Yota Sato UD10 Kohei Kono Pretty cool this, two of the pre-eminent superflies of the last decade squaring off at the decade's beginning while on their way up. Sato probably edges out Kono for legacy and this fight is probably the difference, which I quite like. Sato is slender and bouncy, doesn't look like a natural fighter in that he seems too fragile, but he deals pretty well with Kono's pressure early and as we know, was only stopped once - by Wangek no less, so no shame there. First round was interesting and if it's a template fo the fight, I'll be very happy - Sato picking off his man while moving with interesting punches, including a lead right, and a lead left hook to the body - Kono meanwhile is fighting his way inside to land bunches. Kono's problem is that Sato doesn't give it up every time - sometimes he stands and fights, so the fight is broad, there's a lot going on. Kono takes a great first round though. Close but clear. Oh wow, gorgeous counter right uppercut while he's being crowded in the second puts Sato in command, that was delicious. Kono buzzed but comes on, disorganised though, and Sato is hitting him quite a bit. Wow what a beautiful punch. He got him with it again! Sato showboating a bit. He his handing out a beating in this round though. Kono going nowhere. Sato looks so slender at the weight, amazing he managed another three-ish years at the weight. His feet are fast - he could keep ahead of Kono if he wanted to but I suspect he doesn't have the energy to do it for ten or twelve and knows it. Kono warned for low blows; he's done well this round in re-exerting his pressure but Sato landed the better stuff I think. Big fourth coming up. It's Kono's swarming pressure versus Sato's bodywork. Oof, close round, probably Kono gathers it in the final thirty seconds but it's h highly arguable round. Kono's left hands to the body are defining the fight and that round but I think that Kono got just enough done. Sato changes up - nice change, nice timing - and spears his man with long punches from outside. Kono doesn't buy the inside nearly enough to take the round. New factor in the sixth - Kono lands some looping rights, a lot of them in fact, from mid-range, or lands them on the gloves and arrives behind them. It's a great new punch to deliver in earnest in this round (he had thrown them before but not so many or so hard). Again, Sato lands the better punches in the round, but this time not quite enough I don't think. Sato opens the seventh with a great right hand then pivoting off it; he then lands a low blow hard enough and low enough that Kono needs to rest. Interesting, because it is Kono who has been drawing warnings for low blows generally. Not sure if this is Sato warning him off or not but it definitely makes it tougher for the ref to take points away from Kono should he transgress again. He takes a LOT of rest. A close eighth is won by Kono and then Sato finds that uppercut again early in the ninth; it sets him up for the round which he wins clear with hard single shots. He's beyond losing now for me, barring fireworks. Sato packs up the tenth too; his bodywork has clearly borne fruit. This was a delightful little gem. A real knock-down-drag-out tactically fascinating affair between two fighters who would go on to be prominent men in the division. Tactically it was as absorbing as they get when it comes to prospects. Sato has really impressive feet for all their sometimes uneconomical. He maybe gets hit a little too much inside, but his bodywork is outstanding for a butterfly and he wins almost all seconds that are fought at any distance. Feet were the difference in this fight. Sato:2*,3,5,7,9,10. Kono:1,4,6,8. *Kono down 96-93 SATO Official: 97-93, 97-93, 96-93.
