Fight of the Fortnight #1: Southpaw Standoffs.

I had Whitaker winning this one 8-3-1. He clearly lost some momentum from the middle of the fight on when he hurt his hand, but he showed terrific poise and resourcefulness in holding it together in the last half of the bout, especially against a foe so experienced and with him having only 15 fights. He made Ramirez look bad. Of course Papa Sulaiman wasn't going to let him lose that day, so all Ramirez had to do was stand at the final bell. I've seen worse decisions but this one reeked of politics. It was indeed an injustice.

 

I made it 8-3-1 as well.

 

Rolando Navarette v Rafael Limon

Not sure about my card in this one, not that it matters given the ending. But my overall impression was that Limon came on from about the 7th and started to put pressure on Navarette that he ultimately couldn’t handle. Navarette was having to fight harder than he wanted to just to stay in the fight and while I had him ahead after 11, I felt that he was having to fight at the pace Limon was setting and that showed in the 12th.

Action wise, it really got going from the 7th onwards, where every round was great to watch. Limon is so ungainly but great fun - you can imagine him as a baddie in a Western, his bravado is almost comical. Balls of steel, though.

Navarette-Limon
1 9-10
2 10-9
3 10-9
4 9-10
5 10-9
6 10-9
7 9-10 (great round)
8 9-10 (Limon starting to get on top)
9 10-9 (very close, terrific action)
10 10-9 (more great stuff)
11 9-10 (Navarette looks exhausted)
(105-104)
12 Limon TKO Navarette

 

Frank Fletcher vs Clint Jackson

Round 1: 10-9 Fletcher (Jackson despite not throwing near enough to take the round landed some great counters and backed The Animal up a step at least twice in the round)

Round 2: 10-9 Fletcher (For me the round was Jackson's based on the strength of his jab that he was landing solidly for the first 1:20. They fought even over the next 1:20 with some wicked bodypunching from each man. The last 20 seconds Frank stole the round for me with his all out blistering assault against Jackson in a corner that went almost exclusively one sided)

Round 3: 10-9 Jackson (Starts the same as the first two rounds all Animal with a shelled up Jackson against the ropes, until a beautiful uppercut combination stuns Fletcher. Jackson comes back with a crashing hook that clearly hurts Frank, as Clint circles off the ropes and goes to work. The Animal comes storming back after taking a beating and pulls the round close to level until a late series of hard punches has Fletcher stumbling back off again to end the round)

Round 4: 10-9 Jackson (The 4th frame's tempo slows way down, Fletcher chooses to box from range and does a decent job until he gets caught again by Jackson who is clearly the bigger puncher. Fletcher was saved from a knockdown at least twice this round by the ropes that held him up. He was clearly hurt again this round)

Round 5: 10-9 Fletcher (The Animal got back to his bread and butter this frame and simply overwhelmed Jackson against the ropes for close to 2 minutes. Jackson finally opens up and hurts Fletcher again, but to little too late this round)

Round 6: 10-9 Fletcher (Swarming all over Jackson again for the majority of the round. It's clear by this point that Jackson can and has hurt The Animal when he lets his hands go, he just doesn't have the engine to keep up with Frank to edge enough of these rounds)

Round 7: 10-9 Jackson (Fletcher tries to stay away and fight and range again to protect his badly cut eye. Jackson took advantage of the break and picked Frank off from the outside with the jab, why landing some good counters on a lunging Animal)

Round 8: 10-9 Fletcher (Gets back into the swing of things, lands the 2 biggest shots of the round and has Jackson hurt for a good chunk of it)

Round 9: 10-9 Fletcher (Frank gets on his back foot again, though this time he was effective at range. Jackson looked about done this round, offering very little in return until he got his jab working again at the tail end of the round)

Round 10: 10-9 Jackson (Close, Clint gets back to work this round. Actually taking it to The Animal) *SWING*

Round 11: 10-9 Jackson (Fletcher tries to box/lung from distance again, but Clint does well to keep his jab pumping into Frank's face the whole round)

Round 12: 10-9 Fletcher (Looked just like the first 3 rounds! Jackson knowing he needs the knockout goes for broke, Fletcher looking to close the show and not giving a inch) *SWING*


My Score: (115-113 Fletcher)

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Wouldn't argue with a wider scorecard for The Animal, I saw it a little closer but this definitely wasn't a draw or win for Jackson imo.

