The 'what fights did you watch today?' thread

I'm not too clued up on the fights which occured that year, but I'm quite surprised that Holy/Tyson won FOTY. I actually think both have plenty more exciting fights than that one, which was somewhat marred by holding and grappling between the 2.

 

Sot Chitalada Vs Chang Jung-Koo II

Long-reigning WBC Flyweight champ and Ring no.1 rated Chitalada, a very good fighter, defends his title against a man who beat him early on in his career, the past-prime legend Jung-Koo Chang, who was looking to rebound at Flyweight after been well beaten against 'Chiquita' Gonzalez.

Running into a prime Chang at light-fly in only his 6th pro outing for the Koreans WBC , the tough Thai found more success at Flyweight, beating Gabriel Bernal and Charlie Magri within a year of his loss to Chang to establish himself as the top Fly, where Chitalada kept Chang off the top of The Rings integrated Flyweight rankings throughout the 80s, 'Champion' through 84-87, avenging his loss to 88 champ Yong Kang Kim and remaining the no.1 until he faced Chang.

On the night, Chitalada picked up a MD. Even though it's a fairly scrappy fight (but a joy to watch) I think Chang clearly deserved this. Greg told me yesterday he thought it was a robbery, and having not watched it for years and only having vague recollections, I felt compelled to give it another watch.

Chitalada: 1; 4; 5; 10
Chang: 2; 3; 6; 7; 8; 9; 11; 12 (10-8; point deduction)

Chitalada 111-116 Chang

Chang had slowed considerably since his prime, and for the majority of the fight implements his intelligent and crafty mauling in-fighting style, stunting the range Chitalada posseses with his jab and implements through the 4th and 5th rounds. Chang opens up with big bursts in the third round, but is generally crafty throughout, showing off the sublime sneaky work on the inside that puts a smile on the face of any connoisseur of The Sweet Science.

In the 10th, Chitalada digs in and pulls a round back, but in the 11th, Old Chang brings out the old Chang and lets rip! Swarming all over the Thai champ with aplomb, I actually think Mercante misses a kd, a Chitalada knocks Chang over with a short right hand as he steams in off-balance. Nevertheless, it's not called and ruled a slip, and as Chang piles it on afterwards, it would only have been a 10-9 to the champ and not enough to swing it in his favour, so a pretty insignificant observation really.

Sot is deducted a point in the final round for throwing Chang to the ground. Unfair IMO, both had been rough throughout, with Changs using his octopus-like grabbing to make it look like he was being impeded (something he was always good at to slow the pace or to work on the inside with his free hand) and had pulled Sot down a few times himself. Chitalada didn't need to be punished IMO, and Chang wins the round so, 10-8.

So, Chang pretty clearly for me. Way past his best, he beat the no.1 Fly IMO. Just cements my opinion of him. Of course, he would come very, very close to beating Chitaladas successor, the hard-punching Thai Muangchai Kittikasem, who would reign until beaten by the top-notch, and long-reigning Yuri Arbachakov.

Amazing stuff from Chang!

 

Ivan Robinson vs Arturo Gatti I (95-94 Robinson)

Wow! What a fight. Even by Gatti's standards, this was a scorcher. Terrific action from start to finish, including some superb exchanges between the 2 up close. I thought Robinson won it clearly in terms of rounds, but it was only close because his shaky chin let him down at times in the fight. Rounds he should have clearly won were lost because he was hurt by Gatti at crucial times. Ivan did a lot of round stealing as well, but it worked effectively as he really blistered Gatti with some hard combinations. Excellent showing from both and a good performance from Robinson who seemed to rise to the occasion.

 

That is a ****in' amazing fight! I had it to Robinson by a couple if points, terrific battle and deserved FOTY winner!

If you're checking out FOTYs I strongly recommend Danny Lopez Vs Mike Ayala if you haven't seen it already, a lock for my top 10 fights of all time :good

 

Márquez vs Pacquiao I and Valuev vs Haye.

Haye clearly won, who could possibly give Valuev the fight? He landed **** all.

 

Not seen it, I'll have to check it out. Cheers :good

 

Quiroga-Anifowoshe.:deal

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Just watching Paul Ingle vs Colin McMillan, non stop bust up!

 

Yeah that's brill! Shame about the ending though, beginning of the end for Anifowoshe.

 

One amazing fight. But as you said, Gatti made a habit of them.

 

Got a tivo box yesterday, dont think I'll be going to bed till about 4am each night! Youtube here I come.

 

Just watched JC Chavez v Edwin Rosario


What. a. beast.


Chavez is incredible in this fight. relentless but with a bit of class in his work too. not to mention hitting hard as ****


Rosario has balls of steel to stand in there and take that beating

 

Cotto-Gomez.

Gomez had no business being in the ring with Cotto being honest. This was just a stay busy fight for Cotto as he was going to fight the winner of Margarito-cintron. Cotto just ****in battered Gomez from start to finish.

 

Arturo Gatti-Jesse James Leija.

Probably the calmest Gatti fight you will ever see. Gatti worked the jab very well in this fight and showed tha he could box aswell as brawl. The first knockdown was a beauty of a right hand.

 

It ended horrifically for both of them, yeah. It's why it's always tinged with sadness for me despite it being one of the best I've ever seen. Though Anifowoshe's death was attributed to the injuries he suffered, as opposed to Quiroga who made the poor decision of getting in with the wrong crowd, tragic either way.