the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

I had it 116-113 Kovalev. He should have got the nod, really.

 

James Toney vs Mike McCallum I
Rounds won/Even
Toney - 2,6,8,10,11,12
McCallum - 1,3,5,7,9
Even - 4

My Scorecard
(T)115-114(M)
Winner: Toney

A great tactical fight & an underrated classic. Marvin Hagler (RIP) on commentary was highly impressed & entertained by both fighters. Both guys came to fight & showcased great skills. McCallum hung tough & showed his experience, but Toney's aggression paid off. A classic case of 'Youth vs Experience' - with youth winning it this time.​

 

Decided to get back to a fight I have seen once before and decided that it was long enough. So I picked one of controversy and division, Oscar de la Hoya vs Felix "Tito" Trinidad.

So the first time I saw this, I had Tito win barely, like barely. The fact that this was as important as it was because of what was on paper and the WBC and IBF titles involved, and the Lineal Championship on the line.

Both undefeated, a Mexico vs Puerto Rico Rivalry, and the dubbed the "Fight of the Millennium", this fight had a lot going behind it.

This fight was good, technical, but man, this fight is interesting because of bad reasons. But that's unique from what normally happens.

De la Hoya - Trinidad
Rd1= 10-9 (Good pace and start set by De la Hoya)
Rd2= 10-9 (Big shoulders? WTF you talking about George Foreman. lol)
Rd3= 10-9 (Loads of flurries, but only like 1 or 2 land)
Rd4= 10-9 (More activity from Tito, but not fully enough)
Rd5= 9-10 (Better landed shots from Tito, feels that Oscar is starting to feel "too comfortable")
Rd6= 10-9 (Great Jab from Oscar)
Rd7= 10-9 (Oscar coast round, did enough to win round)
Rd8= 9-10 (Cleaner shots from Tito. Oscar's flurries barely landed)
Rd9= 10-9 (Built early round lead and just maintained not getting in danger)
Rd10= 9-10 (Best Tito Round)
Rd11= 9-10 (Oscar thinks he has this easily won, coasting round. Tito had a strong start)
Rd12= 9-10 (Tito did good but couldn't get the finish)

Total= 115-113 Oscar De la Hoya

Actual Results:
114-114 Draw (I can get it)
115-114 Tito (Huh? a 10-10 round?)
115-113 Tito (Maybe)

So yeah, I had Oscar winning it. I was surprised after rescoring everything. I can 100% understand why people would have Tito win or a Draw, De la Hoya lost himself that fight, was too confidant and lost rounds that others can see that he was evading and disengaging. Tito took advantage in late rounds. It was close, but I get it.

Bummer that Oscar lost even though according to my card he did enough, but you shouldn't have coasted and trusted the judges. I get it.

 

Thomas Hearns vs Roberto Duran

So I know what happens in this bout. I've seen the KO hundreds of times on its own. But the history of the fact that these are 2 of the 4 Kings going at it for the first time and they had on paper styles able to make a great fight since these 2 are already at this point being all time greats.

Anyway,

Hearns - Duran
Rd1= 10-7 (GREAT ROUND FOR HEARNS! Too quick and too fast for Duran. Surprised and amazed how neutralized Duran was by Hearns' range. 1 clean hard knock down, and one where Hearns just overwhelmed Duran. Duran was hurt bad and even walked to the wrong corner.)
Rd2= KO (Domination, Duran never fully recovered, and even though Duran beckoned Hearns like he wasn't hurt, he was. Bad. One shot KO)

Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns wins via 2nd Round KO

One of the best knockouts in boxing history tbh. Needs to be included up there. No one in my memory had messed up and hurt Duran so badly prior to this bout. Thomas Hearns needs to be mentioned up there in the P4P list tbh.

 

This content is protected

I've had bantamweights on my mind this week and I wanted to revisit a fight where I could see Medel's skills over a long period. Not to mention, having read that this fight was very close in the past and I've never scored it. I remember the first time I watched it, I was really impressed with Harada's skills and thought both looked much better technically than they did in the first fight. Watching it back this morning, my position there hasn't changed in the slightest.

