the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Cornelius Boza Edwards vs Bobby Chacon 1

1 Chacon
2 Edwards
3 Edwards
4 Chacon
5 Edwards
6 Edwards
7 Edwards
8 Chacon
9 Chacon
10 Edwards
11 Edwards
12 Edwards
13 Edwards
14 Chacon doesn't come out for the 14th round Edwards wins by TKO

126-121 Edwards

So funnily enough i've never seen their 1st meeting, i finally got round to watching it. The first 4 rounds were pretty competitive rounds 3 and 4 were standout rounds, the kind of back and forth action you see in their 2nd fight. But after that Edwards took control of the fight, and despite Chacon rallying in rounds 8 and 9, even almost putting Edwards down in the 9th round with a right hand. I always felt Boza Edwards was in control, and getting the better of it in a majority of the rounds. Despite Chacon always staying in the fight with his right hand.

The later rounds were quite punishing for Chacon, especially rounds 12 and 13. Where he absorbed alot of punishment from Edwards, who just wouldn't stop coming and Chacon couldn't keep the physically stronger Edwards off him.

Chacon was pretty badly cut over the eyebrow, and was looking pretty busted up and tired. And i think the corner stopping the fight after the 13th round was the right call.

Overall this fight was entertaining had some exciting back and forth rounds 3, 4, 8, 9. But mostly it was Edwards who the better man throughout a majority of the fight, not as memorable as their famous 2nd fight but still worth watching.

 

Bobby Chacon vs Cornelius Boza Edwards 2

1 Chacon 10-9 for me this wasn't a knockdown
2 Chacon 10-8 knockdown
3 Edwards 10-8 knockdown
4 Edwards
5 Edwards
6 Edwards
7 Edwards
8 Edwards
9 Chacon
10 Chacon
11 Chacon
12 Chacon 10-8 knockdown

113-112 Chacon

So after watching their 1st fight i thought i'd watch this classic again, as i've only seen it once and that years ago. I'm not really gonna go into a full detailed analysis, as pretty much everyone knows about this classic fight, but i'll just point out a few things.

The knockdown in the 1st round for me wasn't a knockdown, Boza Edwards was already going down after slipping and then Chacon hit him. For me that's not a legit knockdown and there's no way Chacon deserves a 10-8 round for that, as Edwards was clearly winning the round and that was more of a slip.

I felt like Edwards pretty much controlled rounds 3-8 he was the constant aggressor, backing up Chacon on the ropes and was outlanding Chacon 2-1, Chacon would have spurts where he would fight off the ropes and land some decent right hands and flurries. But for me it wasn't enough to win the rounds in which Edwards was working for 3 minutes of the round.

The fight for me started to turn around in the 9th round, Edwards punches didn't have the same power as they had earlier. And Chacon was now starting to land the better punches off the ropes. From then on it was all Chacon for me as he swept rounds 9-12, and with the big rally in the 12th round with the knockdown, Chacon wins the fight by 1 point on my card.

Overall the fight was as good as i remember, although i don't remember Ferdie Pacheco being so over dramatic with his commentary regarding Chacon. I'm not gonna lie it was a bit grating on my ears, like mate Chacon is always fighting back he's in a great fight competing well, why do you keep spouting about Chacon has a family and etc and wanting to stop the fight ?

Lastly i do think the 1st round is kind of controversial ? for me this isn't a legit knockdown. And i never see this talked about when discussing this fight, and for me this round made the difference on my scorecard.

 

Pacheco was always terrible as a commentator but he was specially terrible during this fight going on and on about the fight being stopped like you said. This fight is a perfect example as to why we should have an option to not have commentators and just listen to the action in the ring and the arena.

 

Joshua vs Cornish

AJ has blasted out the two birtish stalwarts and the super durable Kevin Johnson. Here he's against a young unbeaten brit who is just as big as him.

But Cornish is hopelessly out matched here. AJ makes short work of him as he drops him twice, second time he doesn't beat the count.

 

Sal, finally getting around to this. Most bizarre that I've never seen this one before. Better late than never. Here we go.

Johnny Tapia v Paulie Ayala I (bantamweight title)

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

Total: 115-115 Draw (actual scores: 115-114, 116-113 and another 116-113 all for Ayala)

Man, these were tissue-paper thin rounds, guys. They went at it hammer and tong. I felt Ayala landed the cleaner punches but Tapia was ever-busy and fought his heart out. They both did. Beautiful little contest and I do think a draw would have been the right decision for what these two put into it.

 

Should watch the 2nd fight aswell, that was alot more controversial. I felt Tapia boxed nicely in the rematch and was very hard done by.

