the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Every so often I like digging out an old Gilette fight from their archives. Today I watched the Joey Giambra 10 rounder against Yama Bahama. The fight started out immediately with a clinch and I didn't think this boded well. The first 5 rounds were rife with clinches but they did eventually get into some good exchanges. Rounds 8, 9 & 10 were the best for action. However, Giambra just couldn't get past that speedy jab of Yama's. Even when he fell into a clinch with Joey, he at least jabbed his way into the clinch. Joey's jab was harder but slower and there were times when Yama would rip loose with sharp combos. Late in the fight Joey turned it on but Yama's speedy jabs and combos took it. No need to run a card here. Official scores were 6-3-1 (twice) and 5-4-1 all for Bahama. I was not so gracious to Joey. I scored the 4th even and only gave Joey the 10th for an 8-1-1 for Bahama. I feel the officials were very generous to Joey, but at least the deserving fighter got it.

 

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I was binge watching Morales and Pacquiao last week, but I put it on hold the last few days. Back on it, and I really wanted to share my thoughts on this one, and see what @McGrain, and others think of it.

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10 : 9
10 : 8
10 : 9
10 : 9
10 : 9 (

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Pacquiao was almost completely unknown to the commentary team. They didn't even know how to pronounce 'Pacquiao', and admitted after the stoppage they'd barely heard of him. And Pacquiao room the fight on two weeks notice, and had only been in the country for 10 days.

I think this is an amazing win in context. Although I don't know too much about Ledwaba, which is kinda what I wanted McGrain's opinion on. How do you rate this win?

Pre-Barrera Pacquiao was in a few really good fights.

 

Checked out another Oba Carr fight today. His title challenge against Oscar DeLaHoya, which I didn't score when I first saw it. Here we go.

Round 1: 10-8 Oscar (scores a knockdown)
Round 2: 10-9 Carr
Round 3: 10-9 Carr
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Oscar
Round 6: 10-9 Carr
Round 7: 10-7 Oscar (1 point deducted harshly for an unintentional headbutt and 1 point deducted for a low blow - again, a bit harsh)
Round 8: 10-9 Oscar
Round 9: 10-9 Carr
Round 10: 10-9 Oscar
Round 11: Oscar drops Carr and it is stopped before it could resume

Total (through 10 completed rounds): 96-92 Oscar (actual scores: 96-91, 95-92 and 97-90 all for Oscar)

Damn good fight. Carr was one of those hard-luck fighters that had all the tools but kept coming against ring stars that prevented him from gaining the crown. I always thought Hector Thompson was the ultimate hard-luck, having to meet Duran and Cervantes in his title bids. But Carr went up against Trinidad, Quartey and DeLaHoya in his bids. Not a soft one in the bunch.

 

Marvin Hagler v Vito Antuofermo 1

Good, competitive fight that started off looking like a procession for the champion elect but ended up turning into a bit of a nightmare. Hagler dominated the first half of the fight before Antuofermo came on strong over the second half. Nonetheless, I felt Hagler had built up enough of a cushion to drop a few rounds without it mattering too much.

The 10th and 12th were close and could conceivably have gone to Vito which would have made it close on my card had I gone that way but 144-142 Antuofermo I just can't see. An unsatisfactory result but not an entirely satisfactory performance from Hagler either.

He'd have to take it out of the judges' hands in his next crack at the title.

1 10-9
2 10-9
3 10-9
4 10-9
5 9-10 (Vito bullies his way to his first round, landing some decent shots)
6 10-9
7 10-9
8 9-10 (Antuofermo landed the better shots)
9 9-10 (close, Antuofermo just shaded it)
10 10-10 (tough round to score, neither fighter gaining a clear advantage)
11 10-9 (best two way action of the fight - Antuofermo started strongly and then Hagler came on to take it)
12 10-9 (close. Almost the reverse or the previous round with Hagler starting well before Vito comes back. Hagler edged it overall.)
13 9-10 (Vito lands his best punch of the fight that backs Hagler up. Good round for him.)
14 9-10 (another round to Vito)
15 10-9 (excellent final round action. Hagler takes a well-contested round and the overall contest)

Hagler 145-141 Antuofermo

Hagler wins 9 rounds to 5 with 1 even.

 

Okay, finally got around to it. Here's my card.

Paz-Haugen

1. H
2. H
3. P
4. H
5. P
6. H
7. H
8. P
9. H
10. P
11. P
12. H
13. H
14. H
15. P

9-6 Haugen, or 144-141 in his favor.

I just don't buy into what Paz brings to the table. He's a lot of flash and exaggerated movement punctuated by the odd wild, mostly inaccurate flurry and a series of fast jabs thrown in only the most general direction of his opponent when he can't think of anything else to do. He's a bull$%&@ artist.
Haugen, meanwhile, is more economical. He doesn't have a lot of power and doesn't put much on his punches and he doesn't have a lot of physicality about him. This can hurt him in the eyes of some, as his actions don't draw the eye as much, but he is far more accurate with his shots and outboxes Pazienza at nearly every turn. I just felt that Pazienza was banking on the idea that in his hometown he was going to get away with flailing away and landing two of every ten wild haymakers. That would perhaps get more attention than Haugen's steadier, more efficient if less dramatic style.

