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Muhammad Ali vs Ernie Shavers (September 29, 1977 15 Rounds for the WBA/WBC Heavyweight Titles) Round 1: 10-9 Ali Round 2: 10-9 Shavers Round 3: 10-9 Ali Round 4: 10-9 Shavers Round 5: 10-9 Ali Round 6: 10-9 Shavers Round 7: 10-9 Shavers Round 8: 10-9 Shavers Round 9: 10-9 Shavers Round 10: 10-9 Ali Round 11: 10-9 Ali Round 12: 10-9 Ali Round 13: 10-9 Shavers Round 14: 10-9 Shavers Round 15: 10-9 Ali My Score: 143-142 Shavers Official Scores: (9-5-1 or 146-141 Ali) (9-6 or 144-141 Ali) (9-6 or 144-141 Ali) Winner: By Unanimous Decision to retain the Heavyweight Championship of the World Muhammad Ali. Has there ever been a better chin in the history of the HW division then Muhammad Ali? Shavers well known for being possibly the biggest puncher possibly of any time was detonating nukes on the point of Ali's chin, numerous flush shots on the chin in the 7th for instance, and Ali shows hardly a waiver despite having to be hurting from such artillery. How 2 of the 3 judges gave Ali that round I haven't the foggiest, I assume for the slight rally Ali had about 2 minutes in that was mostly blocked. But that 10 second burst shouldn't have taken the round from Shavers who landed over a half dozen flush bombs to Ali's head. The 9th was the swing round for me, neither man really landed anything effective but Shavers stayed busy and did land most of what was landed in the round. Yet again Ali mainly clowned & taunted throw no jabs, didn't dance, and threw 1 short shoeshine flurry that did nothing and landed on nothing but elbows gloves and the top of Ernie's head, and a second longer flurry with Shavers in a corner that looked better than it was again mostly blocked. Two of the judges scored for Ali, and the other even but I don't agree. Shavers stayed active albeit not landing anything earth shattering, but what was landed was by him. This tactic by Ali became very popular for bigger name fighters later in their careers, doing little for the first 2:30 and then flurrying the last 30 seconds to steal the round, on most people's card though I don't go for that unless what's actually landed to steal the round is great stuff, which Ali's wasn't in this case.
Ken Norton vs Jimmy Young (November 5, 1977 15 Rounds WBC Eliminator for the WBC Heavyweight Title "which would turn into the WBC title as Leon Spinks vacated the belt to fight Ali in a rematch so the actual title was awarded to the winner of this fight at a later time.") Round 1: 10-9 Young Round 2: 10-9 Young Round 3: 10-9 Young Round 4: 10-9 Norton Round 5: 10-9 Norton Round 6: 10-9 Norton Round 7: 10-9 Norton Round 8: 10-9 Norton Round 9: 10-9 Norton Round 10: 10-9 Young Round 11: 10-9 Norton Round 12: 10-9 Young Round 13: 10-9 Young Round 14: 10-9 Young Round 15: 10-9 Norton My Score: 143-142 Norton Official Scores: (147-143 Norton) (144-142 Young) (147-143 Norton) Winner: By Split Decision to win what would become the WBC Heavyweight Champion of the World Ken Norton. Norton fights a tactically brilliant fight, Young came back well and actually fought hard stunning Norton on a few occasions in the late going. The final round both men sold out and gave it everything they had with I feel Norton just edging it and the win with it. If Norton doesn't give it his all in that last round I would have had it a draw. A really good and entertaining fight, for a Jimmy Young fight that is somewhat rare.
Finished Jung Koo Chang vs Katsuo Tokashiki. What an amazing, exciting slugfest. Truly one of the best you'll see. Chang is the more dynamic of the two, bvut Tokashiki is resilient, brave and sturdy, matching Chang bomb for bomb. There is no feeling out process, they just go at it from the opening bell. Chang briefly floors Tokashiki in the first, but the Japanese rallies and forces the fight, backing Chang away and hurting him on a couple occasions. Chang alternates between orthodox and southpaw and showboats a bit for the crowd, but his shots are heavier and a bit more accurate. They just mean more. There is so much leather thrown it's amazing. Unrelenting pace; the two are obviously in tremendous shape. It's not just that a lot of shots are thrown, they're all heavy. In the 7th, Chang batters a badly hurt Tokashiki around the ring, as the challenger is beginning to feel the effects of so many punches. He rallies bravely in the 8th, but another flurry has him helpless in the 9th, when the referee wisely pulls Chang away from him, declaring him the TKO winner. Sensational, magnificent fight. One of the very best.
