the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

JIMMY ELLIS UD12 OSCAR BONAVENA

This is a masterful performance from Ellis, who flashed the right hand over and over again right on point, torturing Bonavena with that tipsy style right on the cusp of range. The right hand was on point all night, most especially in the third when it caught the Argentine on the point of the jaw, all meet, and forced him to his haunches then the canvas.

Bonavena really didn't get to him until the sixth when a dual left-hook left him hurt, but it was Ellis who landed almost every single other meaningful punch in the round, making Oscar miss over and over again - in the seventh he got to him in a meaningful way once more though this time Bonavena held his feet.

Cut in the eighth, a minor crisis seemed to loom for Ellis, who let that round slip through his fingers and was probably out-mauled in the ninth, as per Bonavena's pre-fight plan. Looking tired, Ellis nevertheless stiffened Bonavena with a hook in the ninth. You don't want to get too carried away, but for me twice dropping Bonavena, once with either hand, dismisses notions that Ellis is a non-puncher, even if you can't quite confirm him a puncher.



ELLIS: 1,2,3,5,6,7,10,
BONAVENA: 4,8,9,11,12

7-5 Ellis, but the five-points must system the fight was fought under made him a clear winner.

 

JIMMY ELLIS WPTS FLOYD PATTERSON

1: Ellis apparently had his nose broken in this round, perhaps explaining his poor performance. Very, very little to distinguish them here though, there's a huge amount of missing. Floyd's slippage means that he's not really faster than Ellis; Ellis is just as quick-handed and looks to have a similar reaction time, too. I gave this one to Ellis because I really admired the left-hand feint/right-hand lead he used, i just like that better than Patterson's "bob in". You could very arguably score this one even if you were given.

2: Lots of missing, again. It basically comes down to weighing the best punches each man lands in the round, because there's just nothing else to distinguish them - you literally have to weight the best single shots of the round. I liked Patterson's short, sharp right hand and stuck-on left-hook better than Ellis's cuffing rights and the two decent left uppercuts he lands in the opening seconds. So Patterson.

3: Strange round, but a very good one for Ellis. Patterson really isn't doing anything, he throws literally one jab. Ellis is throwing more but consistently falling short with his one-two, landing cuffing punches on the glove, or scraping the top of Patterson's dipping head, probably taking the round on activity when the clinch and Ellis throws a square right across his man proper hypotenuses punch, think Thompson KO Price the first time, and Patterson is hurt. Ellis starts doing some really, really good work on the inside, not really his game, but it's working. But all the time he's got Angelo Dundee shouting "push him off! push him off!" he wants Ellis outside jabbing. But he's missing all his jabs. Ellis does better inside. Curious.

4: In keeping with the idiom of the fight, this is a great fight for Patterson. Ellis just goes back to missing from the outside but Patterson seems to have found his range for jabs and power punches. I love the way Patterson hooks off the jab. The jab is almost a hook and the hook is almost a jab. How awful, and at that speed. Ellis was hurt in this round and is cut above the eye. Let's see if Floyd can build some momentum.

5: Close round. I'm giving this round to Patterson on the counter uppercut he threw from the ropes at thirsty seconds remaining. Other than that, more of what we had in 1 and 2, Ellis missing, not confident, Patterson looking for the single shots. Again, Ellis's best work is inside, like the sneak left hand he lands in a neutral corner when they come together. He's bigger, Patterson is old. He should rough him up and bare down in there, not wait to be stung before he punches.

6: Patterson slips for the third time in the opening seconds. I wonder if he had better boxing boots on if he would have won? He wins this round, which is an awful round for 2:40, Ellis missing, Patterson not bothering to punch, and then Patterson comes up with the old-time trademark snaking left hook in the final seconds, a beautiful punch which fully extended cuts through the bottom jaw. Ellis saw it coming and tried to lean out, but he got caught right on the end of the punch. He was hurt but probably saved himself from a knockdown/out. Patterson does some decent work in the follow up, but it's one punch that wins him the round for some daylight.

