GYM Série de Boxe: Francis Lafrenière vs. Albert Onolunose & Christian Mbilli vs Jesús Gurrola RBR

Round 7

Lafrenière is visibly gassed, huffing and resting his chin on the scapula while raining light overhands down blindly at Onolunose's head. Counter body shots by Onolunose, sometimes chicken-winging his elbows out into the gut of Lafrenière to back him up before throwing flurries into his ribs or jabbing to create space. Both clinching a lot more than in the first six, taking long breathers. Onolunose's corner is continuously screaming at him to stay on Lafrenière, shouting "he is hurt! you've got him!" only to eventually trail off as he ignores (or can't follow) their instructions, too fatigued to follow up on any minor successes.

10-9 Onolunose

68-65 Onolunose

 

Round 8

Lafrenière is taking big home run swings with the left hook but not aiming or gauging distance first, just cleaving the air between them. Onolunose is very tired, using a lot of twitchy right hand lead feints but never throwing it, usually causing Lafrenière to pause his advance but not throwing any counters behind the feint to capitalize. Onolunose doing almost nothing but tie up and feint this round. Lafrenière is at least clapping him by the ear with some overhands and sticking in some jabs before the clinches. Onolunose starts finally opening up in the final half-minute with some barking 1-2s, all blocked.

10-9 Lafrenière, close (almost certainly got this from the official judges if they are inclined to reward pure aggression propter se)

77-75 Onolunose

 

...and even there, he got sent to dreamland in his prime by Grady Brewer, a no doubt above-average hitter but hardly a murderous one (and I think both Cook & Butler pack more wallop) and he's now 37.

 

Round 9

Almost nonstop wrestling. Lafrenière is at least working his free hand while Onolunose seems to be doing his best to ensure the clinches are lengthened as much as possible, trapping Lafrenière's limbs underneath his own. Sneaky uppercut jumping away by Onolunose after extricating himself forcibly. Lafrenière takes a leap of faith after him and they play a short game of patty-cake, Lafrenière tapping all up & down Onolonuse's gloves. Another sneaky counter by Onolunose.

10-9 Onolunose, close (some judges won't like him being this economical, though, and this is the sort of round that conceivably might go against him)

87-84 Onolunose

 

Round 10

Lafrenière is grinding his way in, letting his right arm be pinned to Onolonuse's chest by the Nigerian's left arm but keeping his other fist pumping in with a constant flow of underhanded digs. Sparkle Lee warns him to watch the head as it sometimes rams up into Onolonuse's agape mouth from below while Lafrenière is straightening his legs on the inside. Lafrenière keeps scratching the body and pushing Onolunose around the ring. 1-2-1-2 by Lafrenière, slow & sloppy but still grazing the bridge of the nose as Onolunose is too exhausted to block or move effectively.

10-9 Lafrenière

96-94 Onolunose

 

That used every shred of energy these guys had, they're barely able to stand up as their corner men come to hoist them up for a celebratory fist-pumping wave-at-the-crowd tour around the ring.

 

This was by the way for the WBO North American middleweight title (2nd defense of Lafrenière)

 

Stream has peaked at nearly a thousand live viewers (up from just a few hundred when I made the RBR thread; wonder how much I contributed w/ attention from this place . Also props to @Somachenko for the heads-up on the stream.)

 

Tallying cards taking a long time.

 

Official cards:

Louan ?? (only spoke the scores in French on this one)
Russell 95-95
Ortiz 96-94

MD for Onolunose

 

Oh man, that's SO awkward. This ring announcer is such a dunce, he just bungled that so badly.

He kept saying everything in French and then repeating in English, until the very end after reading the deciding third judge's score (which he gave in the wrong order as well, saying 94 to 96...) and then said, in English first, "...and the new...", which caused Onolunose to begin celebrating while Lafrenière - who apparently only speaks French, or else didn't hear properly - kept squinting in concentration to hear the result, until he looked over and saw Onolunose's reaction, and frowned, deepening the frown when the announcer said Onolunose's name.

 

Yeah third score was 97-93, per BoxRec.

Good judging, that is the correct range IMO.

 

That was pretty fun, especially for a Thursday night, although like I said neither of these guys has any business getting near the best Canadian middles (Butler/Cook/Brewer, let alone Lemieux)