the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Salvador Sanchez UD15 Ruben Castillo

This was Sanchez's first defense of the WBC crown, and it occurred to me that other than the Ford fight, I've never bothered to score a Sanchez bout. So here I go.

Castillo comes out as one should against a counterpuncher like Sanchez; moving, flurrying, never offering an opportunity to counter. When Sanchez does try to counter, he's just a tick behind. He has to lunge a bit and leave himself off-balance trying to catch the skittering little water bug in front of him. As a result, I have Castillo up 4-0-1 after five.

Sanchez begins to pursue with a little more urgency by round six and has a big seventh, but he's not panicky. If anything, I'd like to see him make the fight a little messier and dive in to take the fight to Castillo more. The challenger is devoid of power or physical strength and seems affected whenever Sanchez muscles his way in, but that is not Sal's game. Come hell or high water, he will fight within himself and slowly unravel his opponent by degrees. This is part of what makes him interesting to me; even in the midst of a taut, close, hard fight that seems very much in question he goes about his business of breaking down his foe incrementally and does so with supreme confidence that it will work in his favor. He never wavers despite losing some early rounds, and never overextends. Despite never having gone 15 at this point (being his first defense and all), he seems an iold sage at the championship distance, as if he's done it a hundred times and is simply biding his time, waiting for his challenger to tire or fold.

Castillo rebounds to take the eighth on my card, but then Sanchez ratchets it up another notch and runs the tables from that point, catching Ruben with long rights and being the better ring general. Castillo is still busy and still in the fight, but he's just a bit sloppier and has the look of a man trying to hold the tide back with a spoon.

At the end I have it 9-5-1 for Sanchez, about the same as two of the official scorecards. Well deserved.

 

Just watched **** Tiger W10 Rubin Carter.......

Basically, Carter just got his azz kicked. I gave him rounds 5 and 9, but really only because Tiger took his foot off the pedal a bit and allowed him a little room to move. Tiger knocked Carter down hard twice in the second and once again in the fourth, and just cruised from there. Carter seemed very respectful by about the third round, and was jabbing while moving away from Tiger, always mindful of Tiger's leaping left hooks which were so damaging in this fight.

I love how Tiger parries the jab too......from the orthodox stance, he catches the jab with his right glove and slides it past the left side of his head out of the way, opening his opponent up for the left hook that's coming more often than not. A beautiful move.

Carter was just out of his depth here. He showed some good basic things like good movement, an attempt to control the center of the ring, and a hard jab, but he never seemed to be able to piece all these ingredients together into anything cohesive. Tiger is the more "finished" fighter if you will, and simply runs over him. Easy night for Tiger.

 

Mustafa Hamsho SD10 Curtis Parker

This one has been described as a bad decision in favor of Hamsho, and I guess I agree that Parker probably deserved it, but it was such a hard fight and so difficult to score because of all the phonebooth warfare that I don't see it as a robbery.

Hamsho: 2, 3, 4, 5
Parker: 1, 6, 7, 9, 10
Even: 8

Essentially then, I had it even heading into the last round, which saw Parker largely outwork Hamsho.

Lots of fouling (gasp) in this one, and uneven mauling which made scoring a chore. Interesting fight, and I can see the need for a rematch, which Hamsho won fairly easily. He seemed to tire midway in this first fight, and Parker did more heavy scoring late, just barely edging it on my card. No complaints with the decision though......too close, too hard to score.

 

Salsa, got my chance to sit down on this one. First of all, you're correct. A difficult one because of a lot of mauling. Vinny Rainone was **** in this one. 10 rounds of warning Hamsho for butting with no points taken. i'll admit their styles were take no prisoners and the southpaw/orthodox combo was always going to be tough, but there were many times it appeared blatant. Regardless, good tough fight and here is my score:

Round 1: Parker
Round 2:Hamsho
Round 3: Hamsho
Round 4: Even
Round 5: Parker
Round 6: Parker
Round 7: Parker
Round 8: Parker
Round 9: Even
Round 10: Parker

Total: 6-2-2 Parker

Hamsho did well when bulling Parker to the ropes and negating his punching, but I thought Parker was just a bit busier and threw the cleaner shots. You and I were not too far off really. We agreed on 6 rounds, 3 were even rounds that could swing either way and the only one we actually disagreed on was the 5th round. Good fight.

