the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Seems like every other week some guy comes along who’s like 16-0 and people on the main board are discussing if he’s the greatest of all time, lol (especially in light heavy/cruiser range).

And don’t get me started on Loma — ‘he’s really three divisions smaller even though he’s been fighting at this weight for years and hasn’t made that weight for years, so he’s at a huge disadvantage so it’s like he really won!’

 

We're talking about title shots here now,hm?
But not gonna lie tho, it's definitely way much easier to be an inexperienced challenger these days,I agree some prodigies can be cagey enough to be put into a title shot,but again, it's unfair...

Imagine being a fighter with not much talent,but with a heavy resume.

You've fought every contender and fighters put in front of you and has tasted it all,you trained hard with all those experiences used to hone some more skills.

Suddenly,you saw an article about some bright 10-0 guy getting a title shot,just because his last fight was a "brilliant,5 round slugfest"

 

I wish states (and countries) would put in some guardrails like:

Only 4-rounders until a fighter has won six fights.

Only up to 6-rounders until a fighter has won 10 fights.

Only up to 8-rounders until a fighter has won 15 fights.

At which point a fighter could move to 10-rounders and beyond … BUT:

State, provincial or area titles (anything below national) cannot exceed 10 scheduled rounds.

No title fights for any title above the state/provincial/area level (WBC copper, WBA super duper, WBO Antarctic, IBF Former USSR States, etc) until a fighter has won 20 fights. And those shall be scheduled for 12 rounds.

Yeah, some promoters with deep enough pockets to run enough shows would find a way to zip guys through the required number of wins in lesser time that it might usually take, but minimum it’s going to take 15 months or more to get a guy to 20 wins (and maybe we could add a stipulation that at least a third of those wins have to be scheduled for 10 rounds) to be in any sort of title picture (including lesser non-world belts) with the exception of the state/provincial/regional titles — I figure the best two fighters in a weight class in Wisconsin might both be .500 fighters but if they’ve met the requirement to fight 10 rounds let ‘em go at it for a little belt … no harm there.

 

Harry Arroyo v Sammy Fuentes (NJ rounds basis)

Round 1: Fuentes
Round 2: Fuentes
Round 3: Fuentes
Round 4: Even
Round 5: Arroyo
Round 6: Fuentes
Round 7: Arroyo receives a standing 8-count and then is dropped and out.

Total through 6 completed rounds: 4-1-1 Fuentes (actual scores not known)

Man, I remember reading about this at the time and my eyes bugging out when reading the result and thinking, "What's wrong with Harry?" But IMO, he was never the same after the Jimmy Paul fight. Taking nothing from Fuentes, because he looked like dynamite in there. But Harry was damaged goods already. But an enjoyable fight with a lot of brisk combos before the KO, which was scary. Thanks to @Wladimir for posting.

 

Bernard Taylor v Gerald Hayes II (NJ rounds scoring)

Bernard Taylor is one of those great featherweight contenders who just missed out on that brass ring. It may not be fair, but this is what happens in a competitive era. So one can see what happens with a single champ let alone when Taylor was fighting and there was two. As for Hayes, he reminds me of Holly Mims. He didn't just show up to survive, he would really give it a go and sometimes get that win. Every round here was competitive but other than the first round that I scored even, I gave the remainder to Taylor for a 9-0-1 score (actual scores: 8-2 by all 3 judges). Again, a good, hard 10 rounder with fast sharp combos galore.

 

Scar is a hard man. We usually give a guy a round for showing up if he puts up a good effort, but you only gave him a share of one, haha.

 

LOL! And if there was anyone who deserved a round for the effort he put forth, it was Hayes. But everytime it looked like he was going to take a round, Taylor just went one better - on my card anyway. A tough old sport to get a favor, my man.

 

I've really enjoyed watching Loris Stecca of Italy. He had a speedy, attacking style that always seemed to make a good fight. So today I am upping it and including his younger brother Maurizio. So here we go with the Stecca Brothers.

