the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Great 2 see someone post on Carter. I'm a big fan but have never gotten around 2 this one. Thnx 4 going thru it and giving a thoughtful, detailed description. Always enjoyed Carter. Great and very entertaining boxer.

 

William, the fight is in 4 parts on youtube and the film isn't bad at all. Enjoy.

 

Will make it a priority.

 

Watched another classic from Madison Square Garden. The bout between Jose Stable and Charley Scott. Let me tell you, the ripping sound of leather was like music to my ears.

Round 1: Scott
Round 2: Stable
Round 3: Stable
Round 4: Stable
Round 5: Stable
Round 6: Stable
Round 7: Scott
Round 8: Scott
Round 9: Stable
Round 10: Even

Total: 6-3-1 Stable (actual scores: 6-4, 5-4-1 and 8-1-1 all for Stable)

These two should have just made the bout in a phone booth. They just laid their heads on each other and banged away with the cleanest, fastest shots you've ever seen. I'd like to say rounds 4 and 10 were about the best, but to tell you the truth, they were all good. What a fight!

 

You've been watching a lot of slugfests lately. What's on tomorrow's schedule?

 

Whatever the tide washes in, my man. I just hunt until I find something. Those last two I scored are tough to beat. Man, those 10 rounders back then would put shows today to shame.

 

I was perusing youtube today for something to sink my teeth into and I was stunned to find this fight. Never knew it would surface but Ironbar downloaded it only yesterday. I waited 45 years to see this. I remember when it took place, read all the accounts on it and just assumed it was as it was written. Well...maybe not.

Vacant WBA welterweight championship - Angel Espada v Clyde Gray

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

Total: 144-142 Gray (actual scores: 146-143, 147-139 and 148-134 all for Espada)

I should never trust anything until I lay my eyeballs on it. Luis Sulbaran, the judge who had it 148-134 should have just stayed home and mailed his card in. He wasn't planning on watching the fight to begin with with a card like that. This was a damn close fight and a draw would have been OK with me. With everything that was written on it (I must admit all by a Puerto Rican correspondent by Ring mag) I was expecting Espada to explode at any minute. Well, he didn't. It was Gray who forced the whole issue and had Espada hanging on like a lost lover by fight's end. I would love to hear anyone else's card on this one, but be forewarned. The vid is from Canadian TV who lean towards Gray and the audience absolutely scream at anything Espada throws, even a jab that comes up short, so don't be swayed.

 

Do u know about my new boxing playlist, Rareboxing? If you're looking 4 more stuff 2 sink your teeth into. There's even some of those great 60s 10-rounders we were talking about yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLn7KeKBMCt9n8HLu6nv8-w

 

Yes, I already scored the Thompson-Ortega bout and Giardello-Rivero. These were outstanding fights, William.

 

Oh, ok. Glad u enjoyed them. Just didn't want u 2 miss out on them unnecessarily.

 

Roberto Duran v Lou Bizzarro

This was the only one of Duran's lightweight title fights I'd never watched in full before and I have to say... it worked better than sleeping pills last night.

During this period of his lightweight reign, Duran had a series of defenses against runners - first this one against Bizzaro, then against Vilomar Fernandez (who was a bit better than that description as Alexis Arguello would find out the following year) and Edwin Viruet - they were fighters who largely came to survive and make things as awkward for Duran as possible by running and holding.

Bizarro, who could have doubled for Andy Kaufman during his wrestling years, had a favourite combination in this fight of left hand tickle followed by a full hug when Duran got close. Duran persevered and eventually got his rewards, first in the 10th and then in the 14th and, for Bizzarro, final round.

I remember watching the KO many times and always wondering why Waldemar Schmidt allowed Bizzarro to take that final knockdown - it seemed completely excessive as he could barely stand. I now know after having watched the previous 13 turgid rounds that he did this just to make doubly sure that Bizzarro wouldn't make it to his feet and then run off again.

My scorecard reflects two things:
1. Duran was the aggressor and even though it wasn't always effective aggression, it was enough to take rounds
2. Bizzarro deserved to lose a point each round for doing nothing except running and holding.

I was even less generous to Leoncio Ortiz in my scoring of that fight recently but this one makes me feel like rescoring that and giving Ortiz some rounds out of courtesy as he fought far better than Bizzarro.