7: The referee didn't score an even round, but I can't separate them here. Ellis is just waiting, waiting, and Patterson is bob-bob-bobbing away. I thought Ellis had stolen it with a blistering one-two at about thirty seconds, but Patterson landed a handful of less excellent punches as the round wound down. I tried to give the round to Ellis, but it didn't feel write, so I scored it for Patterson, didn't feel right, so it's an even round.

8: Very boring first half of the round. Few punches but lots of missing. Patterson lands a great jab, Ellis half-lands some weak stuff but gets in a good counter-uppercut to the body, not a lot on it but it's a decent punch. Ellis scores a decent jab on ninety seconds and another right behind it. They swap misses with the lead rights, which they shouldn't be throwing. Why aren't they jabbing more? Patterson landed a skiffing right at about 15 seconds to take an Ellis round and arguably even it up. In the end, neither one of them deserves it.

9: Ellis wins the round by dominating the inside. Probably, he'll go back to missing from the outside in the next round.

10: He did, and Patterson won a crap round with two or three right hands because of it.

11: Ellis dominates the first 100 seconds of this round, he looks the best he's looked in the fight by virtue of the fact that he's finally dialled in the right hand a bit. Patterson has been slipping it by ducking or bobbing and Ellis is going more overhand and getting somewhere with that. The problem is, Patterson comes on very very strong at the end of the round, landing good punches to the body in combination with cuffing ones to the head. I'm going to go with Ellis based upon the prior domination. This is a legitimate swing round though. Could be scored either way.

12: Clear Ellis round. He's looking dominant now and far, far busier than Floyd, who looks legitimately tired. He's throwing more, landing more, and moving Patterson about the ring. Patterson is open-mouthed. Thirteenth is big.

13: Patterson dug it out God love his heart. Ellis tried to prod his way to the frame, but Patterson just dug in and hit with him, doing the flashier, faster, harder punching, including a really cool old-school flurry to Ellis's midriff. Ellis was just static enough that some of the punches scored. IF Patterson was legitimately robbed, this is the round he was robbed in. Ellis now cannot win on my card.

14: Patterson wins this one, inarguably. He's something, Floyd Patterson.

15: Satellite cuts out, so that's that. I'll call it even.

ELLIS:1,3,9,11,12,
PATTERSON:2,4,5,6,10,13,14,
EVEN:7,8,15

So I have it 7-5-3 Patterson. If Ellis wins the fifteenth he still doesn't win, and he received the only two rounds I scored but wasn't sure of, the first and the eleventh, so this is the best card I can produce for him.

Robbery?

Something very like it I think.

 

Floyd Patteson D10 Jerry Quarry

Quarry pretty clearly out-hooked Patterson in the first with a direct style and some narrow punching out of a high guard that probably lay the groundwork for what might be the best round of Quarry's career, the second. Jerry was patient but aggressive, snaking out the left to the body and eventually the head, depositing a disorganised Patterson rather neatly - the second knockdown was technicians dream the right hand straight bought by the left-hand's persistence. It's hard to be sure if Quarry let Patterson off the hook in the following moments or if he is to be praised for his maturity, but either way, Patterson got out of the round, and with no 10 points must, he could survive on paper too. He's a god-damn survivor-type. The best action of round 3 was Quarry's, he slipped out of the corner beautifully behind a short left hook but the round itself belonged to Floyd. Snaking, aggressive.

Patterson opens a cut outside the right eye of Quarry in the fourth with that leaping left hook.

In the fifth Quarry is cut to the mouth, out-fought and out-sped by the veteran ex-champ. Some very hard body-punching arguably won a close sixth for Quarry, but it is also reasonable to score the round evenly. In a way, Patterson has tricked Quarry into following him around the ring in the old fashioned way, head to head and chest to chest where his greater experience and speed were off even greater benefit than they would be on the outside against a technically schooled fighter like Jerry. It enables Patterson to get off all kinds of punches and sense all kinds of openings that Quarry isn't yet au-fait with.

