Oh well, console gaming was going to shit anyway.

Carl "The Cobra" Froch(IBF Super Middleweight Champion) vs Mikkel "The Viking Warrior" Kessler(WBA World Super Middleweight Champion) - Another great matchup on the docket for boxing this weekend.  These two have already faced each other in the Super Six boxing tournament a few years back, the fight was easily the best fight of the tournament and one of the better fight of that year.  The first fight was held in Kessler's backyard(Denmark) and the outcome could have gone either way, but unsurprisingly Kessler got the nod on the scorecards and won via UD over Froch.  After that fight, Kessler bowed out of the Super Six tournament due to an eye injury and Froch went on to establish himself as the number two Super Middleweight in the world behind Andre Ward.  Froch's stock has risen a lot recently having looked spectacular in obliterating Lucian Bute to win the IBF title, while Kessler has been pretty much on the comeback trail since his injury without any real notable wins, though he did have a devastating knockout win against Allan Green that was arguably the KO of the year last year.  This rematch has been long awaited and this time it will be in Froch's backyard in the UK.

Style-wise, Froch is a somewhat adaptable orthodox boxer-puncher.  He doesn't really have great boxing ability in my view beyond a nice jab, but he knows how to execute a gameplan well, can fight inside or outside when needed, mixes up his punches well and throws punches from somewhat odd angles.  Generally prefers to play the role of pressure fighter.  He is physically strong and reasonably heavy-handed, has very good stamina, carrying his power late into fights, and pretty consistent on workrate.  Best punch is his up-jab, which is a very solid, stiff jab.  He's not the fastest fighter but uses the ring fairly well.  Will get dirty with opponents at times.  Defensively, Froch is somewhat poor by nature, he leaves his left arm down constantly to throw his up-jab, and his guard is pretty open in general.  However, he has one of the best chins in boxing, he's rarely been dropped in his career and I've never seen him seriously hurt by anything.  He also has lots of heart.

Kessler is the more technical boxer of the two fighters and is also a boxer-puncher.  He prefers to fight outside and at middle-range.  Has a good jab, right straight, and his left hook is good as well.  Mixes up his punches to the head and body reasonably well and though also not fast, uses the ring well enough.  Probably not as physically strong as Froch, but pretty strong, and I believe he's the better puncher of the two fighters by a small margin in terms of one-punch power.  Possesses some decent counterpunching ability.  Defensively, he's got a more solid guard than Froch, with a traditional European high guard but is still not great defensively and he doesn't take punches as well as Froch in general though he is fairly tough.

Prediction - Another very good fight for as long as it lasts, but I think Kessler is slightly on the slide at this point in his career, Froch is peaking and the fight is in the UK, giving most of the advantages to Froch.  Kessler also hasn't faced a real world level opponent since Froch and was rocked badly in a recent fight against Allan Green(though he came back to win by a vicious stoppage).  Kessler is one of the few fighters in the division with the punch to get Froch's respect, and he's the better boxer technically but I think Froch will win by mid-rounds stoppage in a competitive fight.  On a side-note, if the fight goes to the cards and is close, Froch will get the nod.

Skipping next gen of consoles and getting a PC.

And maybe a PS2 Slim.

I also wanted to see them fight, but as af right now its pretty far from happening. It would be interesting to see how it changes their relationship and the fight would have been good.

What bothers me is that Microsoft keeps integrating windows 8 and social into absolutely everything, and mostly everything has backfired. They released new tablet PC's with their own hybrid android/w8 OS, which failed so hard that the developers have discontinued the lines, and they've received so many complaints to the W8 os that they are going to put in stuff they removed earlier, like the start button.

Now they are going to integrate W8 into xbox one, along with all your stupid social networking apps/tiles/whatever. Microsoft are jumping on the social media wave and riding it  even higher with xbox one, and they haven't done it right even ONCE yet. It's so transparent and tragic. 

It's supposed to be a gaming console, not Apple TV.

well, i know nick diaz and matt riddle take weed for adhd treatment lol

Xbox One confirmed dead before arrival.

Since Aoki already said he will be sparring with Itagaki as his opponent is a fighter-type, and with Ippo even asking how Imai's been doing recently and Itagaki's watched a few of his recent fights, it's a safe bet to say that it's confirmed to be Imai. It's just Itagaki not paying attention and doesn't care who he fights that's why he didn't realize.

About Itagaki's comment on Imai's recent fights (from chapter 1014), he said that Imai's was being hit easily, and not sure what's going on with him, as his defense was rated highly during his amateur era.

Seems like Imai's new strategy against Itagaki is to pull an Ippo, tank Itagaki's punches until his hands falls off.

I also vaguely remember Imai's target became Itagaki after their rookie fight, and not on Ippo already (well, ultimately I guess it's still Ippo)

oh i didn't even read about belfort getting trt done... hmmm.

i think they need to ban trt usage for mma... if people get banned for smoking weed... then damn they need to ban trt

This leads me to believe that Ita might lose.  Of course, I've thought that for nearly every Ita fight, but this lack of buildup could be a "setup" for an Ita loss.  Plus, with Mori's writing, we have PLENTY of possibilities for Ita's opponent's backstory to materialize and even take too long...

While Imai is surely "fantasizing" about Ippo, I still think he'd rather fight Ita and avenge his one loss.  If he can avange his loss AND get the J Featherweight title, that sure seems like more than enough motivation.

Kim is still the "best" sparring partner, Jack of All Trades, Master of None.  Aoki is still "Curly" (the brunt of all jokes).  Mori continues to use these guys as plot devices with no concern to their storylines at all.  Really, has it ever been any different?  I think Shinoda mentioning retirement was a red herring, at least while Ita is still around...

Because SkullGirls ruined it for everyone =(

Thing is, Alfredo having arrived in Japan, the start of the event is probably like 2/3 chapters away. I don't see what they'd be doing with Itagaki in that time. Maybe focus on his weight management since it was mentionned in this chapter apparently ?

What ? When was that ?