 

Azumah Nelson v Mario Martinez II (jr. lightweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Nelson
Round 2: 10-9 Nelson
Round 3: 10-10 Even
Round 4: 10-9 Nelson
Round 5: 10-9 Nelson
Round 6: 10-9 Martinez
Round 7: 10-9 Nelson
Round 8: 10-9 Nelson
Round 9: 10-9 Nelson
Round 10: 10-9 Nelson
Round 11: 10-10 Even
Round 12: Nelson drops and stops Martinez

Total through 11 completed rounds: 109-102 Nelson (actual scores: 108-101, 109-100 and 107-103 all for Nelson)

I wanted to check this out after seeing a thread by @Journeyman92 on this fight, where I learned that Martinez suffered a break of his right hand, which clearly prevented him from giving it his all. However, he was as dogged as ever and never stopped trying in a fight that had many close rounds, which could have gone either way. I was very impressed with Nelson's counter-punching in this bout and was a master in mid-ring. Martinez realized most of his success when he had Nelson against the ropes, but couldn't keep him there for long periods. The stoppage IMO was good. I never liked Carlos Padilla, but he intervened just at the right time. I watched the version with Col. Bob Sheridan commentating. Y'know, the dude carries on for long periods with a lot of goofy nonsense, but he does see a fight for what is actually happening out there and he does bring a certain vibrancy to the mic, so I don't mind him. A decent fight, one which clearly could have been better without the hand break of Martinez.

 

Wha- Martinez boxed his ears off! I demand satisfaction.

 

LOL! Please, no dueling pistols. But I can see a score like yours. It's just that there were soooooo many close rounds in this contest. I was just so very impressed with Nelson's sharp, hard counters. Eye of the beholder, my man.

 

In all seriousness I can just about see your card. I think my card might’ve unfairly shaved two or so rounds off Nelson if I’m honest. I probably got caught up in the early fight when Martinez was teaching him a thing or two and got excited. I wouldn’t make a very good judge.

 

@scartissue and @Journeyman92 - here’s another perspective on Nelson-Martinez 2:

Azumah Nelson v Mario Martinez 2

1 9-10 (Martinez countering beautifully off the back foot)
2 9-10 (closer with some decent exchanges but Martinez still beating Nelson to the punch)
3 10-9 (close. Nelson starting to use his legs and mobility to offset the pinpoint countering of Martinez and has more success than the first two rounds)
4 9-10 (close again. Tricky to score this)
5 9-10 (Nelson hasn't been able to get his offense going consistently)
6 9-10 (each round is close but Martinez is edging them)
7 10-9
8 10-9 (Nelson's best round so far)
9 10-9 (Nelson landing the bigger, more telling punches at this point)
10 10-9
11 10-9
(105-104)
12 Nelson TKO Martinez

Now, bear in mind that when I watched this I thought I was watching the first fight as it was misleadingly labelled on YouTube. It was only in round 12 that I realised that it was the second fight. Whether that influenced my scoring on some level, I don’t know but I was surprised by the official scoring, which was more in line with your card, Scar. But I get the feeling that if I watched it again, my card could be quite different.

Simply put, I liked the way Martinez went about his business in the early rounds. Now that I know he busted his hand in the third, I’d be interested to see if I noticed a change in his offense after that because it doesn’t appear that I did first time around from my card and comments.

 

Rock and Roll. I think had Martinez got the fight he deserved the third would've been one hell of a grudge match which I'd still favour Martinez in if his hand remained bull neck sturdy.

 

I don’t know. I think Martinez might have done as well as he ever could have against Nelson in the first fight (by the sounds of it, anyway). As well as I thought he fought in the rematch in the first half of the fight, I think Nelson took over after that. It could have been the hand that was the big reason for that, of course. But it’s worth noting that, aside from the judges having Nelson comfortably in front, The Professor was a master in rematches. You might give him trouble in the first fight, but he would frequently come good at the second attempt. Had there been a third fight, I think he would probably have stopped Martinez again and a bit sooner. But Azumah does acknowledge him as one of his toughest opponents.

 

If the early stage of the fight is a reflection of how good Martinez could have had Nelson with a healthy hand I think the rematch myth might be a little overblown in this instance.

 

Here’s Nelson’s take on Martinez, if you haven’t seen it before: https://www.ringtv.com/405969-best-i-faced-azumah-nelson

The thing I love about Nelson is that he was versatile. He could fight in more than one way and I think he showed it in the second fight with Martinez. He could be quite straightforward, literally and figuratively, and use his strength and power but he could also box and move as well. He was definitely a thinker and not just a bull in there.

No-one gave him a chance in the rematch against Fenech as he’d been lucky to get a draw in the first fight (I had it 116-112 to Fenech), although Nelson always claimed he was weakened by malaria in the build up to that one. The rematch was in French’s backyard and was envisoned as a title procession but Nelson was brilliant that night and showed he still had plenty left in the tank.

That he would be a world champion again after that and hold a title until 1997 is astonishing, even in this day and age where lower weight fighters go on longer into their thirties than in the past.

Like the great ones do, he found a way to win and he did that against Martinez in the rematch. Martinez was one tough hombre, though.