Comments Thread For: Dmitry Bivol vs. Lenin Castillo on Usyk-Spong Card

[_Rexy_]

Well, he knocked down Marcus Browne.....but it looks like everyone does that now.


Brutal fight. Brutal CARD! I like Usyk, Bivol and McCaskill but all three of them are in ****ing tuneups. I feel bad for whomever bought tickets expecting to see Usyk/Takam and Bivol/Johnson

[Randall Cunning]

It makes a hell of a lot more sense than fighting the likes of Lenin Castillo on DAZN.

ESPN are going to need some form of commitment from Bivol if they are going to put him in there with assets like Gvodzyk, Beterbiev, Kovalev etc.

All the big money fights, if they become available for him, are on DAZN. His situation its better to keep his options open. If he signs with Top Rank and one of the big fights become available he'll have Top Rank, Main Events, WoB all taking percentages off him. Look at Kovalev's situation, hes probably gunna owe some ****er after the Canelo fight the amount of people he has taking percentages off him.

[Boxing Logic]

He isn't signed to DAZN. Top Rank could have made Bivol vs Hart and built towards a unification, but they aint got the budget to get the guys they already have out enough. Whats the sense in signing with them exclusively?

Zurdo and Bivol both had no opponents this fall. Zurdo said he wanted to fight a champion, even called out Bivol. I know Bivol isn't ducking him, but wtf why did that fight not happen. As you said I think Top Rank and ESPN are just cheap. Ruining boxing.

As is Al Haymon, ruining boxing that is. He *****ed up not only Marcus Browne's career, but Bivol's too as collateral damage. Same pattern as Stevenson and the light heavyweights of his day. He didn't put Stevenson in with a top guy until he was forced to when Stevenson was 40, which caused the division to be dead outside of Kovalev fights for about 5 years when it should have been the most exciting its been in decades, and which led to Stevenson getting in a coma.

Obviously Al never could have predicted that. Plenty of fighters fight at 40 and dont go into comas. Im not putting that part of it on Al, I'm just saying, the way he does business is soooo bad for the sport and there has been a lot of collateral damage to the sport, to other fighters careers, and sometimes even his own fighters careers.

[Mammoth]

Zurdo and Bivol both had no opponents this fall. Zurdo said he wanted to fight a champion, even called out Bivol. I know Bivol isn't ducking him, but wtf why did that fight not happen. As you said I think Top Rank and ESPN are just cheap. Ruining boxing.

As is Al Haymon, ruining boxing that is. He *****ed up not only Marcus Browne's career, but Bivol's too as collateral damage. Same pattern as Stevenson and the light heavyweights of his day. He didn't put Stevenson in with a top guy until he was forced to when Stevenson was 40, which caused the division to be dead outside of Kovalev fights for about 5 years when it should have been the most exciting its been in decades, and which led to Stevenson getting in a coma.

Obviously Al never could have predicted that. Plenty of fighters fight at 40 and dont go into comas. Im not putting that part of it on Al, I'm just saying, the way he does business is soooo bad for the sport and there has been a lot of collateral damage to the sport, to other fighters careers, and sometimes even his own fighters careers.

I'm no Haymon groupie but you're kinda ******. Or crazy.

[The Big Dunn]

Yeah, should be some nice showcase fights for Usyk and Bivol I guess.

Bivol was hoping for that Kovalev fight but Kov is getting that Canelo money.

[Boxing Logic]

Well, he knocked down Marcus Browne.....but it looks like everyone does that now.


Brutal fight. Brutal CARD! I like Usyk, Bivol and McCaskill but all three of them are in ****ing tuneups. I feel bad for whomever bought tickets expecting to see Usyk/Takam and Bivol/Johnson

Only Pascal has knocked down Browne. Pascal and Castillo. Hot Rod hurt him but I dont think he dropped him. Castillo is 20-1 with 15 KOs and his only loss he proved that the record isnt smoke and mirrors, he really is a top 15 or 20 guy at 175.

