Can't remember my round by round, pretty sure I gave round 11 to Williams. I scored it a draw too, nevertheless.
Watched the last 5 today. Clear Pedroza win IMO...He ran away with it over the last 1/3. Arguably won the last 5 but the 15th I scored even and actually it probably should have went to Lockridge because he gave it his all in that round after getting bashed a little in the 14th. Top fight..Rocky would have been a long reigning champion in any other era, he really took it to Pedroza and hurt him a couple of times. In the end though Eusebio had to many tricks up his sleeve. To slick and really turned it on in the championship rounds. I had it 9 rounds Pedroza...4 rounds Lockridge and two even. I could see someone having Lockridge up after 10 if they scored the even round for Rocky and another close one I saw just for Pedroza. But clearly Eusebio had the late rounds with Rocky potentially stealing the last. Dont see anything controversial about this one.
Im just going through Duran's fights myself. Just watched Duran-De Jesus I and Duran does seem very green whilst De Jesus is somewhere near his peak. Even on the inside De Jesus was bullying Duran a bit in this fight, I was wondering if he was still a bit stunned for the duration of the fight after his knockdown in the first round. De Jesus was very good though and outboxed Duran superbly. Heres how I scored it: 1: De Jesus 10-8 2: Duran 10-9 3: De Jesus 10-9 4: De Jesus 10-9 5: Duran 10-9 6: De Jesus 10-9 7: De Jesus 10-9 8: De Jesus 10-9 9: Duran 10-9 10: De Jesus 10-9 De Jesus 97-92 Duran
Barry Michael-Al Carter To set the scene Al Carter was a hard hitting American prospect..The commentators repeatedly referred to him as one of top up and comers of the division at the time. Barry Michael would later become the IBF 130 champ but up until that stage his career had been a bit stop start with some losses for the Commonwealth title (back in that day it was considered more prestigious to be a Commonwealth champ) and abroad. This fight was a lightweight eliminator for the title. Its a great fight...Excellent display of chin by Michael, who just could not be dented all night despite looking a bit worse for wear at times in the 8th. I scored it 5 a piece in the end.. a draw...Carter made a great start until Barry settled in and began to consistently beat his body..A lot of rounds saw Carter come out like someone possessed only the punch himself out on the iron jawed Aussie and be on the end of a bit of punishment himself by rounds end. The second half had a lot of great see saw action...with Barry snatching the draw IMO with a big last round. I agreed with the ref's assessment who also had it a draw but was a little puzzled that the other judges had it so wide for Barry..99-94 and 98-92 respectively. Carter won at least 3 rounds clear as day but I must admit that some rounds were very hard to score as they were so closely fought. Top fight anyway.
Whitaker v DLH Chacon v Boza-Edwards II Too many hard to score rds in both fights, eventually gave up & enjoyed the fkn fights, both should have been draws for different reasons. Neither Pea or DLH deserved to win. Neither Chacon or Boza-Edwards deserved to lose.
I've got to say I had it much closer myself; I think I only had De Jesus winning it by about two rounds. I think his smothering tactics and strength on the inside kept it from being too lopsided. Obviously, Duran hadn't matured into the defensive genius we know him to have been now, but he looked awfully lethargic and easy to hit even compared to his greener performances at the time. I can't help but think that the Duran that fought Buchanan would have slipped his way inside and forced De Jesus to fight, and that we would have seen something more similar to the second and third fights. As I said earlier, you may or may not buy the car-crash story!
I had it pretty wide myself 97-93. The only rounds we differ upon are the 8th and the 9th. I gave the 8th to Duran and had the 9th even.
I watched the Jung Koo Chang-German Torres trilogy yesterday. What I like about Chang is that he's really no bigger than a straw weight, and he's nearly always the smaller guy at 108, but he still kicks ass against bigger fighters, and is usually forcing them to retreat. For those that don't know German Torres, he is like an orthodox Jose Luis Ramirez, a strong, tough stalking machine. Yet Chang still finds a way to repel him and even put him on the back foot. The first and third fights were fantastic back and forth action fights, with Chang getting the better of most rounds through his overwhelming speed and activity. He came pretty close to stopping Torres in the first fight, which is quite a feat for a guy so strong and tough. The third fight no one was really in trouble but they both battered each other pretty good and nearly every round was competitive, even though Chang was putting most in the bank. The second fight showed Chang coming in in a pretty woeful state, lacking sharpness and energy, and as a result Torres was catching him with long wrecking ball sweeps to the body all night long. Chang was lucky to escape with a decision there, and I thought he lost the fight actually. If there was ever a slip up in Chang's career it was this one - not the first Zapata fight, which was an outright robbery that Chang deserved to win. Jung Koo Chang vs. German Torres I: 117-110 Chang Torres: 5( 10-8 ) Chang: 1,2,3,4,7,8,10( 10-8 ) and 11. Rounds 6,9 and 12(9-9) even. Jung Koo Chang vs. German Torres II: 116-113 Torres Chang: 6,8 and 12. Torres: 1,3,47,8 and 11. Rounds 2,5 ( 9-9 ) and 10 even. Jung Koo Chang vs. German Torres III: 117-111 Chang Torres: 2,4 and 12 Chang: 1,3,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11.
