1/2 of the First round results HERE

Listen up guys...here are the first half of the first round results. The other half will come out tonight. I want all the discussion of this round to be kept here. I will make a new thread tomorrow with the 2nd round matches and you can discuss them there.




# 1 Joe Louis KO 7 # 16 Roland Lastarza- The fight starts out good for Roland, taking an early lead by countering louis with fast sharp shots and outboxing louis going in and out frustrating him. However by round 5 Louis has lastarza figured out he peppers lastarza with lead jabs before unleashing a tremendous right which drops roland for 7 count. Roland gets up groggy but with 10 seconds left, survives the round. by round 7 louis has taken complete control of the fight and after flooring lastarza again, he unleashes a fast 4 punch combo that leaves roland senseless on the canvas for the 10 count. After the fight Louis called roland an "excellent boxer"
Knockdowns scored Louis: 4 Lastarza: 0

1st: Pinklon Thomas - Elmer Ray Draw- A tremendous fight that saw both fights exchanging some big blows in the trenches. the judges couldnt decide a winner. Some fans and ringsiders believed after the fight Ray did the better work.
Knockdowns scored Ray: 0 Thomas: 0

Rematch: # 9 Pinklon Thomas W Split Decision # 8 Elmer Ray - Two tremendously even matched fighters give us another exciting battle in the rounds most competitive matches. This time around, Pinklon chooses to play a role more of a boxer and controll the fight on the outside. But 6'2 81" Ray continues to score points even at long range and work his way into close quarters where he feels comfortable. In round 4, a thudding right left right from Violent Ray floored Thomas for 6 count. Pinklon got up groggy and danced away the rest of the round clearing his head and not allowing ray to follow up on him as ray swarmed all over him he couldnt land the big one. throughout the rounds, Pinklon's plan not to slug it out with ray this time works to his benefit and pinklons smooth movement kept ray from landing any knockout blows. pinklon scores with sharp lead rights and hooks. Its another close fight with rays effective aggresion vs thomas sharp boxing....the difference in this fight is the jab. Pinklon finally becomes more active and opens up all night with his most potent weapon, and it wins him the fight. 144-140 Ray 144-141 Thomas 144-141 Thomas

Knockdowns scored Ray: 1 Thomas: 0


# 12 Ron Lyle TKO 2 # 5 Floyd Patterson- In one of the biggest upsets of the opening round, Ron Lyle flattened # 5 seed Floyd Patterson last night. After a methodical opening round, Early in the 2nd round, Lyle unleased a titanic left right which put patterson flat on his back on the canvas. Patterson got up badly hurt before more monsterous shots again put patterson down. Patterson, a warrior got up again before being me with a huge right uppercut followed by a barrage of punches with put patterson down and the ref waved it off to save floyd from further punishment. Patterson very dissapointed in himself, went up to Lyle and congratulated him. When reporters spoke to Cus D Amato after the fight, he said "they caught us cold, thats all".
Knockdowns scored Patterson: 0 Lyle: 3

# 4 Evander Holyfield W Unanimous Decision # 13 Tony Tubbs- A very interesting match this was undeed. Two very durable fighters in there. Ultimatley, Holyfield outworked Tubbs over the distance, but not before Tubbs had left some severe welts on holyfields face from his straight pinpoint shots. Tubbs boxed and he boxed very gracefully scoring with his jab at will, but holyfield showed in this fight he was just as capable of boxing with tubbs as he was slugging. Down the stretch, holyfield opened up and was too busy for tubbs unleasing 9-10 punch combinations at times that left tubbs bewildered. The crowd cheered at the final bell. A clear win for Evander. All three 146-139 Evander Holyfield
Knockdowns scored Holyfield: 0 Tubbs: 0


# 3 George Foreman KO 2 # 14 Tommy Loughran- Foreman came roaring out of his cage like a tiger and ended things dramatically and quickly making ringsiders wonder who is going to be able to stand up to georges firepower this tournament. After Flooring Loughran 2 times in the opening round, in the 2nd round he came out swinging wildly like a mad man and after trapping loughran on the ropes he crashed a right on tommys head followed by a left uppercut followed by a right Rabbit punch sent loughran crashing down...Loughran got up somehow at 9 and with fans Screaming to stop the fight, george crashed a long left hook right uppercut then two more crushing left hooks in succession as loughran topped through the ropes into the seats. Its all over! George made quite the opening round impressions! Loughran said afterward "Ill be dammed if anyone stops that boy".

