the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Well I remember when I first joined here back in 2004. I was 15!

Welcome back, buddy. Like you, I've also gotten back into boxing.

 

Cleming, I happen to check this fight out today and then checked any history on it to see if it had been mentioned and saw your post. I saw this live (on TV) back in '84 and I can't give it enough plaudits after watching it again. Stecca was a machine this night and was not to be denied.

Leo Cruz v Loris Stecca

Round 1: 10-9 Cruz
Round 2: 10-9 Stecca
Round 3: 10-9 Stecca
Round 4: 10-9 Cruz
Round 5: 10-10 Even
Round 6: 10-9 Stecca
Round 7: 10-9 Stecca
Round 8: 10-9 Cruz
Round 9: 10-9 Cruz (best round of the fight)
Round 10: 10-9 Stecca
Round 11: 10-8 Stecca (Cruz penalized 1 point for a low blow)
Round 12: Stecca stops Cruz

Total through 11 rounds: 106-103 Stecca (actual scores: 105-103 Stecca, 106-104 Cruz and 104-104 Even)

It was Stecca's pressure and workrate against Cruz' sharp jab and pinpoint counters and something had to give. With the fight slipping and his left eye closing, Cruz ramped it up in the 8th and especially in the 9th to take Stecca out. But it was not to be and Stecca was back trading with him at the end of the 9th. Can't recommend this enough. A brilliant fight.

 

Watched a few Johnny Bratton fights, and decided to keep score on a close one I hadn’t seen before. His title winning performance against Charley Fusari in 1951. I’m not gonna try it with the draconian scoring system they used, either.

1: 10-9 Bratton (very good two way action, with Bratton landing the harder blows)
2. 9-10 Fusari (dominant round, had Bratton badly hurt, nearly 10-8)
3. 10-9 Bratton (good bounce back)
4. 10-9 Bratton (Fusari clearly won the round apart from the flash knockdown)
5. 10-9 Bratton
6. 9-10 Fusari
7. 9-10 Fusari
8. 10-9 Bratton
9. 10-9 Bratton (for these past 5 rounds Bratton shows he’s on a far higher level as a talent, I pretty much gave Fusari two of them when Bratton was taking a breather)
10. 10-8 Bratton (Fusari should’ve been counted out. You flat out heard the ref say “10!” before he was all the way up)
11. 9-10 Fusari
12. 10-10 Even
13. 9-10 Fusari
14. 10-9 Bratton
15. 10-10 Even

Total: 145-141 Bratton

 

By the way, awesome fight. Pretty much the picture of how a title match should look. Fusari was Rocky and Bratton was Apollo.

 

I checked out the fight today between Harold Petty and Hilario Zapata, who had moved straight up to bantam from jr. flyweight for the NABF bantam title. No sense in running a card here as I gave Zapata the first round and all remaining rounds to Petty (including a 10-7 round in the 4th for repeated low blows by Zapata) for a 89-80 score through 9 completed rounds before the fight was stopped in the 10th in favor of Petty. Zapata looked like he was going to be very competitive but fell into a strange routine of ducking to a squat position and numerous low blows that Richard Steele would have been right to DQ him for. When he was on the outside he did fine, but Petty forced an inside fight on Zapata and just wore him down. Harold Petty is one of the true outstanding fighters of the multi-title era never to receive a title shot. A true shame when "fighters" like Miguel Iriarte, Diego Avila, Cleo Garcia and Ulysseus Morales were all getting pointless title shots, Yet, Petty, with wins over Zapata, Daniel Zaragoza (twice), James Manning, Freddie Jackson and 2 close decision losses to Richie Sandoval, just rotted on the vine.

 

Glad to read you enjoyed it as much as I did, such an underrated fight ! I watched it almost by accident thanks to @julianisjulius

 

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Checking out the fights I haven't seen from @cleming's brilliant post in Jel's thread. Starting with this one, because it's only a 5 rounder, as I recall.

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9 : 10
9 : 10
10 : 9
8 : 10 (

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Brilliant little scrap. Very messy, technically, but lots of fun. Kaylor had a massive heart, and he needed it here. After being repeatedly hurt in the first two rounds, he had a good-un in the third. In the fourth, Gumbs started nailing him and had him going and down, then as soon as Kaylor got back up he was on him and had Gumbs hurt. Next round? Bang!

