the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Howard Winstone v Mitsunori Seki (featherweight title)

Round 1: Seki
Round 2: Even
Round 3: Winstone
Round 4: Winstone
Round 5: Winstone
Round 6: Winstone
Round 7: Seki
Round 8: Even
Round 9: Roland Dakin stops the bout in Winstone's favor

Total through 8 completed rounds (British scoring at the time was 5 - 4 3/4, so my score was 39 1/2 - 39 in favor of Winstone)

I thought to check this out while checking out the thread regarding bad stoppages and I named this one to the list. Two very evenly matched fighters in a very close contest. But regardless of Winstone's cut and how bad it was and how many rounds he was bleeding, the minute Seki had a visible cut in the 9th, Roland Dakin stopped the fight. No doctor checking it out or giving the corner a shot at stopping it when the round ended. Just an immediate stoppage. When I think of Dakin during the first fight with Antuofermo and Minter, one could see he was clearly biased towards the homegrown product.

 

Jesse Ferguson v Samson Po'uha

Round 1: 10-10 Even
Round 2: 10-9 SP
Round 3: 10-6 Ferguson (scores 3 knockdowns)
Round 4: 10-9 Ferguson
Round 5: 10-9 Ferguson
Round 6: 10-9 SP
Round 7: 10-9 SP
Round 8: Ferguson drops Po'uha and the ref immediately stops the bout

Total through 7 completed rounds: 67-64 Ferguson

Man, even a 40 year old Boogie-Man knew how to handle these up and coming prospects. Although he couldn't pull the trigger as quick anymore, he could still size up the young turk and figure out what ammo was needed. In this case, body shots to that ample waistline. Incidentally, Lampley read out some scores at the end of the fight by the officials referencing going into the 9th. Well, that's rather redundant seeing as how it was stopped with 11 seconds to go in the 8th, so the scores should only reflect through 7. But I don't know the rules on how or why they were scoring partial rounds here. Regardless, he read out scores of 78-72, 77-73 and 77-72 all for Ferguson. If I was to include that round I too would have had a 77-72 for Jesse. But that's silly. There are too many variables with an incomplete round. You cannot assume.

 

Marlon Starling W12 Simon Brown

I remember reading in one of the magazines at the time in a brief writeup on this bout that "Brown ran in this fight, and he didn't need to." Not sure what fight that scribe was watching, that's not at all what I saw happening.

This was just a poor stylistic matchup for Brown. On the one hand, I want to congratulate and thank his handlers for manning up and searching for bigger game and taking a chance against an experienced, world class opponent. That shows a lot of faith in their young charge, and a game, "take on all comers" attitude so sorely missing in this age. On the other hand, I want to take them aside for a minute and ask what the hell they were thinking, and why they thought this would work. Hindsight is always perfect of course but I honestly don't ever see Brown being able to beat Starling, even once he came of age and won the IBF title years later.

Everything Brown does is from the outside. His arms are long and all his punches are wide, telegraphed shots to the sides or side of Starling's head. Starling, of course, has that peek-a-boo defense where he tucks in his arms against his ribcage with the open gloves protecting his jaw and face, forming a sort of hermetic defensive seal. Nothing coming from the outside like that is going to penetrate that defense.

Starling also proved to be stronger than Brown, and intelligently walked him down and for every wide shot Brown threw, Starling would come inside with his own shorter, crisper counters and force Brown back. Brown was never really hurt by anything Starling threw, but he was constantly being forced to back up because of Starling's outstanding game plan and just couldn't get any real traction. He never ran, though. He just couldn't do anything but fire wide, telegraphed things and fall backward. He needed the space to throw his own long shots, so had to back up constantly in order to find that range. That's all it was.

My scorecard was wide, quite a bit wider than the official cards. One judge actually had Brown winning this, which is just unbelievable.

Tremendous performance from Starling and a game if hopeless one for Brown.

1. Starling
2. Starling
3. Brown
4. Starling
5. Starling
6. Even
7. Starling
8. Starling
9. Starling
10. Starling
11. Starling
12. Brown

118-111 Starling.

