2 thoughts on “Steve Bunce: “Retirement beckons for Manny Pacquiao after dreadful defeat””
After reading the reliable Bunce, I can see how Horn’s supporters feel he won. I’m not worked up by the scorecards (apart from the one silly verdict). My read was Manny caught most of Horn’s wild attacks on the gloves while landing flush himself, but I’m not adamant about the outcome.
It’s telling to see how much the former great has fallen off since the wins over Bradley and Vargas. Both are better than Horn in my book, and I’d pick the fresher Vargas to go through Horn with little trouble. Tim might struggle; he too has his issues with postponing an overdue retirement.
Is there another top 10 welter who couldn’t beat Horn? I hate to say the name Kell Brook, only as I suspect his fine talent will be halted by injury concerns, but otherwise any healthy contender in that company would be my favorite. Even an older, battle-scarred Matthysse. If Danny Garcia wants a sure way back to a title he ought to call out Horn.
Turning to Junior Welterweight, what do you make of Figueroa Jr’s intention, following his 147-lb. demolition of the shot Ghost this weekend, to drop weight again and campaign there? Where would you put him in the 140-lb. mix?
I was a lot more impressed by Horn than you were, and would pick him to beat both Vargas and Bradley, who you rightly say is faded at this stage.
Horn is a wanted man right now, but I fancy he could surprise many and have the staying power that the Cinderella stories of recent years (Smith Jr., Algieri, Provodnikov) have lacked.
Other than Horn’s inspired effort, Bunce rightly points out that the story of the fight was how faded Pacquiao looked. Time to get out of the game now, although we’ll very likely see at least the Horn rematch first.
Figueroa looked pretty good against a shot Guerrero. With careful matchmaking, as he’s had through most of his career so far, he could find success at 140 post-Crawford, when all the titles will be contested in a vacant belt feeding frenzy.
But I have serious doubts about his discipline and ability to actually make the weight. Welterweight would not be good for him.
pound 4 pound ireland 
After reading the reliable Bunce, I can see how Horn’s supporters feel he won. I’m not worked up by the scorecards (apart from the one silly verdict). My read was Manny caught most of Horn’s wild attacks on the gloves while landing flush himself, but I’m not adamant about the outcome.
It’s telling to see how much the former great has fallen off since the wins over Bradley and Vargas. Both are better than Horn in my book, and I’d pick the fresher Vargas to go through Horn with little trouble. Tim might struggle; he too has his issues with postponing an overdue retirement.
Is there another top 10 welter who couldn’t beat Horn? I hate to say the name Kell Brook, only as I suspect his fine talent will be halted by injury concerns, but otherwise any healthy contender in that company would be my favorite. Even an older, battle-scarred Matthysse. If Danny Garcia wants a sure way back to a title he ought to call out Horn.
Turning to Junior Welterweight, what do you make of Figueroa Jr’s intention, following his 147-lb. demolition of the shot Ghost this weekend, to drop weight again and campaign there? Where would you put him in the 140-lb. mix?
I was a lot more impressed by Horn than you were, and would pick him to beat both Vargas and Bradley, who you rightly say is faded at this stage.
Horn is a wanted man right now, but I fancy he could surprise many and have the staying power that the Cinderella stories of recent years (Smith Jr., Algieri, Provodnikov) have lacked.
Other than Horn’s inspired effort, Bunce rightly points out that the story of the fight was how faded Pacquiao looked. Time to get out of the game now, although we’ll very likely see at least the Horn rematch first.
Figueroa looked pretty good against a shot Guerrero. With careful matchmaking, as he’s had through most of his career so far, he could find success at 140 post-Crawford, when all the titles will be contested in a vacant belt feeding frenzy.
But I have serious doubts about his discipline and ability to actually make the weight. Welterweight would not be good for him.