the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Sot Chitalada...he always looked so cagey,crafty yet he's also a tough fella to deal with if you want to rough it with him.
I think he deserves a mention in the underrated uppercuts discussion.

 

I'm sure you likely have, Scar, but if you haven't, you need to check out Magri's fights with Frank Cerdano and Elencio Mercedes. Both absolutely brilliant fights.

 

George, I did see the Mercedes fight and loved it. I will check out the Cedeno fight on your rec. I don't know why I haven't checked that one out. I think I had an aversion towards it because I just couldn't believe at the time he would lose to Cedeno, who was unexceptional. As I recall, the flyweight division (WBC) at that time, was going through champs left and right. I can't recall how many champs they went through before someone made a successful defense. Anyways, I will check it out. Thanks, man.

 

No worries mate. All I can say, is nobody was taking that title of Magri without some serious resistance. I'm not sure if it was better than the Mercedes fight, but if that's what you're expecting, you won't be disappointed. Iirc I had it at about 75 or so on my top 100 fights.

 

George, just checked it out and you were spot on.

Charlie Magri v Frank Cedeno (Flyweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Magri
Round 2: 10-10 Even
Round 3: 10-9 Magri
Round 4: 10-9 Cedeno
Round 5: 10-9 Cedeno
Round 6: Magri down 3 times before the bout is stopped

Total through 5 completed rounds: 48-48 Even (actual scores: 49-49 and scores of 50-48 and 50-49 both for Magri)

Loved the fight, just not the result as I was following Charlie at the time. But one can see the defensive lapses here. I was thinking at first that the end was going to come while Charlie was pounding Cedeno's mid-section. Because it was there I was seeing how he was wide open for a counter and Cedeno was taking advantage of it. But Charlie's true fault lay in the fact that he simply couldn't get out of the way of the Filipino southpaw's straight right-left combo. Man, it was time and time again he just kept catching Charlie flush with the same combo over and over. I have to agree with Harry Carpenter that Charlie looked like a beaten man coming out for the 6th. Can't take it from Cedeno, he deserved his victory. But a damn good fight and Charlie looked like he was going to finish him with those brutal body shots, but it wasn't meant to be.

 

@scartissue have you looked at any of James Scott’s fights? Your comment on Magri pounding Cedeno’s midsection made me think of Great Scott.

 

I saw his fights with Bunny Johnson, Ennio Commetti, Yaqui Lopez, Jerry Martin and Dwight Qawi. And you're right. Man, he loved digging to the body.

 

Have you not seen Scott vs Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (aka Gregory, at the time)? Or was that an inadvertent omission?

 

Y'know, certain fights I've seen highlights on and never went back to watch in their entirety and this was one of them. I just checked and youtube has the full fight, so that's going on the list. Thanks, Pat.

 

MARVIN HAGLER V VITO ANTOUFERMO 1

Round 1: 10-9 Hagler
Round 2: 10-9 Hagler
Round 3: 10-9 Hagler
Round 4: 10-9 Hagler
Round 5: 9-10 Antoufermo
Round 6: 10-9 Hagler
Round 7: 10-9 Hagler
Round 8: 9-10 Antoufermo
Round 9: 10-9 Hagler
Round 10: 10-9 Hagler
Round 11: 10-10 Draw
Round 12: 9-10 Antoufermo
Round 13: 9-10 Antoufermo
Round 14: 9-10 Antofuermo
Round 15: 10-9 Hagler

Final score: 145 - 141 HAGLER

 

How I scored it about three years ago. No way it was a robbery to have a draw. You can make a case for even or narrowly to either guy:

Vito Antuofermo (c) vs. Marvin Hagler, 15 rounds for the WBC and WBA middleweight championship on Nov. 30, 1979, at Cesars Palace Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas.

This was a long time coming for me. I originally scored this a draw when it happened but I was a young lad just starting to score fights and while I had seen it since, I never knuckled down and revisited it. Tonight I did.

First, some background:

This was televised in primetime on ABC on a Friday night along with Ray Leonard vs. Wilfred Benitez and Marvin Johnson vs. Victor Galindez — one of the best nights of televised boxing in history, really. What a show!

