THE WAR ZONE II: Revisiting Classics, Revisited (V.10- Virgil Eugene Hill vs. Donald Drew Lalonde)

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A couple of very different careers on the wind-down, putting the finishing touches on very dissimilar legacies. A safety-first Olympian who didn't mind stinking out the joint to win versus a crowd pleasing overachiever with a mere 11-4 amateur record who yearned to put himself on the line every time out. Both were light heavyweight champions - but Quicksilver held the WBA title for two lengthy reigns of ten defenses each, spanning a decade, segmented in the middle by a close points loss against the resurgent Tommy Hearns ...while the Golden Boy was a flash in the pan, who captured the vacant green belt in an opportunity sown by perhaps his actual best triumph (over Mustafa Hamsho, for the lesser WBC intercontinental title) and managed a single defense (against Leslie Stewart, a common opponent both Hill & Lalonde defeated via knockout) before succumbing to Hearns' rival, Sugar Ray Leonard, in an infamous catchweight two-division championship affair that effectively marked the birth of the super middleweight class (which is all well and fine, although Donny rightfully shouldn't have been pressured to put his light heavyweight straps into the kitty).

Things got off to an unexpectedly hot start with a big knockdown in the 1st, on a snatch-and-drag left hook from the former 3x (light heavyweight twice, and more recently cruiser) WBA champ. Who the heck saw that coming?

We're now 10-8 for Virgil Hill, unambiguously. Even without the knockdown, the stats are instructive:
LaLonde 3 of 37, 8%
Hill 19 of 38, 50%

Yikes. Those are like video game disparities (on easy mode or with cheat-codes enabled, versus maybe the first or second mini-boss). Donny surely had to have a better performance in front of the Winnipeg faithful than what that promised lay in store, no? Well...

Spoiler

no, until - yes.

Virgil kept working the strong 1-2 at different altitudes. Lalonde was now jittery and flinching at his own shadow, overreacting to feints, and continuing to land a pathetic and paltry amount. Two zip, with a plus-one for VH. Damn near a plus-two, as Hill scored a HARD jab that came very close to producing yet another knockdown at the bell. 20-17 Hill.

At least the stats couldn't possibly have been any worse for Donny than in the opener, right? Well...

DL 2 of 41, 5%
VH 20 of 38 53%

Slightly worse, indeed, as it happens.

Things proceeded in very much the fashion of a Virgil Hill match. That is to say, boringly and uneventfully. 30-26 Hill.

Let's revisit the RBR stat line...

DL 7 of 53, 13%
VH 15 of 43, 35%

...better? Still far away from good, but not as discouraging as that initial pair for the local man of Manitoba.

Don't get too excited, though. ANOTHER jab-stun would start the fourth...and seem to cement the shutout (if not breakdown late stoppage of a spent old fighter) taking shape. Virgil was now reaching around Donny's jab and hooking him across the face with impunity. 40-35 Hill - which is thus far in lockstep with Atlas (former trainer of Lalonde, and VERY bitter about that "former" status), though he would probably have this score regardless of how competitive Lalonde had made it (and would probably have found a 10-8 round for Hill even without a knockdown ), the vindictive, grudge-nursing ugly mongrel ***** that he is.

Jabs in the fourth:
DL 13 of 152, 9%
VH 45 of 108, 42%

Per round approaching the halfway point, Hill was averaging 18½ punches landed while Lalonde was averaging just over a quarter that output, at 4.8 connects. Some body jabs now trickled in from the Golden Boy, mustering up what he could, his brain writing checks his fists were too penurious to cash; willing himself to a second wind that his body could not subsidize. 50-44 Hill.

DL 4 of 42, 10%
VH 18 of 44, 41%

Second closest round yet statistically, but dominant for Hill nonetheless. Which just goes to show how insanely lopsided the 1st, 2nd, and 4th were.