Nevertheless I felt that Quarry was exuberanting his way back into the fight in the seventh when Patterson dropped him like a steer at the very end of the round - this may have re-augmented the fight in Patterson's favour; I only scored one more round for Quarry, the ninth.

Another robbery? Stroning it a bit, but I reckon Patterson was the better man without too much room for doubt.

PATTERSON:3,4,5,7,8,10.
QUARRY:1,2,6,9.

6-4 PATTERSON.

 

JERRY QUARRY MD12 FLOYD PATTERSON

Patterson clearly outpunched Quarry in the first for me, but he got badly hurt in the second by an absolutley beautiful combination from Quarry. It may not have been the best round in the fight though, after Patterson, having tried to feint Quarry with his head, then tried to feint him with his head again, just up and smashed him in the f*cking face with a lead-right, kind of disgusted

Dropped again in the fourth, Patterson has some work to do to box back, especially as Quarry looks better than he did last time - Patterson is forced to take more chances, lunge more, trust his speed more. Quarry looks relaxed about it but also tires quickly, and seems strangely lethargic in the middle rounds, letting Patterson back in.

Patterson, if he lets it slip, lets it slip in the eleventh, where he drops the narrowest of rounds to a tired fighter that probably could have been outworked by a committed attack.


QUARRY:2,3,4,6,9,11.
PATTERSON:1,5,7,8,10,12.

6-6 A DRAW

So allowing for the scoring system of the day, I think Quarry is a reasonable winner on the strength of the knockdowns.

 

Tim Witherspoon SD12 Renaldo Snipes

Snipes moves beautifully in the first two rounds, flicking out a jab and shading both frames on defence (he ditches some punches beautifully) and that nipping punch, Witherspoon in steady pursuit. The referee is overinvolved in the third IMO, he's got no business demanding Snipes change his style and actually he may be in part to blame for the first punch Witherspoon lands in earnest. But I think also Snipes was beginning to lag just a bit because he really really was on his bicycle.

Investing in the body in the fourth was a bit of tactical necessity rather than strategy in the fourth but it won Spoon the round for me. By the sixth, Snipes had obviously decided it was time to fight and it was Witherspoon who looked a little tired with his back to the ropes as Snipes found punches. Witherspoon's solution is non-specific, he's just sort of tracking Snipes down and "doing boxing." It makes things difficult for him when Snipes changes up, which is the case in six and seven, re-establishing his lead. Witherspoon did catch up to him in the eighth, but again, it's just by being slightly superior physically, catching up to Snipes and hitting him with a really, really hard right hand and then another one at the bell. Take either one of those punches out, and it's a Snipes round...this would leave Witherspoon needing a KO for the win.

Witherspoon again came close to taking away a brilliant ninth round in which he landed the best punches, but Snipes edged back with the superior workrate in a round I just couldn't split them in. Witherspoon had the heart and balls to go straight for the kill in the tenth which makes him a worthy winner, though I'd have no argument with the draw.

Tell you what though - Snipes out-jabbed him.

Witherspoon looked mature for a fighter of his experience.

WITHERSPOON:3,4,5,8,10
SNIPES:1,2,6,7,
EVEN:9,

5-4-1 WITHERSPOON

 

Ernie Terrell UD10 Gerhard Zech

Terrell is mad aggressive in the first, bowling and rushing Zech to the canvas with a combination of dirty tactics and rambling offence. He was a crazy man back in the day. A little right-hand happy, he looks tired in the third and he didn't grab the third on my card until the final ten seconds of the round. Zech has found his range a bit and lands two sparkling one-two combos while Terrell is trying to keep control of the German with feints and holding.

It looked like Zech might actually win the fifth, until Terrell landed the best punch of the fight so far, a jarring right hand that stunned Zech. It's a strange punch. He sometimes ****s it and wings it, he sometimes just lumps it in there, it's never ever normal looking even when it is a part of the 1-2. Sometimes he throws it across himself, almost thumb first, whilst he stands to Zech's side, i've never really seen a punch as unruly remain affective. Terrell was certainly no technician but does it ever work for him. Anyway or no, general rough-housing on Ernie's part saw the round taken out of his hands and placed in the hands of Zech by the ref.

