Erislandy Lara's fights with Alfredo Angulo and Jarrett Hurd were FOTY candidates Guillermo Rigondeaux vs Julio Ceja Chris Byrd vs Andrew Golota Howard Davis Jr vs Edwin Rosario Derrick Gainer vs Kevin Kelley 1 Wladimir Klitschko vs Anthony Joshua
Saxton vs. Turner 1, DeMarco, & Basilio 2. This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Hilario Zapata-Amado Ursua Zapata was a brilliant southpaw stylist who used his height and reach advantages to win most fights easily on points. Superb fighter but here decides to trade bombs with a renown puncher for some reason. This content is protected
Micky Ward was mostly a hand-around-if-he-doesn’t-get-cut plodding club fighter who followed opponents around like a puppy dog and mostly stayed upright. Tough, but not exciting nor dangerous. At one point he lost four straight decisions covering 44 rounds, the best of which was on one of a possible 12 scorecards over that span he won three rounds. The rest he won one, two or zero rounds. His fight against Alfonso Sanchez kind of revived and elevated him, but it was like watching paint dry til he landed that left hook to the liver. Against fellow pedestrian club fighter Shea Neary, he had an exciting fight. And then along comes Arturo Gatti in what HBO undoubtedly expected to be a ‘collect an easy win’ outing for Arturo that turned into WWIII. Leading to a really exciting trilogy on which to end his career. I love Ward and guys like him. They are the lifeblood of the sport. But he was never exciting … until he (suddenly) was.
Pernell Whitaker vs Felix Trinidad. Sweet Pea was at the end of the line. He proved he still had something left as he exchanged with Trinidad early and often. Up until this point Whitaker could honestly say he had never been truly beaten. He took some punches from Tito that would have stopped most welters. He return solid punches and got Trinidad's respect. For Whitaker this was the Thrilla in Manila. Pea went down once officially. The only thing i can knock him for was he went down about 3 times when Trinidad had him cornered. Overall a good scrap.
From what I've read, the fight was pretty tame after Lomski's two knockdowns of Loughran in the first round. I think Tommy was ultra careful after tasting the canvas and was credited with winning most every other round with clever boxing.