LaLonde finds what he was looking for at last, a glimmer of hope as Hill proves susceptible, if briefly, to some alternating uppercuts. 10-9 Lalonde, 59-54 Hill. To be fair, Atlas has this exact score.

DL 32 of 292, 11%
VH 113 of 253, 45%

Heeeeeere's Donny!! The once-popular and still plucky Canadian would keep bringing it to Hill, knowing he needed either a knockout or an enormous second half and fighting like it.. beckoning the summons of Freddie Roach (who formerly had been Hill's coach, and who convinced the now already twice-retired Lalonde to return under his tutelage at Wild Card, with access to his then star pupil - and both slicker & more technically skilled than Hill would ever be - ATG former middleweight champ James "Lights Out" Toney, by now having eaten himself up to cruiser en route to HW) to let it all hang out. Hill managed a big counter right a minute in, hurting Lalonde perhaps more than he realized (or perhaps just characteristically reticent to gamble on pressing the issue). Hill darted in with pot shots in the final minute and tagged Lalonde with another right, but didn't quite steal it. 10-9 Lalonde, 68-64 Hill

DL 10 of 61, 16%
VH 27 of 60, 45%

Bad look as usual on quantity, but Donny alone was doing the damage. Lalonde kept that up and nearly bagged three on the spin, if we judged on power shots alone (or even just on generalship, and "who is making whom the more uncomfortable), but jabs count and he simply ate too many of them in the 8th. 10-9 Hill, 78-73 Hill

Jabs in 8th:
DL 5 of 45. 11%
VH 22 of 44, 50%

Lalonde maintained his approach of bullying in spurts, jab kneaded into the face with hypnotic sluggishness (but in many cases landing anyway), belying heavy rights downstairs making Hill clinch. Hill got warned for going low and in a display of showmanship from a man notorious for his crowd antipathy gave the Golden Boy's crown jewels a cheeky polishing with his knuckles. 10-9 Lalonde, 87-83 Hill

Power shots through nine:
DL 34 of 158, 22%
VH 48 of 114, 42%

Between the 9th & 10th, Donny stands tall in his corner, big mouse on his left cheek, seeming to know this is the last round of his career. Sportsmanlike respect was shown from the greater man and certain victor in his opponent's backyard, with an embrace before the bell (soon echoed after the next & last three minutes later).

Hill left nothing up to chance and put out a big effort, tripling up jabs on the body early and mounting a clear statistical lead for himself in a night littered with them. Stepping left, Hill dropped a scything left hook across the belt line that seemed to bother Lalonde. Hill was now coming forward, nearly stepping outside his comfort zone, asserting himself and looking for the KO. Lalonde, rocked by some right hands, and clearly exhausted, took his lumps and kept firing back. Crash-bang stuff from Hill, dropping the right from the rafters and nearly spinning himself like a top with the follow-up left hook. 1-1-2 by Hill chased Lalonde into the ropes but he broke laterally and responded with his own, a valiant last stand. Clinch. Hill nailed in body shots with the free right hand. Dominant finish by Quicksilver. 10-9 Hill, 97-92 Hill

The judges had it slightly wider. To nobody's surprise, Virgil Hill outpointed Donny Lalonde by unanimous decision. There was never a moment in the fight where it really felt like a stoppage for either man was in the offing. This was, on paper, exactly the result you might have anticipated if you saw the match announced in the summer of '03 and cringed inwardly at the idea of watching two former LHW belt holders about due for retirement squaring off in what smacked of a waste of a TV slot. If you missed it, you can't be said to have missed a FOTY candidate (this was the year of Gatti vs. Ward III, FFS!). Still...for all that it was in some ways all that it might've been predicted to be (in all the non-flattering ways that might connote) ...somehow it ends up being a fun little watch, if you've got time for a stray 10-rounder just a little better than it has any right to be, with a momentum shift at the halfway point supplying just enough of a crest of conflict to make it worth seeing how the heavy favorite dammed it up.