This prospect will be the goods!

[the ollie reed fan club]

(03-02-2017 06:52 PM)blackbelt2003 Wrote:  He's not a prospect any longer, but what did everyone think of Izi Ugonoh's loss to Brezeale?

For a start...it was a magnificent fight, a kind of Foreman-Lyle for the new Millennium. I also thought Ugonoh looked pretty good for two rounds before being dropped (and he still looked pretty good after that, too!).

But Brezeale just out toughed him. Was it down to size (man, Brezeale looked big and strong), or was Brezeale simply the tougher guy of the two? Can Ugonoh come back or is he finished as a prospect now he's been KO'd by a guy who has just been KO'd by Joshua?



Black

Izu's problem was they took too big a leap. They needed a Roussey type fight first and to go some rounds. The guys he was beating up in NZ were terrible and he wasn't really learning anything from those fights. The issue was more the promoter (Duco) were so concentrated on Joe's fights they weren't really getting anything of quality for Izu, he was just kinda tacked on at the end.

Izu is a very cerebral type of dude and it sometimes counts against him, he needs to relax more and fight a little less tight. I can always tell when he's wound up coz you can see his shoulders look super tense. He so wanted to make a statement against Breazeale that he was loading up with every shot and by round 3-4 he was shot. This is where the lack of quality opponents comes in. The shots he hit Breazeale with were knocking guys out previously, it was always Breazeale's durability that i was most worried about. What was gonna happen when Izu hit him with shots and Breazeale gets up and keeps coming at him?

He goes to the body better than anyone in the HW division, those shots were hellacious and I give Breazeale all the respect in the world for taking them like he did. He needs to relax more, not load up on everything and just pace himself better through a fight. The loss reminds me a lot of when Lemieux got KO'ed against Rubio. Pretty much the same thing happened, young fighter comes out throwing bombs against a wily pro, gasses and get's stopped. He can come back.

On a side note he was prone to getting hit with right hands, the second fighter trained by Kevin Barry to get hit with these. It's a hard thing for me to say, Kevin is a friend of mine, but I have to wonder how much defence is being taught in the camps? Kevin loves his offense but gee, his guys are getting lit up by right hands. He may have to take a look in the mirror as regards to this.

It was a magnificent action packed fight though and worth a look for anyone that hasn't seen it. Both guys stock went up in a way.