the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Scar, as an aside, the reason Medel disappeared was that shortly after this, he was playing soccer with some friends at home and got accidentally kicked in the head. It was a serious enough injury for his doctor to advise him to never fight again and he heeded those wishes.

 

Wow, how unfortunate. I really think this kid good have done well. He certainly had a crowd-pleasing style. Thanks for the info.

 

You bet. Just finished the fight too. About to do a writeup.

And yeah, Medel showed so much here. Great spirit, superior conditioning, and such a fun style. His style and seeming lack of power and physical strength probably meant a relatively short time at the top but a fun ride it would have been.

 

Mark Kaylor v Dwight 'Tiger' Walker

You guys have to check this out. After watching Walker v Mark Frazie I wanted to see if there was anything else out there on him because he had a good hard style. I saw by the time alotted on youtube that it was an abbreviated fight. They showed rounds 6, 8, 9 and 10. I watched it - not to score - but how this played out because I just don't remember it, and I'm glad I did. I've never seen a cut like this with the amount of blood-letting where the fight wasn't stopped (maybe Chacon-Edwards II). In British rings I've seen Harry Gibbs stop Bugner-Wepner without giving the corner a chance to do their thing (he was cut in the 3rd and Gibbs stopped it just as the corner started their work). I have also seen Roland Dakin stop Winstone-Seki almost immediately when the Japanese was cut, which I felt was ridiculous partiality. But this fight takes the cake. Kaylor was cut in the 6th and was bleeding so profusely, his white shorts were pink and Gibbs shirt was a mess with 2 pink sleeves. Kaylor's corner could do nothing with it and Gibbs let it go 10 while raising Kaylor's hand. Amazing. Here it is if anyone's interested.

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Scar, our cards are real similar........

1. Blake, 10-8
2. Blake
3. Medel
4. Even
5. Blake
6. Medel
7. Medel
8. Medel
9. Blake
10. Blake

96-94, Blake.

God, the 80's lightweights were so much fun. Can't miss, across the board. This one showed all that was good and bad about Blake, as exciting and fan-friendly a fighter as one could imagine.

First, many southpaws rely too heavily on their left hands, but Blake seemed to do his best work with his right. His hook was for real, and he used the right jab and uppercuts liberally as well.

Second, he's very strong and physically imposes himself very well here. He had Medel against the ropes a good part of the time and only good combination punching off the ropes and a tremendous fighting spirit kept Medel from getting "rolled right back off the board" to use chess parlance.

The bad: Blake is really easy to hit. He stays in the pocket without moving his head and because of his combative style he's always right there to be tagged. Luckily for him Medel had only marginal power at best.

But what a great fight. The workrate was spectacular and both showed their true class. I don't think Blake had deteriorated from his losses to Crawley or Arroyo going into this fight. He was what he had always been. Those two previous losses just showed us what his high water marks were, and both Crawley and Arroyo were counterpunchers, Blake's stylistic Waterloo.

Medel for his part was to be on the scene only through this fight, retiring for reasons I note in an earlier post. He left a nice legacy in this ten-rounder though. He's remembered fondly for what he showed here. A gutty, skilled attempt at the upper echelon that he was to only briefly taste.

 

Sal, you summed it up perfectly. I would also add for all fight fans, this is a must-see

 

It really is.

 

Jeff Harding v Christophe Tiozzo (light heavyweight title)

I checked this out when I happen to be perusing Harding's record and saw a very close fight on the scorecards. So here we go:

Round 1: 10-9 Tiozzo
Round 2: 10-9 Tiozzo
Round 3: 10-9 Tiozzo
Round 4: 10-9 Tiozzo
Round 5: 10-10 Even
Round 6: 10-9 Tiozzo
Round 7: 10-10 Even
Round 8: Harding drops and stops Tiozzo

Total through 7 completed rounds: 70-65 Tiozzo (actual scores: 67-66 and 67-66 both for Tiozzo and a 67-66 for Harding)

To begin, some of the rounds were close, but I cannot see those scores. Tiozzo stayed on the move, boxing his heart out with a myriad of combos. I think he was gassing by the time he was dropped in the 8th as he was expending a lot of energy. As the announcer said, Harding wasn't really engaging, which was his forte. His corner had him boxing and he was coming up short with that style. In my eyes anyway. I don't know who the announcer was, but he and I had about the same score. The only round we saw different was the 3rd, which he called Even and I thought Tiozzo shaded. Tough fight, as they were both marked up around the eyes badly. But again, those scores baffle me.

 

Bobby Chacon v Augie Pantellas

I remember reading about this fight in the magazines at the time and then years later, I was in the company of Harold Lederman and someone brought up something about Augie. Harold used to travel the eastern seaboard watching fights and was well-versed with Philly fighters, and he laughed about the managerial or promotional decision to bring in Bobby Chacon for Augie. To Harold it was a foregone conclusion. Indeed, when one looks at Augie's record, this was a giant step up. I suppose every club-fighter and his manager dream about knocking off a big gun. But you don't go from climbing a hill to trying to climb Everest. There is a graduating scale in there, which one needs to respect. Nevertheless, Augie gave it a go and showed plenty of heart trying to get his licks in and it made for an entertaining fight with his doggedness. However, the class of Chacon was evident and he slowly ground down Augie, with the ref saving him in the 7th. No sense running a card here. I had it 30-22 for Chacon on Pennsylvania's 5 point must system, with Bobby dropping Augie twice in the 6th. Again, it was a decent enough fight because it was fairly obvious that Bobby was in no hurry, which gave Augie a chance to do his thing. The 4th was about the closest and I was actually leaning towards giving the round to Augie, as he had done well. But I think he must have PO'd Bobby because he just switched into another gear near the end of the round and hurt Augie. It made me think Bobby could have done this at any time.

