Nieky Holzken replaces Braehmer in SMW WBSS Semi-Final

Holzken vs Eubank Jr would be a fun fight int erms of action. Eubank certainly wouldn't turn it into a jabfest and simply his ego would make him brawl with Holzken at least a few times
 
Lol who is this giant bastard interviewing Holtzen and Smith after the fight? Man is huge.
 
The fight just happened way too soon for him, it could be a good learning experience and maybe he'll improve.
Hope so, but I really don't think it's going to happen at this point. I was pretty big on him a few years ago during his kickboxing reign. I really liked his style. His pressure, his active jab (when he used it), his off rhythm punching and then the left hook to the body. It's a lot simular to how I used to fight/spar. Unfortunately, he never really grew beyond that, and has stopped letting go of his punches a little bit.

I kinda blame the dutch KB system lol. I'm biased, but I really don't like the tit for tat, highguard, no angles stuff that they teach. Better ring generalship, better angles, using his jab with more conviction and letting the punches go more (especially the body work) he'd be pretty great. Even with his stance as it is.

He's cool to watch when he's on though.
 
Would Smith actually beat Brähmer? He doesn't look like a worldbeater...
Yeah, he'd have beaten Braemer. I don't see why anybody had that much faith in Braemer in this one.

That said, I was a big believer in Smith for a while, but this is really the end of the line for me. I could forgive being in a close one with Skoglund, since I think Skoglund is better than given credit for. But this? Nah this is too much. Smith is just too predictable and has little ability to adjust. He's not terrible defensively but he's not great and his power is worse than I thought it was. Maybe he'll show up against groves and show that this was him just fighting to his level of opposition (something which others have said about him before) but I'm not confident anymore. He was my pick for the tournament but now I'm going with Groves. I haven't been this dissapointed in a prospect in a while... to think I thought he could beat Benavidez...
 
Holzken was scheduled to fight Dmitri Chudinov on the undercard. People, including Holzken seem oblivious to the fact that Smith also agreed to this fight just earlier in the week.
 
The 5 days notice thing is misleading; Holzken was scheduled to fight Dmitri Chudinov on the undercard. People, including Holzken seem oblivious to the fact that Smith also agreed to this fight just earlier in the week.
I still don't get why they picked Holzken. There were two alternates (Nielsen and Feigenbutz) specifically for this situation. Feigenbutz isn't a bad fighter either.
 
I still don't get why they picked Holzken. There were two alternates (Nielsen and Feigenbutz) specifically for this situation. Feigenbutz isn't a bad fighter either.
Feigenbutz had a fight last weekend before the Brähmer pulled out, so he wasn't ready to fight one week later.
 
Doing a little bit of boxing math, Holzken beat Polyakov, who beat De Carolis, who beat Feigenbutz and had competitive matches with Tyron Zeuge.

Holzken isn't a bad boxer at all.
 
Holzken vs Eubank Jr would be a fun fight int erms of action. Eubank certainly wouldn't turn it into a jabfest and simply his ego would make him brawl with Holzken at least a few times
Holzken looked really shoddy when he was throwing in combinations, slappy and his hands dropping with his chin up. Eubank is willing to throw when his opponent throws, or throw a left hook when he feels something land on his left hand etc. Eubank would eat up Holzken. He's the kind of guy Eubank looks like an absolute star against and has fought versions of already. Eubank looks mediocre against boxers with good feet and good jabs, but he's far above a Holzken.
 
Yeah, he'd have beaten Braemer. I don't see why anybody had that much faith in Braemer in this one.

That said, I was a big believer in Smith for a while, but this is really the end of the line for me. I could forgive being in a close one with Skoglund, since I think Skoglund is better than given credit for. But this? Nah this is too much. Smith is just too predictable and has little ability to adjust. He's not terrible defensively but he's not great and his power is worse than I thought it was. Maybe he'll show up against groves and show that this was him just fighting to his level of opposition (something which others have said about him before) but I'm not confident anymore. He was my pick for the tournament but now I'm going with Groves. I haven't been this dissapointed in a prospect in a while... to think I thought he could beat Benavidez...[/QUOTE

Pretty much my exact same assessment. Well said.
 
Pretty much my exact same assessment. Well said.
I wish there was a sad face reply, cause Smith has really been a dissapointment. IDK, maybe he's fighting to his opponents level and is holding out on us. But the Smith that showed up last night isn't ready for Groves and he sure as hell isn't ready for Benavidez.
 
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