Fight of the Fortnight #2: Balls To The Wall Brawls.

loser

 

this is my early candidate for Post of the year! Good analysis! Spot on!

 

O.M.G. Scorcery!!!

 

This is my early candidate for Post of the Year

 

Rocky Lockridge vs Tony Lopez I

Round 1: 10-9 Lopez (early on Lopez starts very well with the jab and overhand right, scoring very well with a big uppercut. At about the halfway mark Rocky settles in and starts landing well and often to the body to make it a closer round. Tony gets back to landing accurately with the jab plus another right & uppercut to take the round)

Round 2: 10-9 Lopez (another good round, Tony lands that big overhand right on 2 separate occasions early in between furious exchanges from both fighters. Rocky does land a couple of decent rights of his own, but so far the champion is just playing catch-up to the extremely sharp challenger)

Round 3: 10-9 Lopez (much closer round, Rocky starts to find his rhythm and gets much closer to at least a share of the round. However Lopez on the strength of his jab, and landing the telling blows namely that right cross/left hook to the head or body combination. In the past I have scored this round for Lockridge, upon this viewing I have to disagree with myself on my previous score)

Round 4: 10-9 Lopez (again, a better round for Lockridge but he's just getting beat to the punch much to often to claim these rounds. Rocky did manage to land that good left hook and a right hand this round, just not enough imo to outdo Lopez's volume of cleaner crisper straighter work inside Rocky's mostly wide looping ones) SWING

Round 5: 10-9 Lockridge (Rocky gets on a the board with a round he all but dominated with the exception of being stunned late in the round that he recovered quickly from. He got his offensive tools working well in this round landing clean while avoiding most of Tony's shots. Like I said Tony did catch Rocky late in the round with a crisp combination that did have Lockridge holding for a moment which might sway someone to score this frame for Tony, but that's really all he had in a very good round for the champion)

Round 6: 10-9 Lopez (big round for Lopez stunning and staggering Rocky across the ring early, then going to work on what appears to be a cut by Lockridge's eye. Rocky hangs in there and gives some back, but the challenger takes a big round for himself here)

Round 7: 10-9 Lopez (another big clear round for the challenger, though showing fatigue Lopez stays on the outside and nails Rocky with his jab & right hand continuously with perfect accuracy)


Round 8: 10-8 Lockridge (HOLY CRAP WHAT A RIGHT HAND! The way Lopez hit the canvas was sickening, the dude was out wow! How he was able to not only get up but beat the count was nothing short of amazing. If this fight happened today, the ref probably stops the fight as soon as his head bounces off the canvas not even bothering to count, or at least waived it off at the count of 8 as Lopez was wobbling in the corner. Incredible will, to not only get up after that shot and how he went down, but to survive to the bell with close to a minute left, what a warrior)

Round 9: 10-9 Lockridge (good round for the champion, Rocky swarms all over a tired and still buzzed (probably concussed) Lopez. The Tiger takes a beating this round absorbing that huge right hand somewhat regularly now along with a damaging left hook. But Tony does manage to stay in the fight and even lands a few good ones of his own including a pinpoint right hand on the button and even managed to make Rocky back off once in a exchange along the ropes)

Round 10: 10-9 Lockridge (close round, Tony does comeback well this round and fights again on almost equal terms as the champ, but besides landing one real solid right hand the rest of his shots just don't have the steam on them as Rocky's. Lockridge still landing that right and and left hook with bad intentions and taking the fight to a tired Lopez edges this round for me)

Round 11: 10-9 Lopez (what a round from the exhausted challenger! What a fight, Lopez digs down deep and hurts the champion badly early in the round. Lopez clearly about spent about had Rocky on his back landing big right after right against a now very tired Lockridge. Two awesome warriors here!)

Round 12: 10-9 Lopez (What a great round again! Both men going for the stoppage giving it everything they have left. Lopez who has had Lockridge's timing down to a tee all night lands bombs staggering a tired Rocky again, who refuses to go down and keeps firing back. Both men never stop trying to knock the other out to the final bell)

My Score: (115-112 Lopez)

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Amazing fight, amazing atmosphere! That Sacramento crowd was hot from the opening bell to the last making it all the more special. I can't see a argument made for a draw or a Lockridge win here, but still what a great performance from both men. One in which they both should always be proud of.

 

Just changed my vote from Holy/Qawi I to Lockridge/Lopez I. That was amazing!

