Óscar Rafael Valdez Fierro, Jr. vs. Robson Donato Conceição & Junto Nakatani vs. Ángel Acosta RBR

i expected a less focused valdez, and from his ring interview it sounds like the hot test was weighing heavily on his mind.
i dont think he was gassing, i think he started getting countered more often and didnt have the resolve to stay in the fire, like he had before oscar started getting used to his rhythm. he stopped responding with combos once he started getting timed.

 

I thought you meant Hot Rod (the movie) for a minute.

Underrated comedy.

 

My mistake. Sorry.

 

It's all good, I apologise also.

 

Yet more crazy stuff in boxing. For sure it was easy to see who the ref was rooting for. He was very happy for Valdez post fight.

 

Andre Ward was disgusting. Just pushing an agenda.

 

I scored this ESPN+ main event for Robson Conceicao, 8-4 rounds, 115-112 points, over Oscar Phenteramine Valdez. I gave Valdez the 1st, 4th, 6th, and 9th rounds. Valdez won that 9th round 10-8 because of the horsecrap point deduction. I thought the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 12th rounds were the closest and most difficult to score, but since I had Valdez and Conceicao splitting those rounds evenly, I'm not willing to budge more than a round either way on my scorecard. This was a horrific robbery, perhaps the worst of the year so far. Per gamblingnews.com, Valdez came into the fight a -2000 favourite, and Conceicao was a +1000 underdog. Conceicao came into the fight with a 4-inch reach advantage (70" to 66"), and he was at his best in this fight when he worked his jab, because his jabs were generally stiff and sharp, and he was then able to followup with additional punches, and keep Valdez off him by a distance. Periodically he was too willing to stand and trade with Valdez, but he took Valdez's punches surprisingly well and was still able to get his own punches in. He certainly was not afraid of Valdez' power, and to be fair neither man was remotely buzzed in the fight. I don't buy the ESPN commentators' running line that Conceicao faded in the second half of the fight AT ALL... yes, in the second half of the fight, Conceicao did spend too much time circling around the ring and not engaging, and that was bad optics to have in Valdez' hometown in front of two regional-level judges (New Mexico and Colorado) and one from Mexico. But he didn't run from Valdez, he always quickly re-engaged. Also, some occasional bad optics don't supersede everything else that happened, which was more or less accurately reflected in the official punch stats that Conceicao dominated, with 141/576 landed compared to Valdez' 83/390. Conceicao plain and simple outboxed Valdez, he outthrew and outlanded Valdez, and Valdez never landed enough quality power shots of his own to swing any rounds. I know the faces of boxers don't always tell true stories, but they did tonight, Valdez was cut up and swollen all over his face, and Conceicao didn't have any apparent marks at all. Also, backstage it was obvious that Canelo Alvarez knew Valdez had lost the fight, he was all grim and sober and kept shadowboxing to demonstrate to Valdez what he needed to do in-ring.

I have never of the referee for this fight before. His name is Tony Zaino, and he, like two of the judges, is strictly regional-level, working almost entirely in Arizona. Early in the fight he overlooked several clear right-handed rabbit punches that Valdez threw, at least a couple of them happening literally unimpeded in front of his face. But obviously everything hinged on the 9th round point deduction, when Conceicao and Valdez were in a clinch, and Conceicao lightly tapped Valdez on the back of the head twice for no reason, and I swear Zaino saw an opportunity to immediately jump in and call for the point deduction, despite Conceicao never having been previously warned for anything. Later in the fight, in the 10th or 11th round, Valdez landed a REAL punch to the back of the head, but of course the referee let that one go.

On one hand, it's nice when major boxing cards are held in cities/states that don't usually have them. On the downside, you get inexperienced regional judges and referees who not only aren't very good, but they are also inherently obviously biased. I was enjoying the fight until that point deduction, and then I immediately knew the fix was in. I don't know if Conceicao would have won the decision if this fight was in Las Vegas instead of Tucson, but he damn sure wouldn't have gotten the point deduction.

I've been absolutely sickened by ESPN's boxing coverage for awhile now. During the era of ESPN Friday Night Fights, I think their coverage was consistently very good quality. But now that they have this deal with Top Rank, the commentators are all horrendously biased for the Top Rank/hometown fighter. Bernado Osuna's play-by-play tonight was awful and biased. Tim Bradley said he gave the 3rd round to Valdez for landing one single power punch, even though it didn't faze Conceicao and he dominated the rest of the round. Andre Ward's scorecard was confused in the early rounds, then he basically had Valdez sweeping the back end of the fight for no apparent reason. Mark Kriegel called the point deduction horsecrap, but his postfight interview with Valdez proceeded in ignorance of the robbery that had happened, and he let slide Valdez repeatedly saying that Conceicao ran, and then Kriegel chided Conceicao for his running, even though as I have said, it was a very minor part of the fight. ESPN's boxing coverage has become biased and sycophantic, and outright wrongheaded in any analysis it attempts.

 

Why are you trolling me you weird ****.
Is there any way to block someone on here?

 

Well, on the plus side, I finally have a fighter I'll cheer Shakur Stevenson over.

...wait you guys don't think that was the Big Picture Plan, do you?

 

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Round 1. Can go either way. Both landed good body shots. Valdez did well blocking shots. Very even round.

-Even

Round 2. Concecaio. Took some hard body shots but also put in very good work and clearly won.

-Concecaio

Round 3. Valdez rocks Concecaio in he first minute, but Concecaio is working hard. Doesn't land many clean punches as Valdez is doing good parrying but is more active. Close round because you have to score Valdez rocking Concecaio.

- Concecaio

Round 4. Another close round. Both landed good punches. Valdez again blocking a lot of punches.

-Even

Round 5. Concecaio best round.

- Concecaio

Round 6. Big Valdez round. Most dominant round in the fight so far, and his only clear round.

- Valdez

Round 7. Second Valdez clear round .

-Valdez

Round 8. Valdez landing vicious body shots. Dictating the pace of the fight. Somewhat close round but Valdez took it.

-Valdez

Round 9. Close round, both had their moments, but Concecaio's bad sportsmanship cost him a point.

-Valdez 10-8

Round 10. Another close round. Valdez tags Concecaio throughout the round but Concecaio had his moments and cuts Valdez.

-Even

Round 11. Close round again. Valdez doing better work. Why didn't the judge take a point? Because it was not intentional. Concecaio turned his head as Valdez punched.

-Valdez

Round 12. Clear Valdez round.

-Valdez

The best I can give Concecaio is 6 rounds, if I gave him all the close rounds.

No controversy.