the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Aye Kalambay's whole ****ing career is upside down.

 

wtf

 

Bobo Olson UD15 Randy Turpin

Randy. Bobo. Randy. Bobo. Aye.

Brillliant first round from Turpin. You see that first round you have your winner. I wonder how Olson will turn it around? Turpin is timing him with the left hook, leading him with the left hook when he sets his foot down, isn't really missing him with the left hook. He is also out-jabbing Olson, and looks stronger when they bump up and he holds. Lively, excellent first round from the Brit, looks a bit stiff though.

More of the same through three. Turpin gets his uppercut inside and his right hand to the body going in the second. He's a bit old fashioned the way he just tries to lean out of the way of shots sometimes...in the third, Olson looks like he's dialling in a bit hitting two-handed up close but it's all Turpin so far.

Extremely close fourth, I thought Olson nicked it, barely, with two good right hands an a wonderful sneak left hook as Turpin lunged in. It's like Olson has started to "solve" some of Turpin's bad habits, the lunge, the low hands when he's punching. It doesn't look like a different fight or anything, but Olson looks different. He also cut Turpin slightly on the left cheek with a right hand.

Turpin's strategy now is to dip, throw the right to the body, come up with the left hook. It works, too, enough to be called affective, but where it is inferior to his spearing jab is that it lets Olson inside every time. I thought Turpin won the fifth, but he is in for a long night. This is a great fight.

Sixth and seventh, Olson has just about taken control. It's a nice turnaround. Turpin is like a man fending off wildlife he doesn't want to hurt, trying to make himself tall, move side to side with his gloves low when Olson comes up;inside they are well matched but Olson lands the hurtful punches in both of these rounds. Turpin comes bag big though, really hurting Olson with a ragged right hand after a round spent exchanging bodypunches. Olson keeps coming though;Turpin sagging a bit.

Still, he comes out aggressively in the ninth but when he gets caught on the rope with about a minute remaining, Olson lands every single punch he throws as Turpin tries to do that weird thing of standing tall and trying to ride punches rather than actually ****ing defend himself, pick them off, parry. Olson lands every punch he throws between then and the end of the round and it seems inevitable that Turpin will go; he does, crumbling rather than falling, but he beats the count at the bell. Fight effectively over?

Olson just can't miss. Turpin is decked again. How does he make it to the end of the fight?

Heart made of diamond, that's how. He nearly wins the ****ing twelfth but Bobo catches him right at the death and Turpin stiffens again. If Bobo had chased the body then he might have got him out. Great display of heart by Turpin, almost eclipses the insidious way Olson crawls into his ass every round. Bell may have saved Turpin in the thirteenth although equally he could be in that weird corridor where fighters just stagger about until someone with better sense intervenes. Unknockoutable in the same way it's sometimes impossible to get ****ed on day two of a stag.

But Jesus Christ if he doesn't win the fifteenth on my card.

OLSON:4,6,7,9,10,11,12,13.
TURPIN:1,2,3,5,8,15.
EVEN:14

8-6-1 OLSON.

Great fight, neglected upload, well worth 45 minutes of your time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYm-3NqKXt4

 

Randy Turpin UD15 Sugar Ray Robinson

Turpin isn't shy in the first round, he's looking for trouble. These aggressive launches that he puts out him don't agree with Robinson from dot. Turpin is stronger in clinches and tangles Robinson up enough that he can't get that two handed broadsides going. Turpin, for all he likes to dip is coming in straight up here, not bending and giving Robinson room for that right. Very good first two rounds form Turpin.

Funny watching Robinson backpedal away in confusion. He really doesn't know what to do with his man. Turpin is just outstabbing him at the minute. Robinson can't get his left working at all. They say that Turpin watched every available Robinson fight for this meet and I believe it. The two-handed reverse swarm Robinson does, neutralised, the right hand to the body around the corner, neutralised, he's just closing the distance as and when he feels like it. Apparently Robinson is already bleeding inside his mouth. Turpin sort of menaces him back, but doesn't always throw when he has him planted, so it keeps things unpredictable. Inside, he always has the last word, rough, too with those punches round the back of the head. And he is so unpredictable with that left that Robinson is getting hit with stiff shots, these aren't shoe-shines.

He just gets beaten up in the fifth. Turpin lands a lot of varied shots, Robinson looks misty, off the pace, his rhythm broken. Turpin is scoring when Robinson leads or when he leads himself.