In fairness, I did give Bizzarro a couple of rounds - the 7th where he 'knocked' Duran down twice and the 11th, where he landed a series of right hand leads as Duran rushed in to try and finish him off after having scored two genuine knockdowns of his own in the previous round. Bizzarro showed some heart here, not just a fast pair of heels.

But having watched this fight I think I've now finally solved the riddle of why Duran quit against Leonard - he had an in-fight flashback to this fight and couldn't be bothered with a re-run. I'm joking, of course, but that was just about the longest 14 rounds I've watched.

1 10-9
2 10-9
3 10-9
4 10-9
5 10-9
6 10-9
7 9-10 (Bizarro catches Duran with a couple of good counters. Duran is down twice in the round - the first time is not acknowledged by the ref and the second is ruled a slip. I think they were both slips but Bizzarro landed a punch each time)
8 10-9
9 10-9
10 10-7 (Duran puts Bizzarro down twice in quick succession and Waldemar Schmidt could really have stopped it here - poor Lou looked out on his feet both times he got up. The bell was the only thing that saved him)
11 9-10
12 10-9 (Bizzarro down again but ruled a slip which is a fair ruling)
13 10-9
(128-117)
14 Duran KO Bizzarro
(finally, Duran flattens Bizzarro for good)

 

Miguel Canto vs. Martin Vargas I (9/17/77)
CCvCCvvvCCvCCvC (144-141 Canto)

This is a good fight. Never breathtaking or particularly violent, but good, competitive action all the way through. In Chile it's often described as a robbery, and I remember an interview in which Vargas said that Canto didn't win a single round after the second. I'm not seeing it. Canto did control the bout very early on, but after that it was back and forth, a series of exchanges that either guy was capable of winning.

In the first couple of rounds Vargas seemed a bit tentative, and Canto happily zipped in with multiple hooks before slipping back out, sometimes before Vargas could even throw a counter in response. He was darting all over the place and it looked like we could see another masterpiece to rank with the Furesawa performance. After that, though, Vargas started to match Canto when they'd flurry, and Canto seemed a little hesitant to exchange for a bit. Vargas would miss, but instead of getting a counter in return he'd just keep swinging and sometimes catch the champion. He had quick, heavy hands and also could jab with Canto. As the Oguma fights made clear, if you can do that then you're going to give Canto a tough night.

So how did Canto overcome this? It wasn't some strategical masterstroke or anything like that. He just hung in there, picked his spots with the jab, and kept exchanging, counting on his superior speed and reflexes to win the majority of them. He rarely pulled out a brilliant single shot, either as a lead or counter. Most of his best punches were the second or third that he'd throw. He also showed a pretty good chin, and Canto's chin isn't something you hear about a whole lot. I gave Canto both the tenth and the twelfth, but each of those rounds saw Vargas land one of his best shots of the night. In the tenth he pawed Canto to the ropes and nailed him with a hard overhand right. Canto backed up, countered Vargas's next shot with a nice upstairs-downstairs combo, and shortly thereafter missed with a 1-2 but came back up with a perfect left hook. In the twelfth Vargas caught him with a wicked left hook as Canto emerged from a crouch off the ropes, but it didn't seem to stun Canto and I thought he managed to take a close one. I can see how someone would think Vargas won the fight but even so I wouldn't call it a robbery. A nice performance from an underrated boxer, and a good performance from Canto - not one of his best on tape, but enough to take this, I thought.

 

Watched a fight today for no other reason other than Vito Antuofermo fights are a guilty pleasure of mine. I love his blue-collar style, his assets and his shortcomings. He would make up for his propensity for cuts with a rock-jaw. His lack of KO power with deceptively fast hands. His lack of footwork with pristine conditioning and stamina and an in-your-face style. Anyways, today Vito Antuofermo v Mike Hallacy was on tap. Hallacy really offered nothing but dogged heart. No sense in running a card here. I had it 100-90 for Vito, which I think was generous to Mike, because that 10th round could have been a 10-8 due to the battering Vito dished out. I don't know the official cards but I would be surprised if it varied much from mine (although Don Dunphy felt the first round was even). Also, I don't think Hallacy's corner would have been out of line to pull Mike out anywhere around the 8th round on, because he hadn't won a round (on my card), his face looked like hamburger and he wasn't putting anything up that would deter Vito. No recommendations to watch this fight, as it was one-way traffic. Like I said, just a guilty pleasure for me.

 

guilty pleasure? I'm a proud Vito fan.

 

Ya gotta love Vito. And to this day, I will always say Vito got robbed in that first Alan Minter fight.