Wilfredo Gomez vs Juan Antonio Lopez II - on the undercard of Holmes - Cooney. Almost a year after Gomez's loss to Sanchez. It's always striking how much better Gomez's lateral movement is at 122 compared to 126. Good perfomance, but hard to look great against Lopez. Still think Gomez was just a little on the downside by this time. Hagler KO 1 Sugar Ray Seales. My favorite version of Hagler is late 70's thru about 82. His movement is great and he could close quickly and deliver heavy shots with that reach. Hagler got some guys outta there quick (Seales, Watts). Awesome fighter during this period.
watched select rounds from Saldvar vs Sugar Ramos Saldvar was brutal when tradng wth Ramos despte beng the lttler man hs combos were a joy to behold and the last 2 rounds were brutal. Watched afew others but thats just what wanted to share
Eubank vs Sugarboy Malinga Eubank:2,3,4,5(10-8 ),7,8,9,10,12 Malinga:6,11 round 1 even Commentary had Eubank winning comfortably. Good technical fight, that even moreso than the first Watson bout, was often dominated by quality defensive work.Neither fighter landed many powershots at all, with Eubank consistently getting the better of the jabbing.This ended up banking him close round after close round for me, resulting in a lopsided card despite the competitiveness of the individual rounds. This is a recurring theme in most of Eubank's controversial fights for me.His do just enough mentality and the often notably inferior talent of his opponents, resulting in many close hard to score rounds.I tended to think he usually did have an often consistent, if slim edge in these kind of bouts,but i can see why others thought different. Here he won very clearly though imo.Certainly one of his better "just enough" efforts, which would have been a robbery had he lost imo. Malinga was a nice fighter at this stage.Good compact, if somewhat mechanical technician, with tidy defence and a nice long jab.Just not consistent or active enough.His later loss to Jones and success against Benn, reid etc actually came well past his peak.
Eubank vs Tony Thornton Eubank:1,3,4,6,7,8,9,10, Thornton:5,11, 12 round 2 even commentators had Eubank winning by about 3-4 points i think. Good competitive fight that both showcased Eubank's strong abilities on the backfoot and his discomfort when forced to fight at a consistently fast pace and work for the full 12. It also had a similar pattern throughout.thornton marching forward looking like a poor man's Briscoe behind a good high guard, some headmovement and a heavy jab, then letting chopping rights and hooks go when he had Eubank cornered. For his part, Eubank fought and countered consistently off the backfoot here.Lots of movement, controlling the distance with a variety of jabs and bodyshots.Looked very sharp and slick at times, yet tended to tire towards the end of a lot of rounds and turned his back and ran a few times late on that could have resulted in a point deduction from a sterner ref. Thornton actually landed the heavier more eye catching punches in most of the rounds, landing some nice neck snapping right hands as Eubank attempted to turn him, or pulled away.Problem was those shots would usually come in 20 to 30 second bursts after being outboxed and heavily outworked for the first two minutes.Generally i didn't think it was enough to be winning the rounds. He also tired just as badly as Eubank, and was badly rocked circa 10th.All in all a clear win for Eubank imo.
I thought it was pretty close myself. Pedroza gave away too many early rounds and then had a battle on his hands to claw his way back. I thought he edged ahead toward the end and had some big rounds, but Lockridge bravely stole the 15th and the fight ended a draw. Eusebio Pedroza vs. Rocky Lockridge I: 143-143 Draw Pedroza: 7,8,9,10,12 and 14( 10-8 ). Lockridge: 1,2,3,4,5, 11 and 15. Rounds 6 and 13 even. I can see someone having it for Pedroza by 2 or 3 points, but 5 points seems rather wide to me WAR.
Watched Kuniaki Shibata's first fight with Ben Villaflor yesterday. Interesting tactical affair pitting Shibata's quick combinations and defensive nous against Villaflor's resoluteness, strength and jabbing prowess. In so far as the exchanges went, Shibata was getting the best of it imo, landing crisp, eye catching punches, but there were too many periods of inactivity from his part where the more sturdy and reliable jab of Villaflor was piling up points. Whenever Villaflor got past mid range he was also effectively raking Shibata's body and had him wincing on more than one occasion. Despite Shibata occasionally landing flush he wasn't having much effect on Villalfor's rock chin. Somewhat like Shibata's fight with Victor Echegaray, I thought his periods of inactivity cost him and his less talented opponent got the decision through a greater work rate. Echegaray was another good, though somewhat one dimensional jabber, but he was able to consistently shoot it and score points against an at times listless looking Shibata. Anyway, my scorecard: Ben Villaflor vs. Kuniaki Shibata I: 144-145 Villaflor Shibata: 2,3,4 and 15. Villaflor: 1,5,8,10,13 and 14. Rounds 7,9,11 and 12 even. And just for interest's sake, my Shibata-Echegaray scorecard: Victor Echegaray vs. Kuniaki Shibata: 144-141 Echegaray Shibata:1,5,7 and 15 ( 10-7 ). Echegaray: 2,4,8,9,10,11,12,13 and 14. Rounds 3 and 6 even.
