Well we are back for the 19th installment of Fight of the week, where we review, rescore and remember some historic fights of the past. Shout out to @scartissue for this suggestion. This week the FOTW time machine takes us back 46 years ago to June 28, 1975 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Angel Espada and Clyde Gray square off for the vacant WBA Welterweight title. Since I have not seen this one before, I am excited to watch a new fight. I am going to avoid this thread till I watch it tomorrow, because I don’t want to know who won (although I do think I know?) before I watch it. so buckle up and settle down for Espada vs Gray, enjoy. This content is protected
Got out of the swing of these recently, unfortunately. But I haven't seen this either so will try and find time to watch this week. Cheers @PhillyPhan69 for keeping them going and @scartissue for the interesting recommendation.
Clyde Gray vs Angel Espada FOTW WBA Welterweight Title 1975 CG : AE 1: 10 - 9 Very close. Fast start. Just gave to Gray due to bodywork + consistency. 2: 9 - 10 Very hard to seperate. Espada a bit more substantial. 3: 10 - 9 Gray working the jab. Espada rocked with a right. 4: 10 - 9 Quality round. Gray worked well but is cut. 5: 9 - 10 Espada getting aggressive aiming for the eye. 6: 9 - 10 Espada landing his jab with regularity. Boxing beautifully here. 7: 10 - 10 Very close. Espada picking spots well. 8: 10 - 9 Gray working very well inside. 9: 9 - 10 Espada bulling early before picking spots. 10: 9 - 10 Espada starting incredibly agressive. 11: 10 - 9 Gray grinding it out. Espada tired. 12: 9 - 10 Espada active, picking spots again. 13: 10 - 9 Very close. Gray just grinding it with rights. 14: 10 - 9 Gray forcing it. 15: 10 - 9 Gray extremely aggressive! Espada exhausted! TOTAL: 144 - 142 GRAY Notes: Now this is a 'world title' match! Both men were extremely classy style wise, tough as old boots and incredibly game. I loved seeing both men at work here, especially Espada - man, what a beautiful Boxing style, incredibly smooth. However, Gray was a veteran here, and I saw this as a true 15 rounder, where the last three rounds decided my total score and winner. Spoiler However, Espada was declared the victor and new WBA Champion . This fight has a bit of everything - momentum changes, smart, smooth Boxing, aggressive inside fighting and game rallies. Everyone in the forum should check this one out. A closet classic. Thank you @PhillyPhan69 and @scartissue for suggesting this one and highlighting it! A top pick for FOTW! This content is protected
I saw this fight for the first time only a couple of months ago. It was a bit of a puzzle when you look at the official scores, but Puerto Rico is a very intimidating atmosphere to score a fight. Anyways, I thought rather than just post my original card I would check it out again without looking at my old card or anyone else's who may have scored the fight. Here is my scorecard from January: Vacant WBA welterweight championship - Angel Espada v Clyde Gray Round 1: 10-9 Gray Round 2: 10-9 Gray Round 3: 10-9 Gray Round 4: 10-10 Even Round 5: 10-9 Espada Round 6: 10-9 Gray Round 7: 10-9 Espada Round 8: 10-9 Gray Round 9: 10-9 Espada Round 10: 10-9 Espada Round 11: 10-9 Gray Round 12: 10-9 Espada Round 13: 10-9 Espada Round 14: 10-9 Gray Round 15: 10-9 Gray Total: 144-142 Gray (actual scores: 146-143, 147-139 and 148-134 all for Espada) I should never trust anything until I lay my eyeballs on it. Luis Sulbaran, the judge who had it 148-134 should have just stayed home and mailed his card in. He wasn't planning on watching the fight to begin with with a card like that. This was a damn close fight and a draw would have been OK with me. With everything that was written on it (I must admit all by a Puerto Rican correspondent by Ring mag) I was expecting Espada to explode at any minute. Well, he didn't. It was Gray who forced the whole issue and had Espada hanging on like a lost lover by fight's end. I would love to hear anyone else's card on this one, but be forewarned. The vid is from Canadian TV who lean towards Gray and the audience absolutely scream at anything Espada throws, even a jab that comes up short, so don't be swayed. Here is my card from today: Round 1: 10-9 Gray Round 2: 10-9 Gray Round 3: 10-9 Gray Round 4: 10-10 Even Round 5: 10-9 Espada Round 6: 10-9 Gray Round 7: 10-9 Gray Round 8: 10-9 Gray Round 9: 10-9 Espada Round 10: 10-9 Espada Round 11: 10-9 Gray Round 12: 10-9 Espada Round 13: 10-9 Espada Round 14: 10-9 Gray Round 15: 10-9 Gray Total: 145-141 Gray Not too shabby. The only round I had different was the 7th which I gave to Espada the first time around and now which I gave to Gray. @roughdiamond had that round Even, which will tell you that round was a bit of a tossup. I will admit there are some very close rounds here, but I feel Gray's workrate shaded it. Thanks for bringing this one up @PhillyPhan69 . A good controversial decision to sink our teeth into.
