FIGHT OF THE WEEK 13- Mike Weaver vs Michael Dokes 2

Ok just watched it.

Round 1: 10-9 Dokes
Round 2: 10-10 Even
Round 3: 10-9 Weaver
Round 4: 10-9 Weaver
Round 5: 10-9 Dokes
Round 6: 10-10 Even
Round 7: 10-9 Weaver
Round 8: 10-9 Weaver
Round 9: 10-9 Weaver
Round 10: 10-10 Even
Round 11: 10-9 Dokes
Round 12: 10-9 Dokes
Round 13: 10-10 Even
Round 14: 10-9 Weaver
Round 15: 10-9 Weaver

146-143 Weaver.

Notes -

* Difficult to score with a lot of close rounds. I've taken the liberty of four even rounds due to this.

* Dokes has underrated power. He was considered among the most feather fisted boxers in the game for a while but after he filled out he had decent heavyweight power. When he filled out and gained some stick he also fought more flat footed which helped his power as well and lost a bit in the movement stakes.

* Dokes at his best had a helluva chin. During the very high octane first rounds and at times in the rounds just after he took some mammoth shots from Weaver who we know has one shot power. He took them extremely well. By the time he fought Coetzee he was in the midst of drugs and Coetzee can certainly hit.

*At one point in the first round after Weaver had hammered back hard he got caught and stopped throwing for a bit and one saw the fight fight flash right back before them.....before Weaver came out of it and started banging again.

*Weaver started investing in body shots as early as round one and man did he hit Dokes with some big big body shots throughout the fight. These have to be taken into consideration when scoring.

* I remember Dokes saying after the fight he would fight anyone but Weaver and they'd have to strip his title first.

* Around the 5th stanza Dokes started moving a lot more and jabbed well at times. Perhaps he realised staying close was not going to end wellHe rose from the dead in round 12 and 13 but was pretty stuffed the last 3 rounds.

* Weaver really had Dokes worried about those body shots in the last third of the fight.

* A great opening round tapered off pretty quickly. Plenty of feeling from Weaver he was really pissed at Dokes.

 

A few more thoughts about this one. I was dog tired last night watching this so that probably influenced both my scoring and my view of the fight. In truth, it wasn't a bad fight but I needed something that was going to grab my attention and not let go and this wasn't it.

I may have actually fallen asleep during a couple of rounds so you can take my scoring of this one with a pinch of salt. Somehow it tallied to a draw. Maybe that's how two of three judges came to a draw as well.

I think if Weaver had applied more consistent pressure on Dokes he probably could have stopped him but he let him off the hook a few times. How you score this depends on how successful you think Dokes was off the back foot. I think his success was variable and his performance was uneven. Outside of the first and final rounds, he seemed more concerned with lasting the distance than anything else. Weaver could have taken advantage of that better.

 

I especially love the credit given to Dokes here.

 

Cheers Will.

 

If Weaver had won, and faced Page, he may have lost. Page gave an impressive performance against Snipes in that card later on. Page wanted that title, and he had enough to beat Weaver, but again, depends on his mindset.

 

not much of a fight

If you ask me, Weaver should have pressed him more