mixed Martial Arts world.
THE CAVEAT:
If you are one of those people who whose is not concerned about what is going on outside your immediate environment or scope of concern, or who quickly gets bored once the conversation is not about movies to watch, your ambitions or places to hang, sincerely this piece is not for you but you may miss out.
But if you are one of those persons who likes to expand their interest, stretch their curiosity beyond the present, and even get excited about the prospect of even getting motivated to flex your muscles then this piece might just be for you.
As the title reads, MY TOP TEN on that note, ‘’let’s get in”
Last year, I got a bit intrigued about the fight world although not entirely new to me, I just got closer to the arena and discovered that it was more interesting albeit the ‘’dirt’’ than it appeared. I followed a couple of fights from Boxing to the Mixed Martial Arts world and from there, I heartily present to you MY TOP TEN FIGHTS FOR 2019 PT. A.
So the fights here got my attention largely due to a constellation of things stretching from the buildup (Promotion), the characters that were involved, the pre-interviews, the main event (fight) and the post match conference, all these make for a memorable fight in general.
10. Jorge ‘’Gamebred’’ Masvidal (USA) 35-13-0
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Darren Till ‘’the Gorilla’’ (ENG) 18-2-1
ATTENDANCE: 16,602
REFEREE: Marc Goddard
ROUNDS: 5
VENUE: The 02 Arena
DATE: 16th March 2019
TRUNKS: Masvidal (Red shorts) – Till (Black shorts)
QUOTES: During their face off
Till: ‘’I want people to look at me and say, not say, there’s Darren, he is a top UFC fighter, or he is one of the top UFC fighters, I want people to look and say, he is a fxxxn animal, he one of the best fighters in the world’’
Masvidal: I have heard people say the same thing, I have even said the same, you gotta believe in yourself first, else why would anyone want to invest in you’’
Till: ‘’I just wanna knock Masvidal out’’
Masvidal: ‘’That’s just crap, that’s definitely not happening, but I like his spirit’’
This had made the list simply because 2019 was Jorge Masvidal’s year, and this was the genesis of what is now panning out to be a great career comeback. Considered to be the fighter of the year in many quarters, the match got made because Masvidal called Till out on ‘’Twitter’’ and Till accepted the challenge.
Masvidal took on Till on his home turf in the UK and having not won a fight since January 2017, the lack of victory seemed to have caused his career a downturn as he faced issues with getting an opponent.
The favourite prior to the match again was ‘’The Gorilla’’ was also coming from a defeat and was eager to prove a point.
On fight night, what got my attention? Darren Till’s ring walk to Neil Diamond’s evergreen ‘’Sweet Caroline’. My goodness, the ambience was amazing. First quiet, then electric, the fans sang along as Till strolled out to the best part….
’’…hands, Touching hands, reaching out, Touching me, Touching you, Sweet Caroline, Good times never seem so good…..’’
And I was thinking to myself you cannot have such an electrifying intro, in front of your home crowd in the U.K and not get the job done.
The match was scheduled for Five (5) rounds of Three (3) minutes each, as the match started, Masvidal hit Till with a low blow i.e. a kick to the groin, which is against the rules, but Till recuperated and eventually took charge of the early round, and dealt the Cuban American a massive left hand blow with floored him to the canvass. But Masvidal got back to his feet, shook off the early scare, and landed a few shots of his own in the opening round. Till caught him again with a big left punch on his chin of which Masvidal responded with a ‘come on’ gesture, eventually Masvidal countered with some swift punches before the round ended. The fans were left on their feet, cheering on ‘’Till’’.
The second round started with Masvidal becoming more of the offensive fighter, came out fighting, tried an early take down in the round, but Till did not allow him to benefit from the fall, he wore his aggression on Till in the round, threw more strikes, of which Till walked into some punches as he was looking for a way to engineer a shot on Masvidal. Then it all changed, Masvidal launched forward and cleanly connected an ‘’out of nowhere’’ left hook as SportsCenter captioned it, that changed the complexion of the ambience, Till’s hands were down, no guard and the effect was massive, he dropped on his back BOOM and just like that, Till’s good time/night came to an end.
The shock the fans wore was a little bit amazing, but Masvidal did not look concerned, he bossed around the ring with an un-choreographed arrogant stroll’, his excitement could not be bottled, this was a man who stuck his tongue out, knowing what defeated tasted like, went out in search of a desperate win.
