Archive for May, 2009

Saddoboxing

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

saddoboxing-logo

In our boxing websites category in the Box Pro blog, we are starting to review some of our favourite sites or boxing websites that simply catch our attention. With our main service being boxing website design it is important that we are constantly researching the latest sites, and we thought we should share some of our findings!

Saddoboxing (www.saddoboxing.com) is primarily a boxing news website, and a very good one that we would definitely recommend. I first came across Saddoboxing a while back, however I was immediately put off by both the design and the large amount of advertising (not just advertising embedded on the page such as Adsense, but also advertising popups which I find very annoying). As such, I went no further than the website homepage - which was a mistake.

Over the following days, I kept stumbling upon Saddoboxing as it was regularly returned in the Google search engine results pages for a lot of my search terms. I decided that I had maybe been a little bit too fast to judge the website, and so I ventured further. The content on the website is actually very good, and is regularly updated with both boxing news, photos from the events, information about boxers, training tips and much more.

Additionally, the site features a very good forum. Time limitations have meant that I have only joined in a few select discussions myself, however you don’t need to be a member to browse through all the posts. It provides a fascinating, uncensored insight into the views of the boxing fans, and is one of the more widely used forums so there are lots of replies and users.

Im sure a large percentage of boxing fans will already know of Saddoboxing, but if you haven’t been to the site then check it out.

Posted in Boxing Websites | 2 Comments »



Anthony Small vs Matthew Hall

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

[UPDATE] – You can read a post fight review of this match up between the two fighters here: Anthony Small vs Matthew Hall review

For those of you that haven’t heard of Anthony Small, he is a larger than life boxer who has some real boxing talent. His alias is SRCJJR which is an acronym for Sugar Ray Clay Jones Jr, so immediately you can imagine the kind of personality we’re talking about! I believe that boxing needs characters like this to keep the sport alive, and I have been very entertained by Small’s fights. He has a very unorthodox style, with fast hands and often overwhelms his opponents. He has in the past however been known to take his foot off the gas and lose concentration, making a meal of fights which he had the capability to end much sooner.

Matthew Hall is a powerhouse of a fighter from Manchester, named El Torito (little bull) his favourite fighter was Mexican fighter Miguel Cotto until he lost to the legendary Antonio Margarhito. Cotto took severe punishment in a fight which is now in dispute (ever since Antonio was found guilty of using an illegal substance which hardened hand wraps against Shane Mosely), and ended up giving up in round 11. Hall was supposedly so disgusted by the fact he gave up in the ring, that he refused to watch any more of his fights (and dislikes him even more after beating his friend Mick Jennings). Hall’s career has been interrupted due to being stabbed, but he recently shocked boxing fans in a complete demolition of highly regarded Welsh fighter Bradley Pryce. Bradley Pryce is a fighter from the Enzo Calzaghe stable, and is a capable and skillful fighter. However, he had no answer for Hall’s power and was left unconscious hanging in the ropes at the end of the 2nd round having been knocked down 3 times!

Hall and Small are due to face each other at the O2 arena on the 27th June on the undercard of the Khan vs Kotelnick fight. Small, who lost his only fight to Bradley Pryce in a disputed 7th round TKO, will be desperate to take his frustration out on Hall following failed attempts to secure a fight with Ryan Rhodes (Ryan pulled out due to illness). Hall will be looking to follow on from his last performance and go for an early knock out to impress the sceptics. Small has the skills to potentially out box Hall who will be looking for a tear up, but as mentioned previously, Small is known for losing concentration and could be stopped by Hall. Small has KO power of his own however, and if Hall tries to walk through him he risks getting hurt.

Either way, we can’t wait for the fight!

Posted in Boxing News | 17 Comments »



Tyson Fury

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

tyson-fury

With a name like ‘Tyson Fury’, you may be excused for thinking that this boxer is actually a character from a video game. Add to this that he is six foot nine inches tall, and born to an Irish family of travelling bare knuckle fighters, you will see many people doing a double take when they see his stats.

Tyson was named after the legendary Mike Tyson by his father ‘Gypsy’ John Fury. When Tyson was born seven weeks prematurely, he was said to weigh only one pound, and would fit in the palm of his fathers hand. During this time, the doctors told his family that he would not live long, and apparently died three times before finally pulling through.

Tyson had a good amateur career and there is some dispute as to why he didn’t compete in the olympics. However, ever since turning professional (he was called up to fight on the undercard of the Froch vs Pascal fight during his honeymoon) he has been quite vocal about wanting to fight Olympic heavy weight star David Price. There seems to be some kind of rivalry between the two fighters, perhaps from their amateur days, but David Price is content to continue picking his own fights having only recently had his own pro debut.