Both clearly took something away from that first fight and you can see it in how they fought. Instead of laying back and letting Harada do the hardwork for him like he did in the first fight, Medel took more to the centre of the ring and feinted his lead quite well; looking to lay the bait for one of those deathtraps. In the first fight, he didn't really do much punching, he was focusing on defence and set-ups before be lowered the boom. Here, he was much more willing to open up and exchange with Harada, and it paid off quite well in patches, because he'd sucker Masahiko into those bombs and have him reeling. Harada, to his credit, had such a good defence by this point. He had this crazy innate radar to just let punches slide off him due to how he rolled with them. The fact that he was probably best at while badly hurt leads me to think it's one of those things that as soon as he knew how to do it, it became as easy as riding a bike. He could probably still do it now.

Medel's skills always impress me. It's like he programmed himself to have a style built for beating swarmers and sluggers. Coming from Mexico, he probably did. One of the best fighters I've ever seen off the ropes, with a very diverse arsenal of counters and set ups; definitely a thinker's fighter. Subtle defence too, looks like a Futch trained fighter with the way he parries the jab down and whips the cross-counter over it. Good defence downstairs to, with his twisting and blocking with the elbows. The fact that Medel was a massive puncher, loved to fight off the ropes and was calm under pressure, he just chewed up raw swarmers. Harada from the first fight would've roundly thrashed and out-classed by Medel with this mindset IMO.

Anywho, I found most of the rounds to have a distinct pattern. Harada jabbed his way in, quickly stepped out and then ploughed in and out-worked Medel. Medel either jabbed with him unsuccessfully centre-ring, or he worked beautifully off the ropes and nailed Harada with some bombs. More or less the same sort of thing happened every round, but with them taking it in turns to hurt one another.

This content is protected

10 : 9
9 : 10
10 : 9
10 : 9
10 : 9 (49/46)
10 : 9
10 : 9
9 : 10
10 : 9
9 : 10 (97/93)
10 : 9
10 : 9
9 : 10
9 : 10
9 : 10 (

This content is protected

)

 

George, excellent breakdown on a thoroughly enjoyable fight. I checked this out about a year ago and this is what I wrote:

Just watched a fight that I enjoyed immensely. The second fight between Fighting Harada and Jose Medel. It was not a slam-bang affair but two exceptional stylists pitted against one another. But one which was like a taut chess match. I personally loved it. Medel trying to bait Harada on the ropes - he is by far the best counter-puncher off the ropes I have seen - and Harada trying to negate the counters by crowding and work-rate. Anyways, you be the judge.

Harada v Medel II (5 point must)

Round 1: 5-5 Even
Round 2: 5-4 Medel
Round 3: 5-4 Harada
Round 4: 5-4 Medel
Round 5: 5-4 Harada
Round 6: 5-5 Even
Round 7: 5-4 Harada
Round 8: 5-4 Harada
Round 9: 5-4 Medel
Round 10: 4-4 Even (scored it for Medel but the ref deducted a point from Medel for thumbing)
Round 11: 5-4 Harada
Round 12: 5-4 Harada
Round 13: 5-4 Harada
Round 14: 5-4 Medel
Round 15: 5-4 Medel

Total: 69-67 Harada

Actual scores were 74-67, 73-67 and 72-67 by all 3 Asian judges. I should note that I scored the 6th Even though Medel really hurt Harada with a counter, but really failed to follow up and Harada came back with his hustle and bustle, which is what won the fight for him on my card. Really loved this one. I should also note how I feel Harada had just about the most impressive title reign IMO. Wins the title from all-time great Jofre, defends against Jofre, then defends against absolute top-notch opposition in Medel, Carraballo, Rudkin and is set to defend against Pimental when Jesus pulls out and is subbed by Rose. You don't see that happen much, if ever. No taking an easy one here and there. Just top of the rung opponents.

 

James Toney v Prince Charles Williams (for Toney's super middleweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Williams
Round 2: 10-10 Even
Round 3: 10-9 Williams
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Williams
Round 6: 10-9 Toney
Round 7: 10-9 Toney
Round 8: 9-9 Even (Toney's round but deducted 1 point for hitting after the bell)
Round 9: 10-9 Toney
Round 10: 10-9 Toney
Round 11: 10-9 Toney
Round 12: Toney KOs Williams

Total through 11 completed rounds: 106-104 Toney (actual scores: 105-103, 106-102 and another 106-102 all for Toney)

Not to be demeaning, but one of the reasons Toney seems to always be involved in controversial decisions (Reggie Johnson, Dave Tiberi, the McCallum fights, Jirov) is because he was a lazy fighter. His weight was always out of control and he really liked laying back, let the other fighter do the work while he countered. However, he was one of the best counter-punchers I ever saw and his accuracy with his shots was uncanny. He didn't take over this fight until the 6th when suddenly he took the initiative. There was some booing in this contest, but I could appreciate the phone-booth warfare.

