the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Parlov was target practice for Johnson.

 

JAMES SCOTT UD12 EDDIE MUSTAFA MUHAMMAD

Mad James Scott's mad behind the prison-walls win over Eddie Mustafa.

Pretty dull stuff through three as Muhammad, who had promised "a technology fight" showcasing his superior technique is content to hold and punch only rarely while Scott sets the pace. This is a terrible error as it allows Scott to fight his way into a contest that was seen as beyond him (3 cigarettes to one in favour of Muhammad were the odds going in!). He wins the fourth big; Muhammad has failed to pick up a round.

Scott looks tired in the fifth, but so, inexplicably, does Muhammad who is also swelling badly around the left eye. Muhammad finally wins the sixth, but it's a turgid, nothing round, where he manages to get home with some jabs before grabbing. It turns into a bit of a blind stagger through eight. Muhammad just looks passive and happy to hold even with the stronger, body-punching Scott. It's bad strategy and he seems ill-prepared. Still, he narrows things up on my card through eight.

Muhammad needs the knockout after nine by my eye, but it's Scott who remains the aggressor. He almost totally dominates the run in. Shameful performance from Muhammad, one way or another.

SCOTT: 9-2-1

SCOTT:2,3,4,5,8,9,10,11,12
MUHAMMAD:6,7,
EVEN:1,

 

MICHAEL SPINKS UD15 EDDIE MUSTAFA MUHAMMAD

Yeah, boring. Very boring fight. I know, because Howard Cossell tells me every sixteen seconds, that they are "both counterpunchers" and that that's the explanation but i'm one of those annoying d!cks that calls boring fights "absorbing" or "interesting" usually, but this is just dull. Lots of missing, loads of clinching, some rough housing. You can literally count the affective punches to judge who wins the round. Not much happening through four.

I have them even after ten, but Spinks is very much in the ascendancy. Muhammad has a badly swollen right eye, he is struggling, he has looked tired since the six. A lot of people rush to blame his weight loss on the way back down from heavy and that's reasonable, but he's kind of got this passivity built into him IMO. Spinks unearths it here and is now firmly out-punching Muhammad. He gives it a go in the tenth though, but he lost 8, 9 and 10.

Savage KD in twelve, Spinks blindsides him and drops him hard with a booming right hand. The fight should probably be stopped in the aftermath which is savage but Muhammad makes it out of the ring. He's done none-the-less I reckon. I'll be surprised if he wins a round in the run in. Spinks looked immature trying to finish him, but mature in going back to his boxing in 13.

The second half of the fight had drama for all that it was one-sided. I have it 10-5 which is a very harsh card on Muhammad so I might have missed some of his better stuff. Certainly I admire his heart.

SPINKS:3,5,8,9,10,11,12*,13,14,15
MUHAMMAD:1,2,4,5,7,

*Spinks drops Muhammad with a massive right.

 

I honestly kind of wondered if he was maybe on the take in the Scott fight. He was that bad.

 

ROY JONES MD12 ANTONIO TARVER

Tarver marshalls Jones around the ring and is sure to land a hard flurry early and these should be bagging him the rounds. I can't see any way, really, to give Jones either of the first two. Tarver looks clever, he waits, he walks his man off, he doesn't throw to many, it's very good the way he gives Jones his space at the back of it. The way Tarver lets these advantages evaporate - or has them taken away from him - is fascinating.

It could be that Jones hurt Tarver with something. It could be that Tarver just got hypnotised by Jones and his serpentine movement which did legitimately bring a suddenly insignificant, uncertain Tarver jab onto Jones. Maybe it was just that Jones stopped giving ground and Tarver wasn't astute enough to see that the risk of meeting him was less than the risk of playing ball. Either way, I score Jones 3, 4, 5 and close 6th.

It's a tired Jones that sits down at the end of ten.

I have him winning the sixth and the ninth. A combination of Tarver's reticence and Roy's ability to move out of trouble means that he can still get rounds, crucial rounds because I have them even through 10. It feels as though the fight's conclusion rests equally with the two men. Jones could pot shot his way to victory if he stays mobile and off the ropes. Tarver could win on aggression if it's educated. Jones punched out a brilliant eleventh round. I was impressed with Tarver's determination to inch him back nonetheless. Tarver needs the twelfth for the draw by my card. He comes out and waits. Not acceptable. Roy wins the twelfth. Tough performance Roy.

7-5 Jones.

JONES:3,4,5,6,9,11,12
TARVER:1,2,7,8,10,

 

^ yeah

 

Antonio Tarver UD12 Roy Jones

Roy by now has started to trickle away into the sad ring survivor we see today, but a job still needed doing and I think Tarver was brilliant in doing it in this fight. He didn't allow himself to be drawn, rushed, or allow himself to become convinced that snatching for the knockout was the right move. Instead, he boxes carefully, dominantly, minimising his own steps while Roy turned like a ballerina, and he closed and hit with almost supernatural judgement of the right moment.

Roy wins the fourth - barely - but the writing is on the wall. Having said that, Jones was wonderful in the fifth, fighting his way dramatically off the ropes to dominate most of the round, although he gets jabbed back at the end.

After eight, it's six-two, Tarver is mostly relaxed, economical, smart, sharp, quick and his timing on the rare serious attacks he mounts is absolutely perfect. Roy is reticent, fast and a bit ridiculous. Funny, after all the terribly sad nights in Roy's career, this might be the saddest one of all.

Round eleven is special, and it was lovely to see Roy Jones fight back so hard when nearly knocked out by a Tarver hook to the ear, but that's really Jones's best moment from the trilogy, kinda.

TARVER:1,2,3,6,7,8,9,10,11,12
JONES:4,5,

10-2 Tarver