Lyakhovich round by round thread

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Triad said:
The announcers made mention of a rule where a fighter knocked out of the ring had 20 seconds to re-enter. Not here, the ref waved it off immediately. Showtime said gleefully, "America is back!"

Yeah but Sergei was out, he wasn't getting back in so the fight was rightfully called off. It didn't even look like he got hit, he just fell right out of the ring.
 

Triad

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Throughout the fight Sergei had problems with Brigg's 5 1/2 inch reach advantage. He was winning on all three judge's cards and could have survived a 10-8 round but he tried to go to toe and got knocked down once and then just fell out of the ring and lost with 1 second to go. A monumental collapse at the end.
 

Triad

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Kaiser_Sose said:
Yeah but Sergei was out, he wasn't getting back in so the fight was rightfully called off. It didn't even look like he got hit, he just fell right out of the ring.

Whether he was getting back or not is irrelevant. If the rule is in place like the announcers said he has 20 secs to re-enter before anything is called. He didn't have to come back in. He was up by three points on two cards and one point on the other. So even with 10-8 round, Lyakhovich still wins. It would have been controversial and he didn't deserve to win after his lackluster performance, but if that is the rule it was a bad call by the ref.
 

white lightning

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What a crime.Like Triad said,all he had to do was to stay on his bicycle and he wins the fight.I respect his strength & courage however.He didn't want to back down or show fear to a bigger,stronger fighter.He could have won this fight if only for a few more seconds of good defense.What a tough loss!It makes me sick to my stomach.There was alot of black guys at the sports bar and one of them at the table near me said and I quote,"One Russian down,three to go as he laughed".It was kind of sad as a good deal of the crowd seemed to laugh.It's ironic too because Sergei fights out of Arizona and lives here fulltime.Oh well,you know how it goes when you are white and living in America these days.
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Edited by: white lightning
 

jcolec02

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there shud definetly be a rematch...not sure id watch it again...but this briggs guy was too phyisical for sergei at the end...a guy like klitschko or valuev should easily wear him down...and in klitschkos case...knock him out...

p.s. did anyone else think sergei looked a little out of shape??? maybe briggs is on steroids or something...in any case...briggs has very little to offer other than power...and he doesnt even match wlad in that category...so I think Wlad is the guy to beat right now...
 

Don Wassall

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Neither of them looked in fantastic shape. Too bad Sergei didn't go after him more as Briggs would have been too tired to throw punches in the 12th round, but the reach advantage for Briggs was a huge factor. What a shame.. .
 

White Shogun

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Al Bernstein was one of the announcers, I don't remember the name of the other guy.

It seemed to me that Lyakhovich was a little too confident in his ability to take a punch. I believe that Sergei could have knocked Briggs out had he been a little more active throughout the fight.

Sergei did look a little soft, but he seemed to have a lot more stamina than Briggs.

Hope you guys were able to benefit from the play by play. I sat in front of the TV on the laptop and tried to write things down as they happened.
 

Triad

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The reach advantage hurt more than the weight advantage. Plus, Lyakhovich's signature punch is a straight right to the body but he ate a Briggs' left hook half the time he threw it. It's easy for me to say he was too tentative, but I wasn't in their with a 270 pounder with a six inch reach advantage.

The major disappointment was after one of the best HW fights I've ever seen in April against Brewster, Lyakhovich didn't look very good. I had gotten several guys together to watch the fight and he didn't impress.

But there's a reason Klitschko picked Brock over Briggs. Briggs doesn't look very good in the ring but he reminded me of an old Foreman. He was robotic, paced himself, and counter-punched real hard! It's just so tragic for Lyakhovich how it ended. Hopefully, the depression will end next Saturday night.
 

aussieaussie

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Thanx much for the play by play mate. What a dissappointing way for the fight to end. I thought Lyakovitch would win for sure. Shows you what I know. Oh well. I suppose that is the nature of the sport of boxing. Anyone can get knocked out and strange things often happen when two guys start throwing fist. Thanx again.
 

white is right

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White Shogun said:
ROUND 12:

Two minutes in they're both throwing bombs. Briggs seems to be getting the better of it. He is landing some flush, hard shots directly on Lyakhovich.

Sergei is down! Standing eight! Twenty-six seconds left!

It's over. Sergei takes a couple of shots and falls through the ropes to the scorers table. He wasn't punched through them... he just sort of sat down and crumpled to the table.

The ref stops the fight, Briggs by TKO.
He was trying to avoid a Briggs barrage and leaned against the loose ropes and fell through. If he didn't land on his head he could have continued. But he was badly hurt but at the time there was about 10 seconds to go in the fight. Strange fight as Briggs was gassed from the 3rd round on. Either the wolf had a slight concussion going into the last round or he had a brain cramp as all he had to do was stick the jab and he would have won the fight. Anyway Briggs will lose soon he has absolutely no stamina, but he can still bang though.....
 

