I agree that it was the best of the undercard, but no defense? The first couple of rounds were a pure defensive chess match with some jabs and occasional single or double power punches here and there. They didn't start opening up with combinations until rounds 3-4. Even then, Gomez was keeping a guard up and Soto Karass was moving in and out of range. It was good action and they definitely both largely eschewed defense in favor of offense (that's JSK's typical style anyway) but neither was landing everything they threw, far from it - and neither was throwing wide sloppy punches. You can't say there was no defense on display. That said, the reffing was atrocious. Drakulich dropped the ball in a big way. Technical draw would have been the right call IMO, as scoring the fight on rounds (rather than points, forced to include the bogus foul deductions) each won three (Soto Karass 1, 5, and 6; Gomez 2, 3, and 4).
The ref did exactly what he was suppose to do. Another point deduction a bit after the second would have justified. The cut was unfortunate. These guys looked very evenly matched, and both have big hearts. Might have been a barn burner without the cut.
boo, of the four supposed fouls (two warnings followed by two deductions), TWO of them landed clean on the lettering. Nowhere near the cup, or Al's balls. Jesus is a bodypuncher by trade, he can't help (and doesn't care) if his opponent's trunks are hiked up to his nips. The one they took the second point for, OK it was low but on the slow-mo replay - where does it land? Yes, below the beltline, but on the thigh of Gomez. Is that really worth a penalty? Low blows are designed to protect the family jewels, not your thigh. That ought to have been another warning. And speaking of warnings, after all that, in round 5 I believe, Soto Karass punches Gomez above his trunks, on the exposed flesh, right over his navel. And what does Vic do? Barks "Keep 'em up!" atsch :yep Okay, in Mr. Drakulich's world it's headhunt or bust.
And that's why it's a career best. The opponent was good aswell as his performance. Tackie and Gatti were past it and this win goes over any ''Contender'' win.
I understand your frustration since you're a fan of his, but Soto-Karass went low at least eight times clearly, and he got warned three times before Drakulich took a point away(after two punches hit low consecutively), and about five seconds after that went low again which wasn't called. I don't think it was intentional, Soto-Karass is a body puncher, but his accuracy was definitely lacking going to the body in this fight. And below the beltline is low no matter how you slice it. As to your scoring, you're generous to give JSK Round 1 and Round 6. Alfonso landed more and the better punches in both rounds imo, as well as showing better ring generalship, though they were competitive rounds. As to the fight itself, it was solid though obviously a better ending would have been preferable.