Finally Robinson bags a round in the seventh. He finds Turpin with some punches and makes room inside to do some damage. Turpin may have been hurt here, although it wasn't apparent, because he doesn't do much of the rescuing of himself he's been so excellent at. Eighth is huge and Robinson knows it, contests it all the way, takes it with a predominantly right-handed body-attack that would have made for a different fight if he'd uncorked it in round one. As it is, Turpin only needs two more to force Robinson to get a KO. And Turpin is still making him fight every minute, making him quite miserable.

Eleventh is another huge round, but this time it's Turpin who takes it, stopping the resurgence of Robinson on the cards. He's old fashioned Turpin. Stabs with the left, leans when he's threatened, rears up even. Old-fashioned fighter. I've never seen Robinson so reluctant to punch.

ROBINSON:7,8,10,12,
TURPIN:1,2,3,4,5,6,11,13,14,15
EVEN:9,


10-4-1 TURPIN.

 

Jermain Taylor SD12 Bernard Hopkins

I think Taylor outsped Bernard in the first round and probably just about shaded it with one or two blows he landed that Hopkins didn't manage to counter or match. One thing about this fight: this round would be even up until that became something that just didn't happen. And there are loads of rounds like this in this fight. He certainly takes the second with that driving right hand, probably didn't land as flush as the crowd and HBO think but there was a reaction and in a fight like this, that kind of punch is enough.

Hopkins gets outsniped in the third, Taylor is decent, like Turpin, at recognising an unusual opportunity to punch and taking it. It just keeps him ahead as Hopkins is trying to move. Jermain is booming and hustling and Hopkins is having to move a lot. That's a significant lead given the pattern of the fight.

The fourth is ridiculously close and it's basically all but impossible for me to seperate them. Taylor appears to land one or two bodyshots right on bell which might mean he wins the round, but the referee unsighted me - therefore i've gone with Roy Jones and Harold Letterman who gave it to Taylor. This means Hopkins MUST win the fifth round.

He does so, but he's got problems. His plan is (based on corner input) to move around, move Taylor out of position force him to overextend himself and then counter-right. It's a **** plan, shocking, because Taylor is faster, has really organised footwork - no, co-ordinated is a better way of saying it than organised - and he has a pretty serious reach advantage. So Hopkins is repeatedly taken by surprise. This is very bad because it makes it look like he is being handled - and there are so few clean punches going in that "being the boss", which Taylor is takes on more significance than normal.

So he wins the fifth with good clean punches but it's only a matter of time before he gets rushed and or handled again. That's what happens in six, he gets rushed, ships a hard punch, doesn't do enough to get the round back. It's disappointing really. He doesn't show any great feints or strategy; he's just moving around hoping Taylor comes onto something hard. It's not good enough, and this fight is pretty clearly going to be won by Taylor pretty clearly.

Taylor out-feints and out-moves Hopkins in the ninth. Very disappointing from Hopkins. He's just moving around looking for an opening against a faster, rangier opponent. It doesn't make much sense tbh. Can't he see what's happening? I always thought he was posturing at bell - but could he really be so naive to the rhythm of a fight that he thinks he is winning?

**** i've got it 6-4 after ten. Do you know, I think the only difference is that Hopkins is slightly closer? And either because he's tired, because he's tense (it is tense, it was even when Taylor was winning - that's because there was so little punching one punch could turn it) or because he has his range absolutely dialled in through 6 that he can't alter it, Taylor has begun to miss. Hopkins hit him some hard shots in that tenth round.

Taylor is fighting frightened. He's edging back, doesn't like it, is getting hit by the right hand. It's all on the twelfth for my card. God damn Hopkins.

Taylor:1,2,3,4,6,8,
Hopkins:5,7,9,10,11,12

Draw. Jesus, the old man. 114-114.

Still, it was a "mature" performance, they all call it that, he didn't go crazy, Taylor. He was careful, compact, but he started to overreach a little bit at the end and it made him very vulnerable. He gassed a bit. But he timed Hopkins well when he had total control of the range (gifted to him a bit), picked his shots well.

 

Jermain Taylor UD12 Bernard Hopkins

In for a penny...

So surely Hopkins is like that: throw more jabs, make it difficult for him to land his jab, steal a couple of early rounds, show patches of aggression to do so. And surely Taylor is like that - i need two punches every x land unless i'm allowed to land as many or more jabs than first time around and I need to show rough on the inside.

