1: Boza 10-8(Rocky kd) 2: Boza 20-17 3: Lockridge 29-27 4: Boza 39-36 5: Boza 49-45 6: Lockridge 58-55 7: Lockridge 67-65 8: Boza 77-74 9: Lockridge 86-84 10: Lockridge 95-94 I thought while this bout was razor thin and there was some incomplete rounds,I believe Boza edged it with the knockdown,but Lockridge gave him trouble by giving him good combinations and having a good defense from his shots,classic bad matchup for Boza usually. But my question is one:what happened with Boza before or inside the bout? He.. didn't look as strong and sharp as his previous fights,even when he loses his composure like he does after a rocking shot he still lands some good snapping shots that pierced his opponents guard before,but in this fight..he kind of throws kinda less than what I see usual,plus his power didn't look as impressive vs Lockridge here... Did the wars and age caught up to him,or was Lockridge just too good?
FT, although I'm more in line with the judges, I did feel every round was close. I will also add that I predicted a Boza win so this was a surprise to me. But here is what I wrote: Rocky Lockridge v Cornelius Boza-Edwards Round 1: 10-8 Edwards (scored a knockdown) Round 2: 10-10 Even Round 3: 10-10 Even Round 4: 10-9 Lockridge Round 5: 10-9 Lockridge Round 6: 10-9 Lockridge Round 7: 10-9 Lockridge Round 8: 10-9 Lockridge Round 9: 10-9 Lockridge Round 10: 10-9 Lockridge Total 98-93 Lockridge (actual scores: 98-93, 98-93 and 97-93 all for Lockridge) Despite what appears to be dominance by Lockridge, every round was competitive. Two great warriors in action. BTW, I met them both at Caesar's a few days before the fight. Super nice guys.
You're very lucky,hard to find a good boxer like them here in my country,and Boza was probably,so far my favorite African fighter of all time. While my scoring could be with how biased I was to Boza,I believed he got some good shots inside and his tight guard was a convincing defense in my eyes,and I mean..the footage remaining himself was kinda crappy at times.
Here’s my tally from the fight: Rocky Lockridge v Cornelius Boza-Edwards Quality fight which was somewhat a passing of the baton from the previous generation of the late 70s/early 80s super featherweights to the new generation. Of course, this being a Boza fight it was bound to be exciting and he started well, putting Rocky on his backside in the first, although he wasn't hurt. Boza also threw more and worked harder but Lockridge picked his shots better, countering Boza well and looking more and more in control as the fight wore on. In short, he worked smarter than Boza. It earned him a title shot at Roger Mayweather while that was the last of Boza as a super featherweight and he moved up to lightweight to try and secure a title shot there. 1 8-10 2 10-9 3 9-10 4 10-9 5 10-10 6 10-9 7 10-9 8 10-9 9 10-9 10 10-9 Lockridge 97-93 Boza-Edwards
My understanding is that Boza had trouble making 130 by then, and just didn't have enough oomph in the late rounds as a result. Still, Lockridge was excellent, and might be looked at with more respect had he been given at least one of the Pedroza decisions and for sure not been robbed in Puerto Rico against Gomez. The Gomez fight was disappointing anyway, as he should have been able to put Gomez away any time after the 10th, but claims to have tired.
Very illustrative of how a fight can be super competitive but one-sided on the scorecards. Over 10 rounds, to simplify, one guy can win each individual round by a razor margin in the eyes of a judge and be fairly scored 100-90 even though every single one of those rounds was extremely close. Likewise, there are fights where one guy edges say 6 rounds out of 10 and the other fighter wins the other 4 rounds by a wider margin. Knockdowns/major damage aside (as in assuming there are no legit two-point rounds), the guy who barely won six of the rounds should be judged the winner even if the loser won his rounds by a more one-sided margin. I think the second and third Ali-Norton fights may fall into this category. Ali won some rounds where very little happened and Ken won some where he landed far more telling blows than Ali did in some of the not-much-happened rounds. The scorecards, of course, value each of those type rounds exactly the same. (I haven’t scored either forever, but I know for me Ali took some slow rounds.)
Two of my favorite fighters from that time period. Also scored it for the underrated and overlooked Lockridge. Lockridge got shafted against Gomez and I believe the first Pedroza fight if memory serves me correctly. Lockridge stated he was addicted to drugs since he was an amateur fighter!
It was thought at the time that the wars had caught up to him. In hindsight he was struggling to make 130 lbs and it was indeed his last fight at that weight. He moved up to 135 and was strong and solid at that weight. He was not shot and performed well for another three yeara. In addition, Rocky Lockridge was simply a very good, underrated fighter. He boxed Boza rather than engage in an all out war. George Benton had a good gameplan. Boza was much taller and with a greater reach but the compact Lockridge outboxed him.
