the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Jel, I saw your post on the thread 'German boxers in unfair decisions' or something like that, where the discussion with our resident wind-up artist went to the fight between Kostya Tsyzu and Oktay Urkal and him claiming it was a robbery (I think he said his score was 116-113 for Urkal). You responded that you never heard of any controversy and you would need to see it. Well I checked it out today and this is how I had it.

Round 1: 10-9 KT
Round 2: 10-9 KT
Round 3: 10-9 KT
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Urkal
Round 6: 10-9 KT
Round 7: 10-9 Urkal
Round 8: 10-9 KT
Round 9: 10-9 KT
Round 10: 10-9 KT
Round 11: 10-9 KT
Round 12: 10-9 Urkal

Total: 117-112 Tszyu (actual scores were 115-113, 116-113 and 116-112 all for Tszyu)

I saw no controversy in this other than to say Urkal put up a very spirited challenge. He was strong and had a very good workrate and was in absolutely every round to make things close. So even though I say I had it for KT 117-112, it doesn't mean it was one-sided. A good, brave challenge with close rounds, but the decision was just.

 

You know what, scar, I trust your scoring and you've saved me the effort of watching that one! I had assumed he was talking bollocks but good to have it from an impartial (and sane) source.

That reminds me of a report I read in Boxing Monthly or Boxing News back when the fight happened. Zab Judah fought a really easy tune up and the US media were waxing lyrical about it and how Judah would beat Tszyu based off that fight and Tszyu being taken the distance by Urkal. It was written massively ironically to sound like Tszyu would lose but was obvious that they rated Tszyu more highly and that Urkal was a live opponent whereas Judah's tune up was a gimme.

 

Which vid, George? The Marcel-Gomez one?

 

Nah, the one I linked. Gomez/Shozi one.

 

Oh yeah - I'll watch that one!

 

Orlando Canizales vs Wilfredo Vazquez

Cani : Vaz

1: 9 - 10
Sharp shots from Vazquez
2: 9 - 10
Close. Vazquez more effective.
3: 9 - 10
Vazquez just more meaningful.
4: 10 - 9
Very close. Canizales with lovely short uppers.
5: 9 - 10
Vazquez again landing the harder shots.
6: 10 - 9
Lovely uppercuts.
7: 10 - 9
Canizales coming alive now.
8: 10 - 9
Swing. Lovely inside fight.
9: 10 - 9
Swing. Canizlaes forcing the initiative.
10: 9 - 10
Vazquez landing heavier.
11: 10 - 9
Awful to score. Canizales on aggression.
12: 10 - 9
Again, Canizales on aggression.

TOTAL: 115 - 113 CANIZALES

Notes:

• Hard to score. Viable for both, and Vazquez deserved it just as much. Good fight to test your scoring skills.
• Both looked old. Some very good action in the mid rounds though.

 

Yesterday I decided to take a break from 15-round decisions and watch more or less the entirety of Louis-Braddock. I've seen it before, but wanted to watch for certain things this time.

The champion Braddock was unbelievably game and took a great punch, but was also somewhat tricky defensively. He tucked his chin under his left shoulder and rolled with a lot of punches. Louis overextended himself a bit early trying to reach, and got dumped on his behind with a counter right uppercut. No flash knockdown either, Louis was buzzed. Braddock couldn't quite follow up though, and by the second, Louis was back slowly stalking, fully recovered.

I gave Louis every round going forward (these were truncated rounds on film, but close enough to complete to give a definite feel of the happenings). His sharp punches were tearing holes in Braddock's face, but the champ wasn't going without a fight, and he countered enough and made things interesting. I thought he might have been up to a good idea when he tried to crowd Louis a bt in either the fourth or fifth, I forget now. Godoy used that ploy the first time against Louis to some degree of success, and Braddock at least momentarily took Louis out of his game a bit when he did it. I thought he should have done more of that, but then again I wasn't the one in there catching the uppercuts as payment for his temerity.

In the eighth, Louis tried to jab to the body to bring Braddock's guard down so he could put the straight right over. A few times it bore no fruit as the savvy Braddock merely danced away rather than bringing his guard down. Then Louis shot a left hook to the body, and Braddock was forced to flinch down just enough to protect himself downstairs to offer Louis just a glimmer of an opening. He immediately shot the right hand he'd been waiting to throw, and it sailed over the rolled shoulder of the champion, landing flush. Braddock did a half turn and gently folded forward to the canvas the way a drunk would put himself to bed after a bender, dead to the world. A truly beautiful combination from the new champion.

 

I had it 115-115 a Draw. Good close fight.

 

I was trying to avoid even rounds, otherwise I probably would have ended with a draw as well.

 

So I watched a bunch of Salvador Sánchez fights, here's my take on them.

First was Sanchez vs Richard Rozelle, easy win for a young Sánchez. Showed off his skills and beat the **** outta him early. Forgettable fight imo. Was this a coming out fight, so to speak? Or at least the one that got his ranking? It was right before he fought López.

The 2nd was his title defence was against
Roberto Castanon. Limited fighter; easy to look good againsnt. He was basically just a Euro level guy, who got squashed when he stepped it up. Anyway, just another day in the office for Chava. I had it a complete shut out before the merciful stoppage.

