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Post by Dee Williams on Nov 15, 2015 23:20:15 GMT -5
However women's boxing fans felt about Holly Holm leaving the sport before she fought Cecilia Braekhus, she did her old sport a big favor with her skilled and decisive defeat of the most ballyhooed fighter in MMA, Ronda Rousey. A loss to Rousey, especially a quick one, would have left many MMA enthusiasts saying "see, women's boxing championships mean nothing". Instead they got to see how a boxer's use of distance and quickness, together with a kickboxer's well placed head kick, and a lot of careful preparation against a skilled judo practitioner's best moves, could end up as a decisive win by the BOXER. Holly doesn't have Ronda's megawatt personality and she took a lot of abuse from people in this Forum about her elusive fighting style, but she pulled off one of the biggest underdog wins in the history of women's combat sports in Melbourne. Women's boxing fans have something to cheer her for even though she left boxing to train for this and took a lot of flak for how and when she did that. The whole world knows who Holly Holm is now, and she worked her butt off to make that happen. Admire what she did and be grateful that her win will have made some of MMA fans think that BOXING tactics and skills can matter in a cage.
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Post by Paul Dennis on Dec 6, 2015 10:32:04 GMT -5
I agree 100%, Dee. It was great see Rousey get schooled so totally by the ex-Boxer, who destroyed her.
Holm's crisp, accurate striking was a joy to behold, and the state of Rousey's face after 6 minutes of punishment told its own story. I'm only sorry the exhibition didn't last longer before the KO was delivered.
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Post by Dee Williams on Dec 7, 2015 10:47:02 GMT -5
I agree 100%, Dee. It was great see Rousey get schooled so totally by the ex-Boxer, who destroyed her. Holm's crisp, accurate striking was a joy to behold, and the state of Rousey's face after 6 minutes of punishment told its own story. I'm only sorry the exhibition didn't last longer before the KO was delivered. I would not argue with the perfection of Holly's literally stunning performance in the fight I have also been impressed with her performance since the fight. She has had more high profile media interviews in the last few weeks than in all of her career before the fight, and she continues to come across as a hard working athlete with a good head on her shoulders and no inflated sense of her self-importance. She has been gracious to Rousey in defeat and even explicitly grateful to her for the work Rousey did to build up interest in women's combat sports. It remains to be seen whether Ronda can return any of that grace or whether her surly side will continue to dominate. It also remains to be seen if Ronda can do the work she must do to counter Holly's strengths in a rematch like Holly countered her strengths in the Melbourne fight. I hope the "Holm haters" who attacked Holly so relentlessly on this Forum will at least have a few second thoughts about her now that she has shown the world what she can do and the kind of person she is. Whatever people think about her promoter Lenny Fresquez, Holly herself worked her butt off to get where she got and wasn't crushed by her loss to Anne-Sophie Mathis. She got back up, swallowed any pride she'd had before that fight, she trained hard and she fought on. She had said her heart wasn't in boxing any more by the time she hung our kind of gloves up, and I think we can now see what she meant and why she did that. She was ready for a different challenge that she met in in a way that reflects well on the sport she left behind. And in case anyone is wondering, I still don't live in Albuquerque and I still have no connection whatsoever to Holly's gym. I also am still not a big fan of MMA, I love boxing and boxers far more. And I am posting this because I feel that Holly has done boxing a great favor by pulling off a truly great win in MMA using the skills she developed as a boxer. She has shown the world why those skills matter even in an MMA fight against a top class opponent. There are girls going to boxing gyms now asking to learn what Holly Holm did and that's so cool.
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Post by Dee Williams on Dec 7, 2015 11:00:05 GMT -5
And by the way RING mag now looks truly stupid for putting Ronda Rousey on its cover. I wish they could recall that issue and send it back to all the boxing fans who bought it with a replacement Holly Holm cover. They didn't even wait until Ronda had fought a boxer before planting their face in that pile of egg.
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Post by Paul Dennis on Dec 24, 2015 8:48:17 GMT -5
It's a worry for women's boxing that women's MMA earns so much publicity and media coverage at present. The latest issue of "Boxing News" (a British monthly) has a 4-page feature on Holm's demolition of Rousey, but not a word about women's boxing.
The trend is likely to continue in the build-up to a potential Holm-Rousey re-match.
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Post by Dee Williams on Dec 27, 2015 11:03:49 GMT -5
It's a worry for women's boxing that women's MMA earns so much publicity and media coverage at present. The latest issue of "Boxing News" (a British monthly) has a 4-page feature on Holm's demolition of Rousey, but not a word about women's boxing. The trend is likely to continue in the build-up to a potential Holm-Rousey re-match. British pro boxing establishment has been one of the most resistant to women's boxing anywhere in the world so this does not entirely surprise me. I hope it is not typical. The support for women's amateur boxing there has been good, but British pro boxing is still very male dominated. Lots of MMA people seem to realize that Holm won with skills that most MMA fighters do not bring to their octagon and that made boxing skills relevant to them again. I hope it sticks, as it might if Holly wins the rematch in the same style as she won the first match.
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Post by Paul Dennis on Dec 29, 2015 7:42:22 GMT -5
More proof of Holm's punching power: in a recent interview Rousey said she was concussed in the first round and suffered serious damage to her mouth (heavy bleeding and some teeth loosened). This explains why she looked dazed and confused just before the KO kick landed.
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