the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Don’t worry about the photographic memory thing.

I forgot something once, but it was so long ago I don’t even remember what it was.

 

Today, I rewatched the Pernell Whitaker v Dio Hurtado fight and I'm still shaking my head at the politics that went on, the favoritism by the announcers and the mess my card is in. To begin going in, the Whitaker-DeLaHoya fight was probably already inked by this time and Hurtado was a real cherry-picked opponent. Even the biased announcers joked about the 'newly-minted #10 welterweight contender Dio Hurtado'. Newly-minted because he was actually a junior welterweight brought up to fight Whitaker in what they thought would be a simple outing for the champ before the ODLH mega-fight. And indeed, after this bout Hurtado went right back to 140 and fought there for the next 5 years. So there were a lot of accommodations made for Whitaker on this fight. Here we go.

Round 1: 10-8 Hurtado (scores a knockdown)
Round 2: 10-9 Hurtado
Round 3: 10-9 Whitaker
Round 4: 10-9 Hurtado
Round 5: 9-9 (scored for Hurtado but he loses a point for hitting behind the head)
Round 6: 10-8 Hurtado (scores a knockdown)
Round 7: 10-8 Whitaker (Hurtado docked another point for hitting behind the head)
Round 8: 10-9 Whitaker
Round 9: 10-9 Hurtado (scored it Even, but Whitaker is docked a point for hitting behind the head)
Round 10: 10-9 Hurtado
Round 11: Whitaker stops Hurtado

Total through 10 completed rounds: 95-91 Hurtado (actual scores: 96-91, 94-92 and 93-92 all for Hurtado)

Man, where do I start? First of all the announcers stated after six rounds that they had Whitaker up 56-55. I said, 'What?!' I had Hurtado up by 5 points at that time. Man, listening to them one would think that Whitaker was coasting to victory. I also noted that in the 7th when Hurtado nailed Whitaker one of them said, "Look, he hit Sweet-Pea when Pernell was trying to tap gloves with him." He clearly was not. They had already tapped gloves and the bout resumed but it just seemed to me in my paranoia state that their thumbs were on the scale for Whitaker and citing the most bizarre rubbish. I will also say - again probably seeing conspiracy everywhere - that when Whitaker went down along the ropes in the 5th round that that was a legitimate knockdown that was disallowed. Regardless, Hurtado may have been wild and sloppy, but his hard flurries kept him in this fight along with the fact that the Whitaker camp underestimated their cherry-pick. And one could almost hear a collective sigh from the ODLH camp that their mega-fight was still intact when Whitaker stopped Hurtado in the 11th.

 

@McGrain, fouls and controversy aside, was Casimero-Lazarte a decent fight?

 

I believe that’s the only Whitaker fight I still haven’t seen in full. No plans to, either.

 

It's a good fight - worth a watch.

 

Scar, here's my view of it (watched without the sound on):

Pernell Whitaker v Diosbelys Hurtado

1 8-10 (sensational start - Hurtado puts Whitaker down with the very first punch of the fight. Whitaker is unhurt but embarassed, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Hurtado gets a telling off from the ref for rabbit punching)
2 9-10
3 9-10
4 10-9 (first good round for Whitaker)
5 9-9 (point deduction against Hurtado)
6 8-10 (Whitaker down again and behind 53-58 on my card at the halfway point)
7 10-9 (even round but another point deduction against Hurtado)
8 10-9
9 9-10 (point deduction against Whitaker in an otherwise even round)
10 9-10
(91-96)
11 Whitaker TKO Hurtado

Not sure how Harold Lederman had Whitaker up by a point going into the 11th. I can see the cards being closer than we both had it but not close enough to put Whitaker ahead. De La Hoya must have been shitting himself watching this one.

 

Jel, when you mentioned Harold Lederman I was a bit confused, so I went back and checked and saw there was indeed different telecasts of this fight. I happen to watch the telecast with Dave Bontempo commentating. And now I see that you are right. Harold had it 93-92 going into the 11th with Whitaker up. Man, I just can't see what they were watching. You and I - who have no agenda - had it nearly identical. Not saying they did either, but I just feel considerations were just automatically granted to Whitaker, whether conscious about it or not.

 

Roberto Duran - Carlos Palomino

Round 1 - 10-9
Round 2 - 10-9
Round 3 - 10-9
Round 4 - 9-10*
Round 5 - 10-9
Round 6 - 10-8
Round 7 - 10-9*
Round 8 - 10-9*
Round 9 - 9-10*
Round 10 - 10-9

Solid bout, good show of bodywork / inside fighting from both men although Duran nearly always out hustled him there as to be expected of Manos De Piedra. Rounds 4,7,8,9 were close, could've gone either way depending on how you judge of course.

 

Michael Spinks v Larry Holmes 1

Great performance from Spinks and an underwhelming one from Larry. Some people make take issue with my scoring from rounds 6 through 12 where I didn't give Holmes a single round. Having looked at Eye on the Ring I see everyone gave Larry round 9 so I'm prepared to say I may have got that one wrong. I'll rescore that round another time just to check how I feel about it second time around.

But I'm absolutely confident Spinks won this fight deservedly. He took the initiative and took the fight to Holmes, who was strangely passive (the exact opposite of both men's performances in the rematch). Holmes should really have no complaints with the official scoring in this fight which, if anything, was a little tighter than I thought it should have been. Holmes had a strong start and finish but Spinks really owned the middle rounds and early championship rounds to cement his victory.

1 9-10 (close)
2 9-10 (close again, tentative)
3 10-9
4 10-9 (Spinks bossing Holmes)
5 9-10 (close)
6 10-9
7 10-9 (masterful performance by Spinks)
8 10-9 (close)
9 10-9 (close)
10 10-9
11 10-9
12 10-9
13 9-10 (close)
14 9-10
15 9-10 (close)

Spinks 144-141 Holmes

 

Roberto Duran - Ray Leonard

Round 1 - 10-9
Round 2 - 10-9
Round 3 - 10-9
Round 4 - 10-9
Round 5 - 9-10
Round 6 - 9-10
Round 7 - 9-10
Round 8 - 9-10
Round 9 - 10-9
Round 10 - 10-9
Round 11 - 10-9
Round 12 - 10-9
Round 13 - 10-9
Round 14 - 9-10
Round 15 - 9-10

144 - 141

Thought I'd revisit Duran - Leonard I but score it, still as good as the 1st time seeing it.

 

Michael Carbajal KO 7 Muangchai Kittakasem

I have to believe there's more than meets the eye with Kittakasem considering what we see here. He's courageous as hell, but the announcers make note of how dry he is even a couple rounds into the bout, theorizing that he's dehydrated. They might be right.

Carbajal for his part features that tight, long,armed guard of his and shakes the champion almost every time he hits him. It had to be frustrating for Kittakasem who on a couple occasions would win the first two and a half minutes of the round and then Carbajal would lash out and drop him to take a 10-8 round.

This pattern repeats in the sixth, when Carbajal dumps the champion hard with less than a minute left in the round. He survives but is immediately hurt and dropped again at the start of the seventh. The ref stops it without a count and the partisan Phoenix crowd explodes in revelation.

Gonna watch a few more Carbajal things.

 

I dunno how much you've seen, but he was in some absolutely brilliant fights. The Chang fight is probably top 30 on my list (I don't remember though, haven't looked at it in ages).

 

That will be on today's menu then......