the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Watched Tyson vs Douglas and Tyson vs Bruno 1 again.

Tyson Bruno was fun if not a little sloppy and I adore Tyson vs Douglas especially with the original HBO commentary.

One thing I'll say, the HBO team called the fight like I would expect a commentary team to call a fight, tell what's going on in the fight while occasionally giving insight to why each guy is doing what he's doing and scoring it fairly.

If Tyson Douglas happened today the ESPN commentary team would of had Tyson up until it dawned on them by about round 6 that Douglas was actually winning, all the while giving asinine commentary and coming up with excuses for Tyson.

 

Took me a while, but I got to it.

2003-12-13 Sven Ottke UD12 Robin Reid (IBF&WBA Super Middleweight Titles)
Round 1: 9:10
Round 2: 9:10
Round 3: 9:10
Round 4: 9:10*
Round 5: 10:9*
Round 6: 10:8 (Reid loses a point)
Round 7: 10:9
Round 8: 10:9
Round 9: 10:9
Round 10: 9:10
Round 11: 10:9
Round 12: 9:10
Final Score: 114:113 Ottke

Won't comment on the referee's job. I think probably even Sven Ottke would agree that He made it a bit too obvious that He was there to help him out.
As for the scoring - I disagree with You about 3 rounds. 6,9 and 11. (4-5 which You had even - were definitely very close).
In round 6, I thought after the point deduction (Obviously bizzare), Reid lost his focus and allowed Ottke to get him with a couple clean shots. It was the best work either guy did in that round and that's where the fight began to change.
Ottke certainly outscored Reid in rounds 9 and 11. Reid had sloppy effort in those periods - following Ottke around a bit and Svennie was smart at sneaking in clean punches.

I think it could've gone either way - but I feel that 2 close cards were fair. Another story is that referee clearly distorted the fight.

 

This is what's great about this thread, M, different viewpoints. Thanks for your take on the fight.

 

Verno Phillips v Lupe Aquino (vacant jr. middleweight title)

Round 1: 10-8 Aquino (scores a knockdown)
Round 2: 10-9 Phillips
Round 3: 10-9 Aquino
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Phillips
Round 6: 10-9 Phillips
Round 7: Phillips drops and stops Aquino

Total through 6 completed rounds: 57-57 Even (actual scores: 57-57, 57-56 and 58-55 both for Phillips)

Man, I was looking for a good fight the last few days and kept coming up with duds until I landed on this. Damn good fight where the styles meshed well. Despite the early round KD, Aquino was behind the 8 ball here as he was still trying to shake the ring rust from a nearly 4 year hiatus, as he was a guest at the State's pleasure. Things didn't bode well in that first round as Phillips was finding a home for that overhand right before getting caught himself. But i really like Phillips style and need to see more of him. I saw the Ike Quartey fight some time back and the Julian Jackson bout live, so any recommendations will be welcome. And I do recommend this one.

 

Larry Holmes vs Mike Weaver 1

1 Holmes
2 Holmes
3 Holmes
4 Weaver
5 Weaver
6 Weaver
7 Holmes
8 Holmes
9 Holmes
10 Weaver
11 Holmes 10-8 Knockdown
12 Holmes wins by TKO

106-102 Holmes

@Saintpat We were discussing this fight awhile ago and i said i would rewatch this fight eventually.

I have to say Weaver did even better in this fight than i remembered, from round 1 Weaver looked dangerous putting constant pressure on Holmes. Honestly i don't think even Norton pushed Holmes as hard in the first 11 rounds of their fight compared to Weaver.

Overall it was a pretty easy fight to score apart from the 6th round which was close, Holmes won the first 3 rounds doing what he does best jabbing and potting shot at range. But as i said earlier Weaver was looking dangerous as early as round 1 and despite losing early rounds he was competitive in all of them making Holmes work.

Holmes tried to step up a gear in round 4 maybe thinking this fight was getting a bit too tough and he wanted to try and finish Weaver off early. But Weaver was having none of it and was landing some good right hands and occasional left hooks to the body and he took over the round from Holmes, and from this point on the strength and the pressure Weaver was putting on shifted the momentum in his favour in quite a big way.

I felt like Holmes went through a bit of mini crisis from round 4 to 6. As he was looking a bit distressed and surprised how strong Weaver was who just kept coming at Holmes who couldn't seem to stop Weaver's momentum.

From round 7-9 i felt like Holmes managed to regain the momentum again as he started to use movement and that turned the tide in his favour. But still Weaver was looking dangerous in all the rounds as Holmes was having to earn every round nothing was easy especially the 9th round which was a very hard round with good action.

Round 10 again the momentum shifted back to Weaver as he badly hurt Holmes with a right hand at the end of the round almost dropping him in the process.

In round 11 i think Holmes knew he wasn't going to able to box anymore and decided just to slug it out with Weaver and try and grind out a result. The round was a classic alot of back and forth action in a very evenly contested round with the fight in the balance. As we all know at the end of the round Holmes landed that famous uppercut, and whilst Weaver just about beat the count and saw out the round. That was pretty much the end of Weaver who didn't recover in the next round and the fight was shortly stopped after rightly by the referee.

A classic fight that i don't think is talked about enough it's one of the greatest Heavyweight fights of all time IMO.

 

We can debate whether it’s the absolute best heavyweight title fight of all time — it’s one of them I think by any measure — but without doubt it’s my favorite. I need to give it another watch sometime soon!

 

I watched a version in 60 FPS so if you're going to rewatch it make sure to watch that version!!!!

