the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Buddy McGirt UD12 Simon Brown

Absorbing first round. McGirt is showing Brown just enough movement to keep him off while Brown for his part is coming in behind a feint, also throwing the jab but probably not enough. He's making McGirt move probably no more than he planned, so that's a problem. I think you could score this round either way, Brown showed the aggression, but I think McGirt edges the round by punching out of clinches, twice landing one-twos on his way out. He certainly wins the second. The highlight is a right uppercut left hook combo against a quality opponent that is a crazy 1-2 but he lands it. I saw him.

Brown just looks tactically naive here. He keeps giving punching opportunities as he attempts to cut off the ring (won't say "follows Buddy around" just yet...). Brown is walking in doing some work, then waiting to see (What?) and when he does so McGirt just pops him, as you would expect. Generally he finds a second punch too, but the defining shot in the third was a right hand thrown from square as they bump up ring centre, and he just blasts his man to the point of the chin. Brown needs a round.

This is a hiding. Brown is just pushing out the jab, he looks nervous about being hit now. McGirt counters even this riskless punch with impunity and lands several charging right hands. The fourth is non-competitive. The fifth was very very close though with Brown finally getting some consistent pressure on and landing some very good punches to the body. Stil, I thought McGirt landed marginally the better stuff. A wonderful sixth followed. McGirt seems to have considered based upon the fifth that he doesn't want to spend as much time on the move and the result is toe-to-toe action on the inside where Brown is finally throwing freely, landing hard punches to the body including a destructive left hook. McGirt, for his part, continues with his excellent hitting, bizarrely finding the right uppercut left hook again as well as a large variety of other shots. Very close round - Brown's first of the fight for my money though he may have strayed low. Brown has a small cut on the right eye.

The seventh is the same as the sixth, but McGirt isn't out of this fight by any means, he's still punching back, but Brown is hitting very hard in reply, mainly to the body but a chopping right to the side of the head was the rounds best punch.

McGirt winds it back in the eighth. He's slick again, gone again, favouring a variety of one-two combos again. He looks tired though - i'm not sure he has another round exactly like that in him.

But he does - in fact the ninth is his best round since the third. The one-two he lands in the final seconds is savage but it's his performance throughout that is impressive, especially so late with so many hard body-punches having gone in. Great, great engine. He has seven rounds for me now and more importantly he has stopped Brown's charge.

McGirt knocks Brown down in the tenth to seal his victory. The knockdown is bizarre. McGirt lands a right and then spins off landing a moderate looking left hook; Brown crumbles. He's up pretty quick but the shot didn't look hard enough to drop him. On the other hand, although he's been absorbing punishment, he's continued to walk in, strategy unaltered which makes me believe this perhaps isn't accumulation.

Very good fight for being so one-sided. Well worth a look for anyone who hasn't seen it. Two asides: lots of infighting here, Mills Lane referees it perfectly. Second, I really enjoyed Mike Tyson's colour commentary.

McGirt:1,2,3,4,5,8,9,10*,11,12
Brown:6,7,

* Brown knocked down.

 

Simon Brown TKO14 Tyrone Trice

This is going to be a great fight. Man I love boxing.

These seem well matched, both solid at the weight, both very strong, both good punchers with Trice apparently having the heavier punch. Both look to the body, each is there for the other punches, both have disciplined guards and seem decent at riding one another's punches but this is an area in which I favour Brown. The first two rounds are contested in the pocket as each tries to dominate the other but Brown breaks and begins to move but Trice appears able to just walk through him and takes all four of the opening rounds based upon work-rate, aggression and equivalent accuracy. Brown hit the deck, too, in the second; Trice lashed him with a left hook which hurt him and then caught him up behind the ear with a bowling ball right hand which dropped him for a count, so Trice's lead appears very significant.

Good fifth. These boys know their business. I thought Trice nicked it on the roaring aggression early where he's landing many and varied shots but Brown certainly is finding him with that overhand right now and finishes strong. Plus - Trice looks tired.

Brown wins a round! Trice is tired and tbf has been working hella hard. But now he's not doing his business, gaps open up for Brown to do his and he takes the opportunity with some horrible beltline bodyblows that clearly make Trice uncomfy. He's more uncomfy in the seventh as an ultra aggressive Brown stalks and walks him down; he has great success with a sparkling one-two and starts to find Trice with the uppercut. Trice looks reluctant and is holding on. A closer eighth goes to Brown too, who has a wonderful nose for weakness.

Gil Clancy in commentary during the ninth: "These guys work more when they're resting than most guys do when they're fighting!" It's true. This is a wonderful round of boxing with many excellent action exchanges. They feel very closely matched again and although he's taken a lot of the steam off his punches, I thought Trice shaded it to take his first round since the fifth.