Knockdowns scored Foreman: 4 Loughran: 0

# 6 Riddick Bowe W Majority Decision # 11 Harold Johnson- Last night at the MGM, we almost saw a huge opening round upset that had the fans crying out over the decision. Harold Johnson Philadelphia native, boxed masterfully last night and proved the experts wrong that he was more than capable of sticking in there with superheavyweights. Riddick Bowe, for whatever reason, had one of his worst performances and it nearly cost him the decision. Many believe it was Johnsons jab and in and out fast accurate shots that threw off the Big Daddy. Despite the fans cries, this writer believes it came more from there hearts than there heads. Bad or not, I believe Riddick Bowe deserved the decision. He smothered the little man in clinches, and teed off with barrages on the inside. While johnson did land a number of jabs on bowe, bowe landed all the power shots of the fight and it made a big difference. The most boring fight of the opening round. Experts afterward said if Bowe fights like this against 3 seed foreman next round, he won't last very long. Reporters spoke to johnson after the fight "I did my best in there, It just wasn't good enough. I am just glad people dont think im too small to compete with the big boys anymore". Riddick Bowe declined to comment.

Knockdowns scored: Bowe: 0 Johnson: 0


# 10 Ernie Terrell W Unanimous Decision # 7 Max Baer- A big Shocker, Max Baer the menacing right handed slugger was upset by tall goofball Ernie Terrell. It was Terrell's jab that won him the fight. The fight started off slowly with Baer Clowning around sticking out his tongue and Terrell piling up the points with his effective long jab and straight shots. It wasn't until the 7th round that Baer realized hed better wake up or go home, and he finally began to get aggresive on Terrell. Terrell was very ackward though, and like a octupus continued landing the jab on Max's face and retreating, clinching him up when he got in close...using his long arms to box max on long range and score shots from all angles. Max could not work his way in until round 12 when he finally crashed a right hand that send Terrell down. Terell got up only to be met by another swarm of punches which put him down again. The bell sounded, and Terrell somehow galantly got up on his feet and his corner immediatly began trying to revive him and get him ready. Knowing he was well ahead on points, Terell retreated the 13th-15th rounds while Max Baer tried desperatly to knock him out with his trademark overhand right. When the final bell sounded, it was no question who won the fight although baers two knockdowns and late surge made all 3 cards pretty close. Fans were very bummed out, for they loved max baer and wanted to see him face jack johnson in the 2nd round to witness some hilarious prefight slander....but baer ran into a octupus he did not matchup well against. When reporters asked max how he felt Baer smiled and said " I still got my ladies" then winked and walked away.
Knockdowns scored Baer: 2 Terrell: 0

# 2 Jack Johnson TKO 13 #15 Rex Layne - Going into this fight, Johnson handlers were scared of Laynes style. They worried that if Johnson doesnt get aggresive enough, layne might outwork him for the decision. When Layne crashed a right hand sending johnson on his butt in round 1, there worries continued. Even after Johnson got up at the count of 3 and laughed at Layne. Layne continued to pressure and outwork johnson to appeared to attempt to get into laynes head with slander. After round 6, Johnson leaned over the ropes and said "k, time to open up on dis white boy." Johnson began getting really aggresive in the clinches throwing the strong Utah morman around like a ragdoll, and teeing off uppercuts on the inside. When layne tried to come in, Johnson would lash out flurries of hooks to make Layne pay. By round 13, Johnson had won the last 7 rounds, and laynes face looked like raw meat. The Ref asked layne "can you see?" and Layne pushed the ref aside and went after johnson. Johnson continued to beat on layne badly, and started toying with him in the clinches laughing out loud in his face and baiting layne to land his best shot. After a johnson flurry left layne senseless on the ropes, Referee had enough and Stopped the fight.

