the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

I watched his fights with Lopez, Kates and Eddie, and while I didn't find him to be an incredibly sophisticated fighter - I'm sure nobody has - but he's interesting in the sense of you can see what he's learned and what he's come up with.

For example, when he slips the jab; he doesn't make the mistake most beginners or self taught fighters (you see this in MMA a bunch) of leaning side to side, but he does a deliberate twist, keeping his chin tucked and covered. Then you see him shift in with a tight uppercut, and you know he chinned someone in prison with it once but, he does do a lot of work by leaning. Generating power and cutting the ring especially.

I also found him interesting in that he doesn't seem to be the classic brawler with lesser technique. No, instead of the crude and wide swings you'd expect from like, idk, Graziano or something; he has these awkward tight punches where he jolts into them and puts a lot of shoulder into them. Makes for great infighting, and his big arms, they must do some damage. They leave him open when he's not right next to them, but it's good fun. He actually looks so intimidating that it goes the other way, it's almost comical how much he's mean mugging. He's also, weirdly, from what I saw, a fairly clean fighter. Id expect him to be an animal, fouling relentlessly like Saddler or Armstrong but he's not.

I think the cornerstones of his style, other than the body work, were the Double Jab, the Bob and Weave, how he cut the ring, and the way he came up with the left hook.

The double jab was his chosen tool for chewing up distance; and he did it well. I'm always a sucker for when a fighter can step twice with a single punch. Stepping in with the lead foot, and pushing off the back foot as he jabbed. And when he doubled it, he almost crossed the small Rahway ring from corner to corner.

I mentioned how he slips, but it wasn't his prime source of defence. That was the Bob & Weave. He was decent at getting just under hooks with it and swaying slightly offline from uppercuts; and naturally it defends jabs and back-hands by getting under them. It worked into the seldom thrown body jab, but the common right hooks to the body; by putting him in position to throw it. It helped stop opponents from getting off the ropes in that moment, just by putting an obstacle there and he used it to crash into the infight.

I don't have too much to say about his ring cuttinh, as he isn't the type of wizard setting traps with his feet, or to pull absurd moves; but he just gets the basics right. He's a big presence in a small ring, so getting the basics right was all he needed. He steps laterally, he offers threats on both sides, he puts his head in the way of their movement and doesn't pivot when they do.

I'm fascinated by this left hook he throws. It's partly why I liken him to Briscoe; he pops up out of that bob with a left hook, tight or wide. It gets him up close and his timing is exceptional. As a mechanical note, you couldn't ask for a better structured lunch - it could be cleaner, and offer less openings - but he got as much torque in it as possible. Elbow behind the hip, turning his whole torso like he wanted his belly button behind him; a a step and pivot with his right foot and throwing his hips into it like he's chopping something. Against Kates, he even did all of this while leaping forward - which I find most impressive that he got his right foot out at a 90° angle even while hopping forward.

Body Work: Nasty stuff this man's body shots. He throws a variety of them, at different targets His body jab was seldom, but moved people. It was a good tool for ring cutting; but he didn't use it enough to be an attritional tool. The left hook to the body wasn't used an entry as much as I remembered, but he used it up close in short, horrible stabs to the liver. My favourite shots to were off his right hand. He threw a wicked right uppercut to the body, to the chest and kidneys, sneaking around their left hand. His right hook to the body was probably his most used punch downstairs, swinging it in tight under the left arm, off of, and apart of the Bob and Weave.

Just a random note, he does it a few times in all of the fights. I like how he can turn the right hook to the body into an overhook, snaking his hand under their wrist, and securing it in the crook of his arm.

 

Lopez notes: Scott was much stronger than Yaqui, able to barrel him around almost at will. On the odd occasion he was put in a corner; he'd simply begin pressuring again. Slow and steady, where he seriously looked like Bennie Briscoe. His first punch of the fight was a right uppercut to the kidney what a mad lad.

