BuriedinGold

Boxing commentary, breakdowns and predictions. All that is the sweet science.

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

Bradley Rea vs Ezra Taylor 🥊

Bradley Rea was practically raised between the ropes. His parents ran an amateur boxing gym (St Johns Amateur Boxing Club) and while other children were spending their afternoons playing video games, football or riding bikes, the ginger kid was watching men exchange blows, listening to trainers correct mistakes and absorbing the sport 5 or 6 days a week.

For him, boxing wasn't an extracurricular activity, it was the family business.

Ezra Taylor took a different road. A naturally gifted athlete with quick hands, good reflexes and the physical tools to succeed, but without the same amateur seasoning.

And that creates a fascinating contrast.

Taylor has the athleticism to perform the movements, Rea has spent most of his life learning what those movements mean. One man has the faster physical equipment, the other may have the faster boxing mind.

And in a fight where both men can punch, that distinction could be the difference between recognizing an opening and recognizing it a fraction of a second too late.

Bradley Rea: Fighting through childhood

There's something special about a fighter who grows up in a boxing gym.

Not because that automatically makes him better. Plenty of children grow up around music without becoming Mozart. But there's a kind of knowledge that can't be acquired simply by memorizing instructions. It comes from years of watching, listening and eventually, recognizing patterns without consciously searching for them.

Bradley Rea has that background.

He began boxing around 8 years old, spending practically every afternoon in the gym his parents operated. By the time he finished his amateur career, he was a 5x national champion with a 74-24 amateur record.

Boxing wasn't something Rea learned to do, it was something he learned to think in.

And I see evidence of that education in the way he puts his punches together.

At 6'4", Rea possesses good hand speed, solid power and a surprisingly varied offensive arsenal. He can throw straight punches down the middle, loop shots around a tight guard and occasionally, switch stances to change the picture.

But his greatest offensive quality isn't any single punch.

It’s what happens after the first one.

Rea is most dangerous when he's punching in combinations. His left hook to the body produces explosions louder than ones you hear in Ukraine and that overhand right has a way of finding opponents who thought the coast was clear.

He also understands how to follow a retreating opponent.

If you back straight up, Rea doesn't consider that the end of the exchange. He'll follow you with another 2 or 3 punches and force you into an uncomfortable position.

And that's where I believe Taylor could encounter serious problems.

Rea's recent performances tell me he's getting this fight at the perfect stage of his professional development.

He dropped and nearly stopped Lyndon Arthur before losing a close points decision. He followed that up by effectively stopping Liam Cameron with one punch. Liam got up, sure, he was out on his feet.

I think his trajectory is clearly trending upward.

#BuatsiHutchinson2 #ReaTaylor #RaffertyMartiroyan #MillerPowar #Boxing #Boxeo #BettingPicks

[World Boxing Council @WBCBoxing]

The WBC mandatory matchups are in!

Here’s the lineup of mandatory fights announced today at the 64th Annual WBC Convention in Acapulco.

Which matchup are you most excited to see?

#WBCMEXICO26

[Gilberto J Mendoza @GilberticoWBA]

Sims vs. Patricio: the WBA reviewed the scorecards.

The draw stands, but the scoring gaps were too wide. The Committee orders an immediate rematch for the vacant WBA Female Bantamweight title.

30 days to negotiate. Purse bid 50/50. #WBA @WBABoxing

[Tokkerū @ATokkers5]

🚨Alberto Puello is set to face Souleymane Cissokho for the vacant interim WBC Welterweight Title

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@WorldBoxingNews 99.9% of us were shocked by the scores. Dove was robbed.

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@KinginBets Orobio opened at -600 and Azim opened at -550. But yeah, I wish the odds weren’t that wide.

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@GilberticoWBA @WBABoxing We need that Sims/Patricio rematch ordered immediately!!

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@RickRamosBoxing Texas has a notorious reputation for bogus scoring. Dove and Kreps were both robbed. I hate when fights are staged in Texas.

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

Do you really? Because what we witnessed in Arlington was one of the most disgraceful displays of judging and officiating I’ve seen in a while. Texas has developed an alarming reputation for bogus scorecards and Saturday only reinforced it. Natalie Dove and Mikiah Kreps were both robbed. At some point, reviewing these decisions has to mean more than issuing statements about accountability.

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

I think Kreps was sacrificed tonight because they want to make Ali vs Skye. Krep’s aggression and punch volume present a more difficult style for Skye. She has a much better chance vs Ali, as they both prefer to fight from the outside. Also, that unification fight would be much bigger in the UK or Australia. Kreps doesn’t have a comparable profile.

I completely overlooked this political angle beforehand.

[Al Bernstein @AlBernstein]

These judges are insane tonight. Kreps gets robbed. Third bad decision of the evening. Ali and Kreps are former sparring mates & class shown by both afterwards. They are both terrific women. Regardless, decision was bad.

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

Valiant effort from Ramla Ali tonight, but I don’t believe she won that fight.

What bothers me most isn’t simply the decision, it’s what that decision represents. Mikiah Kreps got knocked down early, picked herself up and spent the rest of the fight doing what we ask fighters to do: make adjustments, overcome adversity and find a way to win.

And in my eyes, she did exactly that.

The judging had been awful throughout the night, as I believe Natalie Dove was also robbed, but those scorecards were the culmination of everything wrong with professional boxing in Texas.

Ramla Ali has an extraordinary story and nothing about tonight diminishes that, but Mikiah Kreps has a story, too. Years of sacrifice, a lifetime devoted to boxing and an opportunity to change her life.

A disappointing ending to what should have been Mikiah Kreps’ defining night.

#TurhanBaumgardner #GarciaDelgado #AliKreps #NicolsonYoshida #SimsPatricio #DoveRodriguez #CamarilloSerra #MoldazhanovaBavington #MVPW07 #Boxing #Boxeo #BettingPicks

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@MostVpromotions Close fight. Personally, I had it 6-4 for Patricio, but I can’t argue the draw.

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@FSalazarBoxing Abysmal scoring. Dove deserved a UD.

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@cynthia_conte @MostVpromotions @ESPNRingside Those were disgraceful scores. While Nayeli gave a good account of herself, I simply could not see her winning more than 2 or 3 rounds. Natalie was robbed.

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@RickRamosBoxing We appreciate it though 🥊

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@firatshexbizeni @wbcmoro Shut up, man. It was a gesture of reciprocity, not a “lewd act”. They were heckling him all night. The crowd was full of sore losers.

[Mauricio Sulaiman @wbcmoro]

The WBC rejects the barbaric violence from fans who attacked visiting boxer in Turkey. It was a fantastic promotion ruined by wild hooligans who must be investigated and punished to the full extent of the law

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@TRUSCHOOLSPORTS He definitely closed the gap in the second half. I thought 115-113 was a fair score.

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@JLMNoticias Did they ever announce the scorecards?

[BuriedinGold @BuryEmBoxing]

@RobTebbutt He didn’t have any legs and was falling all over the place. Although it cooked my ticket, I thought it was the right call.