the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Dwight Muhammad Qawi vs Jerry Martin

1 Qawi
2 Qawi scores 2 knockdowns
3 Qawi
4 Qawi
5 Qawi
6 Qawi wins by TKO referee stops the fight

50-43 Qawi

Qawi in his prime is a sight to behold, for me he's top 10 of all time for his defensive abilities for an aggressive fighter same as Duran. Martin was a very good fighter the first man to beat the bogeyman and feared James Scott, but in this fight he didn't have much to offer against Qawi. As Qawi's defence was far too good as Martin was never able to sustain any offence, Qawi doing what he does slipping and sliding while coming forward and just beating up his man. After Qawi knocked out Martin's mouthpiece in the 6th round, the referee rightly stopped the fight as Martin was taking a beating and the referee did Martin a huge favour.

Overall a very dominant performance from Qawi over a very tough challenger in Martin, Qawi at this point in his career was red hot i don't think many Light Heavyweight's of the past or present, would of been able to stand up to him.

 

Eddie Mustafa Muhammad vs Lottie Mwale

1 Muhammad
2 Muhammad
3 Mwale
4 Muhammad wins by KO

29-28 Muhammad

I've always found Muhammad a bit hit or miss when watching him, at times he could be very lazy and not very pleasing on the eye. But when he was on it like vs Marvin Johnson and in this fight, he's a pleasure to watch with his silky smooth skills. Muhammad known to be a slow starter was right down to the business in this fight, and the right hand and left hook that finished of Mwale was brutal. The right hand the main punch that basically finished off Mwale and knocked his mouthpiece out, then the left hook was just the icing on top. Also i read the comments after and apparently Muhammad knocked out some of Mwale's teeth ? ouch.

 

To my mind, the best full distance 12 round fight ever.

 

Agreed I still say Boza Edwards has been in the most exciting fights ever, even more than Chacon and Gatti. Even his last 10 fights or so when he was coming towards the end of his career, they were all FOTY candidates. Boza Edwards has atleast 10+ FOTY candidates.

 

Yeah, he was the most exciting fighter of the 80s and that is saying something when you had the likes of Hearns, Pryor and Tyson at their peaks then.

 

Matthew Saad Muhammad vs. Marvin Johnson I

5 point must system

7-26-1977

NABF Light Heavy Title

Round 1: 5-4 Johnson. Close
Round 2: 5-4 Johnson. Great round. Edged Johnson bc he kept connecting with strong looking strait left hands.
Round 3: 5-4 Johnson. Another amazing round.
Round 4: 5-4 Saad. How does one score a round that one fighter won for 2:30, but then was out on his feet for the last 30 seconds?
Round 5: 5-4 Johnson. That uppercut is landing A LOT.
Round 6: 5-4 Johnson
Round 7: 5-4 Johnson
Round 8: 5-4 Johnson. Close.
Round 9: 5-5 Even. Great round.
Round 10: 5-5 Even. ATG round.
Round 11: 5-4 Saad
Round 12: Saad stops Johnson. What a comeback.

My card entering last round: 53-48 Johnson

Judges Cards: 53-49 Johnson, 51-51 Even and 51-48 Saad

As cinematic a fight as you'll ever see. I thought Johnson dogged Saad the entire fight I'm suprised the card was a split draw going into the last round. Granted I'm watching on old video and they were there.

 

Matthew Saad Muhammad vs. Yaqui Lopez 2

WBC Light Heavyweight Title

Round 1: 10-9 Saad
Round 2: 10-9 Lopez
Round 3: 10-9 Lopez. Saad almost evened it out with his jab in the last 45 seconds.
Round 4: 10-9 Saad. Close.
Round 5: 10-9 Lopez
Round 6: 10-9 Lopez
Round 7: 10-9 Lopez. Close.
Round 8: 10-10. ATG round.
Round 9: 10-9 Saad
Round 10: 10-9 Saad
Round 11: 10-9 Saad. Close
Round 12: 10-9 Saad
Round 13: 10-9 Saad
Round 14: Saad drops Lopez 4 times for a TKO.

My card entering last round: 125-123 Matthew Saad Muhammad

Judges Cards: 124-123, 125-122 and 125-123 all for Muhammad

Another great finish for MSM.