Taylor is a little rougher in the first, Hopkins for his part is more aggressive, but it's Taylor who lands more leather and takes the frame. In any civilised culture, that's a 10-10 round. The second round follows a similar pattern with a little bit more action. Hopkins has made an opening gambit here, rushing, a bit more aggressive, closing the range dramatically rather than edging in over 8 rounds...interesting to see if he adjusts on the adjustment after losing two. Three too. He's stronger and he's bulling Hopkins in the clinches.

Taylor takes the fourth with left-handed activity and is already all but out of site. Of course, 1 could have gone either way and compubox had 3 tied on punches landed.

As with the first fight, the fifth is a must-win for Hopkins and I thought he barely won it. Another round that should be scored even, but if there has to be a winner then Hopkins landing the best punch of the fight probably does it, a right hand behind a double feint - but I thought Taylor basically squared the round up with activity. Six is huge too, but Taylor very clearly wins it with a pressing jab, responsive punching and a nice two-handed burst at bell.

But it's Hopkins who gets the seventh with three separate lunges totally one punch each. If he can keep Taylor very quiet, and make him miss, he can win a round. But I can't see him doing that even four more times never mind five?

It's a rally though, single left hands and right hands winning Hopkins the eighth. He's closer now, insidious. This fight is way more like the first than I remember. Big, big ninth. Five, six and nine have been the key rounds, whoever wins this one goes 2-1 up in key rounds. Hopkins steals it,barely, with two right hands right at the end of the round, in the final twenty seconds. This is 5-4 Taylor with three remaining, Jesus that's tense. It's weird, Taylor is fighting almost exactly like Hopkins now, lunging in, more elegantly, but still lunging. Can't land his right behind the jab.

Taylor's shat it. Waiting, shuffling, no jab he just wants it magically to be over. He's showing signs of stress IMO. All square after ten, Hopkins has the right hand dialled in.

But Taylor gets clean hell between rounds and it seems to work. All of a sudden he is like a different fighter. He's throwing the left uppercut, landed numerous stinging right hands, a peach of a left hook and Hopkins is suddenly moving back again. Clear round for him, his best late round of the pair. Best Hopkins can do is a draw for me - so it's all on the twelfth.

Awww god damn it how do yo score that round? Taylor barely ahead, two right hands for Hopkins then Taylor lands an off balance flurry topped with a decent dig at the bell. It's an even round!

I'll ****ing watch it again.

OK I'll give it to Hopkins. Ledderman gave it to Hopkins and so did Merchant, I can't split them, those guys are closer. So I have it another ****ing draw

HOPKINS:5,7,8,9,10,12
TAYLOR:1,2,3,4,6,11,

114-114.

 

Michael Nunn MD12 Iran Barkley

Crazy first round from Nunn. He has the ability to stay ahead with movement, proves it, then elects to fight in the pocket anyway and outpunches Barkley very clearly. That uppercut is a beast. Straight left is a hell of a punch too, probably the punch that wins him the second. An unconcerned Nunn might lose the third to Barkley's aggression and pressure but he has to work like a fool to take a round. Barkley isn't a fighter that can be made to go away with punches, but he does tire. I think he nicked the fourth too though, Nunn freezes for two right hands (not so much a combo as two right hands) and then another right to the body, an uppercut. Barkley is also shoe-shining after a fashion, too, sort of clipping Nunn. Still, he is working so hard to win rounds - fight got interesting though. Nunn boxes his way to the fifth and then he activates the boxing, moving style that makes him invulnerable to Barkley's pressure. Barkley is reduced to following, clearly frustrated.

Nunn comes down of his bike for spells of the eighth and nearly drops it at the last, spotting Barkley a very hard right hand. He probably did enough prior to that to bag the round, however. Draw is the best Barkley can do on my card now. And Barkley wins the ninth on the outside just to complete the bizarro world feeling. Barkley just lands some decent jabs, Nunn waits until the 30 seconds to get to work.

In his head, he has visions of glorious combinations stealing the rounds after Barkley is allowed to go to work for a little while, but when time comes to throw, Barkley is right there with him throwing. It's not a recipe for success - especially when Barkley lands the best punch, a left hook, in the final minute of the tenth. Nunn only needs a round but it's not a genius performance this.