 

I remember watching this one live and jumping up and down when Ferguson won. In the grand scheme of things it wasn't a huge win, but it was a nice little upset on HBO

 

watched david izon vs derrick jefferson today

exciting stuff. had jefferson winning every round until gassing in the 8th and getting stopped in the 9th. crazy overreach by him

 

Sergio Martinez v Miguel Cotto (middleweight title)

Round 1: 10-6 Cotto (scores 3 knockdowns)
Round 2: 10-9 Cotto
Round 3: 10-10 Even
Round 4: 10-9 Cotto
Round 5: 10-9 Cotto
Round 6: 10-9 Martinez
Round 7: 10-9 Cotto
Round 8: 10-10 Even
Round 9: 10-8 Cotto (Cotto scores dubious knockdown)
Round 10: Martinez is retired by his corner between rounds

Total through 9 completed rounds: 89-80 Cotto (actual scores: 90-77 by all 3 judges)

I was kinder to Martinez than the three judges, but the outcome is the same. Sergio just didn't have the kind of firepower that was going to hold Cotto off. Regarding the 9th round 'knockdown'. The referee missed it. His knee did not touch the canvas. Outside of that the ref did fine and the Martinez corner looked out for their fighter.

 

D, finally getting around to this one now.

Carl Froch v Jean Pascal (vacant supermiddleweight title)

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

Total: 118-113 Froch (actual scores: 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112 all for Froch)

I think the British commentator summed it up best when he said, "Well, it wasn't the prettiest, but..." and if I was allowed to finish his sentence I would say "but they went at it hammer and tong!" This was really a close fight, despite Froch edging many rounds on my card. A really good fight. Thanks, D.

 

Gilberto Roman D12 Santos Laciar

I haden't seen any Laciar yet and am always interested to see a new Roman fight, so off I went.

This was the first of three bouts between the two, and it makes me anxious to see the others. This was the third defense of the junior-bantamweight title for Roman, in Laciar's home country of Argentina.

Good, tight skillfest going on here. Laciar is the clear aggressor, but his aggression is mixed with excellent technique in getting inside. Good head and upper-body movement while moving in, forcing Roman to utilize constant movement of his own. Roman was at his best when he was able to utilize side-to-side movement and potshot here snd there, forcing Laciar to reset. He was also good at limiting the exchanges before clinching, and keeping the fight a boxing match rather than a slugfest.

The truth though, is that Laciar DID keep him on the back foot most of the time and the two had difficulty maintaining the initiative against the other. I didn't mind the draw here. I thought Roman did enough to win but it is Argentina, after all. Difficult thing to score, too. I was a little confused as to which round was which late in the fight, as the broadcast was in spanish and the screen didn't reflect the upcoming round, so I'm relatively sure I got them right but there is some question as to where the 10th left off and the 11th began.

1. Laciar
2. Laciar
3. Roman
4. Roman
5. Roman
6. Roman
7. Laciar
8. Even
9. Roman
10. Laciar
11. Laciar
12. Roman

115-114 Roman.

 

Roberto Duran v Esteban DeJesus I (NY rounds scoring basis)

Round 1: DeJesus (scores a knockdown)
Round 2: Even
Round 3: DeJesus
Round 4: DeJesus
Round 5: DeJesus
Round 6: DeJesus
Round 7: DeJesus
Round 8: Duran
Round 9: Duran
Round 10: Even

Total: 6-2-2 DeJesus (actual scores: 6-2-2, 6-3-1 and 5-4-1 all for DeJesus)

Although I've seen this bout before, this is the first time scoring it. I felt what was most notable about this fight was Duran's accuracy. Man, was it off. This was Duran still in his incubation period and way too much wild-child in him. By '74 he had settled down somewhat into the fighter we remember. Just two outstanding lightweights, though.

 

Nino Benvenuti v D ick Tiger (NY rounds scoring basis)

Round 1: Tiger
Round 2: Tiger
Round 3: Tiger
Round 4: Even
Round 5: Tiger
Round 6: Benvenuti
Round 7: Tiger
Round 8: Tiger
Round 9: Benvenuti
Round 10: Tiger

Total: 7-2-1 Tiger (actual scores: 7-2-1, 6-3-1 and 6-4 all for Tiger)

Man, I was hesitant on watching this one because I just didn't care for the Benvenuti style at all after watching him in the Luis Rodriguez fight. But I gave it a go because Tiger's style usually translates to entertainment. So it was a little bit of both. I still don't like the upright stance of Nino with his awkward slaps and clinches, but Tiger's power and charges made it more palatable. He was amazing at 39 to do this to the reigning champ, who may have been overly embarrassed by saying he broke his right hand in the 1st round. There is no doubt there was damage but I think he was still winging it late in the fight. Anyways, great win for Tiger at such an advanced age.

 

Tyrone Crawley KO6 Steve Romero


One rarely reads of this fight. It was aired on CBS back in January of 1984, just around the time I became a boxing fan. Not sure how I missed it at the time. Having seen this fight now, and doing some extraneous reading about the principals afterward, it’s worth reminding ourselves that even seemingly insignificant events like this can have further-reaching effects than we might realize and that fighters, like all people, have stories transcending what we see for those few minutes on TV.