His left hook was something which Lopez struggled with repeatedly here. Scott often missed or cuffed with it, but he found his mark when Lopez tried to uncork his own; usually off the back of his right uppercut or right hook to the body. He also throws it off the clinch break, which is just lovely.

I liked that Scott would often punch and clutch, then physically push him back into the ropes. Perfect instance of simply breaking someone's balance. He controls posture well; using missed hooks to bear down on Lopez's head if Yaqui ducked, lowering him. He also turns these missed into cross frames, where he uses the back of his glove on the left side of Lopez's head or neck. He uses head pressure well too, just pushing Lopez around by bearing the crown of his skull into him.

One of his most common entries which I just enjoy watching from anyone, is a good double jab, into a deep slip to his left, followed with left hook, right uppercut. He does it the other way around too, 1-1-6-3, and this works well, but it's not as pretty.


Notes on Kates Fight: interesting fight, very fun even if incomplete. In fact, I won't say too much because there's only 4/5 rounds of it. The ending was weird, round 9 I think, were Scott inexplicably backed up to the ropes and just kinda stayed there looking dejected. Especially weird given the beating he'd put on Kates not 2 minutes earlier on. Then he comes out in the tenth again like a bull. Kates clearly thought it was a trap and didn't bother with it too much.


Notes on Eddie fight: Uses straight punches much more here. The body jab showed up more early and the 1-1-2 was his best entry and he used it to put Eddie on the ropes easily. Eddie's tendancy to stay on the ropes did he him no good in this fight whatsoever. He just kinda got battered and outworked early on.

Once Eddie tried to adapt, by staying in the centre of the ring and using the clinch to land body shots, he had much more success but was still outworked.

Scott showed really smarts here, he made sure he could free hand in the clinch or at least find an opening, then used it to hit the body and bring Eddie's head forward and low; then he worked the uppercut, and then started swinging a tight overhand which I can say is Armstrong-esque. Fantastic stuff.

Eddie got an underhook with his left hand almost everytime they crashed together. Scott turned this on its head by pulling Eddie's left arm forward, either by squeezing it in the crook of his right arm and pulling it back, or by pulling on the elbow with his right hand. He then whipped in some nasty right hooks to the body in the moment of exposure.

He often made space in the clinch by putting his hands on the shoulders and giving a good shove. Even better as he could punch off of this break very well.

He uses head pressure here brilliantly in conjunction with the right hand. He'll set his head on Eddie's left shoulder, then push his head into Eddie's jaw. While Eddie's face was facing to his left; Scott would throw the overhand, uppercut or a short hook.

Occasionally he'd pull his left shoulder back in the clinch and move his head from Eddie's shoulder, popping a left hook or uppercut in there.

Eddie looked awful here, really. I don't know the story but they'll be some excuse for it. Scott came in and did what he did best and Eddie couldn't deal with it - and he really had the tools to have done so.


Final notes: Michael Spinks would have absolutely flattened this man. And I'd have paid all of the money in the world to see him fight someone like Galindez, Rossman, Saad or Pops (even if there's no workable timeline for some of them).

 

James Scott had real talent. He´s a rare early fight hl:

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This and your other post on James Scott are brilliant analysis.

I liked how he used his head (not as a butting weapon) to control and, as you noted, to pull it back to create an opening.

He’s more sophisticated than meets the eye at first when it’s easy to picture him as just a basic pressure fighter. He didn’t use ‘tricks’ to cut off the ring but he would swing the left or the right even to the arms or shoulders to cut off an escape route and then be right on top of the opponent.

I agree the smallness of the Rahway ring (my best guess would be 17 feet-ish) certainly helped him but he wasn’t clueless in the middle of the ring. And even when he fought up close and personal, Scott rarely seemed to my memory to smother his own offense. His posture was savagely correct so if he leaned forward it was with purpose rather than ‘falling in’ to invite a clinch and restart. In close quarters, he still left himself room to work.