 

Nobody in my mind could be counted on to deliver bang (pun intended) for the buck the way Saad could. He was must-see TV.

 

Wanted to see some Pipino Cuevas and didn’t have a lot of time to invest.

So I dialed up his second welterweight title defense, against Argentina champion Miguel Angel Campanino in March 1977 in Mexico City.

Campanino was 81-4-4 with all but four of his previous fights having taken place in Argentina — he did a three-month tour of Italy where he knocked out four guys. Pipino was hardly established at this point (17-6 with his slow career start turning pro at I think 15) so at the time it might have looked interesting.

No need for a scorecard. Cuevas came out working the body, mostly with the left hook, an occasional right, and Campanino was sort of feeling him out and looking to counter with his own left hook (never hook with a hooker, Miguel Angel). Cuevas rocked him a bit at the end of the first round.

Pipino raked him over pretty good with a barrage about a minute into the second but MAC weathered it. Then a bit later Pipino steps in with a left hook to the jaw and … well, if you’ve ever see Cuevas you know the rest of the story.

Campanino went down, got up and was completely dispossessed of his senses. He was kind of half bent over. The ref reaches the eight count, takes his gloves and tries to catch his eye and see if he’s still in the land of the living and MAC is completely out of it. Good stoppage. Didn’t put him down for the count but you can call it a one-punch stoppage.

The YouTube version isn’t high quality and I’m not sure there’s much reason to recommend it except to underscore what a monster puncher Cuevas was.

 

Pat, have you ever checked out Cuevas' second bout with Angel Espada? I think you'll enjoy it. Here is what i wrote when I watched it:

Pipino Cuevas v Angel Espada II

Round 1: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 2: 10-8 Cuevas (Cuevas scores a knockdown)
Round 3: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 4: 10-9 Espada
Round 5: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 6: 10-9 Espada
Round 7: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 8: 10-10 Even
Round 9: 10-10 Even
Round 10: 10-10 Even
Round 11: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 12: Espada could not answer the bell for the 12th round with a broken jaw

Total through 11 completed rounds - 108-103 Cuevas (actual scores: 106-104 Cuevas, 104-104 Even and a 108-106 for Espada)

Don't know what fight that last official was watching but can't quite see that one, even by giving Angel the three even rounds. To begin, Espada really is a beautiful fighter to watch, but he was up against a force of nature in Cuevas. Cuevas will just plug away throwing bombs for however long the fight lasts and couldn't care less if he missed 4 if he could land one. The rounds I gave Espada he fought brilliantly using the ring and going in and out with beautiful counters. And some of those counters would have taken out a lesser man. Amazing that I had 3 consecutive rounds even but that was how the tide was rolling. By the 10th round, although I scored the 10th even, more from Espada preventing Cuevas from doing anything, one could see Espada was really coming apart at the seams and it was just a matter of time. Good fight for purists and for those who also like a bit of mayhem.

 

Awesome. I have seen the first and the third — need to rewatch the latter as the only time I saw it was live. It was still in the earlier days of ESPN and they’d just pop up with an unadvertised show from the West Coast from time to time and I happened upon it (Chick Hearn on the call).

Angel is a smooth guy and very pleasing to the eye, but he was fencing against a guy throwing grenades. Even so, he was a crafty vet using every trick in his arsenal to stay in it and bide time, looking for a path to unlikely victory.

I need to catch this one and put it on my list. Thanks for posting!

 

Here’s my card, Scar:

Pipino Cuevas v Angel Espada 2

1 10-9 (good opener)
2 10-8 (Espada was doing well until he was dropped but he still fought back well)
3 10-9
4 9-10
5 10-9 (good round)
6 9-10 (close. Excellent countering from Espada just edged it his way in my opinion)
7 10-9 (Espada taking a pasting and the ref calls the ring doctor to check on the cut around his left eye but he lets it continue. Espada showing tremendous heart but Pipino is just a machine)
8 10-9
9 10-10 (shortened round?)
10 10-9 (scrappy round)
11 10-9
(108-101)
12 Cuevas RTD Espada
(Beginning of round and Espada collapses as he gets up to start the round)

 