 

See, I couldn't have a problem with this or any scorecard for this fight really. I'm not wholly convinced either that I'd score it the same way upon a second viewing! I suppose I favored Hamsho's "ring generalship" if one can call it that, where he does that patented "lean in with your shoulder and shove" move, moving Parker against the ropes and smothering him. Parker scored often, but it was usually with his back against the ropes while being mauled.

Still, I'd buy this. Nothing worng with that card either.

 

FULL UNBIASED MAYWEATHER VS PAC SCORECARD

may vs pac
10 9
9 10
9 10
9 10
10 9
9 10
10 9
10 9
10 9
10 9
10 9
10 9

116 TO 112

 

Marvin Hagler UD10 Marcos Geraldo

I'd never seen this one, and am glad to have finally gotten around to it. Hagler had a rough time with the tough Geraldo, perhaps a result of (according to him) not being in the gym as much due to some family matters, but Geraldo deserves credit for extending him.

Geraldo is lanky, busy, awkward, and ridiculously tough. This version of him is hell on a lot of middleweights. He fights in no particular rhythm, and is hard to get a bead on as a result.

Hagler scores mostly with his hard right jab and short right hooks, though he does make a brief foray or two into orthodox stance, more a result of his frustration at not being able to completely solve Geraldo as anything. When he does score, Geraldo's head snaps back, he'll back up, and then unleash a bunch of arm punches at Hagler that look flashy.

Hagler lands far more solidly and is more consistent, though there isn't that extra gear for him this time. He is simply workmanlike in this effort, and it's enough on my card.

97-93, Hagler.

 

The Ken Norton-Jimmy Young fight. Haven't watched it since it took place in the late '70s. I recall having Young just nicking it at the time. Today, it's no different. A nightmare on how close some of these rounds are. Very subjective and obviously it could go either way, but here ya go.

Round 1: 10-9 Young
Round 2: 10-10 Even
Round 3: 10-9 Young
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Norton
Round 6: 10-9 Norton
Round 7: 10-9 Norton
Round 8: 10-9 Young
Round 9: 10-10 Even
Round 10: 10-9 Young
Round 11: 10-9 Norton
Round 12: 10-9 Young
Round 13: 10-10 Even
Round 14: 10-9 Young
Round 15: 10-9 Norton

145-144 Young

Man, 4 even rounds. I never have 4 even rounds. But it would be a disservice to a fighter to try to come up with a winner of a round just so you don't have an even round. And these rounds were that close. A fight that close one cannot have a problem with it going either way, as long as the judges scored it close, which they did.

 

Jose Torres KO9 Willie Pastrano

I have to admit being a bit of a critic of Torres. I just never thought he showed all that much, though he seemed a good man and of course a decent fighter. I've seen both fights with Tiger, Bobo Olson, and most of the Cotton fight so I was anxious to see if anything might change about my opinions by virtue of seeing this one.

Not really. I will say though, that I think I've pinpointed why I am sort of bothered by Torres as a fighter........he attacks, but only incrementally. It's kind of like a Chinese water torture; he may throw hurtful punches here and there, but despite the opponent's distress or depleted condition, never amps up the attack, never switches gears to get him out of there. He just drones on.

In this fight, Pastrano is just awful. He offers nothing. From the very beginning he jabs weakly and tentatively while moving away, wanting only to avoid contact. Torres moves forward resolutely if patiently behind the peek-a-boo guard, jabbing his way in and pounding rights to the body when Pastrano runs out of room and has to meet Torres inside. This pattern continues until the fifth, when the challenger rips a left hook to the body and Pastrano goes down along the ropes. He gathers himself enough to take another four rounds of strictly measured, carefully doled-out leather until he realizes he's had enough and doesn't come out for round 10.

Not much of a fight, really. Pastrano doesn't win a round.

 

The other thing that reared it's head before and especially during the fight was the work of the corners. Polar opposite. What a wonderful job Dundee did and his scouting. Is there a better trainer for boxer types?

And everything Angie did, those Petronelli's didn't. They looked like the guy's working Liston's corner.....towel him off/give him a drink/say nothing relevant/give their guy a pat on the back when they're removing the stool. He paid them how much? For that?