Definitely one to check out. Really like this one. Always enjoyed a Kaylor fight.

 

George, did you see Kaylor's fight with Errol Christie? Well worth seeing if you haven't.

 

I have! Although I can't remember any details, I do remember being absolutely enthralled by it.

 

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I love watching Paez, and have read fr ages that this was a great fight. I've never seen it before, as last time I looked it wasn't on YouTube, but now it is! Carrying on with Cleming's list.

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10 : 9
9 : 10
10 : 9
9 : 10 (38/38)
9 : 10
10 : 9
10 : 9*
10 : 9 (77/75)
9 : 10*
10 : 9
10 : 9
9 : 10 (

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Haven't I been missing something! This was absolutely unbelievable. A draw is fair IMO, and I feel like would have to come down to how you scored the two rounds I labelled with an asterisk. I obviously had it for Paez, but there were enough close rounds in there to give it to Espinoza, or indeed, have it a draw.

I don't know much about Paez's personal life, but I love watching the crazy muh'****a and I love the story of his upbringing. I think the best way I can describe this man's style is a combination of Ricardo Mayorga and Eubank Jr., AKA: pure entertainment. You get the crazy toughness and bravado of Mayorga with the deceptive speed, aggressive style, combination punches and workrate of Eubank. You also get the strange paradox of a fighter who is ridiculously easy to hit, but has very fluid head-movement that is used independently for show boating. And for someone who's punches come from nowhere, his form is surprisingly good. He definitely knew the fundamentals, even if he clearly loathed using them.

Espinoza really reminds me of Erik Morales. Like, uncannily. The feints with the lead uppercut for the right hand, the right hand, the range dictating lead from a frame too big for 126, the parrying and eagerness to trade. Obviously he isn't a tenth of the fighter El Terriblé was, but he was very similar in style.

@roughdiamond, I know you once looked into Paez, but I don't know how heavily. If you haven't seen this one, it's a tremendous war and fun to score. Definitely one to watch.

 

I saw it for the first time earlier this year. Well worth seeing. This is what I wrote:

Just watched a great old grudge match. From the mid '80s Mark Kaylor v Errol Christie. Real bad blood between these two that boiled over at a press conference before the fight resulting in a hearing by the BBBC. Don't recall the outcome of the hearing - possibly a fine - but the end result was a great fight. I don't like scoring a fight outside the scoring process being used, so I'm going to assume 10-9 1/2 point margins for winner and loser of a round under British scoring at the time.

Round 1: Even (both fighters score knockdowns)
Round 2: Christie
Round 3: Christie (scores a knockdown)
Round 4: Kaylor
Round 5: Kaylor
Round 6: Kaylor
Round 7: Christie
Round 8: Kaylor drops Christie, who doesn't make it up in time

Total (after 7 completed rounds) 68 1/2 - 68 Christie

Despite Christie's slight lead after 7, one can see Kaylor's massive strength in clinches just taking over, although Christie's shots were still dangerous. But Kaylor wasn't fighting in spurts like Errol. He was fighting a steady war. An outstanding fight and the atmosphere had to be electric.

 

Philly, I watched this today and was about to write it up when I had a look on search and saw that you viewed it last year. I agree with much of what you wrote, especially about the butt. That was harsh to take the point from Marquez when it was Mijares who was actually the guilty party. Here's how I had it.

Round 1: 9-9 (Marquez' round but deducted 1 point for headbutt)
Round 2: 10-9 Marquez
Round 3: 10-9 Mijares
Round 4: 10-9 Marquez
Round 5: 10-10 Even
Round 6: 10-9 Marquez
Round 7: 10-9 Mijares
Round 8: 10-10 Even
Round 9: Mijares stops Marquez

Total through 8 completed rounds: 77-76 Marquez

This was not exactly Marquez v Vasquez stuff, but a decent fight nonetheless. At 37 Marquez did not have much tread left on his tires but was performing admirably up until the stoppage, which I agree with Philly, was a weeeeeeeeee bit too soon. But not to take anything from Mijares, a fighter I also liked, who took advantage of everything coming his way. Decent scrap.

