the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

DICK TIGER UD15 JOSE TORRES

I wonder what the take is for most people on Tiger's defeat of Torres. Is it an embarrassment because t-rex arms super-middleweight old-man slower Tiger is able to take him? Or is Tiger so tough and so good that it matters a little less than it might?

Tiger takes the first two on a body attack. Torres is very very reluctant to lead, which I think always looks a little worse on a big man than a small man. When he does punch, he is missing pretty consistently with his power punches and Tiger is doing pretty well in slipping his jabs. Where is Jose's uppercut?

Torres takes the third with good gunning right hands, you'd think his blueprint for the rest of the fight. He ties it up after four, but Tiger is still investing heavily in the body and certainly doesn't look intimidated by Torres. When people talk about power, they generally think of a fighter wading out and obliterating the opponent, but this is what really matters I think. If Torres hit, what - 20% harder? - some figure, anyway, at some point, makes Tiger's battleplan unfightable. As it is, he's comfortable. He does lose the fifth pretty big though, rocked by right hands. Tiger is one tough bas.

After six though, my sense is of a fight going away form Tiger. He is 4-2 and getting caught by the Torres right, for all that he is still making him miss with that jab. The seventh feels like a very big round to me but this isn't reflected in the action. The crowd restlessly boos as the fighters exchange feints and nervous punches. They pick up the pace in the eighth, a desperately close round that I scored to Tiger, barely, based upon his re-establishment of that body attack, although you could easily give it to Torres based upon a hard right hand. Torres is still easily the less busy of the two though.

And it's probably that fact that sees Tiger storm into the lead by running 8, 9 and 10 on my card, he's just taking the chance at range and out-punching Torres. The eleventh is the first really thrilling round of the fight, Torres, finally, has dialled his right hand in, Tiger fights back aggressively, making the round an arguable one, but Torres landed the harder stuff here. It's his first round since the sixth! All square, four remaining.

The absolutely crucial thirteenth yo-yo'd back and forth between these two as I saw it until the final fifty seconds, clearly won by Tiger. He was dominant in this final minute. Torres walks in on him, hands high, but Tiger times him beautifully, over and over again, with very accurate punches. It's his key to victory really. This crucial round means Tiger needs one to take it on my card, Torres needs both the remaining rounds.

Tiger takes a narrow fourteenth to close out the fight on my card. It was narrow all the way to the championship rounds where Tiger just upped the tempo. He knows title fighting this guy, and you can see it. Generalship has been the difference. Weirdly, Torres finally does start landing his jab in this round, but he doesn't make much of it. He does probably win the fifteenth, likely out-hitting Tiger. One of Torres problems is clear in this round as he twice tries to muscle Tiger and gets nowhere

Absorbing fight. I know it quite well but i've never actually scored it before. I scored it how I felt it. Which is kind of reassuring.

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

7-6-2 Tiger.

 

I'm not sure I would go as far as you...I feel like Tiger was carefully matching him, I mean he didn't feel extended to me? He looked troubled by rights at times, but not ever like he was approaching his limits. They tried to counter each other. Maybe though, maybe you're right.

 

Right!

Plus when he tired to cease Tiger in the fifteenth and take control, he couldn't budge him. Physically, Tiger was stronger I think. Although of course Torres didn't really fight for that control, which maybe he should have.

 

I think he set out to win the fight, or at least some early rounds, with the jab alone and that backfired badly because it let Tiger get into the swing. Some of those right hands in the middle rounds could have changed the fight if he landed them in round one or two...hence his aggressive start in the second fight I suppose.

 

Tommy Hearns UD12 Virgil Hill

About 10 guys sing/shout Hearns into the ring. I wonder how many of those guys are friendly with him now he's broke. Hearns looks bigger which is mad. Hill probably barely out-jabbed Tommy in round one. Hearns might be landing the better punches though. Either way round, but it was just jabs, I like Hill. Hearns takes the second clearly with a right hand to the body, a left hook, a left uppercut. Very good round for Hearns trying to "loom" a bit on Hill. He probably took the third too, a harder jab, a harder right hand, though Virgil seems aggressive like "you're not pushing me around."