Yota Sato UD12 Suriyan Kaikanha Sato's big night in the best win of his career. Kaikanha was coming off wins against Nob Nashiro and Tomas Rojas and was riding high. Kaikanha doesn't work like Kono did in that he's not relentlessly coming forards, rather he is holding his ground and inviting Sato to contest the space. This is risky because it allows Sato the control of distance but it doesn't permit him the same countering opportunities. Interesting balance and it makes for a very close first. The second is equally close, Kaikanha maybe showing a little more urgency with his jab and lands the best punch fo the fight, a snapping left hook on the ear after Sato over-extended. The third though, is a disaster for Kaikanha. Sato tattoos him early with a very hard one-two; he then scores with jabbin impunity. Kaikanha becomes a little anxious, maybe, over-extending outside, rough-housing inside - with a minute remaining Sato blasts a right hand into Kaikanha and follows up with a wild sequence of punches that more bundles Kaikanha to the ground than anything else. With five seconds left in the round a counter-right drops him again. Hard to see Kaikanha coming back form this. Worth noting that on the first KD they both connected with rights - Sato ate Kaikanha's though. Very clever from Sato in the fourth. He doesn't do so well looking for the knockout, Kaikanha really seems to have recovered, so he goes back to moving and wins the round jousting and hitting to the body. Basically, he goes back to boxing. Kaikanha wins the fifth. The fight is not over. He wins the sixth too - pretty great rally. In the seventh he gets head to chest often but is turned and hit too much to win the round. WBC open scoring bs shows Sato ahead on two cards by way of the KDs - my card - and on one card, flat out even having lost most of the rounds. Can't see that but Kaikanha has done a great job in battling back and making Sato fight his fight - up close where volume tends to trump accuracy. Note that this wasn't Sato's fight in the first instance though. All this makes the ninth key and Sato wins it with gutsy infighting, showing surprising strength and an excellent precision body-attack. It's turned into a very tough, grueling fight. Real gut and chin check for Sato this. Sato:1,3*,4,7,9,11. Kaikanha:2,5,6,8,10,12. *Kaikanha down twice. 115-111 Sato Official: 114-112, 114-112, 116-110.
In Chul Baek KO9 Chong Pal Park Saw this mentioned in another thread and thought I'd watch. Fun fight. Not terribly artful, either of these two. Park, fresh off losing his title, comes out busier and looks sharper but it doesn't last. Baek smashes him to the canvas hard in round three and from that point on does little but absorb a terrific beating. He's insanely brave, often stumbling trying to merely stay upright. He rallies here and there, rocking Baek occasionally and taking (I think) the sixth as he takes advantage of the lull in Baek's attack, but Baek can hardly miss. Once Baek discovers his jab, as sloppy as it may look, he controls things, dumping Park along the ropes in the 7th and 8th. Park's corner really should have waved this off a round or so before it ended, but finally in the ninth another combination sends the bloodied Park against the ropes yet again and the ref finally decides he's seen enough. It's Park's last fight. I'd like to say this was the dawning of a great run for Baek but frankly he's just not very impressive. Slow, sloppy, defensively deficient.........awkward in all the right places though, and that does help when you don't have much else.
Donnie Nietes D12 Aston Palicte This is cool, Palicte, nine years younger than Nietes, always dreamed of emulating him and now he's fighting him. Andrew Ward puts it well - Palicte is bigger and stronger. His also the bigger hitter and he's no slower. First round, shanus, not much on. Donnie throws a one-two there but it's not lain, it's to the gloves, he's not excited about it. Nietes wins a close round. He's landing more punches. Ooof, second is close, good grief, the thing is, Palicte isn't booming Nietes but he's landing the harder shots, no doubt about that. Nietes meanwhile is out-landing Palicte clearly but a lot of these punches feel cuffing. For now, it's Nietes bizarre control of the range against a rangier fighter versus how many punches Palicte can actually land. On the other hand, Nietes lands a hard right hand in the second and a good left hook in the third - this is the balance, I think. There's nothing in it when it's Nietes reaching jab/cuffing power versus Palicte's less frequently landed harder shots, but when NIetes can land a single hard punch of his own in the round, it tips it over for me. Scoring conundrum this, in a fight where NIetes is clearly fistically superior but without question inferior physically. He's off to a handy 3-1 lead after four. Nietes beats Palicte up a bit in the fifth. His very presence seems to be acting as part feint, inviting punches that maybe aren't there and then counters the indecision or the miss. But in the end, what Nietes does that Palicte can't cope with is judge the range with such precision. He wastes almost nothing. Bit of a master of his craft - but, is he looking a little fatigued? He's very old for a sub-feather and he took a weird stumble in round six. Either way, I have Palicte nicking the seventh on a hard right hand and he changes up a bit in the eighth, too, wide swinging to the body - he also seems to be slightly, slightly further away looking to move in behind a punch, and he lands a couple. Nientes wants to be a little careful he doesn't let his man back in. He does let him back in, and I was impressed with Palicte for that spell. He didn't do it with the spray-gun, either, he picked his punches and although out-jabbed, landed the better stuff - but the old wonder came back and closed out the fight with great skill and clarity. Robbery? Just about. Certainly the 116-112 card for Palicte is loopy. As an aside, Lederman, who I enjoyed over the years, was less than a year from his death while judging this fight. It does not go well. He sounds pretty lost. Nietes:1,2,3,5,6,10,11,12. Palicte:4,7,8,9. 116-112 Nietes Official: 114-114, 112-116, 118-110.