And he gets the eleventh too! Again with the left hook...Nunn is just allowing himself to be outworked, what are they doing in the corner saying "I have you comfortably ahead" that's ridiculous. In Barkley's corner they do everything but set him on fire.

12th, for all the marbles.
Nobody really does anything in the twelfth. Barkley lands the best punch, a left hook again. Barkley lands more punches. Imma give it to Barkley. So I have this a draw, which echoes what one of the judges had.

Weird, weird fight from Nunn. He starts out ultra-aggressive. Then he box-moves his way to a few rounds. Then he just stops throwing that much. He had a few rounds off when he should have been fighting.

No argument with the official decision.

NUNN:1,2,5,6,7,8,
BARKLEY:3,4,9,10,11,12

114-114

 

Michael Nunn MD12 Marlon Starling

Welterweight title-holder Starling moves up to take on Nunn. Nunn is bigger than most of the middles he takes on so the size difference here is bordering on comedic. Starling is defensively very good though and he doesn't get hit a lot here while finding room for right-hands up and down. Bad strategy - lets the little man in. He is busier in the second round and edges it with hard body-punches.

A great third rounds opens with Nunn pushing Starling back to the ropes and using volume to gather points, but when Starling comes off the ropes it's to firmly out-box the much rangier man from the outside repeatedly stunning him with right hand leads. Amazing stuff. Nunn is naive. He loses a desperately close fifth too for me. Harder punches, landing flush - Nunn, for all his admired reactions based defence is getitng repeatedly hit by right hands leading. He ships a couple of hooks in this round too. You could argue this round any one of three ways.

Acting under orders, Nunn begins to move, and activates the jab in the fifth. Little embarrassing given his size advantage but it takes him the round. He's close to dominant in six, marrying bodywork to the southpaw jab. Ripping to the body in the eighth which is a great round of boxing to take a decent lead into the final third. A Starling fade in the third fails to disguise that he nicked the round early doors with a two-handed attack. Starling is tired but keeping his discipline, keeping his hands high. He might be knackered, we'll see. Big, big round coming up now. Nunn keeps it dull and takes it with long straight punches and the occasional wining left, sometimes to the body. The best Starling can do on my card without KDs is now a draw.

Starling takes the eleventh narrowly though, he lands a very hard straight right to the body in the first moments and dominates the next 90 seconds. Nunn works harder in the second half of the round but I thought Starling did just enough to take the frame. Another twelfth round for all the marbles. I been on a run of good fights lately.

I think Starling did enough in the last round to make a draw. I'm on some run of draws right now. One judge had it 114-114, but the other two judges were ****faced, scoring it 118-110 and 117-111 for Nunn.

Nunn:2,5,6,7,8,10,
Starling:1,3,4,9,11,12

114-114

 

lora, where are you?

 

Roy Jones UD10 Jorge Castro

Dose Castro win the firs ton the aggression? I think he does you know. That's probably it though. Castro looks like his nose is badly damaged by a grazing left-hook in round 2 and his **** is chilled out in round 3 although he goes right back to crowding aggressively in the fourth. Roy just wins the fifth on the jab, dull but affective.

IN the sixth, Castro lands a beautiful right hand counter as Jones shapes to throw the uppercut, but he still loses the round. I reckon he has a case for winning the eighth though bulling in with haymakers and aggression. Jones wins the closing rounds though. He showed paranoia/good judgement depending on your point of view concerning Castro "trying to lure" him so he boxed with extraordinary discipline on the outside. That's probably all that kept him getting the admittedly iron-jawed Castro out of there.

Castro:1.
Jones:2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.

 

JAMES TONEY KO11 MICHAEL NUNN

Remember loving Toney? Those were the ****ing days. He's fighting a guy called Charles Ellis tonight in a hotel in Missouri. Makes you want to cry.

Here's his best performance against Fancy Dan Michael Nunn. Bad blood in the build up. Nunn upset that Toney threatened to "kill his bones" Certainly he seems upset as he stands in front of Toney and looks to fight him in the first. I thought Toney did a little better at this kind of work although Nunn definitely had his moments. The exchanges to the body were serious. Nunn looked to move a little more towards the end of the round and I thought he looked better when he did this. Toney round, close.

