Three fights featuring three of the top turn-of-the-century heavyweight contenders. An underachiever*, an overachiever*, and one of the great "what ifs" in the history of the sport. These fights highlight several of their strengths and weaknesses. These fights often get referenced on here, so I look forward to reading folks' scores and commentary. *If such a thing exists This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
Just watched these about 2months ago... The Tua-Ibeabuchi didn't live up to the hype for me... Wasn't impressed. Byrd just got big-manned. Didn't score it. Meaning to do the Mayweather ones and the DelaHoya ones...
The threads never close... Your round-by-round takes on those fights would still be appreciated. I also still need to go back and score a few of them.
Byrd - Tua 0-1 1-1 2-1 3-1 4-1 5-1 6-1 7-1 8-1 9-1 9-2 9-3 Total: 117-111 Chris Byrd. Could see it 116-112 as well
Well theres a bunch I've seen lately I want to do, just got alot of personal stuff happening now... I'll get to it. Its fun to do these.
I scored Tua - Ibeabuchi. I scored for Ike 115-114 or 6-5-1 in rounds. I gave II 1,2,3,5,10,11, I gave DT 6,7,8,9,12, and scored round 4 EVEN. A lot of rounds could have gone the other way. II was busier and he was effective inside and outside, DT threw nice short punches on the inside, and had good movement when II worked on the outside. II possibly could have made the fight a little easier for himself if he had jabbed more and tried to keep his distance, but keeping distance on a well conditioned, motivated DT is easier said than done. Impressive performance IMO, by two excellent fighters. It's a cliche, but it's a shame that one had to lose. A fun fight to watch, IMO their fundamentals were excellent, both fighters fought with their elbows close to their bodies, both kept their chins down, their footwork was by the book and despite heavy punching and getting hit with hard punches, both had excellent balance.
Lol you are the man! I am going to focus on Yaqui tomorrow and won’t get till this one till mid week! Nice card, I remember it being close in my mind with Ike winning, but may not have watched this for 10 years?
I scored Ibeabuchi - Byrd. Byrd did all he could, but I gave Ibeabuchi every round through the first 4 and then he knocked Byrd out in the 5th. Ibeabuchi at 244 pounds was quick, busy, and disciplined. He beat what was probably the best southpaw heavyweight in history up until that point easily. Ibeabuchi had skills, power, strength, durability, and endurance.
Ike v Tua Round 1: 10-9 Ike Round 2: 10-9 Ike Round 3: 10-9 Ike Round 4: 10-9 Ike Round 5: 10-10 Even Round 6: 10-9 Tua Round 7: 10-9 Tua Round 8: 10-9 Tua Round 9: 10-9 Ike Round 10: 10-9 Tua Round 11: 10-9 Tua Round 12: 10-10 Even Total: 115-115 Draw I think I agreed on only about half of Harold Lederman's card, but one thing we did agree on was that this is a very difficult fight to score. Not so much for the reasons he stated (that with heavy's it is hard to see inside work) but, my reasoning that, do you score for the heavier, eye-catching blows or the consistent ones. You have to find a happy medium for yourself - something no one else can show you. For instance the 9th round that Harold scored for Tua and I gave Ike. I thought Tua did very little that round but threw and landed a couple of haymakers. I was more impressed with the busier Ike and that jab of his, which I feel is one of the best jabs I've seen a heavyweight throw. Hard and pin-point.
Wow a 1 pt win and a draw. I will try and do this one tomorrow after the FOTW fights that I m looking at today. I remember thinking Ike won comfortably but don’t recall doing an actual card on this fight, interested to see how my card plays out....I have scored 3 of my last 6 fights a draw so hopefully I can avoid an even card this time lol Edit you guys scored 10-11opposite so I am going to guess 10-12 will be tough to score!
Byrd vs Tua Rnd 1- 10-9 Tua Rnd 2- 10-9 Byrd Rnd 3- 10-9 Tua Rnd 4- 10-9 Tua Rnd 5- 10-9 Byrd Rnd 6- 10-9 Tua Rnd 7- 10-9 Byrd Rnd 8- 10-9 Byrd Rnd 9- 10-9 Byrd Rnd 10- 10-9 Byrd Rnd 11- 10-9 Tua Rnd 12- 10-9 Tua 114-114 DRAW
I don’t want to sidetrack this thread but have a few recs for this thread in the upcoming month(s). Chris Byrd doubleheader vs McCline & Golota Andrew Golota double header vs Byrd & Ruiz Or 2 fights from the same 2004 fight card Undercard: Ruiz vs Golota Main event: Byrd vs McCline Just a couple of thoughts
I scored Byrd - Tua, which was another tough one to score. I apparently like the harder punches of Tua over the elusiveness and more plentiful but less powerful punches of Byrd because I scored for Tua 116-113 (7-4-1) giving Tua rounds 1,2,3,5,8,11,12 and giving Byrd 6,7,9,10, and scoring round 4 EVEN. I doubt that anybody else will have this one so wide for Tua, it's one of those fights that I'd probably score it different the next time I see it. I thought Tua did some quality work on the inside and I thought his aggressiveness made the fight. I could see an argument for Byrd or Tua in almost every round. Though Tua was a hard puncher, he wasn't as quick with his feet as Ibeabuchi and had a tougher time cornering Byrd.
Yeah I never understood why so many ppl view the fight as a one-sided Byrd rout. Tua did very well in the early rounds, especially round 3 where he completely dominated the action bell to bell consistently landing crunching body punches. Imo each guy very clearly won 4 rounds: 1,3,11,12 for Tua and 7,8,9,10 for Byrd. The other rounds were very close and could reasonably be scored either way. I think it should also be noted how bad a job Jay Nady did in reffing this fight. He constantly warned Tua for landing perfectly legal body punches and let Byrd thumb Tua with an open glove.
