Saúl Juárez vs. Oswaldo Novoa & Ibeth Zamora Silva vs. Mari Ando RBR

Round 5

Juárez is catching Novoa on the way in with some counter rights as he lies in wait and rockets up from a crouch in ambush, but Novoa is forcing him to run under threat of constant body assault. Novoa is landing behind Juárez's upper arms, just above the kidneys and on his shoulder blades as he swivels in with forward-leaning wide hooking attacks. Novoa trying his best to stop Juárez in his tracks and pound on him. Juárez still moving and smacking Novoa with rapid but light counters wherever he can. Interesting juxtaposition of styles, and hard to score.

10-9 Novoa, closer

50-45 Novoa

 

Finito López has it 48-48, giving the 5th to Juárez.

 

Round 6

Juárez is caught by a right hand every time he comes in with a jabbing sortie, but is out-landing Novoa by about half a dozen to one. Juárez is hurt every time Novoa pushes the right hand through, but is beyond Novoa's range of full extension, making him lunge, taking a bit of the sting off. Juárez is dancing around Novoa and keeping his left arm working overtime, whip-smart, throwing very straight, quick, accurate jabs and then slap-hooking off them as he bounces on his toes passing by Novoa.

10-9 Juárez

59-55 Novoa

 

Finito López has it 58-57 Juárez.

 

Round 7

Juárez is forcing Novoa to lunge with just about everything now, keeping him severely off-balance. Novoa missing like crazy. Juárez is clipped on the jawline or plugged in the vital organ cluster by Novoa's right hand every now and then but is moving enough to minimize the damage. Juárez gracefully flitting around the very large ring, heels in constant reflection off the canvas, sticking jabs and flashing hooks to body and head and turning his left shoulder in toward Novoa, using it like a shield when the right hand comes in.

10-9 Juárez

68-65 Novoa

 

Round 8

Juárez continues to skate figure-eights around Novoa, sticking the jab. Time out, not sure why. Time in. Juárez is caught by a couple of lunge-in right hands and slightly hurt but recovers and spins Novoa onto the ropes and lands a 4-5 mosquito-bite combo. Novoa is having isolated moments and clearly has the ability to rattle Juárez but just can not capitalize when he does and is largely being made to look foolish and tattooed with light counters as Juárez stays on the move.

10-9 Juárez

77-75 Novoa

 

They just announced open scoring again. Juárez up, sounded like one 78-74 and one 79-73...

 

Round 9

Head butt off the bat. Novoa is cut and the ref sends him to be checked on the ring apron. Time in. Juárez is flat out running from Novoa, who plods after him with an exasperated facial expression and body language. Novoa hacks spitefully at Juárez anytime he gets close, but Juárez is twisting himself in either direction so that most of Novoa's blows crash into his biceps. Juárez also using lots of head movement and pulling off some dramatic punch-slipping, many times just barely getting his jaw clear of a potential fight-ender. Juárez landing plenty of counter jabs.

10-9 Juárez

86-85 Novoa

 

Finito López has it 88-84 Juárez.

 

I'm not sure there actually was a deduction...that was, I think, more a finger-wag of warning.

Finito López didn't factor a point deduction into his scorecard. :conf All of his rounds so far have been scored 10-9 with the exception of the first one 10-10.