Tysons most recent victory was against another monster of a fighter, six foot seven inch Scott Belshaw. Afte Tyson had made his first five fights look easy (all KO / TKO wins), the giant match up between the 2 fighters seemed an exciting prospect, and many believed that Belshaw would provide a very real challenge for Tyson. However, when the pair stepped into the ring it was immediately obvious that Belshaw wasn’t in the same class. He was punished repeatedly with a spear like jab from Tyson, and showed little head movement to avoid the blows. This is possibly due to not normally needing to move that much from fighting much smaller opponents. Tyson followed up with combinations, and knocked Belshaw down 3 times before referee Richie Davies stopped the fight in round 2 after more punishing body shots.

From this form, it’s very easy to get carried away and rush Tyson through to a title shot. However, he has been relatively untested and not been taken further than the fourth round. He defintely needs a step up in quality, although a lot of domestic heavy weight fighters are understandably dodging him at the moment which makes it difficult for him to get decent opponents.

Tyson’s next fight is at the Robin Park Arena in Leigh on the 13th June.

Posted in Boxers | 6 Comments »



Buchanan Tries For Rocky Balboa Style Comeback

Monday, May 18th, 2009

ken-buchanan
Ken Buchanan is hoping to return to boxing at the age of 63, Buchanan, was the undisputed lightweight world champion until 1972 when he eas defeated by Roberto Duran in a controvertial decision. Buchanans friends are opposed to his return and Buchanan himself even admits it isn’t the best idea he’s ever had;

“I’ve got a broken back and shouldn’t even be in a gym because I’m on pain killers for the rest of my life,”

Buchanan was often hailed as being the best fighter to come out of scotland and as stripped of his WBC title after he failed to defend the title against Pedro Carrasco. He still had the WBO belt as lightweight champion until a bout at Madison Square Garden against Roberto Duran when after the 13th round Duran landed an illeagal blow which was allowed by the referee Jon LoBianco. Buchanan lost his title by way of Technical Knock out and his fans were in uproar at the decision.

Now 37 years later Buchanan wants to make his comeback at the age of 63, Buchanan could probably fight in Scotland but wants to make his comeback south of the border in England. Unlike Rocky Balboa this is the real world and they don’t hand out boxing licenses with the pension book. Buchanan will have little chance of getting a licence but he is determined to be the oldest boxing champion and will go about it through illeagal white collar boxing. This is an unlicensed semi pro side of the sport.

“The only way you can make that money is to make a comeback. I can’t work, I could never get employed anywhere. I know it’s stupid but it will work out okay. I’m in good nick, it’s difficult to give it up.”

Posted in Boxing News | No Comments »



VIP Boxing – 17th May 2009

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

boxing-trevor-crewe

A few of the Box Pro team were at a recent VIP boxing event in the De Vere Whites premier lounge, at the Reebok stadium in Bolton. Headling the event was Alex Matvienko, who successfully claimed the vacant British Masters light-middle weight title in a hard fought battle against the ‘Barnsley Battler’ John Musgrave. Although Matvienko dominated for a majority of the fight, he took some hard blows in the 12th round as Musgrave rallied for the finish. However, Matvienko was still a clear winner.

Other noted fights included the debut of Sunderland fighter Trevor Crewe (Trevor ‘the wrecking’ Crewe) pictured above. Crewe had a fantastic, action packed debut which ended with a fourth round stoppage against Geraint Harvey. Crewe also brought a huge fan base with him to the event, including fellow Sunderlander Tony Jeffries (another Olympic star) who was present at the event.

Another highlight of the event included the young, up and coming fighter Keiran Farrell (see picture below). Keiran showed that although he has a quiet and polite character outside of the ring, inside the ring he is an animal! This is the second fight I have seen where he has demonstrated a lot of stamina as almost every punch thrown is a power punch. This fight was against veteran fighter Delroy Spencer who celebrated his 100th professional fight. Although the referee scored every round in favour of Farrell, he proved to be durable and a very good test for Farrell at this stage in his career.

boxing-keiran-farrell

Posted in Boxing Events | 2 Comments »



Manny Pacquiao crest

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

manny-pacquiao-crest

At Box Pro, we’re always stressing the importance of boxers and branding, and how it can be used to increase their marketability. After Pacquiao’s recent win over Ricky Hatton, we thought we would take a look at his branding to start off a new ‘Boxing Branding’ category in the blog. This crest was designed by Nike, so as you can imagine there has been a lot of thought, research and careful planning that has gone into it – although I imagine most people won’t realise this, and will just think that it looks cool!

The first thing I noticed in the crest was the eagle. A lot of crests use wings, so you may think that this is a little generic, but it is actually the Phillipines national bird (the monkey-eating eagle), and it symbolizes courage.

The eagle is a giant forest raptor endemic to the Philippines, and is one of the largest and most powerful predatory birds in the world

Above the eagle are raised fists, which symbolize the huge number of supporters that Manny has (he is a superstar in the Phillipines). The central gloved fist is a left hand, and this represents Manny’s south paw stance. The gloved fist is much larger than the other fists to show the power in his left hand.

