the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Leigh Wood v Michael Conlan (featherweight title)

Round 1: 10-8 Conlan (scores a knockdown)
Round 2: 10-9 Conlan
Round 3: 10-9 Conlan
Round 4: 10-9 Wood
Round 5: 10-9 Conlan
Round 6: 10-9 Conlan
Round 7: 10-9 Conlan
Round 8: 10-9 Wood
Round 9: 10-10 Even
Round 10: 10-9 Wood
Round 11: 10-8 Wood (scores a knockdown)
Round 12: Wood drops Conlan who falls from the ring for a TKO

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

Watched this fight live tonight and it was AMAZING! Conlan got off to such a brilliant start but IMO started to gas around the 8th round. He kept firing all the same and I would have given him the 11th had it not been for a bit of a controversial knockdown (KD or slip?) scored by Wood. Regardless, the result had some scary moments as Conlan was out before he fell out of the ring (shades of Cyclone Hart v Denny Moyer). Wood to his credit tried to calm the crowd and was not enjoying himself during the aftermath with Conlan taken for medical treatment. Fortunately Conlan later tweeted he was OK and awaiting a CT scan and talking about being back in the ring for a good sigh of relief. But this fight was like an old time neighborhood rivalry like you would see in NY between Sid Terris, Ruby Goldstein and Tony Vaccarelli. Or on the west coast between Danny Lopez, Tury Pineda, Bobby Chacon and Art Hafey. The crowd was electric and it is well worth seeing.

 

Before I followed boxing, my brother told me straight after he watched it that the third fight was amazing but I didn’t see it till years later and that was after I’d seen the first fight. The first fight is a bit better in my opinion but the third fight is fantastic too.

There’s something about the way Harding just walks forward, expressionless and seemingly impervious to pain, that I find scary. It’s like watching the Terminator.

 

I missed this but it sounded sensational. But then I looked at the BBC website and they have a way of making average fights sound like Hagler-Hearns so I wasn’t completely sure it would be as good as it sounded. But now I’ve seen a review from someone’s opinion that I trust (you, @scartissue) I’m going to need to watch this!

 

Charles Brewer v Antwun Echols

Fancied a short burst of a fight with action and knockdowns and remembered this one.

Brewer started fast and got the better of the opener but then exploded in the second, scoring three hard knockdowns. Somehow Echols survived but when Brewer went for the kill in the third, he got dropped. In the follow up, Brewer got trapped on the ropes and the ref stepped in but it was too soon. Brewer was as clear headed as Echols had been the previous round and was rightly aggrieved by the ref’s call.

Fun, but a frustrating end.

 

Charles Brewer v Scott Pemberton

I love a fighter with a good nickname and Charles ‘The Hatchet’ Brewer had one of the best.

Every fighter hits a moment in their career where they find out if they have what it takes and this was Scott Pemberton’s moment. After taking a beating from Brewer and being saved by a standing 8 count and Steve Smoger being a generous referee (he likes to give fighters every possible chance of recovery), Pemberton rallied very well over the next couple of rounds and seem to have swung things in his favour, wobbling Brewer at the end of the third and dominating the fourth.

But Brewer is nothing if not tough and he worked his way back into the fight in the fifth and then was all over Pemberton like a rash in the next and ultimate round. Pemberton simply wilted under the attack and Smoger was generous to him by not stopping it then and there. Instead, he gave Pemberton another standing 8 count and after Brewer followed up again he rightly waved it off.

Pemberton protested but his body language beforehand told the real story. He found out in this fight that whatever true champions have, he didn’t quite have it.

1 10-9
2. 10-8
3. 9-10
4. 9-10
5. 10-10
(47-47)
6. Brewer TKO Pemberton

 

Usyk vs Hunter

Hunter started this fight very well, although almost everyone does it seems. But once Usyk has his range and his timing, it's just so tough to stand up to him.

Hunter was quicker and had longer arms and looked brilliant for the first 4. But Usyk immediately took over from the 5th onwards and he was so dominant and in control, its hard to remember how good Hunter looked early on.

Each round sees an increase in intensity and in the 12th Usyk forces a knockdown and there were many times when the fight could easily have been waved off.

Very dominant showing.

116-111

 

Iran Barkley vs Mike Tinley

1 Barkley
2 Tinley
3 Barkley
4 Barkley
5 Tinley
6 Tinley
7 Barkley
8 Barkley
9 Barkley
10 Tinley
11 Tinley
12 Tinley

114-114 Draw

My first time seeing Tinley fight and i was impressed, he showed some good boxing skills and nice defense made Barkley miss alot of punches.

