I wont' say I was pumped as all hell to see Davey, but knowing he was the first professional southpaw (correct me if I'm wrong), I was looking forward to this bout. This content is protected 1. It didn't take long before I observed that Davey was a light puncher. Vejar on the other hand at least carried a solid punch. A quick, almost casual straight left by Davey put Vejar on the seat of his pants. He beat the count only to be later left sagging in the ropes from a left hook, right hook, left hook salvo, and he went down again. Davey. 2. Vejar appeared to me to have surprised Davey by coming out so aggressively after a disastrous opening round. He troubled Davey with an assortment of hook punches, even landing a straight right that snapped Davey's head back. Vejar. 3. The round was going as successfully as the 2nd was, until near the very end. Davey made an opening by diving in with a right jab/ left uppercut 1-2. Vejar retaliated back for a moment. A series of 5 or 6 left hooks by Davey had Vejar seriously staggered however, and Vejar retreated from off the ropes, narrowly escaping another possible knockdown. Davey. 4. Good early exchange. Vejar began to employ body work on Davey, about midway through the round. Davey. 5. Fought entirely at a brisk pace, but with no damaging punches thrown. Even. 6. Vejar was hurt once again, this time early in the round, by a punch I never successfully identified. I just knew that all of the sudden, Vejar was doubled up and Davey was going at him with a flurry of punches, and Vejar was reeling from the impact. Davey's attack subsided temporarily, but he pushed Vejar back into the ropes with a straight left, but caught a hard counter right hook on his way in. Vejar remained fairly aggressive from then on, but a straight right, left uppercut, and right hook, and Vejar just keeled over. Davey. 7. A left hook hurt Vejar briefly. A left uppercut to the stomach sent Vejar down for the fourth time. Davey. 8. Davey. 9. Davey. 10. Vejar is the first to score effectively, leaping his way in with right and left hooks. Sensing defeat he gave his best showing of the fight, landing several good rights. Vejar. Final score: 7-2-1 for Davey. Verdict: I was bored as hell when I watched this, but I really don't think it was a horrible fight. I didn't then either, I was just in a mood for something far more exciting than this, so it seemed worse than it was. Still, I found it mediocre, and both fighters were frustrating. Davey drove me nuts with his constant movement and light punching. GODDAMMIT man, stand the **** still! And Vejar didn't seem to be able to take any kind of a punch. Pass on this one my friends.
I think Lew Tendler is the first southpaw on film but southpaws with no film exist like Tiger Flowers.
Your reaction is odd to me. "Davey was a light puncher." "Vejar on the other hand at least carried a solid punch." ???? Davey knocked Vejar down four times and hurt him several other times. Vejar never hurt Davey whatsoever. How do you come up with the conclusion that Vejar is the puncher? "first professional southpaw" You have posted films of Irish Bob Murphy. Did you forget him? There were several historical southpaw champions. Besides the ones others mentioned, there were Lou Broulliard, Young Corbett III, and Melio Bettina, that I can think of. "I was bored as hell watching this" Ditto. As for Davey, what is wrong with moving all the time? It might be boring to watch, but it is a legit way of fighting. To give him his due, he certainly had great stamina to keep bouncing around like that. And he was well grounded technically. Vejar seemed confused by his southpaw style. As for Vejar, he showed nothing except perhaps heart. Dull fight because Davey has such a repetitious style. Thanks for posting.
Solution: Davey is the tougher man. I guess I did forget Murphy. His film life is rather forgettable. I just figure that if people pay money to come see two dudes fight, that Davey should do his part and stand still and fight it out now and then. People don't come to watch sparring. Agreed. Yeah. I just find Davey annoying for not daring to take any big risks when he fights. Thanks for posting.
Nah, that's just that southpaw advantage kicking in...and I think your correct...Davey was known to be light hitting. I think Vejar wasn't used to being punched with left crosses, even a light left cross, and if your not accustomed / acclimatized to a particular punch it can really buzz. Its possible this happened to Vejar + being cold?. Vejar actually looked to me pretty disorganized to me...that could either be because he'd been dropped or just because he didn't know how to deal with s/paws, especially a mobile one. Many s/paws used to fight like that almost as a rule...trainers perverse enough to not turn them rightie seemed to have made a pact with the devil and would teach their charges to be lead averse, lead drawing counter-punchers. So just do what I do, play the fight in VCL player and mirror image reverse it (its just one or two buttons!)...so you can then watch a right hander slowly beat up on an apparently confused s/paw. It wont turn it into Gatti-Ward but its at least more satisfying to see if you hate s/paws like I do. Edit..oh, its a good little fight. There's just a large talent gap is all.
Excellent point. I never have even thought about the southpa stance being difficult for Vejar to cope with.
My issue with the question of Davey's punching power was seeing him obviously inferior as a puncher to Vejar. I wouldn't dispute those saying Davey wasn't all that much of a puncher. But what exactly do the stats show for these two men. Davey scored 26 KO's in 49 fights for a KO percentage of 53%. Vejar scored 43 KO's in 117 fights for a KO percentage of 37%. Davey might not have been all that much of a puncher, but where and when did Vejar show himself the bigger puncher? I don't think there is anything in his record to indicate he was a superior puncher to Davey, regardless of Davey's limitations. By the way, Davey KO'd Vejar in a return. After watching this fight, I have to wonder why there was a return.
Well, that is a good point you make about Davey having a decent knockout record vs. Vejar's less-than average. However, maybe Vejar was less skilled (probably) and did not know the right ways of delivering his power. Davey could be like Ali, not a huge puncher either, but Ali won many fights by knockout, more because he was a precise puncher and an opportunist though. Does Davey have mostly TKO's? Or KO's?