 

Here's my card (no breakdown, I'm afraid). I had it a lot wider.

Fighting Harada v Jose Medel 2

1 10-9
2 10-9 (close. Good action)
3 10-9
4 10-9
5 10-9
6 10-9
7 10-9
8 10-10
9 10-10
10 9-10
11 10-9
12 10-9
13 10-9
14 10-9
15 9-10

Harada 148-139 Medel

 

Scar, I scored this last year. Here's how I had it.

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, I didn't know that about Toney packing on 40 pounds after this fight. It's amazing because that statement alone aligns with what I was saying about him being a lazy fighter and letting his weight go out of control. It is a shame, but what can you do?

 

He didn't give Jones any credit for his win because he said he put all that weight on. But that was entirely his own fault so it's pretty much an excuse for his poor performance. The mind boggles.

 

John Conteh vs. Matthew Saad Muhammad II, scheduled for 15 rounds for the WBC light heavyweight championship at Resorts International in Atlantic City, N.J., on March 29, 1980.

This is a rematch. Champion Muhammad turned it late to pull out their first fight about 7 1/2 months earlier at the same venue, knocking Conteh down twice in the 14th to punctuate his rally.

Conteh brings a 33-3-1 record, while MSM was 24-3-1. Neither had fought since their initial encounter. Both weigh in at 175.

Round 1 — 10-9 Muhammad: The champ is more busy working behind the jab, lands a pretty good right that seems to shake Conteh momentarily and a couple hooks; the challenger lands a couple of double jabs and that’s about it.

Round 2 — 10-9 Muhammad: More of the same, Conteh very low punch output and MSM just plugs away.

Round 3 — 10-9 Muhammad: Again, Conteh does little, certainly not mimicking his masterful boxing exhibition of the firs fight and Saad is simply busier.

Round 4 — Muhammad knocks down Conteh five times to force the stoppage at 2:27 of the round. Matthew lands almost everything but Conteh goes down easily from what appear to be glancing blows. It may be that the first knockdown caused an equilibrium issue leaving JC unable to stay steady on his feet.

I think Saad wrecked him in the first fight and John simply didn’t have confidence that he could keep the much stronger champion off of him and wanted no part of Muhammad’s power game.

@George Crowcroft as our resident light heavyweight expert, I’d like your take on why the rematch was so easy for MSM after Conteh’s brilliant performance before Matthew turned it up late in the first fight.

 

My understanding is that almost everything went against Conteh in their rematch. His fight with Burnett showed he wasn't far from some IMO, and I thought he should've lost that one. After that, he gave a very Marciano-Charles I-esque performance where the smooth technician at the tail end of his career gives the young powerhouse one helluva fight, but lost it in the late rounds. Then that showing takes it out of him and more or less ends his career, but Conteh was also always tight at the weight and he was struggling especially badly in the lead up to the Burnett fight, I can't imagine it got much easier as he got older and had just as much time off.

I tend to think that's why Saad brushed him aside so easily. It's also Saad's best performance IMO.

 

It's a bit of a strange one, isn't it? Conteh, as you say, went down initially from what seemed like a somewhat glancing right hand, and just folded like a cheap tent thereafter.
Maybe it did affect his equilibrium. Who knows?

 

That jibes with my thinking. Conteh got hit in the neck/ear with a right hand in the second round and after that he looked to me like he wasn’t interested in tasting that kind of power ... and being an ear shot it could have knocked his equilibrium off too.

Agree that regardless of JC, Saad looked like a freaking tank in this one. Instead of ‘oh this guy gave me a tough go last time, I better be wary’ it was more like ‘Round 1 of this fight is Round 16 of our last fight and I was walking through him by that point.’ Matthew was supremely confident in what he was doing and even Conteh’s brief moments didn’t make him blink, just ‘OK, that’s all you got?’

Side note: It was MSM who had trouble with the weight (not saying Conteh didn’t) — he came in a quarter pound heavy and lost it pretty quickly, but he was slightly over he first time. Cosell mentioned it on the broadcast.