Knockdowns scored Johnson: 1 Baer: 1

 

# 1 Rocky Marciano KO 6 # 16 Billy Miske - Rocco Marchegiano comes out at the opening bell aggressive but hes met with a very slick counter defense by Miske. Miske easily outboxes marciano the first round as rock goes back to corner shaking his head in disgust. By round 4, Rocky startes to find his target and you can tell by the expression on miskes face the blows to the arms and body are starting to bother him. In round 6, Rocky crashes a looping overhand right to Miskes head....Miskes legs turn to jelly then after a delayed reaction he goes down out cold for the 10 count. Rocky said of Miske afterwards "What a boxer! I couldn't hit anything for 4 rounds! " When asked about his next opponent "Big Cat" Williams, Rocky responded "What can I say, what a puncher! the man can punch! he moves around the ring like a cat, and he can take a good one too. I guess i am going to have to bring my best stuff." Miske was happy to be a part of the tournament and wished marciano the best of luck next round.

Knockdowns scored Marciano: 1 Miske: 0



# 8 Cleveland Williams W Split Decision # 9 Lee Q Murray- the most ferocious slugout in the first round. this match had high hopes going in and refused to dissapoint. Who would have ever thought this one would go the distance? Well both these boys had alot better chins than given credit for. From the opening bell it did not look like this fight would go the distance as a triple left hook combination dropped murray to his back. He got up only to be met by a swarm of left and right hooks on the ropes only to be dropped again on his butt. Somehow Murray shook off the cobbwebs and survived a couple nuclear blasts on his way back to his corner at the end of round 1. midway through Round 2, A huge right hand from murray lands!! Williams is on rubber legs he tries to get away but murray is hitting him with everything but the kitchen sink...Williams goes down!! Williams gets up and survives the next minute, then right before the bell sharp left hook from murray DOWN GOES WILLIAMS! Williams on one knee gets up and walks backs to his corner as the bell sounds. What a turn of events! The two continued to slug it out for the next 6 rounds until round 9 when after williams hurt Murray with a left hook, pummeled him in the corner until murray goes down for the 3rd time. By the 15th round both as exhausted from the workrate earlier and no snap is left in there punch. The crowd gives a standing ovation as the fight ends and both fights hug and congatulate eachother. Williams gets the slim margin because of that 9th round knockdown! 143-141 Murray, 142-141 Williams and a bizzarre 146-137 Williams. Williams said after that fight " I got dynamite in my hands, and marciano's going to taste it next!" Murray dissapointed he got the nod, gave the a honest nod then headed into the lockerroom.

Knockdowns scored Williams: 3 Murray: 2



# 5 Wladimir Klitschko W Unanimous Decision # 12 Tony Tucker- What a calculative boxing match, this developed into a chess match! Wlad ultimatley outjabbed tucker and survived a late stamina scare to edge this one out. Tucker was at a size disadvantage and this confused him. Worse off, tucker had trouble outjabbing Wlad and had to develop more of a inside pressure role which he was not comfortable doing and wlad would tie him up nicely. However in round 8, Wlad developed a scare...After getting nailed with a big right hand from tucker driving him into the ropes(the best punch of the fight), Wlad appears to have a panic attack and all of a sudden he cant punch bag, his legs are like jelly and tuckers pummeling him in the corner. Just as it appears the fights going to be stopped, wlad clinches tucker for a good 10 seconds and when tucker breaks off wlad is rejuvinated and shortly after the bell rings. a 10-8 rounds for tucker. Wlad gets his composure back and boxes well in the championship rounds fighting at a measured pace. tucker gets some neat shots in there now and then but wlad's jab is doing all the landing and wlads combinations are scoring some big points. Wlad lands a couple big right hands, but tucker takes them like a champ. The fight ends and Wlad wins a clear decision on all 3 cards. Ringsiders were impressed with the way Wlad was able to overcome the adversity and finish the fight strong. Afterwards Wlad says "I prove to people tonight I have the heart of a champion." Tucker said "I thought I won the fight, I had him." Emanuel Steward said after "We got through our toughest test. I feel Cooney would have been a tougher matchup for us, but he lost to Ezzard Charles. We know we can take Charles."