Mbulelo Botile v Tim Austin (bantamweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Austin
Round 2: 10-9 Botile
Round 3: 10-10 Even
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Botile
Round 6: 10-9 Botile
Round 7: 10-9 Austin (scores a knockdown)
Round 8: Austin drops and stops Botile

Total through 7 completed rounds: 68-67 Botile (actual scores: 68-67, 67-66 and 67-65 all for Austin)

A very close fight up to the stoppage. Everyone is in line here. Austin, when he had breathing room, displayed some very neat boxing and Botile, when he really pressed Tim, exposed a bit of Tim's shortcomings. Tim was all arms and legs when pressed and the Botile corner had to have seen this. When Botile eased up on the gas pedal, it gave Tim a chance to reset and gain that breathing room for his sharp boxing. The 7th round knockdown was dubious. It appeared that Tim pushed/pulled Botile down. It was enough to inspire Botile who was pi**ed off over the call to really press Tim the remainder of the round. It's your call on how that round is scored. I just could not give Tim a 10-8. The judges gave it 10-8, 10-9 and 10-10, so they all used their own judgement on what occurred. I felt the knockdown in the 8th was sort of like the Michael Nunn-Sumbu Kalambay KO. Didn't see it coming from the neat boxing Austin. He just caught him. I think I would have given Botile the opportunity to rise so I could assess his well-being, but the ref immediately stopped it. His call. A decent fight.

 

Salvador Sanchez vs Azumah Nelson

WBC World Featherweight Title

7/21/1982

Round 1: 10-9 Nelson
Round 2: 10-9 Nelson. Nelson seems so tight gonna tire himself out.
Round 3: 10-9 Sanchez
Round 4: 10-9 Nelson. Great round.
Round 5: 10-9 Nelson. Sanchez absolutely icy cool in the corner.
Round 6: 10-9 Sanchez. Close.
Round 7: 10-8 Sanchez. Drops Nelson on a beautiful short left hook.
Round 8: 10-9 Sanchez. Can't miss with that left hook.
Round 9: 10-9 Sanchez. Close.
Round 10: 10-9 Nelson. Nelson not terribly effective that round but Sanchez took it off.
Round 11: 10-9 Nelson. Great round very close.
Round 12: 10-10. Great round.
Round 13: 10-9 Nelson. Close.
Round 14: 10-10. Azumah somehow the aggressor while being barely able to stand.
Round 15: Sanchez drops Nelson and stops him. ATG stuff.

My card entering the last round: 134-133 Nelson

Judges cards entering the last round: 134-131, 135-131 and 132-133 all for Sanchez.

 

Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Marvin Johnson 1

1 Johnson
2 Johnson
3 Johnson
4 Muhammad
5 Johnson
6 Johnson
7 Johnson
8 Muhammad
9 Muhammad
10 Johnson
11 Muhammad
12 Muhammad wins by KO

106-103 Johnson

I decided to just use the 10 point must system


Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Marvin Johnson 2

1 Johnson
2 Muhammad
3 Johnson
4 Johnson
5 Muhammad
6 Muhammad
7 Muhammad
8 Muhammad wins by TKO

67-66 Muhammad

So i decided to rewatch these greats fights again after seeing @Philly161 scoring the 1st fight, a few things i want to say about these fights. Other than stating the obvious that they were amazing slugfests which we already know.

In the 1st meeting Johnson was able to land numerous uppercuts, and land them pretty much at will. In the 2nd fight Johnson was never really able to make that punch apparent apart from in round 3, i don't know why Johnson didn't continue to throw the left uppercut. Since it worked so well for him in the 1st fight, and it was one of his better moments in the 2nd fight aswell.

I also think Muhammad had improved since there first meeting, to me he looked a bit stronger and more assertive. In the 1st meeting Johnson overwhelmed him early on until Muhammad started to get a foot hold in the fight late on, in the 2nd fight Muhammad was more assertive early on competing alot better, and i felt Muhammad was already starting to take over after the the 5th round. Muhammad also did his homework to the body in rounds 5-6, something he did not do in their 1st fight.

Overall i would say i preferred the 1st meeting despite both being great fights, and to me Muhammad did improve after the 1st fight where as Johnson didn't. Johnson just couldn't break Muhammad who was made of steel.