The Monster and Monster

It was a great night of boxing yesterday and the night before. I mean, really GREAT!!!

Let’s start with the fighters who lost: Junto was incredible—he’ll be the next big thing. If I’d been in his corner, I never would have put him up against The Monster, but boxing at that level is a whole different ballgame…

Zurdo; it’s a shame to see an excellent super middleweight fighting in a weight class that isn’t his, where everyone knew he would reign until he met a top-notch fighter.

But let’s move on to the winners. David—what can you say? He moved up a weight class to make history. We don’t know if he has that “it” (you know, the “it” that makes the difference), but he packs a punch; he moves his hands fast and lands those devastating shots. As for Zurdo, who doesn’t want to take any hits, he gave up with a nasty cut above his right eye… Benavidez is truly scary; again, we don’t know his limits, and in our opinion, with the right approach, he can do well in a weight class that’s definitely not his own… but history teaches us that when you move up… it’s all uphill from there. Kudos to this champion.

“The Monster,” the Japanese fighter who might retire from boxing after this match. In our opinion, he defeated the greatest emerging boxer we’ve seen in recent memory… Junto was truly phenomenal; timing, power, and remarkable tactical intelligence; but just a tad slower despite the 5-year age difference compared to the legendary Monster; up until the 10th round, the match was even in our opinion, even though Inoue landed those jabs, right hooks, uppercuts, and a series of blows that defy the physics of boxing because he throws them from the inside and is smaller—which means that when he strikes, you don’t see it coming, and it hurts, but really hurts. Despite that, Junto landed some great shots; he worked well on the counter but also on the offensive, challenging that timing and winning a few times between the eighth, ninth, and tenth rounds—he did an incredible job, practically putting the champion on the ropes.

Then came the eleventh round, where Naomi Inoue rewrote boxing history—a two-point round (obviously, you don’t get that), but when you attack him for one hundred and eighty seconds and don’t let him do anything… then you establish that you are the absolute king; the twelfth round was over; in that round, we saw everything The Monster can do—and in our opinion, he doesn’t need to do it anymore. At certain moments, the difference in physical stamina was clear in Juntoma’s favor. The Monster is truly incredible—we love him.

What a match!!!!! Textbook boxing tactics, timing, and punches—devastating, yet both fighters took them as if nothing had happened—and a flurry of strikes and combinations that truly delighted us both visually and emotionally.

Great Junto, IMMENSE THE MONSTER.

foto yahoo