Is it an opponent that will do anything for Bivol? No, but it's another opponent fans will undervalue and then **** on Bivol for if he lands one hard shot on Bivol and staggers him a little, or has any success at all, which he proved vs Browne he has the power to do.

So basically its a low reward, low but still higher risk than the reward, fight. Worst of both worlds. The opponent is worse for Bivol than it is for fans, or how fans rank him. Remember everyone **** on Bivol after Pascal? Cuz "Pascal was retired!" As if plenty of fighters dont retire and come back. The man works with Memo Heredia, hes not as fast as he was at 30 but hes still pretty fast and he's definitely stronger and more durable than he was in his prime without Heredia. Heredia is so magical at what he does, he makes up for a lot of aging effects.

But yes, this fight does nothing for Bivol. Its just not Rod Salka either. Not that it should really matter, fans dont want to see top guys fight the 15th best guy much more than we want to see him fight the 150th best guy. There arent 15 top guys in any division. The cutoff is really top 5 for a competitive fight when you're talking about someone as good as Bivol. Im just saying, when we analyze Bivol's performance, that's when it's relevant to understand and make note of, Castillo isnt elite but hes a lot better than people are saying.

As for the card, everyone was excited for Usyk vs Takam but not this? 14-0, 13 KOs, bigger man, best kickboxer of his era, and plenty of kickboxers have made good transitions. Gvozdyk for one. Even Holzen went 12 with Callum Smith at 168 and he might not be as good as Spong.

Only downside to Spong is he apparently had one meh performance recently vs some B-level guy. So we'll see what's what when he and Usyk fight, but remember when everyone ****ted on Usyk vs Michael Hunter? But it turned out Hunter was very good? Spong to me is in his own way another Hunter but with more size and power.

Stylistically it will be a great fight. We dont know much about Spong now but win or lose I could see him beating top 10 heavyweights in the future and then we will look back on this fight differently. This is a very unique matchup. Maybe Im just saying it because Ive barely watched Spong highlights, just a little, but Im intrigued and I think it will be an entertaining fight, much better than Takam. Its not the fight we want, usyk vs Joshua, and it sounds like bull**** will keep us from seeing that fight any time soon because somehow Pulev is going to get a shot at AJ-Ruiz winner before Usyk, and then I bet the establishment will push the Wilder fight twice or three times just to box Usyk out.

Seems like they always box out the best foreign boxers who are threats until they are old. Why would this be any different? I hope Im wrong.

But for Usyk's first fight at heavyweight, this is as good as we could get outside of Parker, Ortiz, or Whyte, and none of them wanted to potentiallly lose to Usyk in his first fight at heavyweight far as I can tell.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

All the big money fights, if they become available for him, are on DAZN. His situation its better to keep his options open. If he signs with Top Rank and one of the big fights become available he'll have Top Rank, Main Events, WoB all taking percentages off him. Look at Kovalev's situation, hes probably gunna owe some ****er after the Canelo fight the amount of people he has taking percentages off him.

Free agency rarely works in boxing, networks and promoters want a commitment if they’re going to invest in you and give you opportunities.

What big money fights are actually available for him on DAZN though?

There’s absolutely no chance Canelo would fight Bivol.

ESPN have far better options at 175. Bivol doesn’t want to be on the outside looking in.

[_Rexy_]

Only Pascal has knocked down Browne. Pascal and Castillo. Hot Rod hurt him but I dont think he dropped him. Castillo is 20-1 with 15 KOs and his only loss he proved that the record isnt smoke and mirrors, he really is a top 15 or 20 guy at 175.

Is it an opponent that will do anything for Bivol? No, but it's another opponent fans will undervalue and then **** on Bivol for if he lands one hard shot on Bivol and staggers him a little, or has any success at all, which he proved vs Browne he has the power to do.