Loris Stecca v Jorge Alvarez (scheduled for 8)

Round 1: 10-9 Alvarez
Round 2: 10-9 Alvarez
Round 3: 10-9 Stecca
Round 4: 10-9 Stecca
Round 5: 10-6 Stecca (Stecca scores 2 knockdowns and Alvarez is docked a point for head use)
Round 6: Stecca KOs Alvarez

Total through 5 completed rounds: 48-44 Stecca (scores not known)

Alvarez definitely threw Stecca off in those first 2 rounds with his straight-punching southpaw attack. But Stecca found his gear in the 3rd and slowly took it to the Mexican, finishing matters in the 6th. What is very strange to me was the fact that here Stecca was, a former champ, on a 17 bout unbeaten streak (all 8 rounders). He clearly hadn't lost much of anything. He was still fast and sharp-hitting and the fans seemed to love him. But that was it. This was his last fight. What am I missing? Was there an injury? Did he not need this anymore? Was nothing forthcoming for a title fight? A mystery to me.

Maurizio Stecca v Colin McMillan (featherweight title)

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

Total: 117-113 McMillan (actual scores: one score of 116-114 for Stecca and two scores of 118-110 for McMillan, the winner on a split decision)

Maurizio, the more decorated of the brothers in the amateur ranks, had a nice, straight-up style with a good jab and a fair right hand and was speedy. But he lacked Loris' aggressive style, which I highly enjoyed. Maurizio clearly had an issue trying to solve McMillan's unorthodox style of switch-hitting and his stabbing shots throughout. I think Maurizio should have concentrated on Mc's slender body instead of trying to fend him off at a distance. One could see by body language Mc wasn't liking those rights to the body that Stecca was landing in the clinches. Stecca's corner should have seen this and instructed him accordingly. But what do I know? As it was, Stecca was a bleeding mess by the end of the 12th, compliments of McMillan's stabbing punches.

 

Harry (Kid) Matthews v Danny Nardico (rounds scoring basis)

Round 1: Matthews
Round 2: Matthews
Round 3: Nardico
Round 4: Matthews
Round 5: Even
Round 6: Matthews
Round 7: Matthews
Round 8: Even
Round 9: Nardico
Round 10: Matthews

Total: 6-2-2 Matthews (actual scores: 7-2-1, 7-2-1 and 8-2 all for Matthews)

I totally enjoyed this fight. I hadn't seen much of Matthews and only saw Nardico against Charley Norkus. Nardico had one way of fighting; straight ahead trying to take his opponent out with one shot. Matthews was far different and a product of his times. He was very adept at just moving his head slightly to evade a punch and then countering with precision. However, as was the case back then, you had to perform before the paying public, and he had to engage. He had a couple of rocky moments due to Nardico's efforts, but countered nicely to a decision that the crowd enjoyed. Good fight.

 

Mike Tyson vs James "Quick" Tillis

Round 1: 10-9 Tyson
Round 2: 10-9 Tyson
Round 3: 10-9 Tillis
Round 4: 10-8 Tyson
Round 5: 10-9 Tyson
Round 6: 10-9 Tillis
Round 7: 10-9 Tillis
Round 8: 10-9 Tillis
Round 9: 10-9 Tillis
Round 10: 10-9 Tyson

Total: 95-94 Mike Tyson

I gave Round 4 as 10:8 to Tyson due to the knockdown, but Tillis was dominating the round and it could have easily been 10-9 (one of the HBO commentators had it as such) which would make the fight a draw. If it wasn't for the knockdown, Tyson would have lost on my scorecard.