Knockdowns Wladimir: 0 Tucker: 0

# 4 Ezzard Charles TKO 15 # 13 Gerry Cooney- Going into this fight, some experts picked Cooney as the Darkhorse. Charles Reply to that was "Size doesnt beat Skill." The fight started off cumbersome, no one really made any moves early on as charles took an early lead on the cards. Midway through the 4th Cooney caught charles with a terrific left hook to the liver dropping charles to a knee for a count of 8. Charles got up though and boxed his way to safety. Then the fireworks started in round 7 as Cooney unleashed bombs on charles, but charles blocked most of them and slicked himself out of harms way and countered cooney with some long left hooks and sharp right hands. Charles survived some massive body blows in rounds 8 and 9 as cooney continued to be aggresive. Cooney then backed off in the championship rounds as if too conserveve energy and charles won the next 2 rounds by outboxing cooney and beatinh him to the punch taking a lead on the scorecards again. Going into the 15th round, Cooneys corner told him "You have to knock him out to win!" Charles corner told him "your ahead on points dont do anything stupid". The scorecards read 135-133 Charles, 134-133 Cooney, and 136-133 Charles. Cooney came out trying to land the big one on charles, but charles caught him with a pefectly timed right to the eye opening up a huge cut and stunning cooney charles followed up with a volley of rights and lefts cooney tumbled to canvas. Cooney got up only to be met with accurate fast combinations and a final left right put cooney down again. Cooney got up the ref took one look and waved it off. Charles said after "im glad i proved the experts wrong. I have fought better than Cooney before. I know I can do better next round though." Cooney was thoroughly dissapointed about not going the distance. Great fight.
Knockdowns scored Charles : 2 Cooney: 1


# 3 Jersey Joe Walcott W Unanimous Decision #14 Nino Valdes- Walcott put on the rounds biggest masterclass performance winning a near shutout over big cuban nino valdes. Prefight, Valdez said Walcott "cant take a punch" and predicted a early knockout win. Walcott took Valdez too school. Walcott danced, shuffled, juked slipped rolled everywhere. Walcotts excellent head movement and in and out waltz made it difficult for valdez to hit walcott cleanly with his trademark hammer like left jab. In the 6th round, Walcott faked walking away then exploded with a huge right counterpunch as valdez walked right into it and dropped onto his back for a count of 9. Throughout the fight valdez chased walcott who continued to make him miss and miss. but while valdez was missing walcott was landing some thundering trap countershots and some very hard lead left hooks. When Valdez finally did land a big right on Walcott in round 12, walcott just smiled back then made valdez miss a followup of 4 punches by 1-2" as if walcott planned it with precision. In the 15th walcott danced away knowing he had the fight in the bag. He made Valdez look foolish by landing a triple feint triple combo left jab on him at the end. 148-133 149-135 and 149-135 all for Walcott. He had shutout Valdez. The only thing Valdez had scored with was his left jab which left a little puffiness around walcotts left eye. Valdez his face swollen and bloody barely able to talk with a fat lip said "he gave me a good licking". Walcott said after suprised of Tua's comeback knockout win, "that short fatboy can't be any tougher than jimmy bivins. If I dont beat this guy, take my name out of the record books". Bobby Gleason Valdez manager claimed " this tournament was rigged! whyd they put my boy against walcott in the first round. Nino would knock half these other bums out!"

Knockdowns Walcott: 1 Valdez: 0

 

# 11 David Tua TKO 12 # 6 Gene Tunney - In the most dramatic fight of the evening, David Tua stopped # 6 seed Gene Tunney while behind on all 3 judges cards 109-100 entering the 12th round. Gene had won 10 of the first 11 rounds and was giving Tua such a boxing lesson that some thought tua's corner might not have let him see the final bell. Tunney started out moving in and out circling around tua popping him with accurate jabs and straight shot flurries. Tunney's design worked very well, and tua couldn't seem to get anything going. By midrounds, tua's eye was dripping with blood and his nose was smashed from all the hundreds of straight shots tunney had landed on tua. Tuas best round was the 8th where he won his first round with some good body work as tunney seemed to take that one off. Going into the 12th it had been a one sided fight. Tunney had kept the fight in the center of the ring the whole time dancing circles around tua, it had worked to perfection. But now Tua pulled out something he was famous for in the past, a clutch late kayo. late in the 12th round, Tua finally got tunney by the ropes, tua faked a right to the body and tunney kept his hands down low and tua shot up with a massive left hook....BOOOM! it connected! tua followed up with a RIGHT UPPERCUT LEFT HOOK RIGHT HOOK MISSES FOLLOWED BY ONE MORE LEFT HOOK tunney is falls back against the ropes then crumbles flat on his face. TUNNEYS DOWN!!!! the ref starts counting...somehow tunney gets to his feet at 9 the ref asks tunney if hes ok tunney says "yes" but tunney is not ok! he has rubbery legs he staggers halfway across the ring then falls down. The ref waves off the fight with 15 seconds to go in the round as tua's corner goes NUTS! It was such a dramatic kayo, as tua could not have possibly won the fight without the hailmary. The old saying goes a puncher always has a chance, and it came true in this fight. A bitterly dissapointed Tunney said afterward "I just have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new gameplan. I ask for a rematch. I wont make the same mistake next time." Tua high on adrenaline after the comeback win pointed out his next opponent Walcott "Another 195lber huh?" Tua smiled and walked away.

