the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

D, I stopped reading this post and the Johnson-Salazar post cuz I've got to see these bouts. Thanks for the heads-up. Going on my list.

 

The commentators actually mentioned Orozco fight, so I searched for it after but couldn't find it unfortunately. But yeah Johnson is a very entertaining fighter, for the amount of skills he has. He doesn't really play it safe or box cautiously. I'd say for a skillful fighter hes one of the most entertaining of all time.

 

Joshua vs Brezeale.

Very workmanlike performance this. AJ seemed to snap the head with every punch, but Brezeale showed good durability and was, I think, the bigger man which presented a bit of a challenge. But not much of one.

The ending was inevitable and in the 7th Brezeale succumbed to the pressure being dropped twice before it was waved off.

 

D, getting around to this one today. Here we go.

Gato Gonzalez v Andy Ganigan

Round 1: 10-9 Ganigan
Round 2: 10-9 Ganigan
Round 3: 10-8 Ganigan (scores a knockdown)
Round 4: 10-9 Ganigan
Round 5: 10-10 Even
Round 6: 10-7 Gato (scores 2 knockdowns)
Round 7: 10-8 Gato (scores a knockdown)
Round 8: 9-9 Even (scored for Gato but he was deducted 1 point for a low blow)
Round 9: 10-9 Gato
Round 10: 10-9 Gato

Total: 94-92 Gato (actual scores: 94-92, 94-92 and 93-93 for a majority decision for Gato)

A good hard televised fight between top contenders. You gotta love it. I know I did. I cannot add to anything you've already mentioned, D.

 

The Hawaiian Punch opened a can of pineapple on Sean O’Grady and he hit Arguello with a can of Spam. Dude could throw some hand grenades.

 

Seems like we had the same score except for 1 even round, but yeah it's one of those rare close fights. Where Gato clearly won without debate, despite it being very close fight. Kind of like how Mesi clearly won by 1 point vs Jirov despite knockdowns.

 

Joshua vs Molina

Molina doesn't really wanna be here. AJ works him from the opening bell, landing hard shots.

Finally drops him in the 3rd,Molina beats the count and AJ goes in for the kill.

Very easy victory for AJ.

 

"Molina doesn't really wanna be here" I feel like that's Molina in almost every fight I've seen him in.

 

Even Adamek he was being handled till he landed the big punch.
How he managed to get two title shots I'll never know.

 

Azumah Nelson W12 Juan Laporte

I don't know why I put myself through so many Laporte fights. He's pretty infuriating to watch; he's very skilled in a stalker-puncher kind of way, and especially in this fight was defensively very sound too. He exhibited excellent head and upper body movement, showed flashes of good power, and is clearly very strong. It takes little effort to outwork him though, and one is left with the feeling that many of his efforts could have gone differently if he'd found a way to throw more than a handful of punches.

Nelson for his part seemed "off" somehow, skitting left and right and flashing a sort of "leave me alone" jab, then lunging in with ineffective flurries punctuated with odd, slapping rights. It's as if he knew early he wasn't going to hurt Laporte and just decided to take the path of least resistance and simply leave with his title intact and call it a day. Not the typical sharpness and presence we're used to seeing.

1. Nelson
2. Nelson
3. Nelson
4. Laporte
5. Nelson
6. Nelson
7. Laporte
8. Nelson
9. Laporte
10. Nelson
11. Nelson
12. Nelson

117-111 Nelson.

 

Sal, this is how I had it when I scored it and what I wrote:

Azumah Nelson v Juan LaPorte


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

Total: 117-113 Nelson (actual scores: 116-113, 116-112 and 115-113 all for Nelson)

Round 6 and 12 really exemplify what Laporte was all about. I would always get infuriated with the way he would go into a trance round after round and the only thing that would wake him up is if he momentarily stunned his opponent. In rounds 6 & 12 he was in la-la land for most of the round until suddenly catching Nelson with something. I didn't feel it was enough to take the round after Nelson carried the freight most of the round, but he garnered a share in both instances.

 

I was going to tab the 12th even as well, but as you describe, wasn't convinced Laporte's ten seconds of action or whatever it was was quite enough to allow for the steadier work from Nelson.

Which encapsulates this fight, really.

 

This one's next, thanks for the tip!

 

Joshua vs Klitschko

In what is one of my all time favourite HW fights AJ underlines his claim as the bets HW in the world. Fury is retired, Wilder is on a bum tour, AJ is unifying the belts that Fury vacated.

This fight shows so much.

The fight starts off very even for the first 3 rounds. Then round 4 is a good round for Wlad who clips AJ with some good clean shots.

Round 5 sees AJ come out like a man possessed and try to walk right through Wlad, and it looks like he will as he bowls him to the floor. But Wlad is smart, and great and he sees AJ is leaving himself open to the left hook. So he back pedals and spams that hook as AJ walks in until he clips him, hard, and punishes AJ for the rest of the round.

Round 6, is a gut wrenching round. Wlad hurts AJ with a huge right hand. And then stands off him, he thinks AJ is finished, he plays it safe, he dominates the round but doesn't hurt AJ after the knockdown.

The next few rounds see Wlad on control but passively, which allows AJ to recover. Round 11 is his big stanza, he hurts Wlad with the first punch thrown, and with 3 full minutes he stalks Wlad timing him. Eventually he takes his head clean off his shoulders with a perfect uppercut and pummels Wlad to the floor, Wlad beats the count but is dropped again. He beats the count but is stopped on his feet in the corner.

Great fight, great performance by both men.

No one doubts AJs place at the top of the mountain.

 

Joshua vs Takam

This fight doesn't really follow the blueprint. AJ is established now as the number 1 in the division, but he looked unconvincing at times here.

He won every round, but he was cut for the first time, shipped a good few counters, missed a good few punches and seemed to be blowing a bit by the end.

The way the fight finished left a lot to be desired and opened the door for the detractors to claim he was saved.

But regardless of expectations, Joshua won ever round and stopped his opponent. So all in, job done.