Arthur Abraham vs. Carl Froch & undercard RBR

Round 5

Piispanen is getting off first with his jab, and then making Rasilla look incredibly slow and inaccurate without straying too far from the middle of the ring. Rasilla tries desperately to land from all possible angles, winging underhanded body shots and trying to puncture Piispanen's guard with a powerful but telegraphed 1-2. Piispanen wraps his gloves around his head and ducks down when he charges in and pops off a few scoring blows either to the body or windmilling up to Rasilla's face and managing not to take much punishment on the way in or out.

50-45 Piispanen

 

Round 6

Rasilla throws the first dozen or so punches, all blocked. Piispanen just waits right in front of him, and then snaps off a few quick counters while moving forward before getting tangled up in the long arms of Rasilla. Piispanen taunts with his jab, throwing it at the forearm of Rasilla just to keep him distracted with parrying. They clinch up several times with Piispanen ducking Rasilla's jab and crawling into his chest. Rasilla misses three jabs, with the third lined up right between the gloves of Piispanen and falling just short but followed by a straight right hand that forces Piispanen to clamp his fists together to keep out. Rasilla really opens up and Piispanen dances literal circles around him, popping off counter right hands and staggering Rasilla a bit.

60-54 Piispanen

 

Round 7

Piispanen scouts the jab and navigates through its path to land his own. Rasilla is throwing jerky right hands now, over-extending a bit and winding up with his arm behind Piispanen in a clinch. Rasilla's only really connecting to the body and is largely neglecting it (mainly because Piispanen is so slippery). Rasilla makes sure to get a few taps in during every clinch but they are neither doing damage nor scoring enough points to steal him the round. Piispanen wins this round almost exclusively on his jab and defense.

70-63 Piispanen

 

Round 8

Rasilla starts fast, throwing long volleys of uppercuts with both hands. Piispanen is able to gum up the works with his own arms and move well enough to minimize damage. A familiar pattern unfolds where Piispanen lands a quick jab, then ducks, then has Rasilla draped over him in a clinch. BIG 1-2 from Piispanen. Rasilla keeps fighting back, trying to jab Piispanen away but the Finn smells blood and advances with lead double hooks. Piispanen is throwing a modified 1-2 with the jab setting up a windmill overhand. Rasilla starts to throw a 1-2 but is turned out of position by a laterally skating Piispanen. Rasilla is grabbing Piispanen behind the head after missing long right hands and both men are working the body. The infighting favors the shorter and faster champion.

It is still a shutout.

 

Neither would be very surprising.

A lot depends on Rasilla's disposition in the last third of the fight (ie aggressive and reckless or not).

 

Round 9

Rasilla keeps opening up with his easily dodged 1-2 but is stepping in its wake to dig hooks to the body effectively. Piispanen tries to jab at Rasilla off the backfoot but Rasilla simply backhands the jab out of his way and touches the body on his way into a clinch. Piispanen may be tiring a bit, with less snap on his jab as Rasilla bulldozes through it. Piispanen is still throwing the right hand as a windmill and not landing it very effectively.

That might have been Rasilla's round. He forced it into an ugly brawl and pressed forward and might have landed more power punches.

89-82 Piispanen

 

He did seem shaky, and then came back and arguably won the subsequent round! That will be a small moral victory when he loses the wide decision that seems to be looming.