Knockdowns: Tunney: 0 Tua: 1


#10 George Godfrey TKO 2 # 7 Ken Norton - The most suprising pick of the tournament. # 10 seed George Godfrey upsets Kenny Norton who had the ablity to give some high seeds some very tough goes. Experts underestimated how much of a stylistic nightmare Godfrey was for Norton. trained by hall of famer Jack Blackburn, Blackburn pointed out norton's weaknesses at once and used Godfreys massive size and power to come up with the perfect game plan. The fight started and Godfrey immediately attacked forcing Kenny to fight on his backfoot which he did not like. Midway through the 2nd a Huge roundhouse right caught kenny and Godfrey followed it up with a left hook right hand and Kenny went down on his stomach. Hurt, Kenny got up before the 6'4 225lb godfrey unleashed a torrid of blows off kenny in the corner until kenny is out on his feet. Nortons corner throws in the towel! thats it!! the Referee stops the fight! Save Kenny from any further punishment Not a good first matchup for kenny, who ran into a superheavyweight who could punch. Godfrey smiling after his victory said he hopes Jack wins his upcoming fight with Shavers because "I have a suprise for Jacky boy waiting right here" pointing to his massive fist. Blackburn said after "we knew what was going to happen going in." When reporters asked Blackburn if they have something prepared for 2 seeded Dempsey Blackburn replied "Dempsey ell know wen he feels it". Norton wished his good friend joe frazier best of luck in the tournament and said "ill just go home and look forward to whats next. no sense in dwelling on the past."

Knockdowns Norton: 0 Godfrey: 1


# 2 Jack Dempsey KO 1 # 15 Earnie Shavers- A short entertaining slugout ended the first 1/2 of the first round here last night as # 2 seed Jack Dempsey failed to let down his fans by blasting away the tournaments hardest banger Earnie Shavers early in the first round. Prefight Earnie Shavers got dempsey going by telling jack kearns "make sure the former middleweight shows up tonight." Both fighters came out and dempey charged right into him both letting there titanic bombs go. Shavers tried a jab and dempsey with his specactular footwork bobbed and weaved under it then came up with a crashing right followed by a big left hook. Shavers tried to get his trademark right hand off but was beaten to the punch by another dempsey right! shavers falls into the ropes hurt and staggering dempsey unleashes a deadly 3 punch combination. Shavers down! Shavers struggles to his knees, but his counted out right there by the Referee! Just 47 seconds had gone by in the first round! What action! Dempsey claimed afterward "Boy that shavers can hit, Im glad I ended it when I did. I shut his mouth up good. Now it Looks like I am going to have to shut the mout of my old pal George a whuppin next round. A reporter asked "arnt you and george good friends" Dempsey replied "not wen were in the ring. no one is my friend in the ring". Dempsey then put a towel over his head and walked back to the lockerroom.


Knockdowns Dempsey: 1 Shavers: 0

 

I go both ways Old Fogey, I do keep your votes in mind, but at the same time there has to be upsets and there has to be dramatic endings...just like in March Madness. Some of these picks especially the max baer-ernie Terell pick I went against my own predictions. In fact in my prediction I had tunney over tua. but it doesnt work out that way all the time. thats why its march madness!!! ENJOYY!

ps Cooney got more votes than charles. Baer got more votes than Terell

 

In my predictions I had Baer over Terrell and Tunney over Tua. But remember, I had to pick some upsets, and I picked the upsets I thought were most likely to happen under circumstances. THIS IS MARCH MADNESS FOR A REASON! Not all of the higher seeds are going to win! just wait till next round, there might be more controversy! I try to play as least bias as possible. you have to remember everyone has a different opinion and i listen to everyones opinions especially the upsets, and see if they have good reasoning or not. Im dissapointed Baer didnt make it out of the first round either.

 

Old Fogster,

Johannson-Young fight hasnt even come out yet! dont spoil the suprise! Tehe

 

bump for discussion