Trice is wonderfully conditioned. He got leathered with uppercuts in the opening of ten and got abused up and down the rope but he made it, he held on, he even did some throwing of his own. This would have been absurdly thrilling if it were a twelve rounder, which is a strange thing to say. Bizarrely, in Trice's corner, they told him it was a twelve rounder. You can only imagine how he felt come round 13!

Trice was brilliant in the eleventh and if Brown hadn't nailed him with sickening right on the bell he would have bagged it; in the twelfth he does something even more special and absolutely nails Brown out of the gate, hurts him, for a moment must have felt as if he was going to save himself as another twist in the tail heaved itself into view. But Brown just seems unbreakable and indeed may have been at the weight; when he moves Trice to his own right with one of those winging right hands that have been brutalising him all night it's only to walk him right onto a snappy, short left hook. It's a heavy knockdown and Trice did well to make it up for nine. Brown sort of bulled into him and rushed him to the canvas where Trice landed mainly on his back with his headand upper back propped against the ropes and Brown smashed him in the face. Given his previous infractions, Brown should have been disqualified IMO. The referee counts, which is a joke. Then just waves him in. Ridiculous refereeing. Another left hook faceplants Trice for the third KD of the round. Trice beat the count but looks shellshocked. Brown is celebrating like he won. Just away with it really. Corner should have pulled Trice at this point and protested the illegal blow. My scorecard reads 112-11 Brown after 12!

Trice just holds and stalls and slides his way through round 13. Very brave but he shouldn't be fighting. He gets beat all around the ring in 14, but my god he was brave. F*ck Steve Smoger.

Both guys looked exhausted as each other at bell. This was a great fight. Not a "great" fight, an actual great fight.


Brown:6,7,8,10**,11,12***,13
Trice:1,2*,3,4,5,9,

*Brown down from an overhand right behind the ear.
** Brown has a point removed for hitting after the bell for about the third time. Takes a Brown round and makes it an even round.
***Three knockdowns on Trice

 

Simon Brown TKO 10 Tyrone Trice

The first one is so good why wouldn't I just up and watch the second one? It sure is nice finding a vein of boxing i've never seen.

Helpful of these guys to both wear black shorts and black shoes, always good that. Trice kicks off more steadily but probably does nick the first round with a lovely left hook the body, but the second round belongs to Brown. Trice is being far less aggressive than last time, probably feeling he gassed first time around, but where are his rounds going to come from? It's almost like he got his strategies back to front and he should have been boxing this way in the first fight and that way in this fight. Because if you can bank four rounds in a twelve rounder you'e almost home, just don't get nailed. But here he is getting hit nearly as much but he is not being aggressive and thereby landing his own punches. I mean he bossed the first four last time, this time he's behind after four. Is he really planning to "come on" against Brown?

Great action in the fifth, good round, Trice does so well but he just gets blasted out of contention at the very end of the round, slightly hurt, does the walkaway. Starting to feel scorecard-wise, a little one-sided. Brown is cut again but that's the only good new for Trice. Brown wins the seventh boxing as a southpaw (partly). Dropped in the eighth by a left hook. It's left hooks too that see him off in the tenth.


Brown:2,3,4,5,6,7,8*,9,
Trice:1,

Brown drops Trice with a left hook and has an additional point taken away for excessive holding, so a 10-7 round.

 

Simon Brown TK10 Maurice Blocker

Maurice Blocker looks like a hungry Howard Eastman but he also looks like the type of fighter that might hamper Brown. Nice long jab with the emphasis on landing rather than hurting. A right hand he's economical about that is accurate, equally economical footwork. He certainly takes the first. Brown starts to just reel Blocker in a bit in the second and lands a good right; at the beggining of the third though, Brown lands another right hand but tags on a steaming left hook behind it sending Blocker on the stagger. You see Blocker's problem. He can't get respect and he's going to get hurt if he doesn't get respect. Still, he digs deep to take Brown to war in the fourth and although he loses the round badly, it's exciting to watch; another excellent right this.

The fifth, too, is dramatic, with Blocker trying hard to master Brown in the pocket; it's audacious and it looks for a moment like it will work then Brown finds two delightful uppercuts to take away Blocker's legs and dominate the rest of the round with that wonderful compact offence. Blocker goes back to plan A in round 6 and I thought took it on generalship and reasonable snappy punches as he exits. In seven and eight, Brown looks nothing less than asleep. He gifts those rounds, it's not that he's not trying or that his heart is not in it but he's just not able to get it done like he was before. Left handed, and then shoe shining a bit, Blocker is cornering the points.

Going into the tenth, I have Brown needing a knockout - which is handy, because he gets one. The same old story gets Blocker started: right hand and then a jarring left hook and Blocker sits down for a nice rest with his arm propped over the middle rope. Blocker stays languid to try to survive with movement and then tying Brown up, but it's over. Brown is deadly when he smells blood. Here, he's relaxed, with two minutes on the clock, calmly attacking the body, knowing he will find the meaningful punches sooner or later. It's later, but when Blocker begins to drunkenly droop ring-centre, Mills Lane leaps in...arguably a fraction early, arguably bang on time.