Then rollercoaster happened. Fast forward, to the end of 2019, Masvidal defeated Joe Askren later in the year under 5 seconds, yea 5 seconds (UFC RECORD), and defeated Nate Diaz for the BMF title. Having now called out both McGregor and Kamaru Usman, should any of this fight come to fruition it will be a great pay day for the fighters and a memorable night for all who will watch. Masvidal is presently on his way to making a lot of fungolas.
9. Khabib ‘’Eagle’’ Nurmagomedov (RUS) 28-0-0
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Dustin ‘’Diamond’’ Poirier (USA) 25-6-0
ATTENDANCE: ‘’Amazing’’ Gate ‘’Ridiculous’’- Dana White
REFEREE: Matt Goddard
ROUNDS: 5
VENUE: The Arena, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
DATE: September 7th 2019
TRUNKS: Khabib (Black and Gold shorts) v Dustin Poirier (Blue and Gold)
DIVISION: lightweight
QUOTES:
Dustin: on what it takes to beat khabib ‘’It takes pressure, confidence, it takes years of sacrifice and I have all those things, am gonna make something special happen, am gonna shock the world’’
Khabib: ‘’Dustin is a tough guy, he has good experience, he has good boxing, good footwork,…… he never fight with a guy who all the time wrestle with him like myself, I think it’s gonna be a tough night for him, this is my opinion, he has to be ready, I’m gonna wrestle with him all night, make him tired, make him tap, this is my plan’’
‘’I just want to maul people’’
‘’The Eagle’’ Khabib, the reigning, defending undisputed UFC lightweight champion, fresh after the loss he handed Conor McGregor at UFC229, and having served a nine month suspension due to the altercation he engineered after their bout was scheduled to return to the Octagon the only problem was against who? Famed for total domination of his opponents during his fights through fierce grappling and wrestling skills, discipline and annihilation of opponent’s will, he came into this fight as a clear favourite, but a few questions were left in the open as to whether he could handle the pressure that came off his last outing, amidst the political romance that came with it and still be as ferocious after the long layoff
After serving his suspension, he was returning to his natural habitat and the man to taint his record was riding on a hot winning streak, his name? Dustin Poirier. Poirier was the interim lightweight champion, a respected and dogged fighter bouncing off a clean winning streak and in the words of legendary boxing trainer Teddy Atlas, ‘’if there is anyone who deserves to be called a champion, it is you Dustin’’. He had silenced lot of critics in his last outing against the highly skilled Max Holloway to become the Interim Light Weight Champion and was seeking to unify the Division but then again the question that hung on the lips of fight fan was whether he could pull of the impossible against the Eagle.
Prior to the match, Bleacher report’s Nathan Mccarter, in his breakdown of the match, had stated that;
‘’Nurmagodov has taken great strides with his stand-up over the years and he even clipped Connor McGrgor when they met last year. He is dangerous on the feet, but the totality of his striking still does not meet the standard of Poirier. Poirier is more polished. The American’s overall striking game is complete, punches, kicks, knees, elbow, every facet of his striking is dangerous and has the opportunity to end a fight’’
In a nutshell,
‘’ I am not writing Dustin Poirier off, he is extremely talented, has all the tools to win and could pull off the upset. I just don’t see it happening. Nurmagomedov is too good’’.
Was he was right? Well….
When fight night came, Poirier’s heart and skill were put to the test. He fought bravely, in the first round and had decent moments, he tried to question Khabib’s competence early on but Khabib seemed unfazed. In taking control of the round, Khabib first went behind him, caught onto his left leg, tripped him and then stuck to him, and this is every fighter’s nightmare when trapped in the Octagon with him. He pushed his weight on Dustin and attempted to choke him to submission but Dustin survived the round. In the Second round, Dustin came out striking but the strikes were diffused and the match subsequently reduced to a traditional wrestling bout by Khabib, while he pounded Dustin’s face, eventually severing his face with a cut. In the third round, in what seemed to be the moment for an upset of the decade, Poirier caught Khabib in a submissive position, nicked the ‘’guillotine’’ but struggled to hold on and finish him off, Khabib remained calm and was able to break off from the position, at this point, he seemed invincible.
Then the tide turned.