So basically its a low reward, low but still higher risk than the reward, fight. Worst of both worlds. The opponent is worse for Bivol than it is for fans, or how fans rank him. Remember everyone **** on Bivol after Pascal? Cuz "Pascal was retired!" As if plenty of fighters dont retire and come back. The man works with Memo Heredia, hes not as fast as he was at 30 but hes still pretty fast and he's definitely stronger and more durable than he was in his prime without Heredia. Heredia is so magical at what he does, he makes up for a lot of aging effects.

But yes, this fight does nothing for Bivol. Its just not Rod Salka either. Not that it should really matter, fans dont want to see top guys fight the 15th best guy much more than we want to see him fight the 150th best guy. There arent 15 top guys in any division. The cutoff is really top 5 for a competitive fight when you're talking about someone as good as Bivol. Im just saying, when we analyze Bivol's performance, that's when it's relevant to understand and make note of, Castillo isnt elite but hes a lot better than people are saying.

As for the card, everyone was excited for Usyk vs Takam but not this? 14-0, 13 KOs, bigger man, best kickboxer of his era, and plenty of kickboxers have made good transitions. Gvozdyk for one. Even Holzen went 12 with Callum Smith at 168 and he might not be as good as Spong.

Only downside to Spong is he apparently had one meh performance recently vs some B-level guy. So we'll see what's what when he and Usyk fight, but remember when everyone ****ted on Usyk vs Michael Hunter? But it turned out Hunter was very good? Spong to me is in his own way another Hunter but with more size and power.

Stylistically it will be a great fight. We dont know much about Spong now but win or lose I could see him beating top 10 heavyweights in the future and then we will look back on this fight differently. This is a very unique matchup. Maybe Im just saying it because Ive barely watched Spong highlights, just a little, but Im intrigued and I think it will be an entertaining fight, much better than Takam. Its not the fight we want, usyk vs Joshua, and it sounds like bull**** will keep us from seeing that fight any time soon because somehow Pulev is going to get a shot at AJ-Ruiz winner before Usyk, and then I bet the establishment will push the Wilder fight twice or three times just to box Usyk out.

Seems like they always box out the best foreign boxers who are threats until they are old. Why would this be any different? I hope Im wrong.

But for Usyk's first fight at heavyweight, this is as good as we could get outside of Parker, Ortiz, or Whyte, and none of them wanted to potentiallly lose to Usyk in his first fight at heavyweight far as I can tell.

I just don't dig kickboxers. Their low guard usually translates to them taking unnecessary damage in sloppy fights.

And check my location. I'm not going to **** on Bivol for the Pascal win. I consider that a good scalp. I'm a big Bivol fan and have been very vocal on here about Canelo ducking him.

Also, not to nitpick but Hot Rod dropped Browne, twice but one was ruled a slip if i recall. Castillo dropped him too




dat chin doe

[j.razor]

Zurdo and Bivol both had no opponents this fall. Zurdo said he wanted to fight a champion, even called out Bivol. I know Bivol isn't ducking him, but wtf why did that fight not happen. As you said I think Top Rank and ESPN are just cheap. Ruining boxing.

As is Al Haymon, ruining boxing that is. He *****ed up not only Marcus Browne's career, but Bivol's too as collateral damage. Same pattern as Stevenson and the light heavyweights of his day. He didn't put Stevenson in with a top guy until he was forced to when Stevenson was 40, which caused the division to be dead outside of Kovalev fights for about 5 years when it should have been the most exciting its been in decades, and which led to Stevenson getting in a coma.

Obviously Al never could have predicted that. Plenty of fighters fight at 40 and dont go into comas. Im not putting that part of it on Al, I'm just saying, the way he does business is soooo bad for the sport and there has been a lot of collateral damage to the sport, to other fighters careers, and sometimes even his own fighters careers.

What's funny is that you support bob's crooked ass & you pretend to shame him for one sentence then go 2 paragraphs spewing lies on Al. Give me you job title & your boss's name.

[Pigeons]

Lenin Castillo dropped Marcus Browne in their fight, but it looks like that's all he's done in his career.