 

Tony Lopez vs Rocky Lockridge II

Round 1: 10-9 Lopez (Ref clearly waives off the knockdown & wipes Rocky's gloves. No knockdown scored)
Round 2: 10-9 Lopez
Round 3: 10-8 Lopez (No doubt about that knockdown)
Round 4: 10-9 Lopez
Round 5: 10-9 Lopez
Round 6: 10-9 Lockridge
Round 7: 10-9 Lockridge
Round 8: 10-9 Lopez (close) SWING
Round 9: 10-9 Lockridge
Round 10: 10-9 Lopez
Round 11: 10-9 Lockridge
Round 12: 10-9 Lockridge

My Score: (115-112 Lopez)

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No time to give a round summary, but I'm still paying very close attention like I always do. Promise

Lockridge looked noticeably slower this time around, maybe a little rusty after the long layoff to heal those cuts from the first fight.

 

Tony Lopez v Rocky Lockridge 1

Wonderful fight that deserved 15 rounds but I’ll settle for the 12 brilliant ones they gave us. I couldn’t separate them and Rocky can consider himself somewhat unlucky to lose the title, particularly as he scored the one knockdown of the fight. Lopez finished strongly though and that is probably what won him the title. Great fight where both men enhanced their reputations and gave everything. A real shame there had to be a loser.

1 10-9 (close)
2 10-9 (close again)
3 9-10 (first clear round in my view, Rocky more aggressive this round)
4 9-10 (close, terrific quality from both fighters)
5 9-10 (Lockridge just that bit quicker at letting his hands go, although Lopez has his moments; Lockridge timing the right hand over Lopez’s jab well)
6 10-9 (Lopez’s best round of the fight so far. Tony seemed to have Rocky hurt on a couple of occasions, although Rocky got his licks in too towards the end of the round. Clear Lopez round though. Dead even at halfway point feels right to me)
7 10-9 (very close again, could have gone even but Tony just edged it)
8 8-10 (huge round for Lockridge as he dropped Lopez hard with an overhand right. Lopez looked unsteady on his feet and did very well to survive the round. Obviously Lockridge’s best round of the fight so far.)
9 10-10 (phone booth warfare - I couldn’t separate them)
10 9-10 (very close again, but Lockridge landed the best punch of the round, a straight right that landed flush. Lopez needs a big couple of rounds on my card now)
11 10-9 (just what the doctor ordered from Lopez who had Lockridge in trouble at the start of the round but Rocky fought back hard! The early flurry gives Lopez the edge though)
12 10-9 (Lopez takes it with some hard combos that have Lockridge temporarily on unsteady legs but Rocky is one tough fighter and keeps swinging till the final bell)

114-114

 

Dwight Muhammad Qawi vs Evander Holyfield I

Round 1: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 2: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 3: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 4: 10-9 Qawi (close) SWING
Round 5: 10-9 Qawi
Round 6: 10-9 Holyfield (close) SWING
Round 7: 10-9 Holyfield (close) SWING
Round 8: 10-9 Qawi (close) SWING
Round 9: 10-9 Holyfield (close) SWING
Round 10: 10-9 Qawi
Round 11: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 12: 10-9 Qawi (close) SWING
Round 13: 10-8 Holyfield (point deduction)
Round 14: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 15: 10-9 Qawi

My Score: (144-140 Holyfield)

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What a war! Neck and neck with Lockridge/Lopez 1 & Ortega/Paret 1 for me, clear win for Holy imo. Evander was so beautiful to watch go to war, from his youth to the end of 1997 (with a hiccup or 2 thrown in there) Holyfield was rarely in a bad fight. A true warrior and ATG for my money. As for this fight, I really wanted to call the 4th round even, but I feel the telling showy punches of Qawi that Evander shelling up carried the round. So many swing rounds in this one, Qawi did so well with upperbody movement to just slip, duck, or roll with many of Evander's punches making this one so hard to score. I only have 9 definitive round winners out of a possible 15, 3 swing rounds for each fighter with Evander winning 6 & Qawi winning 3 definitively. Leaving 6 rounds that could be scored either way or even. At any rate, amazing quality fight. A true classic war in the Cruiserweight division.

 

Tony Lopez v Rocky Lockridge 2

1 10-9
2 10-9
3 10-8
4 10-9
5 10-9
6 10-9
7 9-10
8 9-10
9 9-10
10 10-10
11 9-10
12 10-9

116-112

Comments to follow...

 

Excellent fight, just not quite at the same level of the first one in my view. I thought this was a clearer win for Lopez than the first fight. He scored a knockdown in the 3rd and I thought the slip in the first was a legit knockdown too.

Lopez dominated the first half, Rocky came on the second half although it was too little, too late and I thought he won his rounds by narrower margins than Lopez won his over the first half (plenty of close ones between 8 and 12).

A quality rematch but Lopez proved his superiority here against a Rocky who was probably just a bit past his best.

 

Cheers George. I've actually amended round 10 to 10-10 as that was what I had down originally but introduced an error when I was copying it across here.