Israel Vasquez v Jhonny Gonzalez Marvellous little fight that I remember watching back in 2006 and am looking at in my top 50 favourite fights review I’m currently undertaking. Vazquez shows all the toughness and heart we would come to recognise from his fights with Rafael Marquez as he gets off the deck twice to stop Gonzalez. Jhonny gets off to a flyer and looks like he might be on his way to a dominant win, particularly with the knockdown in the 6th that clearly hurts Vazquez but the indomitable Israel battles back the very next round and wrestles the momentum his way with a knockdown and from that point never looks back. Gonzalez’s corner does the right thing and throws in the towel after the second knockdown. Fun fight with lots of clean action - well worth 30 minutes or so of your day. 1 9-10 2 9-10 3 9-10 4 8-10 5 9-10 6 8-10 7 10-8 8 10-9 9 10-9 10 TKO
I think I'm going to get myself in a bit of trouble with this one. A bout which I actually never saw before but have heard about it for years. The first 10 rounder between Emanuel Augustus and Courtney Burton. I know we've all heard about it being a horrendous decision, but to tell you the truth, I've seen worse. The first Curtis Parker v Mustafa Hamsho and the Dwight Qawi v Ossie Ocasio 10 rounders immediately come to mind. Nevertheless, here we go. Round 1: 10-9 Augustus Round 2: 10-9 Augustus Round 3: 10-9 Burton Round 4: 10-9 Augustus Round 5: 10-10 Even Round 6: 10-10 Even Round 7: 10-9 Augustus Round 8: 10-9 Burton Round 9: 10-8 Burton (point deducted for Augustus 'spinning around') Round 10: 10-9 Augustus Total: 96-95 Augustus To begin, I do believe the 'low blow' in the 2nd round should have been called a knockdown and the point deduction in the 9th was BS. If called properly my score would have been a 97-94 type score. But it is what it is. Augustus was a bit of his own worst enemy. He would start out great then go into a lull and then snap out of it with some good combos and then go into la-la land again. Meanwhile, Burton was unspectacular but steady. Referee Dan Kelly was atrocious and the judges were all over the place. 2 scores for Burton of 99-90, 97-92 and then 98-94 for Augustus. WTF?!
Israel Vasquez v Rafael Marquez 3 Sensational battle between two very evenly matched fighters whose styles meshed beautifully and who were tough to separate (I had the 9th, 10th and 11th rounds all even). Inevitably, it had to come down to the final round and the final few seconds with the knockdown pulling out the win for Vasquez. Without the point deduction against Marquez in round 10, I'd have made this a draw. One of the best fights of the decade and one of the best 12 rounders ever. 1 9-10 (Marquez shades a high quality opener) 2 10-9 3 9-10 (close) 4 8-10 (the phony war is over and the real one begins!) 5 10-9 6 10-9 7 9-10 (close) 8 10-9 9 10-10 10 10-9 (even round but point deduction gives it to Vasquez) 11 10-10 (couldn't split them) 12 10-8 114-113
Nothing like watching a good fight on Christmas Day while old Tom is in the oven. You're right, Jel, a fun fight. Round 1: 10-10 Even Round 2: 10-9 Gonzalez Round 3: 10-9 Gonzalez Round 4: 10-8 Gonzalez (scores a knockdown) Round 5: 10-9 Gonzalez Round 6: 10-8 Gonzalez (scores a knockdown Round 7: 10-8 Vasquez (scores a knockdown) Round 8: 10-9 Gonzalez Round 9: 10-9 Vasquez Round 10: TKO for Vasquez Total (through 9 completed rounds): 87-82 Gonzalez I did not have a problem with Gonzalez' corner stopping it when they did. The announcing team seemed to make a big deal out of it, but his corner likely saw the way he was breaking down gradually. And, if you look at the replay of the final knockdown, the second and third punches of Vasquez actually miss, which I did not catch in real time. He really was coming apart at the seams at the time they tossed the towel. So, good fight and good stoppage IMO.
Just watched the second Luis Rodriguez-Emile Griffith bout between requests to play with the kid's gifts today. Not a great fight but I've been meaning to get to the others in their set since seeing the first of their bouts and discussing them at length with scar tissue at the time. I had it 9-5-1 for Rodriguez, who stymied Griffith's aggression with jabs on the outside and now the baby's climbing all over me trying to get at the phone. ....more soon.
You, @PhillyPhan69 and @scartissue have been burning through fights this year! Big up to @roughdiamond @rorschach51 and @salsanchezfan too.
Okay, anyway......this bout was different from the first in that Griffith had no success this time with lunging in with sneak attacks. He was met with subtle movement, a good jab, and stalling/holding tactics from Rodriguez in the second fight, and just couldn't get his punches off as a result. Rodriguez also gave a good account of himself on the inside with hammering short punches to the body, an area that can't be overlooked as this is typically Griffith's thing. The challenger did an excellent job of nullifying Griffith's aggression by giving ground here and making him pay too much for it there. A style and strategy that often confuses judges and some fans and leads to bad decisions, but they got this one right. Griffith rallied in rounds 10-12, but there were few obvious successes for him in those rounds. He simple seemed more "there" than he had been previously so I felt compelled to give him a round here and there. Specifically rounds 2, 6, 10, 11, and 12, with 15 being even.