Down each side of the crest there are leaves and flowers, which are actually banana leaves and jasmine flowers (Sampaguita), the national flowers of the Phillipines.

The Sampaguita is a symbol of purity, humility and strength

Within the crest is a reference to the National flag, and the sun rays at the top are from the eight rayed sun found on the flags national coat of arms. The three stars are symbolic of the 3 islands of the Phillipines, with the biggest central star symbolising the island on which Manny was born.

Finally, the crest contains the Nike logo which is at the very bottom of the crest. For a more detailed breakdown of the Pacquiao crest, you can check out this great blog post by John Monte. As you can see, there is much more to the crest than you may realise. Although I wouldn’t say that it was necessary for all branding to be this detailed, I think this a super example of just what can be done.

Posted in Boxing Branding | No Comments »



Marco Huck vs Vitaliy Rusal

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

marco-huck

I have seen Marco Huck’s last few fights, and although I’ve not been overly impressed with him, it cannot be denied that his fighting style is entertaining! Last night he was defending his EBU Cruiserweight title against the undefeated Ukranian Vitaliy Rusal. Rusal showed that he had some skills early on, with some nice movement around the ring and some nice combinations. However, it was the ‘Kaptain’ that was in control. Although he is notorious for fighting in bursts, every time he started swinging, Rusal seemed to be in trouble. Before the fight, Rusal had said;

Huck is no enigma in the ring – he keeps his hands too high, he does not make body movements, he is plain and straightforward

This might be the case, but despite landing a good overhand right, Rusal was unable to withstand the power of Huck and the fight ended by TKO after taking a barrage of blows. In my personal (and unprofessional!) opinion, Rusal should have kept the pressure on Huck from the word go. Huck has a high guard so it’s difficult to land clean shots to the head, but this provides the opportunity to work his body which will prevent him from being able to recharge while he rests in between bursts. Next part is easier said than done, but when Huck starts throwing punches you need to get out of the way or be prepared to weather the storm!

Steve Bunce describes Huck as ‘a handful’, which I believe to be a very true statement. He now has 25 wins (20 by knockout) and is ranked #1 in Germany and #4 in the world according to Box Rec. Because of his aggressive fighting style and his knockout power, he is very popular on his home turf and even gets the normally quiet and restrained German crowd shouting and cheering as he lands his shots. In the world rankings he is now just one place behind Steve Cunningham, the Philadelphian Cruiserweight who landed Huck’s only defeat in a 12 round TKO in December 2007. Hopefully he will take another step up in class for his next fight.

Posted in Boxing News | No Comments »



Box Pro launches new website

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

old-box-pro-website

The original Box Pro website (pictured above) was developed entirely in Flash, and was always a temporary website used to provide a sample of our Flash programming capabilities (our core service is boxing website design).

We have now launched a new website, which is more accessible to all types of users and is more search engine friendly. Currently we rank very highly for keywords such as boxing websites (currently number #2 in Google – 9th May 2009) but we are also targeting a number of more specific keywords that would be more difficult with a Flash website. The new site also contains more information about each of the services we offer, which hopefully visitors will find interesting as well as providing examples of our work.

Eventually we will add a portfolio and clients section to the website which we will keep constantly updated. We hope you like it!

Posted in Box Pro News | No Comments »



Fight Night Round 4 Link Bait

Friday, May 1st, 2009

Boxing fans around the world, and myself included, have been eagerly awaiting the release of the latest installment of the Fight Night series of games by EA sports. EA is no stranger to building hype around the release of their games, and has often used sites such as YouTube for sending out sneak preview clips to tantalise gaming fans and create extra hype to boost sales. I have to take my hat off to there most recent marketing strategy however, as used the excitment around the Hatton vs Pacquiao fight to generate traffic and links to their website. This is a strategy known to online marketing experts as a ‘link bait’.

A link bait is a useful, entertaining, creative web content or web tool that encourages website owners to link to it.

The video above shows a video of Fight Night round 4, which is due for release on the 20th June (which coincides with the Haye vs Klitcshko fight), and they simulated the upcoming fight between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton. The fight ends in round 11 with a Pacquiao winning by knockout! This is very similar to the concept used in ‘Rocky Balboa’ where experts simulate a fight between Rocky and the current heavyweight champ Mason Dixon (played by Antonio Tarver).

I think this concept is fantastic. EA have used the current events around this years superfight to launch their game. Because of the nature of the video, it effectively acts as a viral campaign which has spread throughout all the social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. In turn they will have received 1000s of links and I would imagine a huge amount of traffic. As well as getting current fans of the series excited, it also exposes it to people who will never have heard of Fight Night before, and I would be surprised if they were failed to be impressed by the in game graphics. EA – I tip my cap to you!

Posted in Boxing Marketing | No Comments »



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