Fight of the week #2: Lupe Pintor v. Carlos Zarate

Cool deal. I have not watched this in a while but have been reading some on it recently. Seems some call it a robbery while others just think it was a close fight that could go either way.

I don’t remember what my card was or where I stand...and since I don’t have a dog in this fight I hope my amateur opinion will at least be unbiased.

I will try to look at 1-5 tonight

 

Yeah baby! Great TV fight!

 

Just watched it and had it 8 6 1 Zarate. 3 other rounds were razor close for me that could have swayed outcome. If interested in my round by round I'll post it.

 

I would be interested in seeing it or any particular thoughts about how it unfolded etc.

 

Here's my summary and card:

Zarate 144-142 Pintor

I had Zarate winning in rounds 7-6 with 2 even - the first and last.

The knockdown in the 4th created the two point margin that gave Zarate the win on my card.

Round 1: 10-10
Round 2: 09-10
Round 3: 10-09 (livened up, much more action -Zarate landed the harder punches)
Round 4: 10-08 (Zarate knocked Pintor down)
Round 5: 10-09
Round 6: 09-10 (close, but Pintor's sharper counters were the slight difference)
Round 7: 10-09
Round 8: 09-10 (very close)
Round 9: 10-09 (another very close one)
Round 10: 09-10 (Pintor's best round of the fight, wobbled Zarate)
Round 11: 09-10 (more effective jabbing from Pintor edges the round)
Round 12: 10-09 (Zarate's aggression and volume won the round)
Round 13: 10-09 (close - Zarate edged 2/3 of round and Pintor came on in last minute)
Round 14: 09-10 (close again - but Pintor seemed to hurt Zarate with his immaculately timed jabs)
Round 15: 10-10

Plenty of close rounds and a terrific contest. The thing I'm sure of is the 145-133 scorecard was the only controversial thing about this fight. I watched this previously over 10 years ago and had the knockdown as the difference then. Still, Pintor seemed the more effective puncher of the two in this fight and his best weapon was his jab which he hurt Zarate with on more than one occasion. A Pintor win in a fight this close and competitive is entirely reasonable, even if my card didn't reflect that.

 

Rd 1Pintor
2 Pintor
3 Pintor
4 Zarate knock down
5 Zarate
6 Even
7 Zarate ( pick em round )
8 Pintor
9 Zarate ( pick em round )
10 Pintor
11 Zarate
12 Zarate
13 Pintor
14 Zarate
15 Zarate

7 and 9 could go either way. No argument from me.
11-14 are tight rounds. Some rounds Pintor lands more but Zarate lands bigger.

All said and done the fight had alot less action than I last remember. Zarate landed the bigger shots. I feel he won but none of this worst decision of the decade stuff. I had it 8 6 1 Zarate.
Pintor getting the call is not nearly as bad as Canelo getting the call twice over G to put it into perspective from my point of view.

 

I seem to remember reading that the one strange scorecard was because the judge was scoring rounds 5-4 and when someone pointed it out to them halfway through the fight that they just doubled the scores...so a 5-4 round became 10-8....can’t seem to find anything to support that right now? Can anyone verify or dispel that?

 

Someone posted that the other day in another thread.

It at least explains why the scorecard was so off base (but definitely doesn't excuse it).

 

That was absolutely true. Corroborated by west coast writer John Beyrooty.

 

Initial thought: why the 20 x 20 ring size? Did one of them negotiate that..why?

Round 1 even (10-10) since neither guy did a thing I am tempted to score 0-0 lol. This made Hopkins vs RJJ 1 seem action packed.

Round 2 Pintor (Pintor 20-19)...barely! These are 2 exciting fighters who have put forth 2 of the least active rounds of boxing I have ever seen. (I really think the ring size is going to detract from this fight even down the stretch).

Round 3 Pintor (Pintor 30-28) Zzzzzzzz.... a little more action, but then again rolling over would be more action than what we have seen. This feels like what a first round should feel like. Zarate seems more comfortable boxing and keeping distance and does not seem to want this to get in close. (I wonder if Zarate wanted the 20 x 20 ring size?)

Round 4 Zarate 10-8 (28-28) Zarate was winning this round and looking more comfortable both with the range and when they got in close. Then down goes Pintor. Not really hurt but Zarate finishes strong and takes the solid 10-8 round

I’ll do the next 4 tomorrow...hopefully a little more action. You would think that 2 exciting fighters would produce and exciting fight....sigh

 

Do you have a link or anything? I have been looking and can’t find anything yet?

 

Just watched the whole fight. Was surprised that Pintor didn't go to the body more, Zarate looked a little awkward with his footwork, but he punched well when he punched. I was trying to give one fighter or the other each round so I was surprised when I looked at my scorecard and found that I scored 5 rounds even.

In rounds I had it 6-4-5 for Pintor, and 145-144 in points. But like a lot of fights between evenly matched fighters it seemed that the majority of the rounds could have gone either way. I wouldn't argue with anybody who scored the fight completely different than the way I scored it. If I scored it tomorrow my score card might look completely different.

I gave Pintor rounds 2,6,10,11,12,14. I gave Zarate 4(10-8),5,7,9, the rest I scored even. My card had too many even rounds, wouldn't make a good judge.

 

I think even rounds are fine, better than giving a point for a hairs difference.

 

I try and avoid even rounds so yeah, a hair's difference is a distinction I try to make. Otherwise, all close rounds end up being even and you have more even rounds than anything else. And in this fight, there were a number of very close rounds.

Having said that, there was literally no discernible difference I could make between either fighter in the first round.