George, I saw this first time around and felt Boza won. I still do but unfortunately my scorecard doesn't reflect that. Like you said, many close rounds. Here we go. Round 1: 10-9 Boza Round 2: 10-10 Even Round 3: 10-10 Even Round 4: 10-9 Alli Round 5: 10-9 Boza Round 6: 10-9 Boza Round 7: 10-9 Alli Round 8: 10-9 Boza Round 9: 10-9 Alli Round 10: 10-9 Alli Total: 96-96 Draw (actual scores: 96-95 Alli, 97-93 Boza and 95-95 Draw) I would have preferred to abstain from that 10th round. Alli fought like a scared rabbit, but unfortunately - in my view - although Boza chased he didn't land anything. A crap way to end a good fight. And I still feel Boza should have felt like a winner.
Boza got a crack at Hector Camacho's WBC Lightweight title after this fight so you weren't alone in feeling Boza looked like the winner. Ali's running obviously did him no favours!
Larry Holmes - Ken Norton Round 1: 9-9 Round 2: 10 - 9 Round 3:9-10 Round 4:10-9 Round 5:10-9 Round 6: 9-10 Round 7: 9-10 Round 8: 9-10 Round 9: 10-9 Round 10: Round 11:9-10 Round 12:9-9 Round 13:10-9 Round 14:9-10 Round 15:10-9 Questionable Larry Holmes decision, still probably the best 15th round I've seen
James Toney v Prince Charles Williams Haven't seen this one since 1994. Looking forward to it as I remember it being an excellent fight and performance by Toney. 1 9-10 (close) 2 10-9 (sweet combos from Toney) 3 10-9 (Toney bossing the action) 4 9-10 (good hustle from Williams) 5 10-10 6 10-9 7 10-9 8 9-9 (point taken from Toney for hitting after the bell) 9 10-9 10 10-9 11 10-9 (107-102) 12 Toney KO Williams Williams did well over the first 5 rounds before Toney stepped it up and took control. This fight was four months before the Jones fight and Toney looked great here. So why the **** did he decide to pile on 40 pounds after this performance and eat his way out of any chance he had against Roy. Damn you, James! Damn you!
Jel, here's how I had it, though my computer at work has no speakers so wasn't aware of the point deduction.
Muangchai Kittikasem - Jung Koo Chang Jung Koo Chang's final bout before retiring, a last hail mary as the Korean legend makes way for the rising star. Great fight and a great last showing from Chang, although showing his age of course, painful to see him go out the way he does after a hard fought bout and incredible career. Round 1 : 10-9 Round 2 : 9-10 Round 3 : 10-9 Round 4 : 10-9 Round 5 : 8-10 Round 6 : 9-10 Round 7 : 9-10 Round 8 : 10-9 Round 9 : 9-10 Round 10 : 10-9 Round 11 : 8-10 Round 12 : Kittikasem wins by TKO
To be honest I half arsed the Norton - Holmes scorecard, head wasn't entirely on the fight and I just want to post to get me into writing on boxing forums again. Not the best obviously but had it there so it's just something to put up.
Ricardo Lopez - Rosendo Alvarez II Seen but never scored, hear people cry robbery so Round 1 : 10-9 Round 2 : 10-9 Round 3 : 9-10 Round 4 : 9-10 Round 5 : 10-9 Round 6 : 9-10 Round 7 : 10-9 Round 8 : 9-10 Round 9 : 9-10 Round 10 : 9-10 Round 11 : 9-10 A flourish in the last 10 seconds doesn't make up for the rest of the round Round 12 : 10-9 115-113 for Alvarez.