Khabib eventually caught Poirier in a rear naked choke and after few seconds he TAPPED OUT. Khabib did not just win, he dominated the match. A later teared up Poirier who submitted in the third round was full of praise for the champion but felt he could have done better. Then again Khabib caused uproar by jumping off the cage to greet a enemy-friend in Dana White. Having been referred to as the perfect wrestler, the excerpt from Jack Slack best captures Nurmagomedov’s game;
‘’And here we get to the real strength of Nurmagomedov’s game: when he has a hold of his man. He is exceptional at shucking his way to a back bodylock and from there he will happily spend a round dragging his man to the mat, allowing them to get, and then either falling to the mat with them or tossing them to the mat and landing on them. Round after round in the octagon, Nurmagomedov has shown himself to be a step ahead of everyone who ends up with him around the waist’’
A testament to Khabib’s game was seen in the words of Poirier ‘’ The guy is good, he is a world champ’’
Extending his streak to a commanding 28 – 0, he his wildly considered as one of the game’s greatest champion/fighters. To my mind it feels like we are living in an era of ‘’walking gods’’
8. VASILY ‘’HI-TECH’’ LOMACHENKO (UKR) 15-1 (10KOS)
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LUKE ‘’COOL HAND’’CAMPBELL (ENG) - 23-3 (16KOS)
ATTENDANCE: 18,000
REFEREE: Victor Loughlin
ROUNDS: 12
VENUE: 02 Arena London
DATE: August 31 2019
TRUNKS: Lomachenko (Yellow and blue striped shorts) Campbell (black shorts)
DIVISION: Welterweight
QUOTES:
Campbell ‘’I have never shied away from a challenge, and this is a big challenge and these are the kind of challenges that I prepare for everyday in the gym’’
‘’I believe we are the best two in the division and come August 31st ….. This is one of those moments where you make it or break it’’
‘’I also believe that every champion was once a challenger and it takes that to become a champion’’
Lomachenko: ‘’He is a dog, has a big reach, he has high Boxing IQ, he has a very big amateur experience’’
‘’I cannot wait to come to the ring to show my boxing skills for British fans and fans around the world’’
‘’I don’t wanna talk too much, see you on August 31st’’
Eddie Hearn asked Loma, do you see anyone in Boxing that can beat you
Lomachenko ‘’…..No, no, I never think about this, I just do my job’’
The fight was scheduled for the defense of the WBO, WBA, WBC Welterweight Championship.
Going to into the match, the always exciting Lomachenko considered to be the best pound for pound fighter in the world was looking forward to making his UK fight debut with a commanding performance, one that was to match his growing reputation for utter ruthlessness and brilliance in the ring and the man to stop him was his mandatory challenger, a respected fighter and 2012 Olympic Gold medalist, Luke Campbell. Luke Campbell considered to be one of the greatest amateurs from the Great Britain had made it clear from the onset that the only thing he was giving Lomachenko was a fighter’s respect and nothing more, in his words ‘’… you know that’s why I succeed at what I do because I am not afraid of losing’’.
The buildup was coloured with massive respect from both camps, both came with their own great amateur records each fighter was seeking to riddle the other on fight night with their skills and hoping for knockout to the pleasure of the fans. To further explain what was to be expected from both fighters, they were both Olympic Gold medalists, both Southpaws (Left-handed) and were both fighters in their prime. It was sure to be an explosive night.
The match in nutshell was basically, The heart of Campbell v the technique of Lomachenko.
On fight night, the early rounds was pretty calm as the both fighters measured each other for the most part of the early rounds although Campbell landed a swift left punch which connected Lomachenko’s jaw in the first round. Campbell had the reach advantage against Lomachenko, but Lomachenko changed the dynamics of the match, found his angles and was throwing straight punches effortlessly and dominated pretty much all through.
The fight changed in the last minutes of the 5th round, as fans were on their feet, when lomachenko after executed a successful body shot, through a vicious left hook to the liver of Campbell and powerful punch to his left jaw, surged forward to finish him off, but he braved on and took the last seconds with grace as the bell came to Campbell’s rescue.
In the seventh round both fighters gave the fans fight moments so much that when Campbell landed the punch that momentarily rocked Lomachenko, Eddie Hearn got to his feet and was urging for a close up, but then, Lomachenko changed the tide and also hurt Campbell, put him a corner and tried to finish him off, but Campbell slipped out again.
In the Eleventh round, Lomachenko got Campbell to his knees with a powerful body shot and sprang like a cat to finish him off, but Campbell made it through the storm with the remaining 40 seconds of the round. Lomachenko won the bout vide a unanimous decision of (119-108, 119 – 108, 118- 109)
In Adam smith’s voice it was a ‘’clean-classy’’ boxing match. There was class sprinkled from start to finish. ‘’Pound for pound best fighter in the world’’. It will be a sacrilege if he did not make the list.