 

Watched the Hector Camacho documentary last night and thought I would check out something I haven't scored and landed on the first bout with Greg Haugen. Saw it live just didn't score it at the time. Here we go.

Hector Camacho v Greg Haugen I

Round 1: 10-9 Camacho
Round 2: 10-9 Camacho
Round 3: 10-8 Camacho (scores a knockdown)
Round 4: 10-9 Haugen
Round 5: 10-9 Haugen
Round 6: 10-9 Haugen
Round 7: 10-9 Camacho
Round 8: 10-10 Even
Round 9: 10-9 Haugen
Round 10: 10-9 Haugen
Round 11: 10-9 Haugen
Round 12: 10-9 Haugen (scored it even but with the point deduction it becomes 10-9 Haugen)

Total: 115-113 Haugen (actual scores: 114-113 and 114-112 both for Haugen and 114-112 for Camacho for a split win for Haugen.)

Never understood repeated use of Carlos Padilla. Always felt he was the most confused looking individual in the arena and some of his calls in big fights were extremely bizarre. We all know about the touching of the gloves in the 12th that cost Hector his all-important point and his title. Still, despite the call in the final round, Haugen still would have had it on my card by a point, but a draw on the official cards. I shouldn't be surprised that Padilla screwed this one up good, but I always am.

 

Needed to see the rematch on Camacho v Haugen. Here we go

Hector Camacho v Greg Haugen II

Round 1: 10-9 Haugen
Round 2: 10-9 Camacho
Round 3: 10-9 Camacho
Round 4: 10-9 Camacho
Round 5: 10-9 Camacho
Round 6: 10-9 Haugen
Round 7: 10-9 Camacho
Round 8: 10-9 Camacho
Round 9: 10-9 Haugen
Round 10: 10-10 Even
Round 11: 9-9 Even (Camacho's round, but according to the announcers Camacho was docked a point for hitting after the bell)
Round 12: 10-9 Haugen

Total: 115-113 Camacho (actual scores: 115-112 for Haugen. 115-112 and 114-113 both for Camacho for a split win for Hector)

To begin, announcers Joe Tessitore and John Scully appeared to be real Camacho cheerleaders. I gave him several of the early rounds but just by a hair. They were lauding his jab but the way I saw it, his jab was coming up short most of the time. At one point they screamed, 'Great triple jab by Camacho', which I replied at the screen, 'He missed all three!'. Still, I thought he did enough for the win. Haugen just wasn't the pressure fighter needed to close Hector down. Regarding that point deduction, man, I just didn't see it. Hector does not throw a punch after the bell, but Haugen stuck his face into Hector after the bell and Hector ever so slightly put his forehead down. Was that the point deduction? Very minor and surprising. Anyways, nothing to write home about this fight and Camacho got his revenge win.

 

Needed a good hard fight today to unwind and what better place to look but any of the old fights from the 60s out of Madison Square Garden. And I found Florentino Fernandez v Jose Gonzalez. NY scoring on a rounds basis.

Round 1: Gonzalez
Round 2: Gonzalez
Round 3: Floro
Round 4: Gonzalez
Round 5: Even
Round 6: Gonzalez
Round 7: Floro*
Round 8: Gonzalez stops Fernandez on cuts

Total through 7 completed rounds: 4-2-1 Gonzalez

*In NY rules, when one fighter is penalized they simply take the round from him and give it to the opponent. In the 7th round Mercante penalizes Gonzalez for 'Heeling & Lacing'. However, I had given Fernandez the round anyway, so it goes no further.

Jose Gonzalez was so strong and busy on the inside that it was really a perfect game plan which prevented Fernandez from unloading his big artillery. Particularly his big left hook. Excellent match between two guys who always put on a good show and wanted to be asked back to MSG. You know, I'll take so many of these hard 10 rounders any day over some of the fights we see today for a world title or an Inter-Continental, or a Silver championship. You don't need a title attached to a fight to make it interesting. Only good matchmaking and two fighters willing to put on a show.