Arguello vs Escalera I at the time of the TKO in the 13th I had Arguello well in front 116-111 8-4 with 1 knockdown Arguello winning 2, 4-8, 10 and 11 Escalera winning 1, 3, 9 and 12 Escalera looked to have slipped in round 2 the ref kind of counted but it was hard to tell the commentary didnt catch it until between rounds when cosell asked mercante why he ruled it a slip and mercante said no i scored it a knockdown escalera was warned 5 or even 6 times for throwing back hands. he lost no points, not sure if it was due to the crazy puerto rican crowd or him seeing them as accidental and not causing any harmful damage. still a point maybe even 2 should have been docked notes: escalera was cut on both eyes and his mouth the fight seemed to have been stopped on a cut to the mouth. they didnt zoom in to the blood or anything it was tough to see if it was really that bad. must have been if they called it in the guys backyard. arguello got cut late and was rocked by a right hand in the 12th while way ahead. saw on wiki that this was rings 67th ranked in its top 100 for best fights. i didnt see that honestly. seemed kind of a run of the mill high level title fight. highly skilled but arguello was extremely dominant for long stretches and the finish was a cut not KO. There wasnt much back and forth and the only guy who ever seemed ready to go was Escalera at times when he got nailed and once for a moment Arguello in round 12. to me there wasnt enough momentum swings, knockdowns, staggerings, or close scorecards for me to be on the edge of my seat final 2 thoughts 1- I love the old commentary with 1 guy. Howard Cosell is by no means my favorite but you dont have so much filler bull **** where it turns into 3 guys talking over each other and having conversations completely irrelevant to the fight. 2-Escalera was making his 10th defense of the title, I didnt realize how long he reigned there in an era with less titles and 15 round fights thats pretty impressive. I know Mayweather is often anointed as the greatest 130lber of all time and I think Arguello would give him a hell of a fight and its interesting you dont see much talk of Escaleras rank overall considering he stayed champ a good while. 130 seems to be a good pass thru weight for many greats like Mayweather, Oscar, Manny, Barrera, Morales and even to a less extent other guys who got a start there like say a Broner,
The Ken Norton-Jimmy Young fight. I recall when I first saw this fight in the late '70s having Young just nicking it at the time. Today, it's no different. A nightmare on how close some of these rounds are. Very subjective and obviously it could go either way, but here ya go. Round 1: 10-9 Young Round 2: 10-10 Even Round 3: 10-9 Young Round 4: 10-10 Even Round 5: 10-9 Norton Round 6: 10-9 Norton Round 7: 10-9 Norton Round 8: 10-9 Young Round 9: 10-10 Even Round 10: 10-9 Young Round 11: 10-9 Norton Round 12: 10-9 Young Round 13: 10-10 Even Round 14: 10-9 Young Round 15: 10-9 Norton 145-144 Young Man, 4 even rounds. I never have 4 even rounds. But I just believe it would be a disservice to a fighter to try to come up with a winner of a round just so you don't have an even round. And these rounds were that close. A fight that close one cannot have a problem with it going either way, as long as the judges scored it close, which they did and you did. And barring our total of 5 even rounds, we only disagreed on the 8th. Not too bad.
Frankie Warren v Buddy McGirt I I used to love seeing Frankie Warren in action. The dude was a machine. Held some outstanding wins including this one over Buddy McGirt. It's uncanny how he dominated Buddy only for Buddy to dominate him in the rematch. Anyways, here we go, 10 rounds, 10 point must system. Round 1: 10-10 Even Round 2: 10-9 Warren Round 3: 10-9 Warren Round 4: 10-9 Warren Round 5: 10-9 Warren Round 6: 10-10 Even Round 7: 10-9 Warren Round 8: 10-9 Warren Round 9: 10-9 McGirt Round 10: 10-10 Even Total: 99-94 Warren I think Frankie burned out with that style of his, not to mention having a detached retina. Damn good fighter.
Last night I watched Fernando Vargas vs. Ricardo Mayorga. Vargas was one of my favorites, basically because he was doing his best work when I was really getting into boxing. Few observations before my scorecards - Vargas just looks physically awful here. Even though he was only 10 pounds more than in his heyday, he just looks bloated. Reports are he lost upwards of 100 pounds for this fight, but at 29 he really did sort of look - and box - like an old man. Honestly even in his interviews he seemed quieter and somewhat just sleepy around this time. Mayorga is pretty much known for just being an effective brawler, but I think his footwork is a bit underrated. When he was focused, he was really good at getting in and out of spots where you would just assume he would stay and brawl. Mayorga still scored big fights against Mosley and Cotto, but this was probably the last time Mayorga would look decent on a world level. For this fight though, Mayorga didn't really have to be anywhere near his best. In fact, his most effective move this entire fight was a simple straight left-right combo, where the left hand was thrown fairly weak with the right coming in with force. He was actually robotic with this combo for large stretches of the match. Round 1 - Mayorga 10 Vargas 8 - Vargas was down in this round, and if I didn't know better I would have thought he was close to getting stopped Round 2 - Pretty Clear Mayorga Round Round 3 - Vargas settles in, lands his right hand quite a bit. Vargas Round Round 4- Big Vargas Round. Probably his best of the night. Right back in the fight Round 5 - I thought Mayorga nipped it. Round 6 - Another Close round, but I gave this one to Vargas Round 7 - Clear Mayorga Round Round 8 - Another close one I gave to Mayorga Round 9 - Vargas takes this round, and what started to be a decent back-and-forth brawl Round 10 - Yet another close round, which I gave to Mayorga Round 11- This was a close round, until Mayorga landed a big shot on Vargas's temple, sending him down with just a few ticks left in the round. 10-8 Mayorga. Round 12 - Gave it to Vargas My final card was 115-111. The knockdowns made it pretty impossible to find a way to give this one to Vargas in his final battle. With the close rounds, 2 of which I gave to Mayorga, you can start to see why one judge scored it 113-113. However, the other judges overruled him, by scores of 114-112, and 115-111. It might ultimately be a good thing that Vargas didn't win, because he may have continued fighting, which wouldn't have been good, imo. At 29, it's arguable he was already showing signs of being punch drunk, which is a real shame. Mayorga would go on to fight Mosley in a pretty competitive fight, in which he came in great shape, but lost by 12th round TKO.