Hockaday

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I hate sports. Last night my home town high school team lost 35-7. Now this. Now my TV is sitting out on the driveway spitting sparks smoke after I heaved it out there. Just kidding.

I thought Sergei was the most complete and mentally tough of all the E. European heavyweights, but I had only seen him against Brewster. He simply couldn't figure out how to deal with Brigg's physical advantages and never got into a rythym. He spent way to much time in range of Brigg's counters. Plus Sergei relies way to much on that right to the body. That's a changeup pitch and shouldn't be so predictable.

I didn't know Briggs has asthma. I wouldn't have called him a cur if I knew that. I gotta give him props, he just turned this whole thing around by outsmarting Lyakhovich and making him come to him. He made Lyakhovich lead and showed surprising counterpunching skills (with some help from Sergei).

With all this, Sergei was still ahead going into the last round. All he had to do that last round was walk, never mind run, but he just stood there in front of Briggs and made his head available.

Well, this sets up a nice showdown with Vlad, after Vlad takes care of Brock. If Briggs just stands there as he did against Lyakhovich, Klitchko will spear him to death with the jab and have him gone inside five.

In times past, Lyakhovich would have been the only white guy, and we'd have to wait two or three years or more for another good one to come along. Now we have another next week, and more where these came from. Edited by: Hockaday
 

Bart

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Maybe he thought he was going to be jobbed and lose by decision. so he decided to mix it up instead of stayingaway. He barely lost a tough fight against a much larger fighter, no shame in that. We can't win em all. It wasn't long ago, we had nothing cooking! We still have many champions and great fighters scattered across the divisions. We shouldn't be so manic. High as a kite from a win and down in the dumps by a loss. The problem of course is, that now, the press which has been pretty quiet will herald this fight as a return to boxing's glory or some such garbage.
 

White Shogun

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I think Sergei's mental toughness got the better of him. I think he had more confidence in his ability to take Briggs' shots than he actually did, which speaks to both his heart and his head.

However, I believe Wlad is the better boxer and the most 'complete' fighter in the game today. There is nothing wrong with his chin or his heart, it was in his head. I think his win over Sam Peter has helped clear that up. I disagree with the notion that Wlad chose Brock over Briggs because Briggs is a bomber. Brock is one of the the most highly acclaimed fighters in boxing today; Briggs was / is considered old and relatively unskilled. If Wlad had signed to fight Briggs instead of Brock, he'd have been accused of ducking Brock, who is generally considered more of a complete fighter than Briggs.

I am hoping for a serious dismantling of Brock by Wladimir Klitschko.
 
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Bart said:
Maybe he thought he was going to be jobbed and lose by decision. so he decided to mix it up instead of staying away.  He barely lost a tough fight against a much larger fighter, no shame in that.  We can't win em all.   It wasn't long ago, we had nothing cooking!  We still have many champions and great fighters scattered across the divisions. We shouldn't be so manic. High as a kite from a win and down in the dumps by a loss.  The problem of course is,  that now,  the press which has been pretty quiet will herald this fight as a return to boxing's glory or some such garbage.

I agree 100% with this post.

I'm disappointed for Sergei, but that's about it. He didn't fight the kind of fight he needed to - i.e. throwing combos and smothering Briggs' power, and it cost him in the end.

There are still plenty of fights and plenty of fighters out there.
 

moose

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sergei lost the fight more than briggs won the fight, briggs is a very limited fighter with very poor stamina, sultan ibragimov is the mandatory challenger, I hope he ko's briggs.
 

Weltner

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I smell a total fix. Never be surprised if "king" fixed it. I believe he could be making a deliberate move to dethrone all four Russians.It's like all black racist motives - totally out of self-righteous reaction,feeling their race has been affronted.In other words:anything but sincerity.

Don't be surprised if the other three Russians "lose" their belts within the next year or so.
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White Shogun

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The only way this fight was fixed was if Lyakhovich was supposed to let Briggs hit him in the face. Sergei didn't take a 'phony' punch and go down; Briggs him him with several hard shots to the head throughout the fight, and in the 12th round Lyakhovich ate a lot of hard punches.

I think if they were looking to remove the Europeans from the ranks by fixing fights, Valuev would have gone down to Monte Barrett.

I have no doubt that many are very irritated with the way things are in boxing right now, and most would definitely like to see the trend reversed, but I don't think the fix is in - yet.

I ranked the four of them this way: 1) W. Klitschko; 2) S. Lyakhovich; 3) Valuev / Maskaev. I was surprised that Briggs beat Lyakhovich, but because of his size and power Briggs always has a chance for the KO. I don't think Wlad would be drawn into some kind of macho-man bomb throwing contest with him; Wlad's punch output and power are (IMO) vastly superior to Lyakhovich, and I think he would ultimately KO Briggs.