Excellent defence, parries and blocks coupled with exquisite head-movement. Awesome movement, great counter-punching and what's more, is his uncanny calmness (which he is obviously renown for).

The third fight was his fight with Jose Chavez (where Chava was virtually an embryo) and he won in 7. In it he shows that he was always a splendid talent, and that, whilst very raw, was always very well schooled too. He did look very beatable here though. And I also don't know, but I imagine this is pretty rare.

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I'll probably watch a few more important fights other the next few days, but I have two 15 rounders to get one, one for the FOTF, and the other to finish the rounds with Ernesto Marcel.

 

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1974-02-16, WBA FW Title

Servio Tulio Lay 146-140
Harmodio Cedeno 146-142
Juan Carlos Tapia 146-140
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Round 1: Marcel 10-9, clear.
Round 2: Marcel 10-9, clear.
Round 3: Marcel 10-9, clear.
Round 4: Marcel 10-9, clear.
Round 5: Marcel 10-9, close.
Round 6: Marcel 10-9, clear
Round 7: Marcel 10-9, close.
Round 8: Argüello 10-9, close.
Round 9: Argüello 10-9, clear.
Round 10: Argüello 10-9, close. 97-93
Round 11: Argüello 10-9, swing.
Round 12: Marcel 10-9, clear.
Round 13: Marcel 10-9, swing.
Round 14: Marcel 10-9, clear.
Round 14: Marcel 10-9, clear.

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Too late to write. It was fun, you should watch it. It did get really hard to tell what round it was between 13/14 and there's footage missing somewhere. Grain of salt. Grain of salt.

 

Erik Morales versus Guty Espadas Jr. I

Had been meaning to watch this as I know there was a bit of controversy over it at the time: in the HBO team, Merchant had Espadas winning the fight, while Lederman also felt he deserved to retain his title via a draw.

I scored the fight to Morales, 116-113. I could perhaps see it closer, and maybe (at the most) even accept a draw as Lederman suggested, but I think Merchant was going over the top scoring this to Espadas outright. If anyone deserved to be declared a winner it was Erik, despite his terrible performance in the championship rounds. He just built up too big a lead early on. A few thoughts on the fight generally….

* Morales outclassed Espadas in the first seven rounds of this fight. He shipped a couple too many right hands, but was jabbing well to the body, keeping a cooler head in the close / inside exchanges where he was picking out the cleaner shots, and putting together some very smart and classy combinations, particularly at the end of rounds 4 and 7.

* Starting in round 8, however, he started to look very tired and laboured. He stopped jabbing to the body, became a little more passive in the inside exchanges, and in the last three rounds was offering hardly anything. Breathing heavily, back peddling without throwing shots, holding when Espadas got close to him etc. Shades of De la Hoya-Trinidad in that sense, and oddly this is the kind of score I tend to think Oscar won that fight by, despite him likewise giving away the last three rounds.

* Rounds 2 and 7 were the best of the fight - wouldn't have looked out of place in the Barrera-Morales trilogy.

* It's probably not until the 11th round that you can say that Espada's work was definitely the cleaner of the two (as I said, despite it being relatively close in the end, you could still see the gulf in class and talent). Before that, while he'd won rounds, it was mostly due to Morales fighting in spurts and getting outworked.

* Despite this, Espadas missed a golden opportunity and made it hard for himself by sticking with his plan to play the counter puncher for too long when it clearly wasn't working. He was waiting on Morales for too long in the early rounds, when he should have been more proactive.

* Morales was hurt and made to hold in the twelfth by a solid right hand over the top of his lazy jab.

Rounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 to Morales. Rounds 6, 10, 11 and 12 to Espadas, with the 8th round a 10-10. There were some close rounds: the 8th obviously, 3rd which I gave to Morales and the 10th as well which I scored for Espadas. It always looks better to finish, rather than start well, so I can see why this decision might have upset a few people. But ultimately you can't ignore those first seven rounds. Not one of Erik's greatest performances by any means, but I think he got the job done - just.

 

SAHAPROM NISHIOKA 1

9-10 NISHIOKA

19-19 SAHAPROM

28-29 NISHIOKA

37-39 NISHIOKA

47-48 SAHAPROM

57-57 SAHAPROM

67-66 SAHAPROM

77-75 SAHAPROM

86-85 NISHIOKA

96-94 SAHAPROM

106-103 SAHAPROM

115-113 NISHIOKA


RESULT: 115-113 SAHAPROM

Official scores: 116-112 115-113 (x2) Sahaprom

A very entertaining fight with Sahaprom edging a close decision, he was very dominate in the mid-rounds and stalked Nishioka and landed better shots throughout the fight. After the 9th, Nishioka began to stand with Sahaprom and was much more successful late on with him stunning Sahaprom with a great combination in the 10th. On a side note, the advertisements between the rounds were insane and stereotypically Japanese.

Also, who was the person they kept panning to throughout the fight in the white and black tracksuit, he also got in the ring after the fight and lifted Sahaprom’s hand in victory?

 

I watched this a bit ago, I found the first 3 immensely boring I can't lie.

 

Although I did have Sahaprom winning iirc.