Toney vs. McCallum 1 I'm sort of embarrassed to admit, but I think this is the first McCallum fight I ever watched in it's entirety. I knew he was a beast at lower weights, but see on boxrec that his punching power didn't carry up to middleweight - at least not in the same way. McCallum is 35 years old here, While Toney is 23. Pretty great fight. Looking forward to 2 and 3 Round 1 - McCallum took a close round that was pretty much a feeling out round Round 2 - Toney's round Round 3 - Another close round that I gave to McCallum. Early on I thought his jabbing was beautiful. Toney was jabbing good too, but McCallum's was on a different level. Round 4 - Very good round that really sort of set the tone for the right of the fight. Gave it to McCallum Round 5 - Toney's round. At this point he's really starting to find a home for his right hand Round 6 - Toney's again Round 7 - McCallum's round. Near the end of the round Toney either gassed terribly or was hurt by something I didn't quite see. Toney stumbled around the ring a bit here at the end of the frame. Round 8 - Toney battled back well to nick the round Round 9 - McCallum expended a ton of energy here, it won him the round, but I think it cost him going into the final rounds of the fight. Round 10 - Toney's round Round 11 - Super even round. A right hand by Toney at the end swayed it in his direction for me, but this could have gone either way. I don't like scoring even rounds, especially so late in a fight Round 12 - Toney hit Mike with dozens of hard right hands and left hooks through this fight. This was the first time McCallum showed any ill-effects from those blows. However, After Toney hurt McCallum early, he had zero energy left to do anything about it. Still, Toney's round. I gave this to Toney 115-113. I noted 5 rounds as close, so tomorrow I could very easily have it a different score if I were to score it then. The officials saw it 116-112 Toney, 115-113 McCallum, 114-114 a draw, for a draw. All of the scores seem fine, to be honest, very hard fight to score. I know by the end of the fight I thought Toney was starting to pull away, and really feel he deserved the nod, or at least a draw. Finding 7 rounds for McCallum is a little tougher, but not insane. I scored my even rounds 3-2 in favor of McCallum, so if you give him a couple more, you can get to that score. Either way, really damn good fight!
Barkley vs. Duran First of all, wow what a fight. Barkley boxed wonderfully for 7-8 rounds, only for old man Duran to sweep the last 4 rounds on my card. I sometimes get embarrassed when I post a card that differs from the official results, especially when it's a legendary result, like this one. Anyways here my card. Round 1 - Duran 10-9 Duran took it by stunning Barkley late Round 2 - Barkley 10-9, Beautiful body work by both men, especially Barkley Round 3 - 10-9 Barkley Round 4 - 10-9 Barkley, fantastic round, best round in the fight, great round in general Round 5 - 10-9 Barkley, Barkley wins but this was the start of his left eye swelling which would play a role, imo later in this fight. Round 6 - 10-9 Barkley, slowest round of the fight, rightfully so, great pace so far Round 7 - 10-9 Barkley, Close, round, also a very good round Round 8 - 10-9 Barkley, Huge left almost sent Duran down. Looked to maybe be the beginning of the end for Duran, but this round seemed to wake him up, and Barkley was running on fumes. Round 9 - 10-9 Duran, Barkley clearly tiring and eye starting to swell Round 10 - 10-9 Duran one this round with the work of his right hand Round 11 - 10-8 Duran, Barkley down on the end of a beautiful four punch combo. His eye is getting worse by the second, making you wondering if he even saw these punches coming, especially the right. Round 12 - Duran 10-9, Close round So my score adds up to 114-113 to Barkley. On my card he did enough work early, but it would be fairly easy enough to slide a couple close rounds over to Duran and give him the win. I feel, even with the knockdown though, Barkley did enough to win, and I realize that may be an unpopular decision. Duran definitely closed the show in style though. This is another fight where I could watch it tomorrow and find a way to have Duran winning it, but I'm not sure I could ever find him winning it as comfortable as two of the judges did. The result - a Duran SD win - isn't controversial, but I think the way we got there with the official cards sort of is. Card one gave it 116-113 to Barkley, the next two were for Duran at 118-112, and 116-112. I'm not sure how any judge found a way to give Duran 118 points in this match, as in I don't even know how we get there. 116 is a bit of a stretch, but more reasonable. Great fight, highly recommend if you've never seen it.