Antuofermo, 45-3-1 (19), is 26 years old and making the first defense of the title he won from Hugo Corro. His purse is $190K. Hagler, 46-2-1 (38), is 27 and making his first title challenge after winning 20 in a row, 18 by KO.

Both weigh 158 1/2 pounds. Hagler is a 4-1 favorite. He is rated No. 1 by the WBA and No. 2 by the WBC, with Alan Minter rated tops by the latter.

My scoring:

1: Antuofermo 10-9 — He’s the aggressor, lands some body shots and roughhoused Marvin around a good bit. Hagler lands one good left but mostly misses.

2: Hagler 10-9 — Close, Marvin gets his jab on track, lands a few good lefts (he’s mostly southpaw the first two rounds) but Vito closes strong.

3: Even 10-10 — Neither is effective.

4: Hagler 10-9 — Close again but Marvin lands the cleaner punches. He starts switching from orthodox to lefty and does so for the remainder of the fight, although he spends more time southpaw.

5: Antuofermo 10-9 — Vito comes on strong with right leads and is all over Hagler from start to finish. Most decisive round so far.

6: Hagler 10-9 — Marvin controls the distance and lands some really nice combinations against the aggressive swarmer. Vito is cut under his right eye (by fight’s end he will be cut over and under both eyes, six cuts in all that will require 25 stitches).

7: Antuofermo 10-9 — Close but Vito outworks him.

8: Antuofermo 10-9 — Hagler gets on his bicycle but doesn’t land much while Vito gains momentum as he wings punches and lands combinations to the head and body. He’s not pretty but he’s productive.

9: Antuofermo 10-9 — Similar to the eighth but a bit closer. Now Vito is cut under both eyes and over his left.

10: Even 10-10 — Hagler jabbing, Antuofermo mauling.

11: Hagler 10-9 — What a great round. They go to war, brawling for 3 minutes as Hagler decides it’s time to make a stand. Close but Marvin rallies late.

12: Antuofermo 10-9 — And Hagler begins to sag just a bit as Vito comes on strong late to take a close round.

13: Antuofermo 10-9 — Vito with a big round, batters Hagler around just a bit.

14: Hagler 10-9 — Marvin edges it with a big rally but Vito works for 3 minutes. Hagler is cut over his right eye.

15: Hagler 10-9 — Toe to toe, Hagler rips shot and shows some dominance to close the show.

My scorecard: Antuofermo 144-143.

Official scores: 145-141 Hagler, 143-142 Antuofermo, 143-143 even — draw.

The Associated Press had it 143-142 for Antuofermo. The Ring had it 144-141 for Hagler.

The narrative around this fight has shifted over the years. A lot of the initial reaction was ‘so this is the guy everybody’s been calling the best middleweight in the world and uncrowned champion?’ This was expected to be a coronation for Hagler and he never quite stepped up and showed what we would later see him become — maybe he paced himself a bit too much in his first title fight, maybe he was tight being in the limelight for the first time … whatever. The later narrative is that Marvin got robbed (and there was some of that then, but I think it’s way too close no matter how you see it to call it a robbery … to many debatable rounds that could go either way depending on what you like).

Now it’s easy to see Hagler as the winner here — his best work is prettier while Vito is more of a caveman (apologies to Don Lee). If they were artists, Marvin would be a precise sculptor and Antuofermo would be one of those guys who splash paint everywhere to create some kind of messy abstract that you look at and can’t quite figure out if it’s really art or not … but in no way was he dominated.

I had two even rounds. Give them both to Marvin and he wins narrowly. Give them both to Vito and he wins by a close but comfortable margin. Split them and I still have Antuofermo narrowly.

But the real shame here is that it’s forgotten just what a great fight this is with a lot of shifts of momentum and action. Maybe not an all-time epic but one of the better middleweight title scraps in my lifetime and a grueling 15-round affair when those were a thing. It’s Marvin’s toughest fight in his prime, I think, and along with Duran and Mugabi you have to say Antuofermo on this night was his toughest challenge in a title fight — and I’d give Vito the nod over the other two on how close it was.