The fight followed the same pattern throughout, Barkley was always the aggressor his best punch was the left hook. And it was the only real power punch he was able to land effectively. The 4th round was Barkley's best round as he badly rocked Tinley with a left hook, and almost had him out of there.

Tinley was able to box on the backfoot quite effectively, landing a good jab and occasional right hand. I thought some close rounds he lost, just because his punches were nowhere near as hard or effective as Barkley's, even though he did land some good punches throughout. They won't bone shakers like Barkley's punches were.

Tinley's best moments of the fight were the last 3 rounds, with the 11th round being his best round. Barkley's eye was pretty much swollen shut and he was looking fatigued. As Tinley controlled the later rounds making Barkley miss, and controlling the fight with his jab and right hand.

The commentators were convinced Tinley had won fairly comfortably, i have to disagree with that. As i felt Barkley's punches in the earlier part of the fight were much more effective and he was the aggressor. Overall though i could see an argument for either man edging this fight, but it certainly wasn't a clear win for anyone in my view.

Overall a decent fight which never quite caught fire, like some of the more well known Barkley wars. But still a decent contest worth watching and a good one to score considering how close it was.

 

What was Hunter, like 11-0 at this point? That to me is the story of Usyk’s cruiserweight career — basically a lot of green guys. A few had more fights but nobody was really established as a top-tier fighter. He cleaned out a division but that division was (to me) pretty much a wasteland.

 

Leigh Wood vs Michael Conlan

1 Conlan 10-8 Knockdown
2 Conlan
3 Conlan
4 Wood
5 Conlan
6 Wood
7 Wood
8 Wood
9 Conlan
10 Wood
11 Wood 10-8 knockdown
12 Wood wins by TKO

104-103 Wood

Just watched this fight based on your write up, never seen either man fight before. Amazing fight definitely the fight of the year and maybe KO of the year aswell, will be hard to top this one.

 

Usyk himself was 12-0

 

Right. Guys who would be 8-round prelim guys in another era are fighting an extra four rounds and getting credit as if they’re doing something.

 

It's more that they stepped up competition quicker rather than pad their records.

 

But it isn’t.

Michael Hunter was 11 or 12-0. His best win was over a 15-0 guy, who lost his next fight and retired at 15-2. And who hasn’t really beaten anyone of significance since. What makes him a quality win at cruiser?

I’m all for stepping up competition but you can have two undefeated guys fight on the way up and not consider them both super good. One wins, one loses … and they keep stepping up.

It’s also eliminating the chances for upsets. There’s a whole level in between ‘professional opponent/tomato can’ and ‘world championship level’ fighters. And many of those guys are capable of giving a real, promising up-and-comer a good fight or even knocking one off. That’s what makes gatekeepers gatekeepers — they stand at the gate and you have to get past them (and a true gatekeeper loses to the real-deal guys but beats the pretenders).

Same with journeymen, who you might beat but who might also make you a better fighter by taking away some of your best usual stuff and make you think and adjust and resort to other methods. Or score a knockdown, even a flash one, and force you to survive a bad patch and collect yourself.

Sorry, but you cannot convince me that Ray Leonard (a) wasn’t good enough to beat a lot of top guys by his 12th fight or so, nor (b) that he didn’t become a better, more well-rounded, more worthy and more proven fighter by beating the likes of Randy Shields and Floyd Mayweather Sr and Pete Ranzany and Adolfo Viruet and Marcos Geraldo and Andy Price, etc.

Ray Leonard beat a better Thomas Hearns than if the two had fought when they were both around 11-0. There’s no question that they matured into better fighters by facing various tests, going through the training camps to prepare for those tests and having to overcome some form of adversity and adjustment than if they just were handed titles because there was no one around and they were talented.

 

Both went on to do bigger and better things after this fight. No need for their records to be further padded.

 

What exactly has Michael Hunter done?

He was 11-0 (or maybe it was 12) with no significant wins when he fought Usyk. That means he had no resume to establish him as a quality opponent. Since then he’s collected a few WBWhatever Intercontinental Ballistic type belts and beaten nobody of note.

Fighting established fighters with proven track records is not padding a record. Beating an 11-0 guy who has beaten nobody is not better than beating a 32-6 former world champion with five or six quality wins and several competitive quality losses on his record.

Young Mike Tyson beating Quick Tillis is more impressive than beating Reggie Gross or Mitch Green, for instance.