Jacobs vs. Watson Jacobs threw a lot of nice shots against a timid Watson. Jacobs was able to land a lot of solid body shots which set up his work to the head. First round knockout and it's hard to get a lot out of that in terms of analyzing him. I'll be looking forward to seeing him again. Eleven fights in ten months is impressive in this day and age. Similar pace to a young Tyson who also scored a lot of first round knockouts (though I'm not saying that he is Tyson). Rubio vs. Ornelas I scored this one 115-113 for Rubio, and felt the split decision was a good one. There were a pile of difficult rounds to score, and I believe that Rubio could have taken over the fight if he had been more assertive. Steward was actually right in stating that all Rubio had to do was step back and make Ornelas miss some shots. Rubio's blocking shots allowed Ornelas to keep his balance, which otherwise was weak. Rubio's corner should have been helping him with this strategy rather than just speaking about crowd excitement all night. It was a good fight, both men trying hard to win. Luevano vs. Dib I hope Dib gets put on the shelf. I never want to see him in an undercard again, or at least until he wakes up. I love slick boxers, but Dib was throwing a jab that would fall two feet short and then jump back as if afraid to be hit. He avoided contact all night, and it made for a terribly boring fight. Luevano stuck to a gameplan of counterpunching which compounded the lack of action, but it was probably smart and I won't fault him for it. The man he was in against didn't want to fight. 119-109 Luevano, I won't score a round for someone who thinks landing two punches and literally running the rest of the round = a win. Hopkins vs. Pavlik Vindication for a Hopkins fan. Surely people will not say Bernard was clinching too much in this one, or avoiding action, or trying to spoil, or lose by a small margin. Bernard Hopkins came to work last night and posted a shutout on my card against the young lion, the young star, in Kelly Pavlik. Pavlik showed a lot of class last night in not coming up with any excuse, but rather admitting he learned a lesson. It was not a case of Kelly being sick, or any other detriment, but rather a case of Bernard just not being there to be hit. As was once famously said, Bernard "saw something". He knew he could turn this young straight-forward fighter in circles and show him angles he wouldn't be able to deal with. Bernard was a 4 to 1 underdog in this one, and I have no doubt that is what fired him up. I knew that he was going to win the fight from the moment the crowd booed him on his ring entrance. Last night he was the Executioner, and not the Promoter. He didn't play to the crowd, but rather stuck to his job and had nothing but Pavlik on his mind, with his legacy, of course. Bernard's staring down media row at the end was a beautiful thing. Let us hope this sets up a rematch fifteen years in the making, Hopkins vs. Jones II. One point I want to correct Steward on is his assertion that Kelly Pavlik had not been warned for punches behind the head. He was warned early on, then given a "Last Warning", and then deducted a point. That was a justified point deduction, top to bottom. Bernard's point deduction for clinching, however, came with no warning and was terrible. Estevez should be put back down to fights below top calibre until he is able to just mediate what is happening in the fight and not try to play scorekeeper, evening out his point deductions. There is no other reason than he was trying to eliminate the point he took from Pavlik. Terrible move. Round 6 was arguably Hopkins' best round in years, and I believe that accounts for what was likely a 10-8 round on one of the judges' scorecards, leading to a final score of 119-106 (mine was 119-107). Lets hear your thoughts.