Crawley was the hot property at the time, having just upset the streaking Robin Blake on the network in the fight just previous. Romero, hailing from California, had a record of 22-1-1 and was an interesting and exciting (if untested) prospect. It promised to be interesting, regardless of the exact outcome.


The fight itself was a whitewash, quite frankly. I won't bother with a scorecard as Crawley easily won every round before savagely dispatching Romero in the sixth, despite having only having three KO's in 14 wins coming into this fight. He won as he pleased, standing in front of his foil instead of his usual movement-oriented style. He'd switch from orthodox to southpaw and back again with ease, and everything he tried worked. He could hardly miss Romero, who came out with bad intent and then saw his punch output decrease by the round. Crawley was teeing off with impunity, proving to a national audience that Romero was really nothing more than careful matchmaking and youthful vigor. He had precious little else.


Crawley pursued even more vociferously in the sixth, and floored Romero twice along the ropes in that round, the second time staying down for a while as his seconds attended to the bewildered Californian. Especially having scored a stoppage victory on national TV without losing a round in the process, Crawley was suddenly the hottest fighter in a truly stacked lightweight division.


Romero never seriously entered the ring again. He quit after this fight, only returning for one more decision victory in 1991 and apparently decided whatever he once had wasn't there anymore. Perhaps he saw in 1984 what a national audience bore witness to along with him; he just wasn't top-level. Boxing's a tough business, especially so when your warts are exposed for millions to see. I hope he found peace with himself. To quit immediately after a defeat like that speaks to some pretty horrific mental and emotional damage done. Indeed, the loss was so one-sided and non-competitive that it did seem to harken the need for a different career path for Romero. There was really nowhere to go from there.


Crawley went on to unsuccessfully challenge for the WBA lightweight crown in 1986, and never seriously made noise in boxing again. His life was only beginning, however. Crawley went on to become a cop in his native Philadelphia and was appointed as director of the local PAL boxing program. Through his positive mentorship, innumerable youngsters benefitted under his tutelage, and were kept off the streets. He died in January 2021, and was memorialized by countless letters, phone calls, and remembrances from all walks of life, including fellow fighters, sports stars from the Philly area, and music industry people with connections to the City of Brotherly Love. Before his time in the ring, he was an army paratrooper, and was remembered for his exemplary service in that regard as well. A life well lived, to say the least. Army paratrooper, world-class boxer, policeman, director of PAL boxing, youth mentor………….damn. We should all have a ledger like that when the music stops.


Well played, Mr. Crawley. Well played indeed.

 

Awesome career and life summary, Sal. Well done.

 

I don’t know that we can read that much into it. I’ve known a lot of guys who boxed because they had some aptitude but didn’t really enjoy it. There have been guys who quit when having winning streaks going and just decided it wasn’t what they wanted to do with their lives.

The part that maybe he realized his ceiling and decided to cut bait could be true, but that would be a wise decision given what this sport can do to a man — if this fight showed him he wasn’t championship material and he decided to get out rather than just fight to get paydays (and probably take more beatings), that’s just being smarter than most guys who hang around thinking they can yet turn the corner or taking short money and long-term damage … doesn’t mean he was horrifically scarred for life by one fight.

 

I hope you're right! Seems a lot of hype and potential to just toss away completely over just one loss, but stranger things have happened I guess.

 

Someone should have said that to Hagler, haha.

As I said, we’ve seen ranked guys who were on winning streaks walk away. It’s a strange business.

I’ve got a friend who was a journeyman heavyweight (I trained him as an amateur, now I’ve started working out in his semi-gym that he set up in his garage). His last fight, he said he was in the best shape of his life — had been working out with a strength and conditioning guy, felt great in sparring … and when he got in the ring he said he realized he just didn’t have it mentally — he didn’t feel like fighting.

So he retired. He has a great job and a great family — boxing wasn’t something he had to do, but he could have picked up some more paydays if he had chosen — but he never *had* to box to make a living … he just loved it and, yeah, a few times he picked up some nice cash, but it was more an avocation than a vocation.

EDIT: I just thought of Leo Randolph, the 1976 Olympic gold medalist who won a world title then retired after losing his first defense to finish his career in less than three full years. His heart was never in boxing but he decided why not take a chance as there was money to be made, but after losing the title figured ‘good enough for me’ and walked away.

He wasn’t scarred. Just wasn’t what he wanted to do. Became a public transit operator and supervisor in his native Washington and seems to be living a fulfilling life away from the ring.