This content is protected Holyfield vs Buster Douglas Holyfield wins by 3rd round KO. Holyfield boxed well here, and he did box a bit. Won both rounds easily in my mind and had Douglas looking very weary whilst stalking him. That counter straight right is a major part of my argument as to why Holyfield is a very underrated puncher at HW. Holyfield vs George Foreman Rd. Holy : George (Total) 1. 10 : 9 (10-9) 2. 10 : 9 (20-18) 3. 10 : 9 (30-27) 4. 10 : 9 (40-36) 5. 9 : 10 (49-46)* 6. 10 : 9 (59-55) 7. 10 : 9 (69-64)* 8. 10 : 9 (79-73) 9. 10 : 9 (89-82) 10. 10 : 9 (99-91) 11. 10 : 9 (109-100) 12. 10 : 9 (119-109) Holyfield wins via 12 round UD. An astrix means it was close enough to go either way. I swear I've seen people argue this fight as a draw. How!? Foreman was competitive and landed good jabs but definitely fell short due to a lack of activity. Holyfield showing his skill in this one. Textbook shots and footwork here. His boxing style was a nice but of juxtaposition imo, coz he was slick but easy to hit but was a very good puncher imo. Brilliant structure, great counters, great combos and hurt Foreman bad on 2 different occasions (3rd & 9th). @Pat M had an excellent take on how good a HW Holyfield was. Definitely underrated. I think this opinion is entirely arguable.
Tony Canzoneri vs Kid Chocolate (November 20, 1931) (15 Rounds for the World Lightweight & World Jr. Welterweight Championships) Round 1: 10-9 Canzoneri (Beat Chocolate to the punch most of the round, both men are extremely evasive) Round 2: 10-9 Chocolate (Good round for the Kid, counter punching well, moving popping the jab as Tony tried to come inside. Canzoneri tries to pound away but is met by a whirling dervish) Round 3: 10-9 Chocolate (Kid moving sticking the jab, beating Canzoneri to the punch. Both men are so quick) Round 4: 10-9 Canzoneri (Good round for Tony, takes the play away from Kid and actually knocks Chocolate off balance causing him to touch a glove to the canvas though they resume immediately and no knockdown is counted) Round 5: 10-9 Chocolate (Kid's round, this is back and forth. Both men having their moments and clearly winning each round to me) Round 6: 10-9 Canzoneri Round 7: 10-9 Chocolate Round 8: 10-9 Canzoneri Round 9: 10-9 Chocolate Round 10: 10-9 Canzoneri Round 11: 10-9 Canzoneri Round 12: 10-9 Canzoneri Round 13: 10-9 Chocolate Round 14: 10-9 Chocolate Round 15: 10-9 Canzoneri My Score: (143-142 Canzoneri) Official Score: 2-1 Canzoneri (UP: 8-5-2 Canzoneri) This content is protected Had Canzoneri, former World Featherweight Champion, made 130 lbs for this bout, he would have been awarded Kid Chocolate's Jr. Lightweight title, and would have become the first four-division champion in history. Even though it's a silent film and a little grainy it's pretty good quality, and nearly complete. Also subtitled for the movie theaters at the time. 2 all time great fighters going at it.
Demetrius Andrade vs Willie Nelson Round 1: 10-8 Andrade Round 2: 10-9 Andrade Round 3: 10-9 Andrade Round 4: 10-9 Andrade Round 5: 10-9 Andrade Round 6: 10-9 Andrade Round 7: 10-9 Andrade Round 8: 10-9 Andrade Round 9: 10-9 Andrade Round 10: 10-9 Andrade Round 11: 10-8 Andrade Round 12: TKO My Score: (110-97 Andrade) ATOS ok.ru
This content is protected Rd. EM : MAB ( This content is protected ) 1. 10 : 9 (10-9) 2. 10 : 9 (20-18) 3. 9 : 10 (29-28) 4. 9 : 10 (38-38) 5. 10 : 9 (48-47) 6. 9 : 10 (57-57) 7. 9 : 10 (66-67) 8. 9 : 10 (75-77) 9. 10 : 9 (85-86) 10. 10 : 9 (95-95) 11. 9 : 10 (104-105) 12. 8 : 10 ( This content is protected ) Erik Morales wins by 12 round SD. This content is protected Great fight, as we all know. Love both guys but I will go on record and admit (I know it may be heresy in this very thread) that I prefer Morales and his style, although I am still a massive fan of Barrera and his own approach. I'm of the opinion that Morales was the greatest of the 2000's Mexican trio, and he's the only 1 to make my top 100 P4P. This is generally viewed as a robbery and the credit is often given to Barrera, which is fair enough imo, but it's undersold how well Morales did here, but imo Morales did really well, just not well enough for a win. Barrera's style is really fun though. Lots of pressure and aggression. His footwork was nice and angled to cut the ring off well, he has nice (underrated) defence and counter abilities as well as a very serviceable jab. Lots of aggressive fighters have underrated countering skills and defences, Durán and Pacquiao come to mind as examples, I don't know why though.
Zolani Tete vs Victor Ruiz Round 1: 10-9 Tete Round 2: 10-9 Tete Round 3: 10-9 Tete Round 4: 10-9 Tete Round 5: 10-9 Tete Round 6: 10-9 Tete Round 7: TKO My Score: (60-54 Tete) ATOS This content is protected
Andre Berto vs Victor Ortiz II Round 1: 10-9 Ortiz Round 2: 10-8 Ortiz Round 3: 10-9 Ortiz Round 4: KO My Score: (30-26 Ortiz) ATOS This content is protected