Zech legitimately won the sixth though, hurting Terrell with a left hand, forcing a rubber-legged Terrell to hold on as he appeared to be badly hurt for a few seconds and then rather wobbly for a half minute after. Zech couldn't take advantage though, and Terrell ended the round swinging. He probably doesn't re-gather a measure of control until a mostly featureless eighth, though.

Zech has a very good left-hand.

TERRELL:1,2,3,4,8,9,10
ZECH:5,6,7,

7-3 TERRELL

 

Jimmy Young UD12 George Foreman

Young probably takes a close first grazing the former champ with just enough jabs that he takes the round. Foreman, for his part, was mostly inaffective. I liked Young's determination in the clinch, bodes well, clearly a part of their gameplan. He then nicked an excruciatingly close second with sneak rights.

Young out-jabbed him again in three, Foreman questionably had a point deducted for rough-housing. Big lead for Young, but I gave the fourth and fifth to Foreman on the good bodyshot he landed in the last minute of each round.

It's a fascinating balance and a dull fight. Young is intimidated by Foreman's crowding stalking, whilst Foreman is wary of Young's countering ability and smarts. He allows himself to be feinted and walked out of position constantly.

When he landed a brutal left hook though, Foreman looked like he was to save himself, following up with a savage uppercut and it becomes a mystery just how Young gets out of the seventh is a mystery. He was hurt in the first minute and by his own testimony could have been pushed to the canvas. You know how Foreman always said in commentary after one fighter hurt another, "you must be conservative!" This fight is why. Foreman punched himself out and Young survived. He showed almighty heart. He actually throws his arms up at the end of the round like he's won.


He then just goes quietly back to dominating the feared Foreman, hurting him in the eleventh and knocking him down in that astonishing twelfth.



FOREMAN: 4,5,7,10,
YOUNG: 1,2,3*,6,8,9,11,12*


116-110 YOUNG

 

Ken Norton SD15 Jimmy Young

Norton counter-punches his way to the first three rounds and then Norton bodypunches his way to the fourth, and for all that the talk of this fight is about tacitcal balances and for all that is true, this is the fight in a nutshell, basically.

The fifth round was crucial and Norton came out determined to dominate it, fast head movement, hurking and jerking, moving his hands and his head, looking for neat punches to the body and messy ones to the head. His high energy style wasn't returning all that much however and when Young began to box back in the middle of the round, it seemed the round might slip away from him - Norton re-upped to take the round on aggression and another fascinating balance is produced.

That balance produced a dead even fight after 8 on my card. Interesting that the judges couldn't agree at all on the matter. Apparently they had 3 and 4 to Young to Norton and even. Which is crazy. Especially as, while thre is arguable, Norton pretty clearly wins four.

Young had a really big tenth, his big rounds were to be based upon his accuracy whereas Norton's are based upon aggression. Awkward for both but nice for the fight that Young doesn't hit hard enough to send Kenny back but hits hard enough to hurt him.

After 11, I still have them even, unable to split them in the eleventh. One of the problems with the way this fight was scored was the number of even rounds the judges came up with. One called six even, one called five even, one called one even.

In the twelfth and thirteenth, I saw Norton's aggression taking him into an early lead before Young's persistent accuracy bought him each on my card. This left Norton, for me, needing the 14th and 15th to claim a draw.

I saw the fourteenth for Young, Norton having inexplicably given up his body punching in the final quarter of the fight, but thought Norton rallied beautifully to take an exciting 15th.

I thought this fight, difficult to score though it was, confusing to the eye and mind, pretty clearly belonged to Young.

NORTON:4,5,6,7,9,15.
YOUNG:1,2,3,8,10,12,13,14.
EVEN:11


JIMMY YOUNG 8-6-1

 

Imagine perceptions of Young if he held victories over Ali, Foreman and Norton. Would this make him the greatest heavy of the seventies, or would Ali and Forman be considered too far gone?