I finally sat down to my DVR of last night's FNF and watched the Provodnikov Herrera fight and was shocked that Herrera was given the decision. Sure, he kept it competitive, but this fight wasn't even close. I thought Ruslan won nine of the rounds, with Herrera winning 1,2 and 12. But come on! Herrera winning seven rounds according to the judges? That was crap.
I missed the 1st half of the fight. From what I saw, Herrera was technically better, beating him to the jab, hitting him with nice combo's & basically confusing the crap out of Ruslan, making him look bad. Maybe he judges gave him some extra points for coming on strong at the end of the fight. Who knows...:think
It was a close fight, but if there was a winner it was Ruslan... I had it 116-112 myself, and when the scores were read I thought the judges saw the same fight as I did. Until the winner was announced.
I had the russian kid winning the fight close but I though the cleaner shots and aggression is what won him the fight. Herrera did well boxed a bit in the moved a bit and sat down when he had to, But to me his punches didnt look like they had a whole lot in them for the most part IMO those were more less stay away from me shots....
Ruslan landed the harder shots and was more aggressive, but Herrera boxed well, moved well, and landed nearly 200 jabs and fought through a swollen eye. 115-113 Herrera was the right card.
I agree, IMO this was the best thing for Ruslan. They can now look back & see what they can change, because they showed alot of holes in their style.
Even though Teddy Atlas, said the same, he also though Ruslan won the fight. I caught about 1/2 of it, and from what I seen it was a close fight that could have gone either way, but likely should have gone to Ruslan, especially when it looked after every round that the doctors were going to stop the fight due to the swelling below Herrera's eye. Funny thing is that after the fight they looked like twins, both blind out of one eye.
That' what I have a problem with. IMO the allowable "swing" with all the close rounds is from 116-112 Provodnikov to 115-113 Herrera (with a draw or 115-113 Provodnikov in between). Some on here had it 117-111 for Provodnikov, which is IMO too wide. Some agreed with those two judges' 116-112 for Herrera, which is too wide the other way. Provodnikov by two points to Herrera by one - that's the reasonable range. There were enough clear rounds for both to keep the range of possible scores from being any wider than that.