 

Verno Phillips v Santos Cardona II (jr. middleweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Cardona
Round 2: 10-9 Cardona
Round 3: 10-10 Even
Round 4: 10-9 Cardona
Round 5: 10-9 Cardona
Round 6: 10-10 Even
Round 7: 10-9 Phillips
Round 8: 10-9 Phillips
Round 9: 10-9 Phillips
Round 10: 10-9 Cardona
Round 11: 10-9 Phillips
Round 12: 10-9 Phillips (Best round)

Total: 115-115 Draw (actual scores: 115-113 Cardona and a 115-113 and 116-112 both for Phillips on a split decision)

This bout followed a pattern of Cardona throwing the most and Phillips throwing the most substantial. It's really up to the judge to weed out what is happening and what you're most impressed with. It really was t*t-for-tat boxing, but at such a high level. The 12th round was the best as they just let it all hang out, with neither able to hurt the other. A good fight.

 

Pinklon Thomas vs Tim Witherspoon

1 Witherspoon
2 Witherspoon
3 Thomas
4 Thomas
5 Thomas 10-8 point deduction
6 Thomas
7 Thomas
8 Thomas
9 Witherspoon
10 Witherspoon
11 Thomas
12 Thomas

116-111 Thomas

Very solid Heavyweight fight actually better than i remembered, the first two rounds were highly competitive with both fighters coming out very assertive landing solid shots which i thought Witherspoon just edged being the busier fighter.

From the 3rd round on Thomas pretty much controlled the fight with his great left jab Witherspoon couldn't defend against it and at times looked distressed. To Witherspoon's credit he tried really hard in the 7th round to turn the fight around and landed some good hard solid left hooks, body shots, on the inside. It appeared Witherspoon might be turning the fight around in his favour, but Thomas just took the play away from Witherspoon totally in the last 30 rounds, and landed some very hurtful right hands that stung Witherspoon in a very entertaining round actually one of the better Heavyweights you'll see.

After a very entertaining 7th round the fight went back to a similar pattern with Thomas being the more assertive fighter at range controlling the fight with his jab. Again to Witherspoon's credit he tried to turn the fight around once more in rounds 9-10 by boxing and moving and started to find a home for his left hook. Witherspoon won both rounds for me and the fight started to get a bit closer but again Thomas took the momentum away from Witherspoon again with his great left jab in rounds 11-12. And whilst Witherspoon did try one last big effort in the 12th round Thomas still controlled the fight and overall won the fight clearly.

Overall as i said a very solid Heavyweight fight with some good action the 7th round especially was a stand out round and very entertaining. Good effort by both fighters but Thomas was clearly the better man on the night and his jab controlled the fight.

PS i watched a 60 FPS version of this fight i'm loving these classic fights restored in high quality.

 

On your recommendation I went back and watched the seventh round (didn’t have time for a whole fight) and it was a beauty. Nice exchanges with each guy showing off his best stuff in spurts. Tim just didn’t sustain his advantages often enough in this fight (and some others). Needed to kick into third gear and keep it there to test how much Pink really wanted it.

 

Bernard Hopkins v Lupe Aquino (USBA middleweight title)

I saw some highlights on this fight and thought it looked interesting. But then again, what do you expect from a highlight reel? As it turns out, it was competitive but also repetitive as Aquino tried throughout the 12 rounds but was simply outgunned at every turn. The one revelation in this bout was that it was a somewhat exciting style back in the day for Hopkins. No such thing as slowing a bout down to suit himself. This was a Hopkins who engaged. No sense running a card here as I had it 120-108, as did all three judges. Unless you're interested in seeing a fighting Hopkins, give this a pass.

 

I felt like Withersoon needed to stay inside vs Thomas and not give him range and space. Witherspoon seemed to do well when he ripped in some body shots and kept it at close range.

Easy for me to say that though I'm not the one getting hit with a ram rod jab.

 

Dennis Andries v Tommy Hearns (light heavyweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Hearns
Round 2: 10-9 Hearns
Round 3: 10-9 Hearns
Round 4: 10-9 Hearns
Round 5: 10-9 Hearns
Round 6: 10-6 Hearns (scores 3 knockdowns)
Round 7: 10-9 Andries
Round 8: 10-9 Hearns
Round 9: 10-8 Hearns (scores a knockdown)
Round 10: Hearns 'drops' and stops Andries

Total through 9 completed rounds: 89-78 Hearns (actual scores: 89-77, 90-80 and 89-80 all for Hearns)

Gotta admit that I'm struggling to find some decent fights out there that I haven't seen. I remembered this fight and gave it a rewatch. Andries was always a bit of a wild fighter and none so much as this fight where he threw some of the most ungainly haymakers throughout. Really surprised he never hit the ref, which may not have been a bad thing as the ref was such a wild man himself. Aside from letting the 6th round go on to its finish, the last KD in the 10th wasn't even a KD, but Andries was so loopy from what was happening to that point, that bit of a stagger at the end had the ref calling it. Somewhat comical compared to what happened in the 6th. But clearly, there was nothing straight and narrow about this fight. Ungainly with moments of drama.

 

Dennis Andries is such an inspirational story. Went through many tough years fighting in small halls to finally become a British champion before winning his 1st World title.

The Hearns should have finished him (how did he survive that 6th round) but suddenly showed up at Emmanuel Steward´s door and asked to join the Kronk. Scored some victories including an impressive decision over Bobby Czyz before winning his 2nd World crown.

Lost that in a heart breaking 12th round fight he was dominating only to travel to Australia to knocked out the undefeated Jeff Harding for sweet revenge. His trilogy with Harding are all mini classics.

Shame he was never really a hit with the British fans.

 

Steward really took the rough edges off of him, curtailing those wide haymakers. You're right, the Harding trilogy is a mini-classic.