Turns out he was right.

 

Having said all this, it should also be noted I have long despised Pazienza and respect George's opinion highly, so take of my post what you will.

 

Just watched two hard-luck fighters. Fres Oquendo v Maurice Harris. Oquendo had many high profile fight decisions go against him that I have to check a few out. Whereas Harris, who reminds me of a heavyweight Dwight Davison with his physical dimensions and that laid back style, would score big upsets and find a way to lose when you thought he had it together. Here we go.

Round 1: 10-9 Oquendo
Round 2: 10-9 Harris
Round 3: 10-9 Oquendo
Round 4: 10-8 Oquendo (scores a knockdown)
Round 5: 10-9 Harris
Round 6: 10-10 Even
Round 7: 10-9 Harris
Round 8: 10-10 Even
Round 9: 10-9 Harris
Round 10: Oquendo stops Harris

Total (through 9 completed rounds): 86-86 Even. (actual scores: all 3 judges had it 86-84 for Harris)

Not much to this fight that I would recommend other than an exercise in sharpening your scoring skills.

 

Moore vs Johnson 5

Johnson has such a beautiful jab off the back foot, Moore tries to slip under it and fire the hooks.

Moore looks good countering on the front foot, but Johnson seems to be a step ahead of him and manages to drop Moore.

As Johnson tires a bit Moore is able to establish his own jab and of you can successfully jab with a jabber you cause them all manner of problems.

Johnson finds himself off balance which is not where you want to be when Moore is firing over the top right hands at you.

The finish is sudden and brutal. Moore hurts him, chases and unloads on him, the ref somehow let's Johnson carry on and Moore continues to unload forcing the stoppage.

This is actually a great show case of Moore's talent because with his style you would imagine a solid jab would cause him a lot of issues, and I imagine that's why he struggled so much as a MW member of the Row.

But this older Moore, much more patient, a better ring general, and superb timing, he's able to slip and counter early on, outjab late on, and bang him out at the finish.

 

Sugar Ray Leonard v Wilfred Benitez

Two of the brightest lights in the fight game at the time - young, undefeated supernaturally talented boxers putting it on the line. Title winning efforts don't get much more impressive than this.

The main differences between the two were Leonard's greater punch variety and his power. Benitez matched Leonard in speed and defense but couldn't make any impact on Leonard whereas Leonard had Wilfred in trouble on a number of occasions. Remarkable to think that Benitez didn't train for this fight.

1 10-9 (Good start by Ray)
2 10-9 (closer but Ray took it)
3 10-8 (flash knockdown from a jab)
4 10-9 (close. Ray landed the best punches of the round early on before Benitez started making him miss a bit and countering well with the jab)
5 10-10 (very tight round)
6 9-10 (Clash of heads leaves a nasty gash on Benitez's forehead. Benitez is starting to time Ray better. They didn't call him El Radar for nothing)
7 9-10 (Close. Benitez showed remarkable reflexes again, blocking and slipping Leonard's attacks. A little limited on the offensive side though.
8 10-9
9 10-9 (Best action of the fight - quick fire exchanges but Leonard gets the better of them)
10 9-10 (close. Benitez just edged it)
11 10-9 (Leonard has Benitez in trouble, Benitez fights back hard)
12 9-10 (close - either way kind of a round)
13 10-9
14 10-9
(136-130)
15 Leonard TKO Benitez (another knockdown and Leonard finishes Benitez off with Carlos Padilla intervening)

I had Leonard up 9 rounds to 4 with 1 even before the conclusive 15th round.

 

Woldemar from another site put me onto this. I had seen it before on a highlight reel, but watching it in it's entirety gives a whole view.

John Wesley Meekins v Mohammed Kawoya

The 1st round belongs to Meekins 10-9 as he controls the fight with a strong jab. The 2nd round I scored a 10-8 as Meekins drops Kawoya. My scoring is rather conservative because Meekins also hurts Kawoya twice more before the end of the round. Conceivably, I can see one scoring this a 10-7 as well. The 3rd round was crazy. Kawoya drops a complacent Meekins, then Meekins drops Kawoya. After arising, Kawoya and Meekins are going at it with Kawoya's back to the ropes and referee Paul Venti jumps in - prematurely IMO - to stop the fight. The thing is, he jumps in while they are exchanging and Kawoya's last right hand drops Meekins hard. Venti doesn't see the punch nor Meekins down because he jumped between them facing Kawoya. When he does notice Meekins crawling to the ropes he stubbornly will not give ground and states "I already stopped the fight!" He was probably right on that point but I thought Kawoya was still making a fight of it and was surprised to see him jump between them. A crazy ending to a fight that shouldn't have ended when it did and God only knows if Meekins could have beaten the count or survived Kawoya's followup, because there was a lot of time left in that round. Absolutely crazy round and well worth watching as a real ring oddity.

 

Does anyone here know of a good Benitez fight, where Wilfred mostly fights off the ropes? I loved it when he did it vs Palomino, and I wanted to see more of it since, but I've never found it.