This was the first of two exciting fights I watched back to back the other night. This content is protected 1. The Rock was more cautious than is typical of him. In addition, his blows lack their usual snap as well. Graziano. 2. Slowly paced. Graziano attempted a right hand. Burton opening up with a flurry. Burton. 3. Graziano landed a decent straight right in the corner. A brief, good exchange took place to close the round. Good stuff, but it gets better. Graziano. 4. For what seemed like eternity in the 4th, Graziano kept Burton on the ropes, and just belted away at him with one right cross after another, and occasionally a right hook. Burton still kept it competitive anyway, and from time to time opened up with huge flurries. They were fast and solid, but did not phase Rocky. Awesome round. The best I'd seen in a long time. Graziano. 5. Early, a roundhouse right sent Burton back into the ropes and it's round 4 all over again, although for less amount of time. The commentator said that Burton almost went down; he didn't. My dad said that he'd had too many Pabst Blue Ribbons, lol. Another fine round. Graziano. 6. A right hand buckled Burton's knees while Burton was trapped on the ropes. Rocky capitalized once again as in the previous two rounds, and Burton continued to reply with flurries, although they were less frequent now and lacked the solidity that they earlier had. Burton did muster a very good and surprising rally late in the round, after being hit with a right hand by Rocky. Graziano. 7. By now Burton looked seasoned for the KO. However, he did come out rather aggressively. A left hook to the body dropped Burton to one knee. A left hook jolted Burton a short while later and a light right hand by Burton put Burton down for the second time. Burton, with his hand on the top rope, struggled a helluva lot to get up. He did beat the count, but was far too shaky. The fight was wisely terminated. The final score was 5-1 for the Rock, going into the 7th. However, Burton kept the fight very competitive almost right up to the KO. Does anybody think this was a fix? I noticed in the comments on youtube that most everyone thought this was a fix. The opening two rounds were uncharacteristically slow and tactical of Rocky and the KO in round 7 looked suspect, and that was the basis for a fix. Problem is simple imo. Rounds 3-6 were far too action-filled to be fought in a fix. Thoughts anybody? Verdict: A rather slow and unimpressive start, but it ultimately worked up into a fight that turned into a thriller, at least for a couple of rounds. Pretty good fight.
I enjoyed the Pabst Blue Ribbon commercial again. I thought the commentator was rather dull, but I can understand why he had his job. He managed to slip in a number of references to Pabst Blue Ribbon at odd moments in the action. I am surprised he didn't say something like "Burton is on unsteady legs, just like you will be after enjoying one too many Pabst Blue Ribbons." As for the fight, I had Burton doing all right early and gave him the first three rounds, but close. The fight went south for him in the 4th when Graziano gave him a pretty bad going over. Burton was never the same afterwards. I had Graziano winning the 4th, 5th, and 6th, and he certainly would have been ahead on points going into the 7th. I saw no evidence of a fix. Burton was running out of gas and the final right looked solid to me. I disagree with you on one point. I think Burton did not regain his feet before ten. He looked to have been counted out. On the fix theory, I don't think there is much to explain. Burton was a shopworn, puffed up, welter, with a light punch (12 KO's in 86 fights) going against a middle who was crude but could punch. Burton had some top performances several years earlier, against lightweights and welters like Williams and Bratton and Gavilan, but was now severely regressing. He would lose most of his remaining fights. Graziano? Looked a plodder with not much defense and a limited style, but who had a punch. Thanks for posting. A fun fight to watch.
I love those beer commercials too, they crack me up. Good line you thought of there. Oh, I don't think Burton had regained his feet. I agree, I don't think it was a fix. That right hand punch just didn't look too hard. Maybe it was the accumulation of punches, and Burton would've gone down by anything at this point? Your welcome, we had a good time as well.
That commentator is great, isn't he? He must have said five times during that fight: "Gene Burton, who is having the worst year of his career..."
Definitely. I'm taking fights chronologically though, but it shouldn't be too long until I get to that one.
No fix,Rocky just did his thing. Burton was a smaller guy with no punch on the slide. classic Rocky fight.
