🥊 A Real Life Rocky

August 26, 2022

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Fight With Teddy Atlas Newsletter, your one stop shop for all things combat sports related, brought to you by Teddy and The Fight team.

Teddy Atlas and co-host Ken Rideout breakdown the past weekend of fights with Oleksandr Usyk beating Anthony Joshua in split decision win in rematch, and the full UFC 278 main card with Usman vs Edwards 2, and Edwards shocking knockout of Usman with a head kick.

Thanks for being with us. The best wa…

Every Friday We Bring You:

  • A combat sports news digest with all the headlines you need to know from Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.

  • Highlights from the podcast and across the fight world.

  • Fight times and information you need to know ahead of time.

  • How to’s and tips for Boxing from Teddy himself.

Fight News From Around The 🌍

Clash Of Styles At Super-Lightweight

Saturday night sees a real clash of styles at 140 lbs, as former lightweight champions Richard Commey and Jose Pedraza look to ignite a title run at their third and second weight divisions respectively.

The fact that the two are coming off a loss as well as heading down the back end of their respective careers will hopefully make for a well fought out contest, not to mention the fact that it's an age old boxer (Pedraza) vs puncher (Commey) matchup.

Pedraza recently went toe to toe with one of the divisions top fighters in Jose Ramirez, losing a close but ultimately decisive unanimous decision.

Commey was beaten by pound for pound mainstay Vasily Lomachenko, almost being stopped in the 7th before hanging on to the final bell to lose on the cards.

A win for either man could put them in a good position to challenge a fellow Top Rank light-welterweight in Teofimo Lopez or Arnold Barboza Jr, or even put their name in the mix for one of the recently vacated titles (WBA, WBC & IBF) once those have been fought for.

What to look for in the fight:

  1. Pedraza to maintain a strong jab throughout and look to stay off the ropes.

  2. Commey to time Pedraza's jab with a counter straight right hand.

  3. Despite both men having durable chins, both have taken good amounts of punishment recently and we could be in store for a finish at some point.

Rocky Shocks The World

In one of the greatest finishes in recent UFC history, Britain's very own Leon "Rocky" Edwards shocked the world and knocked out the pound for pound #1 Kamaru Usman and captured welterweight gold.

The fight was a highly contested chess match, with Edwards taking the first round and Usman coming back to claim 2,3 and 4, although not without resistance from Edwards, who was dangerous on the feet and became the first man to take Usman down in his UFC career so far.

The 5th round stoppage was far from a "hail mary" KO. It was set up to perfection with the lead hand, lulling Usman's head into dipping right into the finishing high kick.

And that's all she wrote. With that, the division has a new champion and he's riding one of the longest active win streaks in the sport (10).

And it couldn't have happened to a nicer human being.

A year ago, Teddy and Ken caught up with the newly crowned champ and discussed his Nate Diaz win, Usman and the importance of setting up your shots.

After having been written off and somewhat of a forgotten man at welterweight, Rocky has come back and showed the world the value not just of talent, but of patience and character.

He waited for his chance, and boy did he take it.

Fight ⏰ for this weekend

Boxing: Pedraza vs Commey (Saturday 27th/Sunday 28th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 9pm Eastern/ 6pm Pacific | Main Event: 11pm Eastern/ 8pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 2am | Main Event: 4am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 11am Eastern/ 9am Western | Main Event: 1pm Eastern/ 11am Western

Don't forget to tune in to the latest episode 🎧

Thanks for being with us and see you next week #BANG💥