ESPN2 FNF: Argenis Mendez vs. Rances Barthelemy & Caleb Truax vs. Ossie Duran RBR

It definitely wasn't Rances' fault. That was a heat of the battle combination and he started to let it fly before the bell sounded (he just couldn't hit the brakes in time and unfortunately peppered Mendez with a quick barrage after it) - it was no flagrant deliberate foul or anything.

He wasn't in there worrying about having heard the ten-second-warning clap ten seconds earlier; he just saw Mendez as a sitting duck and went for it and never really had time to pull the punches even though there were several of them after the bell.

That was 100% Podgorski's fault. He shouldn't have even lifted his arms to begin a count, and once he was committed to it he seemed to feel "Well now I need to act like it was a legit knockdown" even though he probably realized he goofed but didn't want to lose face by admitting that.

 

There are probably fistfights in the crowd that stupid ESPN isn't showing us. Cubans and Dominicans already have a testy relationship; I can't imagine boxing fans with some booze in them didn't get into a brouhaha over that ending.

 

You wouldn't know it by his record, but yeah. So does Mendez, actually. Ditto their common opponent Usmanee. None of them have very high KO ratios, but they can all crack.

With Barthelemy it's more the classic type of one-shot power, with Usmanee it's more a matter of heavy hands and a grind-you-down approach, and with Mendez it's (usually, not so much tonight) sharp accurate well-executed counter-punches.

 

There have been some cringe-worthy moments, true, but he took a lot of unnecessary stick back in the day for merely attempting to become and present himself as more of an educated person. Also, some of the classic examples of him misusing words actually weren't misuses on his part. Whenever I hear someone guffawing over "My style is impetuous, my defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious" I shake my head at them because that is a perfectly coherent statement with all terms properly used in context.

 

Swing bout!!!