This fight must have looked a lot different from ringside. I scored Gray 146, Espada 140 or 10-4-1 for Gray. I gave CG rounds 2,3,4,6,7,8,11,12,14,15, I had round 1 EVEN, and gave AE rounds 5,9,10,13. There were a lot of close rounds that I probably gave to Gray for being the aggressor and being busier. I also didn't like the way AE would often move his left (front) foot first when moving back, leaving him squared to his opponent. That might have caught up to him in the 14th when he went down, but it was ruled a slip.
Pat, you touched upon an area I would love to discuss, which I forgot to mention in my post on the fight. And that is the 14th round 'knockdown'. I played that and replayed it numerous times. Unfortunately we do not have the benefit of todays multi-angled cameras to examine this. But after looking it over time and again, I gotta tell ya, there are a lot of referees who would have called that a knockdown. Your opinion? And anyone else's who would like to chime in?
I agree with you, it looks like a knockdown. But maybe from inside the ring and ringside it didn't? The Canadian commentators didn't complain and the referee had a closer view than any of us. But on video, it looks like Gray hit Espada and Espada went down.
hey bro, thanks for suggesting this fight. Never seen it and it was very enjoyable especially since I have not watched much in the last 4 weeks since I was moving packing/unpacking. Good choice! Quick question for you: can you confirm the judges scores? They were read in Spanish and one link on boxrec gives the scores. Judge 1 had it 7-4-4 Espada (realistic IMO) Judge 2 had it 11-3-1 which seems unrealistic (Even if you give Espada every close round I think Gray won 5 at a minimum) Judge 3 (if accurately reported) had it 13-2 Espada (which is bad enough)which would be 148-137… but he also would have had to have 3 10-8 Espada rounds to reach a score of 134? The math does not really compute. Just curious if you know if the scores have been accurately recorded? I scored with the volume down (which I hate, but I didn’t want commentary to influence me) I thought 14 should have been a KD, but reluctantly agree with you on the camera angels. Anyway I felt Espada won narrowly and would score for him even with a KD in 14 if it had been ruled 1. But this was a very close enjoyable fight and to me the only controversy is the 2 judges with wide scorecards. To me a 3 point Espada win to a 3 point Gray win seem very realistic. I had Gray 5-4 in rounds I didn’t struggle to score but found 1/2/4/7/9/13 very close. If I scored them all for 1 guy I could Gray by 6 or Espada by 5 as the extreme ends of scoring. A good close debatable fight marred by seemingly biased judge cards. Anyway I ended up with a close Espada victory. 1 Gray 10-9 2 Espada (19-19) 3 Gray (Gray 29-28) 4 Even (Gray 39-38) 5 Espada (48-48) 6 Espada (Espada 58-57) 7 Espada (Espada 68-66) 8 Gray (Espada 77-76) 9 Espada (Espada 87-85) 10 Espada (Espada 97-94) 11 Gray (Espada 106-104) 12 Espada (Espada 116-113) 13 Espada (Espada 126-122) 14 Gray (Espada 135-132) 15 Gray (Espada 144-142) so I ended up 8-6-1 or 144-142 for Espada
Anyone else interested in watching and/or scoring this one? It’s definitely worth checking out if you have not seen it.
Philly, I think your score is fine. It represents how close that fight was. What I take offense to were those official scores, which were preposterous. I truly believe Puerto Rico is an intimidating cauldron of volatile fans that would have a normally good official leaning to their side out of fear. I think of Gray v Espada, the Wilfredo Gomez v Rocky Lockridge decision, the Gomez v Azumah Nelson score (I had Nelson up by 2 points after 10, but 2 officials had Gomez up and I think the 3rd was even and low blows by Gomez were ignored). Also what Gomez was able to get away with at the weigh-ins for his bouts with Albert Davila and Eddie Ndukwu. Also for a great official like Harry Gibb to turn a blind eye to Gomez fouling Carlos Zarate. Not to mention the riots started in Madison Square Garden by fans of Frankie Narvaez when he didn't get the decision against Ismael Laguna and Flash Elorde. Puerto Ricans are passionate fans. And I think they have officials sh***ing themselves in the process.
