02-19-2016, 11:57 PM
(02-19-2016, 11:07 PM)Justapakeha Wrote:(02-19-2016, 09:57 PM)tm7 Wrote: Craigyd, this rant is just for you mate.
You mention the light heavies, they're all good names in NZ boxing but none will ever be world level and will unlikely ever get the chance to find out. Papuni looked the head of the bunch after making Rapira look silly but he was underdone by Trent Broadhurst, that's his level. Berridge is fantastic by NZ-Aus standards and had potential, until Duco threw him in to deep too quickly in the US and now he's nobody on the world stage. I was at Taihias fight against the Samoan journeyman in Auckland a few years ago, he outboxed him but reading a book would've been more exciting and after doing time he will struggle to ever be recognised on the world stage even if he was good enough, won't get a visa for US, UK, etc. I like Charalampous as a prospect, seems willing to fight anyone and Duco likes him, once he's back into it after a long injury break, maybe. Another is Jordan Tai, he looks to have the goods and is fighting all the time, his only issue is he's 33 and kind of just starting having had a long kickboxing career.
In the other weights you've got the ChCh boys Beauchamp and Morgan, great for the local scene but need to step up in opposition and win. Beauchamp did fight Cairo which was a big step up but he lost and is now back fighting the same no-win-fighters as before. I first saw Cairo when he had red hair on the Tua v Barret undercard I think it was, he's undefeated and seems like an awesome guy, from the outside, and I don't know his situation personally, it seems like finances are restricting him fighting at world level, would hate for him to retire wondering what if.
Smokin Joe Blackbourn needs to fight more often, plain and simple. His next fight is against a losing record guy again Richard Hackney but at least he's fighting. Then there's Leki Maka who seems highly rated by other by boxers, they certainly know better than me but he has only fought cab drivers' wives so it's hard to say. Anthony Taylor does his job well of filling small venues and is a great domestic fighter, shame there's not more people in his division so he does t always have to fight cross-coders.
Then there's our paid losers like Maxwell, TePaa, Kapi et al who fight in Aus and are expected to lose, fair play to them but will never be great.
It's worth pointing out that even though it sounds like I'm slagging these guys off I don't mean to and I follow them all because I want them to do well!
I like some of the new guys coming through like Sefo Faleakano, Tip maniapoto, Mose Autematangi (excuse spelling) and am interested in seeing how Fa and Toa Letele go in the heavies.
The reason I and most others follow JP so much more actively is because he's already at world level fighting for belts and it's more fun to speculate about the best heavies in the world than the part timers in New Plymouth etc.
I'm off to try get AJ v Martin tickets, general sale starts in an hour!!
good write up. pretty much covers the state of nz boxing. i think its also a shame that we resort to matching up talents like Helu, Auimatagai, Tai, Brock with eachother instead of slowly bringing them up. seems to dampen their confidence. Helu is now 2-1-2 and Auimatagai 1-1-2. I guess on the plus they are trying to strengthen the cream by making them fight eachother. who is the real talent comingf out of nz besides Parker, Nyika and Fa? Panuve helu is a guy with major power that I was quite interested in. was he outclassed by these slicker guys?
Cheers Pakeha, I didn't see Helu's loss to Jordan Tai as it was on a small show and I'm in the UK but I watched his draw against Fili Mailata on YouTube and he was very unlucky not to be given the win. The judge ruled Fili to have hit his head accidentally on a ringside table when Helu knocked him out of the ring, he clearly misses the table on the video but it was ruled a Technical Draw. Gunnar jackson is also a decent pro and had a big Vegas fight recently, even thoguh he was brought in to lose. Then of course Hemi has good backing and Isreal Stylebender would be amazing if he decided to box, although he'll hopefully be in the UFC soon instead.