In all it turned out to be a great fight for the purists. The ability for Lomachenko to adapt and figure out what Campbell was doing was a testament to his patience and high boxing IQ level.
In shutting the drapes, I leave with BBC Radio 5 Live’s boxing expert Steve Bunce comments;
‘’ We came for sorcery and were given a display of old fashioned grit, determination, heart and desire. Such bravery, such guts. The points mean nothing. Luke Campbell made the magician look normal’’.
7. JOSH ‘’The Tartan Tornado’’ TAYLOR (SCO)- 16-0-0
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REGIS ‘’Rougarou’’ PROGRAIS (USA) - 24-1-0
ATTENDANCE: 15,000
REFEREE: Marcus Donnel
ROUNDS: 12
VENUE: 02 Arena, London
DATE: 26th October 2019
TRUNKS: Josh Taylor (Checkered coloured shorts) v Regis Prograis (White and stripped black shorts)
DIVISION: Super-light weight division
Quotes:
REGIS PROGRAIS ‘’I feel I can do everything, whatever I feel like doing in the ring that is what I do, when you start boxing people dream about this kind of fighting and I just can’t wait’’
‘’I was never gonna walk away from this fight….. I’m feeling so confident... this is something that I have always wanted…’’
REGIS PROGRAIS: ‘’After the fight you still goanna be a real good fighter but you not goanna beat me, you’re still going to one of Scotland’s finest, but you not going to beat me’’
JOSH TAYLOR: ‘’Well yea its 50-50 fight but I believe I am goanna win, I believe that he’s not got a chance to beat me, (then he looks at him) I don’t believe that you’ve got a chance to beat at range or at ….’’
Josh Taylor: ‘’I can read through your bravado…….I don’t believe he wants to come here’’
‘’You believe in your smoke and that is gonna be your downfall’’
Just before I go any further. So the Nigerian Boxing Federation has organized a tournament nicked ‘’ Nigerian Boxing Federation Tourney’’ taking place in Lagos and this match is an example of such tournaments, only with better promotion and coverage, I will gift you an insight much later on.
Back to my list. The match was the finals of the World Boxing Super Series aka ‘’The Muhammed Ali Trophy’’ and the unification of the Super lightweight titles in the 02 Arena in London.
These were two undefeated world champions in their prime. Josh Taylor came in as the World Super Lightweight Champion of the world while Prograis came in as WBA Light Welterweight Champion of the world. Now the match nearly did not go down, with no thanks to the heavy Corporate Politics that goes in the world of boxing, Prograis instituted a law suit demanding for the specific performance of his contract terms and until that was effected only then was he willing to fight. The organizers did what they had to do and got the fight made and we were entertained to an unforgettable night of boxing.
In the early rounds, Taylor had bodied Prograis with deft punches and consistently outworked Prograis but Prograis planted his feet firmly and went to battle with him, they both traded well chiseled punches at each other. But for the most part, Josh Taylor’s boxing skills gave him the upper hand. But Prograis did not seem to let him have the upper hand as he landed punches that had Taylor’s eyes swollen by 8th round.
Again it was a total display of what elite boxing is about when two fine fighters take to the ring and try to outwit each other, the technical skills of both fighters was on full glare. Prograis seemed to have controlled the first 6 rounds of the match, though it was evenly contested, but then towards the latter part of the match, Josh seemed to have received energy that sustained a near perfect showcase of stamina and grit as he seemingly outworked his opponent despite having to fight with a swollen eye for the last 4 rounds.
The both fighters left the ring bloodied and true testament to the fact that they left their hearts in the ring. In Taylor’s words after the fight
‘’What a fight. Regis is a great champion, but the best man won. He was very good, very strong and had good timing, but I knew I could get him inside. He lived up to his name and he is a great fighter.’’
Prograis said: ‘’the better man won on the night. No excuses, but I will be back. I am pretty sure Josh enjoyed it, hopefully we can do part two’’
Errol ‘’The Truth ’’Spence Jr. (USA) 26-0-0 (21kos)
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Shawn ‘’Showtime’’ Porter (USA) 30-3-1 (17Kos)
ATTENDANCE: 16,702
REFEREE: Jack Reiss
ROUNDS: 12
VENUE: Staples Center, LA, USA
DATE: 24th September 2019
TRUNKS: Errol (Black and Gray shorts) and Shawn Porter (White and Gold)
DIVISION: Welterweight
QUOTES:
Shawn Porter: ‘’….I am expecting to break Errol Spence in a lot of different ways, I am expecting this to be that fight that will become a wake-up call for him in his career’’..
