Ryan James Sabal Racaza vs. Prell Nialda Tupas & Benjan Ypon Manangquil vs. Hinata Maruta RBR

Round 2

Manangquil is caught painting himself into a corner with light hyper-kinetic brush strokes with the southpaw jab, Maruta just ignoring them and patiently lining up big, laser-guided rights on a downward incline directly into the jaw. Manangquil is spiraling inside to escape being trapped on the ropes or in the corners, but venturing into Maruta's wheelhouse is fraught with danger as he is clipped repeatedly with rights, apparently surprised Maruta is so adept on the inside at getting his shots off and keeping them straight. Manangquil is taking some daredevil chances now, whipping left hands up at Maruta's face on the way in before grabbing him around the long waist and releasing in a spin to get outside. The crowd is loving it. Maruta stays focused, commanding the center of the ring and issuing jabs & rights on his wildly caroming opponent.

10-9 Maruta

20-18 Maruta

 

Round 3

Manangquil is holding up his guard and partially squaring up to Maruta, blocking some right jabs, and then sliding his rear left foot outward to position himself for a quick lateral repositioning, letting the right side of his body & other leg drag in to recenter himself, all while ducking low. Manangquil is getting closer to Maruta now and bopping him on the side of the neck with high right hooks from below. Manangquil is able to slip free of Maruta's predictable straight combos by remaining very low with his body angled, twisted above the waist and folding himself partially over his near hip. BIG straight left by Manangquil. Maruta is a little flustered now, approaching cautiously and turning his left arm protectively outwards, cradled at his side, face turned around to his right as Manangquil feints and then chisels Maruta's side with a left hand. Maruta tries a 1-2 pushing Manangquil into a corner and it sprays off the crown as Manangquil lands a hard left on the button.

10-9 Manangquil

29-28 Maruta

 

Round 4

Manangquil is now standing in with Maruta confidently, playing some opposite-stance jabbing patty-cake, their knuckle padding smooching consistently as Manangquil keeps up the diversion to ensure that Maruta isn't watching for a hard spearing left into his gut. It works, over and over. As long as he keeps fluttering right jabs up into Maruta's left hand, Maruta is caught unawares by hard lefts downstairs. Manangquil grows weary of this game, or perhaps just arm-weary, finally, circling away, languishing on the ropes and nearly caught flush by a 1-2. Another one lands and he seems momentarily hurt. Manangquil lost his concentration and paid for it there. Maruta even mixed in an uppercut off a jab, scoring. They clinch and spin wildly, clasping each other's pelvises like middle schoolers at their grade's last dance. Ref orders a break. They jab at range.

10-9 Maruta (though Manangquil dominated the first half of it, he more than righted the ship)

39-37 Maruta

 

Round 5

Glove touch at the bell. Maruta starts to press forward, nudging Manangquil backward with a jab between the gloves. Manangquil circumnavigates Maruta rapidly, whacking him on the hip with a right hook. Manangquil is nearly backed into a corner with a heavy 1-2, but ducks behind a turtle shell and comes roaring back at Maruta with a double left hand, scoring it and buying himself plenty of space to step widely around him and plan his next maneuver. Manangquil is blocking 100% of Maruta's jabs now, easing his way into the ropes, playing a very obvious game of possum. Maruta not taking his bait, awaiting him in the center of the ring. 1-2-1-uppercut by Maruta, very nice combo, unfortunately it all missed or got deflected off Manangquil's forearms & wrists. Maruta keeps attacking, not letting Manangquil escape the ropes. In this sequence he does land a right and shakes Manangquil up a little. Flurry of activity from Maruta, with Manangquil lowering his base and keeping his guard assembled rigidly over his face. Left hand on the body from Manangquil, exploding from the corner and corkscrewing his entire body in a forward lean. Manangquil continues torpedoing himself at Maruta with body shots, keeping inside and smothering him, driving him backward involuntarily with his shoulder. HUGE looping left up top by Manangquil.