I personally don’t see anything wrong with Eddie. Perhaps the setting (fighting a prisoner in a prison, where your ‘locker room’ was probably an empty cell, haha) may have created some apprehension but Eddie to me is clearly in shape and he actually does a lot of the things that he had success with against others … but without the success part, haha.

EMM/Gregory was, to some degree, a magician and he needed you to stand back and watch his misdirection and be mesmerized for him to pull the card out of his hat, so to speak. James wasn’t having any of it. It’s hard to do sleight of hand when someone’s head is buried in your chest or shoulders. I think more than anything it was Scott’s body punches sapping Eddie — probably was pretty hot in that ring; prisons aren’t exactly arenas or casinos with state-of-the-art air conditioning. I don’t recall Eddie making any excuses, although with him a weight cut of too many pounds in too short a time is always a possibility, as he had a lazy streak for sure.

Thanks so much for the smart analysis. You pick up on so many things and paying attention to feet is something a lot of people don’t do — I occasionally to this day get asked to scout film for a pro fighter (even have done it for a few title fights at request of someone) and the first thing I look at on first watch-through is feet and geometry … HOW do they get in position and what can be done to disrupt it.

Bravo, maestro. You made my day!

P.S. Man, if James could have gotten a furlough to fight Saad in Atlantic City … what a war. I would expect Scott to be extremely honed and focused. And with MSM’s slow starts he would probably put a whupping on the champ for 8-10 rounds … but then what happens? Because Saad was a warrior’s warrior.

I think Scott batters Galindez for 15, stops Rossman (such a natural fight to have never happened, alas) but Michael Spinks absolutely does outclass him and make it look easy for probably a mid-round KO. Pops would have been hella interesting. Marvin took a backwards step for no man and he wouldn’t here … does he land the big left and get James out of there or does Scott simply wear him out with the body attack? Scott vs Conteh in that Rahway ring also would have been quite the chess match.

 

Pernell Whitaker vs Oscar De La Hoya

Round 1: Whitaker 10:9
Round 2: Whitaker 10:9
Round 3: Oscar 10:8 (point deducted for an accidental headbutt)
Round 4: Oscar 10:9
Round 5: Whitaker 10:9
Round 6: Oscar 10:9
Round 7: Whitaker 10:9
Round 8: Whitaker 10:9
Round 9: Whitaker 10:8
Round 10: Oscar 10:9
Round 11: Oscar 10:9
Round 12: Oscar 10:9

Total: 113 - 113 DRAW

Great fight to watch, terrible fight to score. After I counted my points I was kind of relieved, cause if you asked me who won that fight in my eyes, I really couldn't tell. A lot of rounds on my card could have gone the other way. A draw is, in my opinion, the most fair result. Oscar didn't beat Pernell, it should have been a successful title defense for him. But Pernell also didn't beat Oscar, so he didn't deserve W.

 

Mike Tyson v Razor Ruddock II

Round 1: 10-9 Tyson
Round 2: 10-8 Tyson (scores a knockdown)
Round 3: 10-9 Razor
Round 4: 10-8 Tyson (scores a knockdown)
Round 5: 10-9 Tyson
Round 6: 10-10 Even
Round 7: 10-9 Razor
Round 8: 10-8 Tyson (Razor docked a point for hitting after the bell)
Round 9: 10-8 Razor (Tyson docked a point for a low blow)
Round 10: 10-9 Razor (Even round but Tyson docked another point for another low blow)
Round 11: 10-9 Tyson
Round 12: 10-9 Tyson

Total: 115-110 Tyson (actual scores: 113-109, 114-108 and another 114-108 all for Tyson)

Glad I revisited this fight. The two put on a good show. It was really noticeable how far Tyson had slipped as he was winded early and rarely threw a combination, not to mention the speed jab that he used to use to get inside was nowhere in sight. But again, they put on a good show and Razor gave him some scary moments with his Smash. Keep the abacus out to keep an accurate score with the knockdowns and the point deductions.