‘’…. You got more dog than me? I guess we gonna find out…’’
‘’I am considered to be the underdog in this fight, I am not considered to be the one that will win fight’’
‘’You can still have your legacy and everything but I am just gonna slow you down a lil’ bit’’
Errol Spence: ‘’I am more loyal to my dreams and to my job more than I am to friendship, because that is that is how I put food on my family’s table’’
‘’I already have it in my head that I wanna punish Shawn’’
‘’…I am gonna punish you man…,I am better than you talent wise,skill wise..’’
‘’…I am gonna put you on my resume…’’
The hype was real. The hate was real. The promotion was hyped and it lived to its billing. At times I felt like a kid tugging his favourite T-shirt in anticipation of the fight, although waiting for a Real Madrid match to start. They both brought their A game. It was raw guts and skills spilled on the canvass. The fight was completely sold out and subsequently acquired massive record breaking numbers.
Clearly the fight cum battle was one of the clear favourite for the fight of the year, it was a battle from the onset and nothing was left on the table. (You have to watch this match or maybe the highlights but at least do yourself the favour by appreciating it for yourself). It had everything, real fight hate, guts, chase of glory, rivalry, want of dominance. This fight has by many been tipped to be the fight of the year.
It was lively.
The reigning, undefeated IBF Champion Errol Spence entered the match against Shawn Porter who at time was the reigning defending WBC Welterweight Champion of the world and was on his second defense of his WBC World Welterweight title, and the battle was for the unification of the welterweight titles.
Again it was heart and determination versus highly honed skills set.
Errol Spence prior to the match had indicated that he wanted to rough up Spence really bad, he promised a knock down, made emphasis on the fact that he was going to expose Porter during the fight. Porter on the other hand had vowed that he, Spence had never stepped into the ring with someone as dogged as him and with heart. And so when the fighters stepped into the ring the fans at Staples center and those around the world by extension could feel the barbed tension in the air.
As the fight started both fighters in a bid to riddle each other out, traded swift punches and Porter seemed to be having the early rounds with his rugged mauling style of attempting to use his body size to penetrate into Errol’s body frame. But Errol countered and landed clean punches in order to send Porter out of his comfort zone, Errol landed clean jabs and controlled the better part of the fight, but Porter would not have him boss him around, as the punches seemed to encourage him even to come back stronger, this seemed to be the sequence until the Eight (8th) round.
Kenneth Bouihaire aptly captured the Eight (8th) round and in his words;
‘’ The action kept getting better, in the eight, a jab followed by a straight left to the solar plexus hurt Porter, who was forced to get on his bicycle…. And then walked Spence into his own left hook upstairs, that momentarily buzzed him. Both stood their ground for the rest of the stanza trading bombs like two nations without inhabitants’’
But then, in the 11th round, Staples Center shut down momentarily when Errol Spence connected a clean crisp left hook to the chin of Porter, and this happened in the middle of Porter trying to throw a punch at him, but he got blindsided having dropped his right hand/guard and was caught clean in the act. But Porter refused to allow Spence to gloat in his moment of glory, because the moment his knee hit the canvass, he sprang back up and beckoned on Spence to bring it on. In Heather Hardy’s Gatling’s words ‘’ Porter fights for his life. I can relate to that’’. John Gatlin puts it this way,
‘’Shawn was getting hit with cinder blocks everywhere, and just kept throwing cement back. The brick he got caught with in the 11th to drop him, a sensational short left fired from the highlight reels of Gene Fullmer - stops any other Welterweight in the world. Not porter whose heart was as big as the City of Angels, with a resolve that comes from hell’’
Again, if there was ever a chance of the match being scored a draw which has been the proposition of a section of those who screened the match, the 11th round knock definitely made the argument to sit on its head. Was the defeat convincing? Shawn seems to disagree, his trainer and dad seemed to disagree and he was very vocal in his requisition for a rematch to settle the scores once and for all.
Errol promised that he was going to bring his other side to the match and he stood toe to toe with the more rugged Showtime Porter. To my mind, should and when a healthy Errol ‘’The Truth’’ returns from the injury he suffered in the ghastly motor accident late last year, this maybe a topic he may want to consider. I wish him a champ’s recovery.
Stay Classic.
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