 

You’d think a guy with the middle name Socrates would be able to handle a mere Schoolboy but apparently not.

 

LOL! Unless the Schoolboy was studying philosophy.

 

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For some reason I didn't watch this when Rough uploaded it, even though I've been wanting to see this one for time. Jumping into it now though, beats College Zoom meetings. Having not seen it, I tend to view this fight as a case of a better fighter being beaten by a good fighter due to being a hard style and trouble making weight. I figure Lora will start fast, showing the class difference but fade late.

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9 : 10
9 : 10
9 : 10
9 : 10 (36/40)
10 : 9
9 : 10
10 : 9
10 : 9 (75/77)
10 : 9
10 : 9*
10 : 9
10 : 9 (

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Good first couple from Lora, stepping in nicely with the jab and left hook. Keeping well outside of Perez's range, though. Dodgy slip in the second, looks to have had his foot stood on. The third round was a masterclass from Lora. Moving to his left while throwing corkscrewing uppercuts with his right, slipping under cross-counters and hooks then doing a little dance. He admired his work too much and didn't throw too much, but defensively, some of the best I've ever seen from him. Similar again in the forth, although he used more counters and less movement.

Good fifth from Perez, first round I've found for him. And really the only one he has a case for, and even then you could make a case for Lora here, too. The less Lora moved, the more Perez lands. He seems to be finding the range with his jab and is now starting go unload his volume. Not landing too much, but landing more than Lora IMO. Lora far more scrappy now, but coming forward, leaping in with overhands and hooks. Perez getting off with more than just the jab now. That lead uppercut is landing, and so is his cross. Good round. Lora being seriously out-worked as Perez dialed things up in the seventh. He just kept throwing. Trippling up his left hand, to then step in even deeper with a cross and tie Lora up. He's found his range and Lora doesn't have the same speed he had early on go step in and out without being hit. Similar stuff again in the eighth, but with Lora more defensively responsible.

Perez still plain out-working him at this point, with more and more getting through. Hard to see Lora mounting a comeback. I was wrong. Lora came out quite fresh in the tenth, and looked good slipping shots. Still out-worked though. Lora looks absolutely shattered now. Lora gave his all on the final round, but it just wasn't enough. Perez closed the show strong.

 

George, I checked this fight out today and then went through the archives and saw that you and @McGrain also checked this out. Here we go:

Chad Dawson v Glen Johnson I

Round 1: 10-9 Dawson
Round 2: 10-9 Dawson
Round 3: 10-9 Johnson
Round 4: 10-9 Dawson
Round 5: 10-9 Johnson
Round 6: 10-9 Dawson
Round 7: 10-9 Dawson
Round 8: 10-9 Dawson
Round 9: 10-10 Even
Round 10: 10-9 Johnson
Round 11: 10-9 Johnson
Round 12: 10-9 Johnson

Total: 115-114 Dawson (actual scores: 116-112 by all 3 judges for Dawson)

This fight was razor close and only disagreeing on the 1st round is what changed our respective scorecards, George. Meeting at this time of their respective careers made this such a terrific fight. Totally recommend it.

 

Emile Griffith TKO12 Gaspar Ortega

I'd long been curious about this fight, and wondered how a relatively light puncher with a counter-punching style like Griffith could stop a bona-fide iron man like Ortega. Still not sure how it happened, but it sure did. And it wasn't any fluky one shot thing or a cut eye; Ortega got the crap kicked out of him.

Here's how I had it.....
1. Even
2. Ortega
3. Griffith
4. Griffith
5. Ortega
6. Ortega
7. Griffith, 10-7 (2 knockdowns)
8. Griffith
9. Griffith
10. Ortega
11. Griffith

Ref waves it off, wisely, not long into the 12th.

The first two were testing rounds, not a lot between the two fighters. In the third, Griffith seems to suddenly understand that he's stronger than Ortega and begins to push him away and back him up. The counter hook is Emile's best weapon, and he backs Ortega off with it in a way that far better punchers never seemed able to.

In the seventh, Griffith puts Ortega down in a delayed reaction sort of thing, and he's badly hurt. Griffith puts on the pressure and smashes Gaspar to the canvas again for a nine-count. He's just about out.

Somehow, Ortega guts it out and tries to take the fight to the champion but by now he's too damaged to do much but be brave. And brave he is. He miraculously takes the play away from Griffith and carries the tenth, but it's his last hurrah; Griffith pounds away in the 11th and it's waved off early in the next round.

Probably the best version of Griffith I've seen, and still a bit mystified at how Ortega was taken out so effectively. Griffith was excellent here, gotta give him props. The riddle still remains for me though.

 

Sal, this is an excerpt from an interview on Ortega where he addresses the Griffith fight:

DH: The title changed hands in Benny’s next fight and you got the call for your long-awaited title shot for the welterweight championship of the world with the new champion. Tell me about your title fight with Emile Griffith.

GO: Well, first of all I should tell you that Emile Griffith did not want to fight me. He had won a split decision over me a year earlier and it must have been in his head. It was Gil Clancy, his manager, who talked him into it. I trained so hard for this fight, but then it got postponed a week. Instead of easing up on the training for the new date, I kept going. Then they had me sparring in open-air sessions. You know, with a crowd present. Well, I didn’t want to look bad, so every sparring session was a war. And they had me in with middleweights. I can tell you right now that the day of the fight I had absolutely nothing. I was so burned out and overtrained that Griffith had no problem with me.