Paul vs. Askren

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Joshjeffords I think everyone underestimates Ben Askren's jaw, he was devastatingly knocked out by Jorge Masvidal's flying knee (along with the tibia impacts, the knees are the most brutal shots an MMA fighter can take to the head), although we are Clearly, Paul has a higher level of boxing skills, but in boxing he can counter this with pressure and close-range punches. Basketball player Robinson handled good pressure in the first round vs. Paul (Nate went out to try to prevail until he received the first knockdown). Askren won't win in a distance match, Askren can't fight Muhammad Ali style either, but he can take advantage of his advantage of being used to long fights and giving Jake Paul a bad night with clinch and close range punches.

* Edited at 03.13.2021, 3:42 AM ET *

To be honest, My hope is that Askren will win (and with my comments I have stated that this is not an impossible task for the former Bellator and ONE champion), due respect to combat sports. In Pride FC there were many '' freak show '' fights and in the past also several celebrities tried to fight (for example Jose Canseco in MMA or the Mexican politician Jorge Kahwagi), but those were sideshows but promoters like Eddie Hearn or Thriller Platform prefer to promote '' influencer fights '' than real boxers. A few days ago Stephen Terry made a post mentioning boxers like Ryo Murata (who at the time almost fought against GGG), Sergey Lipinets (ex-world champion) and Chris Colbert (who beat my countrymen Jezreel Corrales and Jaime Arboleda), in addition to There are many high-level but little-hyped ex-champions like Gary Russell Jr., Josh Taylor, Dimitry Bivol and many other less-hyped great fighters. Boxing is dying from the "obsession with undefeated streaks" and "only fighting with those who generate good paychecks", but despite this there are guys who still want to fight against the best on equal terms (without closings rehydration or agreed weights) like the Estrada-Gonzalez unification fight.
Boxing only needs to promote more the Boxing Super Series or events like NBC's The Contender series and less the clown fights. 

* Edited at 03.13.2021, 5:48 AM ET *

@Amettxpc

I completely agree that obsessing over unbeaten streaks is harmful to boxing. Take Floyd Mayweather for instance. He was both undefeated and extremely popular amongst casuals and to be fair to him, he was without question the best P4P boxer in the world during his prime but the trouble is that a lot of people think that the reason he was a great boxer was because he was undefeated. That's not what made him a great boxer. He was a great boxer who just happened to be undefeated. The reason he was great was because of his skill in the ring and how he was able to control and out class some of the best boxers in the world. He didn't have it all his own way though. He won a split decision over Oscar De La Hoya that you could argue that De Le Hoya won but even if that decision had gone against him, that wouldn't make him any less great as there would've been no shame in losing to someone as good as De La Hoya. He may have lost some casual fans if he had lost but if you're only a fan of a fighter because of their statistics rather than their performances then you're not a fan of that fighter. 

The trouble is that casual fans generate a **** ton of money for the sport, the fighter's and everyone involved with the fighter so the promotors are always going to give the casuals what they want. The casuals want undefeated records so the promotors cherry pick the best "safe" oppponant for their fighters to protect the undefeated record when the hardcore fans just want to see the best fight the best and if they lose, so what? They'll learn from it and come back stronger. The only way that we will see the best fight the best is if there is a shift in mentality from the causal fan base and they stop giving a **** about undefeated records. Only once losses become normalised will we see the best fight the best as they stand to lose less if they lose the fights. Only then will boxing start to grow again. 

Stephen Terry You're right, nowadays promoters create undefeated boxers who don't even face fighters with a positive record (they have more losses than wins) and then promote them as the incredible 13-0 man with 13 KOs (many of them against guys knocked out multiple times before fight the prospect in question). In the past, casual people loved trilogies: Ali vs. Frazier, Gatti vs. Ward, Duran vs. Leonard, Bowe vs. Holyfield or seeing the best showing why he is the best. Nowadays the casuals only get on the winning horse or the one with the best record (as you mentioned, the casuals are now just statistical fans). And for promoters it is much more profitable to sell a fight of the most famous boxer at the moment vs. a boxer who is not qualified to give a dangerous challenge, like the case Canelo vs. Yindirim (the Turk is a good boxer but had a lot of inactivity) this was clearly an easier match than vs. David Benavidez (the ex-champion of the category who was stripped the title months ago for weight issues).
Also the excess of interim titles or the administrative disorder within the WBA are complicit in this mentality that makes fighters and promoters avoid risks to protect their ''fairy undefeated streaks''.

* Edited at 03.13.2021, 6:14 PM ET *

Reykon vs. Fournier
Reykon, TKO, R1
The future of boxing!!!

https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/736593Reykon vs. Fournier
Joe Fournier, TKO, R1
Anybody who looks that stupid deserves to get kod hopefully dropped several times then KTFO.

* Edited at 03.25.2021, 6:01 PM ET *

Mir vs. Cunningham
Steve Cunningham, DEC
I'm just hoping Frank Mir's chin can hold up, I'd hate to see him get KO'd in such a stupid event.

Reykon vs. Fournier
Joe Fournier, TKO, R1
I wonder how many seconds this will last?

@Stephen Terry

Steve Cunningham scored a knockdown against Tyson Fury before Fury came back and got the TKO win.

@tepid55

It's an optimistic pick rather than a realistic one as I don't want to see Frank Mir get KO'd. Plus, I'm not taking my picks seriously for this event as this event doesn't deserve to be taken seriously.

Excellent work man 👍! 

@SunGazer

Thanks mate! 

@Stephen "Albert" Terry
Nothing at all "Albert" 😂! 
Buy the way are you from Alberta 😂!
DuluthPack™ !

@SunGazer

Nah, I'm not an Albert Einstein from Alberta, I'm a pink panther from Britain lol!

@Stephen Terry
Spot on mate,
I think Pink Panther agrees with you 😂!

@SunGazer

Thanks for getting the Pink Panther GIF to work on my AV! It makes it much more interesting to look at!

Reykon vs. Fournier
Joe Fournier, TKO, R2
❓ who

@Hippie

I've no idea who the **** Reykon is either.

* Edited at 03.25.2021, 9:52 PM ET *

Ben Askren is going to destroy jake paul. Jake paul is a youtuber who knocked out a Basketball player while Ben Askren was a olympic wrestler , A bellator champion and a one Championship champion. 
Prediction : Ben Askren via Ko/tko round 7.

after watching bits of the press confeses, Im kinda confendent in Askren  to Man

* Edited at 03.26.2021, 9:01 PM ET *