Fourth is just desperately to close, I gave it to Hill but i'm not sure he'd get that one from the judges. Hearns is just landing harder jabs. Hill is being more expressive with the left hand, working the body, trippling it up, but Hearns lands harder and any time he lands serious punches he's going to nick that round. Hill wins his first round clear int he fifth with great left handed jab, pushing Hearns back at times, looking for the left hook when he can. Hearns cuts loose in six thought, landing uppercuts, right hands but he buys it with genius, I reckon, moving Hill forwards after Hill tries to go on his bike. Hearns just gives ground a bit and Hill comes on to him, Hearns comes square and starts throwing. Just an old pro trick against a comparatively green guy I guess, genius probably a strong word but it was real nice. 3-3 after six.

When he adds the seventh, the eighth takes on real significance. It was desperately close but I thought Hearns maybe nicked it, though it's certainly arguable. When he takes the ninth that gives him a run of four, some chin on Hill. He stops the rot in the tenth, but needs the 11th and 12th on my card just to draw. The paucity with which he throws the right hand is absurd.

He does the right thing in the eleventh though, and tries to swarm onto Hearns. Hill's fight plan was not good. He was too aggressive early. Or too static early is a better way to put it, too ready to trade, to fight. The idea was to push Hearns off I reckon. Now he needs to be aggressive and he is, winning the first 2 minutes of the round. Heartbreaker though, Hearns hurts him twice in the final minute to nick the round. In fact it's not really nicking it, he just lands the best punches in a tough round to close out the fight. I'd like to give Hill the twelfth, he showed great heart and chin in this fight, but Hearns probably nicked it with the harder stuff.

Great win for Hearns.

HEARNS:2,3,6,7,8,9,11,12
HILL:1,4,5,10,

8-4, 116-112 Hearns

 

MATTHEW SAAD MUHAMMAD TKO12 MARVIN JOHNSON

These guys were fighting for a total of 5k. Absurd.

I wish Johnson would jab properly. In the second he's even hanging it in Muhammad's face long enough that he gets banged to the body. Also absurd. Johnson's trailing uppercut is absurdly good. Both men have absurd chins. Johnson is absurdly easy to hit. At least he takes evasive action after he gets bombed. Sometimes. Fourth is utterly crazy. Muhammad lands mobs of lead right hands, Johnson takes them, comes back with just a raft of massive uppercuts. His uppercut is absurd, but he leaves himself absurdly open to coutners when he throws it. As in, part of the reason it is such a good punch is that his stance is so open. This makes the round absurdly difficult to score until Muhammad finally puts a real hurt on Johnson in the final seconds. Of course, Johnson comes firing back, but he was hurt.

The rounds are very difficult to score. Muhammad is more consistent but every now and then Johnson cuts loose with a really savage attack. How to balance that? And so many punches landed you lose track. I am losing track, scoring it to be honest. But I gave the fifth to Johnson because Muhammad looked arm weary. That impression is deepened in the sixth, Johnson kicks hell out of Muhammad. He just looks unhurt! It's absurd as ****. Johnson is in his full flow ludicrous tough man pressure full-tilt mode here, throwing extremely hard. When he gets his other punches going - straight left, double right hook combo an outstanding example - he terrifying.

Muhammad wins the eighth, which is absurd as according to science (I did check) he should be dead. Right hands did it, straight and uppercut. Still, Johnson has a commanding lead and surely will box clever in the final third to protect it? Lolz. But Johnson does look tired for real. He looks worse in the ninth and gets banged back with the right. Johnson just doesn't have a second string. He needs to hold, move something. He's just getting blasted. But he does fight back hard in the middle of the round, not just enough to take the round with the way it ends though. What is wrong with these robot men? Sick punishment for Johnson in the tenth. Not really fun to watch. But I don't know how a referee even now could stop this fight because Johnson keeps coming back with hard punches! It's all ****ed up and wrong. All square after ten, Muhammad wins the eleventh in a sick horrible way, and they absurdly are into the twelfth. Finally, Johnson crumbles in the twelfth. You just wish you could tell him going in or show him somehow so he wouldn't have to fight all that way. Horrible. Sick thing is: he doesn't know how to fight any differently and probably wouldn't quit, so it wouldn't make any difference. In the end he is knocked out but still somehow walking around the ring like a ****ing zombie. What the ****.

Absurd fight. Best ever at the weight?


MUHAMMAD:2,4,8,9,10,11,
JOHNSON:1,3,5,6,7,

Judges would have scored an SD for Muhammad had Johnson survived the twelfth, which seems about right.

 

Imagine fighting Marvin Johnson twice? I would have ****ed that off myself. Still, the son of a ***** had the title. Johnson is great.

 

Not great but you know, great.

 

Yeah, the second one just wasn't anything like as ill in my view. Great fight though.