 

Naseem Hamed vs Kevin Kelley

Round 1: 10-8 Kelley (Rounds starts at methodical pace, Prince sticking his jab from both stances, Kelley missing most everything he's thrown trying to gauge his distance and get his timing down for Naz. Naz corner's The Flushing Flash and tries to go to work when Kevin slips and counters with a awesome right hook on a leaning back Naz that puts the Prince flat on his ass)

Round 2: 10-10 Even (Both fighters score knockdowns, Kelley first then Naz. Both men landed good shots besides the knockdowns so I scored the round even)

Round 3: 10-9 Kelley (Kevin boxed well and used a great jab to tame the wild lunging Prince this round, who stayed quiet on the outside looking somewhat bewildered for most of the round)

Round 4: KO Naseem Hamed (ALL OUT CRAZINESS!!)

My Score: (30-27 Kelley) ATOS

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Kelley got to anxious in the 4th round going for broke and got into a all out fire fight with the wrong guy and it cost him dearly.

 

I got to get some shuteye tonight, my 13 year old son is going to be up in 5 hours wanting to open Christmas presents lol. I'm gonna try to get the rest of the original list done tomorrow evening, and the ones we added extra no later than the day after.

 

Cornelius Boza-Edwards v Rafael Limon

1 10-9
2 10-9
3 10-9 (closer)
4 9-10 (close, great round)
5 10-8 (Bazooka gets dropped but comes back hard - stupendous stuff!)
6 10-9 (Boza in control)
7 10-9 (Limon keeping it close with some big winging hooks but I have Boza way ahead at this point.
8 9-10 (Bazooka battles back; more insanity!)
9 9-10 (very close but Limon edges it with his final flurry)
10 9-10 (both of them toughing it out in the exchanges, could have gone either way)
11 10-10 (another one that could have gone either way, Limon getting the better of the exchanges before Boza starts outboxing Limon to take a share of the round)
12 10-9
13 9-9 (obvious low blow from Limon in a round he would otherwise have won)
14 10-10 (mucho machismo from both fighters, pretty even)
15 10-9 (Boza closes the show in a bonkers last round)

Boza-Edwards 145-140 Limon

 

Frank Fletcher v Clint Jackson

1 10-9
2 10-9
3 9-10 (Jackson explodes! But then Fletcher fights back - incredible stuff)
4 9-10 (Fletcher wisely elects to
stick and move after the previous round’s madness, then gets tagged and wobbled badly by Jackson and has to fight off the ropes for the rest of the round.
5 10-10 (Jackson finishes strongly after Fletcher has worked away for a majority of the round)
6 10-9 (Fletcher keeps Jackson pinned to the ropes)
7 10-9 (Fletcher outboxes Jackson to take the round)
8 10-9 (another clear Fletcher round)
9 10-9
10 10-9
11 10-9 (pace has slowed as both fighters tire)
12 9-10 (Jackson finishes strongly)

Fletcher 117-112 Jackson

This was a tougher fight for Fletcher than my scorecard suggests. Jackson looked a weight division bigger than Fletcher and had him in serious **** in the 4th but I felt Frank just kept outlanding Clint, who gave an uneven performance. In my view, Jackson didn’t do as well late in the fight as others have scored it in this thread, it was all a bit too little, too late. Entertaining brawl though.

 

Seeing as I’m done, will add a bonus fight - Navarette v Boza.

 

‘Southpaw standoffs’ bonus bout:

Rolando Navarette v Cornelius Boza-Edwards


As I’ve been through the six allotted fights for this thread, just thought I’d rewatch this one as it completes the circle of early 80s southpaw junior lightweights - Boza having won the world title by beating Limon (who would win the title himself by beating Navarette) faces off against the dangerous Filipino puncher.

The usually durable Cornelius gets absolutely ****ed up by Navarette after taking a hellacious straight left in the 4th that he never really recovers from. A shocking upset.

1 10-9
2 10-9
3 9-10 (8-10 with possible point deduction)
4 10-7
(39-35)
5 Navarette KOs Boza