But I don't think Briggs is a good matchup for Maskaev, or perhaps even Valuev. Both of those guys get hit too much to trade shots with Briggs.

There are still many intriguing matchups out there, without having to force the Europeans to fight each other. Toney is still hanging around, begging to be KTFO; Sam Peter is in the mix, Brock, and now Briggs. All four could lose to any of the remaining European heavyweights, so I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet.

I'd like to see Briggs v Sam Peter!
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Edited by: White Shogun
 

freedom1

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Kudos to Briggs for improving himself, coming in in shape, and having a plan and sticking to it.

Kudos to Sergei for fighting hard all the way up to the end. He could've danced away and probably won a decision, but he didn't. He stayed in Brigg's face. Maybe not the smartest, but definitely courageous.

Wladimir would smoke either one of them, but that's another story.
 

Colonel_Reb

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ironfist, what happens in a week that will make us all happy?
 

White Shogun

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Colonel_Reb said:
ironfist, what happens in a week that will make us all happy?

I ain't ironfist, but I'll tell ya - Wladimir Klitschko will KO Calvin Brock next Saturday. Edited by: White Shogun
 

Colonel_Reb

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Ah, ok. I am out of the loop on boxing so thanks for the reminder White Shogun.
 

Triad

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Weltner said:
I smell a total fix. Never be surprised if "king" fixed it.

It was an odd fight to watch. I had similar thoughts midway through. There were a couple times Briggs had Lyakhovich stunned but he didn't follow up. He will say he had a plan and didn't want to punch himself out. Most of the fight looked like a strange sparring match.

Lyakhovich didn't look as hungry as he did against Brewster (that's the only time I've seen him fight). But being a champion affects some people's motivation and work ethic.

The initial knockdown in the 12th was from punches but a phantom punch put Sergei out of the ring. He just bailed out and didn't try to get back. I don't think it was fixed, just crazy.

I expected Brigg's to be cocky post-fight but he was very gracious to his opponent. Earlier I said Briggs' style was like Foreman, but he could also be compared to K-1's Bob Sapp.
 

JD074

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Well, the dream is over for now. It was great having four white HW champs, but we all knew it had to come to an end some time.

The scary thing about Briggs is that he can beat at least two of the remaining three champs, if not all three. Maskaev is getting old, Valuev is obviously vulnerable, and Klitschko has been KO'ed twice. (Yes, I think Wlad would beat Briggs... then again, I thought Lyakhovich would beat him.) Lyakhovich reminds me of the former UFC champion, Rich Franklin. Talented, but largely unproven. He had a great fight against Brewster, but Brewster ain't that great.

Maskaev could lose to Peter (or whoever,) Valuev could lose to a number of guys, and Klitschko could lose to Briggs. (And I'm keeping my fingers crossed about next Saturday!) I hope the Eastern European HW's aren't just a flash in the pan. (Yes, I know there are other divisions and other fighters.) I'm down to two sports now, boxing and MMA! I can't stomach anything else.

At any rate, Klitschko's our guy.

As for the reach advantage, tough sh*t. Black fighters almost always have the reach advantage over white fighters. That's just the way it is. Preferably, a white fighter should be taller than his black opponent; as we've seen with Klitschko/ Peter, a height advantage can nullify a reach disadvantage. Either that, or be quicker and more athletic a la Joe Calzaghe. But most white fighters out there aren't that quick/ athletic, unfortunately.

I don't want to see a rematch! I agree with Shogun. Let these black guys beat up on each other for awhile. I'd like to see Briggs fight other fighters for a couple of years before he fights Lyakhovich again, or any of the white champs. It's more important for white fighters to not get defeated than to regain that particular belt.

As for Sultan/ Briggs, yikes! If Sultan had problems reaching Austin, how's he going to deal with Briggs' counterpunches and 6'8" wingspan? Hmm....Edited by: JD074
 

White Shogun

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I'm not worried about Briggs beating Wlad. Or Brock, for that matter. I believe Lyakhovich would beat Briggs in a rematch. Maskaev would have a tough time with Briggs or Peter; Valuev...I don't know. I still don't know enough about Valuev to form an opinion of how he'd fare against tougher competition.

I have to mildly disagree with you about white fighters lacking quickness and athleticism. Sounds like something I'd read in the pages of the typical sports rag. There aren't many heavyweights around at all who can match Wlad's quickness or atheticism. Lyakhovich I believe is faster than most of the current crop of heavyweights, too. How do guys like Kessler, Calzaghe, Pavlik, and the Klitschkos win their fights? They're not power hitters like Briggs and Sam Peter. It isn't because they can 'take a punch.' They win with a skill set that includes quickness and athleticism, along with attributes like intelligence and heart. Edited by: White Shogun
 
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