 

Antonio Esparragoza v Young Kyun Park (featherweight title)

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

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

A lot of take-aways on this fight to discuss. First, it was a damn good fight which I enjoyed, however, I found it frustrating as hell. The family was checking in on me as I was watching as I kept screaming at Esparragoza, "Will you get off those ropes!" About half-way through the 3rd round it looked like the penny dropped and Esparragoza realized he better start doing something as Park swept the first 3 rounds. The Korean's tactics were simple, give the champ no room to unload his straight punches - negating any of his big guns - and just keep throwing no matter where it lands. It really served him well having Stanley Christodolou as referee. I have watched him as ref for many years and I don't believe he ever took a point from a fighter. It has always been a case of warn, warn and warn but never take a point. And Park took advantage of this with his head, rabbit punches, hitting on the break, etc. At the end of the 9th round I would have taken a point from Park for wrestling the champ to the canvas and then popping him when he was down. But no, just another warning from the ref. I know a lot of our posters here are impressed with Esparragoza, but I never was. He sat there for 12 rounds getting bopped around on the ropes and in the corners by Park and had no idea how to use the ring to get back to ring center, where he did his best work with the title slipping away. Moreover, he had a really inauspicious title reign. I had never heard of him leading up to his title challenge of Stevie Cruz - where he looked good. But outside of Villasana and Renard, I had never heard of his title challengers either. And it was very disappointing that he promptly retired after this rather than go for a rematch. He probably made good money fighting WBA no-hopers and probably had enough in the bank to turn his back when he did. But for me, his career, with lack of big names and big challenges, was a dispointment.

 

I was a big Esparragoza fan too but I agree that apart from the Cruz (I thought he looked brilliant that night in a cracking fight), Villasana and Renard he fought very average opposition.

He did deserve his crack at Cruz. He crushed Johnny De La Rosa in 3 rounds to earn his shot. I´ve seen the fight and Rosa was well beaten after a cautious start from both.
Johnny had a 24-1 record with his only loss a split decision for the WBC feather title in Juan Laporte´s home. After the Esparragoza loss he racked up 10 straight wins before challenging Rocky Lockridge for his Super-feather crown. De La Rosa dropped Lockridge in the early rounds and before Rocky slowly started to wear him down for a 10 round stoppage in a good fight.

Arguably Esparragoza´s best win after Cruz.

I´m pretty sure a read that Esparragoza turned to politics after retiring and is/was an elected government representative in Venezuela.

 

Fred, I do agree that the DeLaRosa win was pretty damn good, but like you say, very thin after that. He does have on his record - before the Cruz fight - 2 recognizable names in Bernardo Checa and Bernardo Pinango. But really, Checa was really only a good clubfighter, whose main claim to fame was that he was Barry McGuigan's sparring partner. He did, however, become a very good trainer. And the Pinango fight can be overlooked because the future world champ only had 6 pro fights at the time. I did enjoy Esparragoza's title-winning fight with Cruz sometime back. The styles meshed beautifully. Any other of his fights out there that you could recommend?

 

Harry Arroyo v Charlie 'White Lightning' Brown (lightweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Arroyo
Round 2: 10-9 Brown
Round 3: 10-9 Brown
Round 4: 10-9 Brown
Round 5: 10-9 Arroyo
Round 6: 10-9 Arroyo
Round 7: 10-9 Arroyo
Round 8: Arroyo stops Brown

Total through 7 completed rounds: 67-66 Arroyo (scores not known)

I was a little annoyed back in the day when this fight was made. I hate when someone appears to be gifted a shot at the title. NBC loved White Lightning. They loved his boyish good looks, his style, and his monicker. It meant box-office and ratings. But I didn't like the fact that he appeared to given some gifts along the way. Such as decisions over Louie Burke and Frank Newton. Both of which I felt beat Brown. Well, he may have received the shot, but the wheels came off against Arroyo, who slowly chopped him down. If anyone wants to see a really good, hard fight, check out Arroyo's fight with Brown's namesake, Charlie 'Choo-Choo' Brown. That was a damn good fight.

 

Not only did Harry beat both Charlie Browns — Choo Choo and White Lightning — he did so in back-to-back IBF lightweight title fights.

And since Charlie Brown never fought Charlie Brown, I think we can fairly crown Arroyo as boxing one, true Charlie Brown.

He kicked their asses and took their name!