That’s not the fight he popped for. He was likely on EPO for all his big fights.
My point exactly.
Win or lose Cory really needs to work on his boxing.
Leg got torqued
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I thought he was going for a calf slicer for a second.
Think he heard you.
Man, tough one to judge if it stays like this.
Very tough.
Corey won that for sure
Hell if I know. In a fight this close you almost wish they’d go by who physically looks as if they took less damage.
I have it 3-2 Cory. Great fight. Feel like much of my breakdown was sound – especially my contention that this was a closer call than many thought.
A few post fight thoughts:
-TJ looked great. He’s still a title level fighter and is really going to be a challenge for Aljo or Yan. He really ought to work on his back attacks, since he could have had Sandhagen in more trouble. Ring rust was real in the first round. Cory found a home for his cross and was catching him badly. As TJ said, he was also lazy with the leg lock.
-Sandhagen looked excellent at points, and very flawed at points. Watching that fight, Sandhagen looks like a guy who doesn’t get enough challenges in the gym. He doesn’t comprehend the price for giving up his back, for failed spinning attacks, and for going for leg locks from bottom. He’d really, really benefit from getting one of the best 145 pounders and spending significant time with them. Max, Volk, TKZ, T-City – these guys could really improve his game.
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Great fight, TJ is a tough, durable, determined guy. I think TJ beats Aljo handily but Yan will give him trouble.
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I had Cory edging it by damage but the judges liked the take downs. Close close match. Cory is legit af and TJ still has ‘it’.
At the end of the day Tj did everything possible to win the fight. He chased a long dangerous fighter who good at counter punching.
Cory was in little danger of being stopped but chose to play it safe. He was hurting TJ from the outside when he strung combos but he decided just to out point him and ply it safe.
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I can see it going TJ’s way based on how the judges seemed to be scoring tonight. Having said that, I think it’s the wrong call. TJs leg kicks were excellent and he had “controlled” position often, but when that essentially equates to holding a man in a standing spoon to keep from having your face split open more… rather than using it to inflict any significant damage, Idk. Hard for me to consider that on the scorecard. Sandhagen’s striking was really sharp, he landed far and away the hardest shots and he looked like he went for a hard jog after the fight in terms of visible damage while TJ looked like he stuck his face in a weed eater.
BUT, CS knew the trends of the judging tonight and he basically gave TJ is 6 at least 4 times. Can’t blame anyone for the outcome besides himself, really
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Great post.
I think TJ did more to “earn” the win in terms of fight IQ and grit. But, Cory should have won because he won more rounds based on the criteria.
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The fight didn’t exactly play out the way I thought. I expected Corey to counter but his boxing looked better than TJ’s. Although I do think TJ’s jab is what created his opportunities and allowed him to set the pace. Corey actually looked faster to me, but TJ hurt his knee so it’s still a question of how he looks in the future.
I think that knee injury or whatever changed the entire fight. From the second round on, TJ could not fight his usual style of being evasive and aggressively offensive in the striking. It’s also probably why we saw mostly lead leg low kicks from him. Corey’s footwork was great but he suffered from headhunting. He thought he could stop TJ and when he didn’t, he only wanted the kill shot. Also a lot of times he didn’t follow up and many times he could have added a 3rd or 4th punch in his combination instead of backing out, he could have possibly stopped him. He allowed TJ to back him up and didn’t work effectively behind a jab for most of the fight.
Great fight, very close.
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Wiggum what you said about Corey backing out of exchanges was on point. He admires his work sometimes instead of getting the job done. He wants the knockout and to be honest, a little too much. He needs to focus on setting up what he wants through his jab and if it happens, it happens. It’s also interesting to see how he looked against somebody who basically neutralized his creativity completely.
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I though TJs head movement was great. If he had kept his head on center he would have been slept
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