10-9 Manangquil, but close until the last half-minute, lots of momentum shifts

48-47 Maruta

 

Round 6

Manangquil is eschewing the jab now, keeping himself coiled up tightly and then pushing off his back heel with explosive leaping right hooks up top. Maruta is swaying gently from side to side, arms separated from his chest a little and turned outward at the wrist for balance. Maruta is playing matador now as Manangquil tries attacking unpredictably with rocketing lefts and those jumping right hooks from a deep seated & leaned-back position. Maruta is starting to open up more now as he calls Manangquil's bluff and realizes that despite the ferocity of the ambush blasts, he isn't going to match that intensity with counters if Maruta just walks in and peppers him with the 1-2. So he does exactly that, standing tall and swaggering in, throwing straight after straight, mostly into Manangquil's guard but some getting through. Manangquil responds with big scissoring combos, right hooks & looping lefts thrown so close together they are almost landing simultaneously.

10-9 Maruta, insanely close frame

58-56 Maruta

 

Round 7

Manangquil is throwing big wrecking balls at the body and Maruta tries keeping pace with him on the inside but can't generate the same volume of body shots, nor does he possess the leverage to sit on them quite as solidly as the Filipino. Manangquil is baiting Maruta into point-blank exchanges, both missing jabs and rear-hand shots past each other's heads but Manangquil not content to leave it at two, sweeping right hooks and looping lefts which do graze Maruta while he's still retracting his long arms from their misfires. Several errant 1's and 2's by Maruta churn the air while Manangquil peppers his face with short right hooks and high lacrosse stick lefts. Manangquil in the zone right now. Maruta doubles a light jab into his guard walking him into the ropes and then tries scooting forward with a big uppercut, hoping to catch Manangquil unawares, but Manangquil just stuffs it down with his clasped gloves forming a barrier to his face as he leans back into the ropes. Maruta keeps stalking with the jab but Manangquil is keeping himself a very low unreachable target. Big counter right hook on the jaw by Manangquil. Several jabs by Maruta ducked, and Manangquil lands another right hook.

10-9 Manangquil, his best round by far

67-66 Maruta

 

Round 8

They embrace, rather than merely touch gloves. Then recommence the violence. Manangquil is spamming the right hook downstairs. Maruta is clubbing with his own right, steadying himself and keeping his aim more or less true by paddle-balling his left jab into Manangquil's face. Pace here in the eighth is maybe the fastest it has been since the start. Right jab up top by Manangquil past a Maruta left jab, then a doubled up right hook landing on the chest and chin. Maruta is letting his left arm roam out wide to his side and then wrecking-balling it down into Manangquil's abdomen, slow & telegraphed but powerful, and undefended against while Manangquil is focusing on getting his shots off. Both men abandoning defense. Manangquil finally reassembles his guard and starts to settle things down a bit, ducking and/or sidestepping the rights of the still keyed-up and wildly swinging Maruta, throwing counter right hooks at his face once he's off the center-line.

10-9 Manangquil

76-76

 

Official cards:

Bernie? 77-75 Manangquil
Dilega? 77-75 Maruta
Juroku? 76-76

...split draw. Perfect.

 

Both fighters seem pretty happy with the result, no saltiness.

 

Rounds 4, 5, & 6 were the major swing rounds - of which I gave Murata two. So the acceptable range of scores in this would be from 77-75 Maruta (if you gave him the swing I gave to Manangquil) to 78-74 Manangquil (if you gave him both of the swing rounds I gave Maruta).

The first two were clear for Hinata, while 3 and 7/8 (especially 7) were pretty clear for Benjan.

 

Wow, interesting - did you give Hinata the seventh??

 

Definitely a close fight (and fun style mesh), I can definitely see the rationale for scoring it more favorably in either direction. Both did good work throughout.

I'd be very into a rematch.