Robert Świerzbiński vs. Rafał Jackiewicz II & Przemysław Gorgoń vs. Serhii Zhuk RBR

Round 3

Gorgoń is hopping in place as he backs up away from Zhuk's jabs and then bounds playfully to either side, resetting and then sending himself in like a cannonball hoping to catch Zhuk unawares - but his feet are slower than he seems to realize, as Zhuk has plenty of notice to compose his defenses, straighten up, and leave a moat of weak jabs around himself, turning his waist to clatter hooks off the sides of Gorgoń's face if need be should he stray too close. Gorgoń manages to squat in and poke the belt line with jabs, but little else. Zhuk keeping him at bay easily with both hands, toothless as they are. Gorgoń connects on a big skywriting left hook almost by accident shortly before the bell and Zhuk looks surprised but not thoroughly rocked - and is saved by the bell anyhow.

10-9 Zhuk

28-28

 

Round 4

Gorgoń is tiring, jumping around, getting jabbed in the face. Zhuk is stepping in to catch him in an embrace and then release him with an extra nudge of propulsion to set him up in the range of the lightly thrust uncooked sausages that are his gangly arms. Gorgoń is just barreling in, attempting to dive bomb with body shots but not getting much off before he grabs or is sidestepped and countered in combination.

10-9 Zhuk

38-37 Zhuk

 

Round 5

Gorgoń is sloppily clasping onto Zhuk now after throwing right hands as he falls in. Zhuk is awkwardly working left hooks onto Gorgoń's hip, bending over to his left to plant them with his arm bent at uncomfortable ninety degree angles in what seems like a pointless waste of energy considering he is dominating the contest now with just the jab on the outside between clinches whenever the ref forces a break. Gorgoń really huffing and puffing now.

10-9 Zhuk

48-46 Zhuk

 

Round 6

Gorgoń is channeling every shred of motivation he can muster and stampeding Zhuk, grabbing onto him and spinning in place with him in an intimate waltz and then letting go of his own accord so the ref can't separate them and undo his work of covering the distance. Zhuk is still jabbing and flurrying lightly, increasing his output to repel Gorgoń's intensifying advances, but he's growing sloppier as well, clearly fatigued himself. Gorgoń is able to scratch at his body while diving under his gloves.

10-9 Gorgoń

57-56 Zhuk

 

Official cards:

Wlodzimierz Gulc 57-56 Gorgoń
Piotr Kozlowski 57-58 Zhuk
Wlodzimierz Kromka 57-56

SD for...Zhuk

 

Once again Kozlowski proves he DKSA judging. In this case he got the verdict right, but he clearly doesn't understand the mathematical intricacies of the boxing ten point must system. I'm not sure how you reach 58-57 in a 6-rounder with a knockdown unless you're giving TWO even rounds...which is telling as most pro judges go years between ever feeling the need to assign one even round, let alone two in a single bout.

 

Gorgoń - whose nickname is "Smile" - is doing just that in his interview. He doesn't seem to mind the decision as he converses jovially with the interviewer and winks at the fans. Inferring from this dynamic and the fact he as the loser is the one being interviewed, he's probably the kind of guy that due to his style inside the ring & personality outside it has a loyal following even though he's likely not expected to go far in this sport. He'll be seen on PolSat again, I'm sure.

Zhuk however...ugh. He just pulled himself to an even .500 record here (coming in 1-2-1) but he isn't fun to watch...and promoters that previously might've fed him to a prospect (a real one, not like Gorgoń) now might decide to blackball him from stinking up their cards.

 

So far I've caught two fights on Top Rank's card on ESPN tonight and this was (a good deal) better than both of them.

 

Okay, never mind, a round into Ramírez vs. Orozco - and Świerzbiński vs. Jackiewicz is already no longer the best fight I've seen today.

 

Btw it wasn't just me...Polish fans on Twitter screaming robbery (if you do a search for either fighter's name and translate each tweet) and even those who scored it for Świerzbiński think it should have been airtight.

Kozlowski getting raked over the coals, rightfully.

One person made a strange comment though, something about "oh well, money reigns in boxing". Świerzbiński is hardly some young cashchow prospect.