Second was interesting too but Nunn is after the range with his southpaw jab, Toney looking to slip and duck and come back - Nunn's a little quicker though and Toney isn't really getting very far with this strategy. Naughties at the bell as they fight on. The third is very close - in fact the fight generally is closer than I remember it and both get hit more than I remember. I think Nunn probably squeezed this one out but only barely. Toney was busy too. Nunn is doing better at distance and with a couple of punches to the beltline, Toney is doing a little better when he gets inside - but overall, it's Nunn in the first third of the fight.

Interesting fifth. Very close, Nunn probably plucks it out at the death. Toney is very elusive with the upper-body and Nunn, weirdly, does better with single shots rather than combinations where he seems to be going through the motions a bit rather than targetting Toney. Toney meanwhile isn't using the jab at all. After six I have it 4-2 Toney.

Seventh is kinda key whichever way you see it, Nunn is starting to find the second and third punch in his combinations but Toney has his right hand dialled in now. There's a really sharp warning for this Nunn in this round but he doesn't hear it. Several more are posted in the ninth; again Nunn doesn't hear, and what is worse, things are close to even on my card. Nunn must be feeling that way a little bit - it's inconvenient because he was slightly hur tin the ninth and would like to box-move, i'm sure.

I have it tied after ten, but the judges have Toney way behind and to be fair, Toney's corner is concerned too. Angelo Dundee's repeated instruction to Nunn "not to go reaching" between rounds was interesting.

Toney closes the blinds in the eleventh with a great left hook and a hoodlum follow up when Nunn gets his feet at nine. I love the way Toney is going back to his corner round after round and telling them not to worry he's gonna knock Nunn out cos he is knackered. That's nice.

NUNN:2,3,4,5,7,
TONEY:1,6,8,9,10.

 

JAMES TONEY SD12 REGGIE JOHNSON

Toney is often in close rounds, ergo, fights, with quality opposition, I find these rounds very hard to score. Toney throws plenty in the first and I think reaches Johnson, who is here to fight, with some excellent body punches and the right hand at the bell maybe nicks it for him. Nothing too clever from Toney so far, this is the part of his career where he was feeling the pressure to "be busier". A steaming left from Johnson in the second just opens up the fight though, changes everything. it's a weird punch to land on a world-class fighter, especially one with so much experience against southpaws it may have landed by virtue of the fact that Johnson feints like maybe he's going to move out, or maybe it's just because Johnson was keeping it warm and hadn't really used the punch but either way it's a zimmer. Toney is legitimately hurt although he's up very quickly. He stays hurt for about a minute but knows enough to hold, spoil, occasionally chuck something back...the round boils down to exhaustion and peace breaks out in the final 30 seconds.

I thought Johnson go the third, too. Driving that left hand to the gut, it's a mean punch and he's landing it plenty. Toney strikes back in the fourth, which I think he barely nicks with some aggressive rushing but Johnson has succeeded in making Toney lead and he's counering well. Still, several major right hands land Toney the fifth and closes the gap on my card at least. I seem to credit Toney more than most people do though. I did think Johnson nicked the sixth, maintaining a narrow lead into the second half of the fight

Toney lands a really great punch in the seventh though, steps to his left, guides Johnson out to his left and then pops! him with a right hand. Great punch. He wins the eighth and ninth too, but Toney looks tired at the end of that round and sure enough he lags behind a bit in the tenth, letting Johnson back into the fight. In the eleventh they both look knackered, pretty uninspiring stuff. Neither man has gotten anywhere with the jab, hard to say why really. I think maybe Toney was struggling to get planted a bit with all the moving Johnson did but I can't understand why Johnson missed so many jabs. Anyway, despite having failed miserably with the jab both men try to jab through the eleventh. A tied round under a civilised scoring system, if it has to go to someone it has to go to Johnson. This means, for about the fiftieth fight in a row except one, I have it all on the last round. I swear I'm not doing this on purpose.

It's Toney who takes it, winning his first round since the ninth. Weird round though, Toney gets a really bad cut above his left eye and is clearly having a little trouble seeing. Johnson has been doing well up to that point but once he cuts Toney - he starts running. While he's, bizarrely, running, Toney catches him with a couple of rights, pins him on the ropes in the dying seconds to hand the judges a reason to give it to him.

Not a great fight. Both were fatigued for the last few rounds, nothing dynamic or exciting outside of that Toney right in round seven and the left Johnson put Toney down with in the second.

TONEY:1,4,5,7,8,9,12
JOHNSON:2*,3,6,10,11,

*Scores KD.

114-113 Toney.