the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Micheal Carbajal TKO8 Robinson Cuesto

Modern classic no less, as Cuesto battles for survival against a rampant Carbajal. In the first, Cuesto's plan of jab, move and look for an opening for a sharp, hard right-hand looks good, and the length of his punches grab him a purposeful looking opening frame. But it's not the classic Panamanian style, he fights out of a sort of crouch, it's not so much that he leaves his punches lying out there more that he leans in when he throws them, he's trying to give himself all the length he can, which is understandable against Carbajal, but he forgets to move off sometimes, and it does him harm in two. He leans in with a jab and gets hurt by Carbajal on his way in. From here on the fight changes. Cuesto looks different straight away, he suddenly seems vulnerable, he looks like a spooked horse and Carbajal just seems that little bit closer all the time.

At the beginning of the third he looks to have regained himself and does everything right, jabbing and moving without becoming un-economical, holding on the inside and stalling at the break, and although he's on his way to losing the round he looks to have at least regained himself a little when he leans in on another punch and gets absolutely leathered with the left hook. Carbajal's left can be a thing of beauty and this was perfect for him, maybe just slightly inside mid-range? He wheels it round on a fencepost and the full force crashes through Cuesto's moored chin. Cuesto looks utterly gone, he does the little dance, he does the splayed collapse, he hits his head on the canvas...but somehow gets up.

Norman Mailer once wrote that a fighter could "continue indefinitely" if he recieved the knockout blow but somehow survived it. I think he cited Frazier-Foreman. I always felt it was mostly bull**** but if I was going to defend that statement I'd pick this fight. Carbajal hits this guy with everything he's got, every punch there is, he launches a sustained body attack as brutal as any i've ever seen, he mixes in cruel, cruel punches to the head but Cuesto doesn't go down again. A combination of heart, chin and possibly the severance of the nerves that tell his brain he is beaten allow him to stay in the fight and I actually have him winning the sixth based upon two brutal right hands to the head and a left-hook to the body - he also throws, and half lands, two astonishing punches wound up in the style of a baseball pitcher, including the glance behind himself as he dashes his right hand across.

Carbajal seemed black affronted and was so astonished he did not counter.

He was more afronted though by Cuesto's refusal to buckle in the seventh as he lands a triple left-hook (body, head, body) that would have had Joe Frazier out of his seat applauding and even more astonished when he Cuesto finally collapses under an overwhelming attack in the 8th - once again fully splayed on the deck, once again there seems to be impact between head and canvas - only to rise once more. Carbajal is actually shouting at his corner, he seems genuinely furious. It's the closest I've seen to Apollo Creed's shake of the head as Balboa rises in the last of their first fight in Rocky I!

The referee waves the fight off, and it's the right thing to do, but he arguably should have been allowed to continue here if he were allowed to continue in the third!

As fluent as Carbajal has ever been on offence but he was only able to showcase his skills due to the astounding punch resistance and heart of Robinson Cuesto.

 

Pichit Sithbangprachan KO3 Rodolfo Blanco

Cool performance by Sithbranranckorfor who looks relaxed and poised, if not particularly special (to me - Ian Darke sounds like he's going to **** himself with delight in the commentary) in dispatching veteran Rodolfo Blanco. On paper Sithbangproaejfgaldkgj just didn't have the experience to win this fight, but he put them together well whilst showing good punch resistance to Blanco's heavy jab and foraging uppercut.

A nice win against an opponent who looked like he didn't want to be there after taking his lumps early in 2 and probably quit when he was legitimately hammered to the canvas with a nasty, clubbing right-hand.

Fun miniature.

 

Paul Hodkinson TKO4 Ricardo Cepeda

The underated Hodkinson is in full control of the huge Cepeda from teh first. Great boxing and sharp punches inside, never allowing Cepeda to smother or handle him, and although he doesn't box from the outside in the traditional sense, he countered beautifully in one and two off a little half-step and closed the distance well with decent shots when he wanted to come in.

Good performance.

 

Lennox Lewis UD12 Evander Holyfield

In many ways the judging in this fight was as strange as it was for New York, I disagreed with judges on rounds 1,3,4 and 5, pretty cleanly on a lot of these occasions, I thought Lederman's card was best, although I also disagreed with him on 1. I guess if it mattered I should look at that round again, fortunately I gave it to Evander and so don't have to bother.

LEWIS: 2,4,5,8,9,10,11
HOLYFIELD: 1,3,5,6,12

7-5 LEWIS

Lewis just bossed the second half of the fight for me. I had it even after 8, which no HBO observers seemed to agree with, but Lewis swept 8,9,10 and 11 to make sure on my card. It's an interesting fight in one regard, and that's that Lewis wins rounds early by being bigger and longer, but the rounds that win him the unified title are bought by fighting. It's the punches he lands inside, or coming inside, mainly uppercuts that do the damage. All the bull**** about Holyfield taking away Lewis's jab is just that, because the jab was a factor, but nothing like the one it was in the first fight. This was indeed partially down to Holyfield's jab and body-work, but credit too to Lewis for meshing plan A and plan B to make a servicable plan C.

Would love to have seen Holyfield tackle this Lewis in his prime. Perversely, I pick Lewis by knockout but I think Holyfield might have made it a really really exciting fight.