Nice to see Brown go to embrace his friend after the fight as his corner tries to lift him.


BROWN:3,4,5,
BLOCKER:1,2,6,7,8,9

 

Buddy McGirt UD12 Genaro Leon

Leon has a point taken from him in the third and i felt a bit sorry for him. He was hitting and holding and also excessively punching round the back of his man but he's a long way from home and confronted with an opponent who has across the board superiority as a technician.

McGirt starts tentatively, perhaps in the knowledge that his left hook is restricted by an arm injury suffered in training but he's soon drilling home the right hand with dominating regularity; it's his best fight defensively too I think. He really does compensate for the absence of that left hook.

Hard to see where a Leon round will come from, although he does win the six with the last punch of the round, another impressive sounding, perhaps rather slappy right hand.

Guts, heart and chin is what Leon has in spades but it's pretty one-sided until the eighth where he lands some good punches in an ill-disciplined attack early in the round.

The last three were exciting as Leon got tired or bored or both and the twelfth, McGirt maybe wasn't a million miles away from getting jarred there for juse second.

But he fights back well.

First time i've seen this fight. McGirt doesn't really move me.

McGirt:1,3*,4,5,6,7,9,11,
Leon:2,8,10,12

*Leon has a point taken away for holding and hitting.

 

Pernell Whitaker UD12 Buddy McGirt 1

"ooo i really like Simon Brown he's good" but you know you haven't watched an immortal box in a little while when you're watching you get that like "sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaat peeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" feeling again yeah. What is it about Whitaker that's so great to watch? In the first round he just feints, lands two right hands, throws a punch behind his back, there's just something about him.

Pea means business. Ring centre, looking to fight. He scores two lovely punches in this round, both trailing lefts. One throw the chin, one to the body. I thought he edged the round but he looks hittable.

Genius third, McGirt allowing Whitaker to come on, he's not fighting him for territory but he's defending his own with exceptional and excellent violence. Very special stuff. Sunday punches at 3 inches. McGirt claims it with the uppercut I think. McGirt got the fourth, too, and the fifth. Whitaker stops the rot for me in the sixth, he's finding McGirt regularly to the body, he seems to have his range in upstairs and he knocks off a couple of McGirt's punches. Interesting strategy from Whitaker. He could have made McGirt follow.

He does that in the seventh while McGirt looks to the body a little bit. It's an interesting role reversal in a desperately close round that would have been scored even in a more civilised era. So would the first. Ah, McGirt has problems. He can't use the left hook because of the injury and Whitaker is now timing his right. It's a rainy night in Lyndhurst if he can't do something about that...which he does in the ninth with some really nice improvised right hands but i think, still, he drops the round in the final seconds. Another very close round though in a very good fight.

Yeah, Whitaker has found him out basically. Impressive performance from McGirt given the injured shoulder but Whitaker struggled with the style then found him out. McGirt does well to win the 11th. Wonderful fight.

Whitaker:1,2,6,7,8,9,10,
McGirt:3,4,5,11,12

 

Pernell Whitaker UD12 James McGirt II

McGirt lands the best punch of the round with the trusty straight right but Whitaker does a lot of good dealing with the straight left. McGirt looks solid but like he could become a target.

Whitaker is shading round two (although McGirt landed some good right hands to the torso) when he gets caught way up high on the head by the knuckles of the glove as he's slipping the punch and inexplicably goes over. Unquestionably a genuine KD, it's probably just as Whitaker said, he got caught off balance.

Outstanding third with a lot of leather getting thrown in a narrow Whitaker round. McGirt landed a shot to Whitaker's back while standing on his foot which caused Whitaker to go down - the refere correctly ruled this a slip but the fight has an interesting complexion if he gets this call wrong! McGirt is doing good things, like in the fourth he corners Whitaker and pegs him back with some punches but he's still getting beat. He gets hurt in the fourth, by a trailing left and then an uppercut.

It's not exactly one-sided - you could argue the seventh even - but it's pretty clear that Whitaker is ahead by distance.

Whitaker clearly superior. Fight too one-sided to be as good as the last.

WHITAKER:1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12
MCGIRT:2*,

*Whitaker flashed by a right hand.

 

There is 80 minutes on YouTube for the rematch now. All the pre- and post-.

 

Pipino Cuevas UD15 Randy Shields

This fight is interesting because it's the only time Cuevas won a decision against a meaningful opponent which is astonishing really considering the beating Cuevas handed out in round 1. To be fair to Shields though he continued prodding back with the right and the brief rush of blood that made me consider a 10-8 round was put back. And then Shields goes and wins the second. He's backing up but staying close, allowing himself to be cornerered but not in a rush and he's boxing well and it's just making Cuevas think; never good for a great puncher I don't reckon.

It's hard to score because Shields is landing more good stuff but also Cuevas hurts Shields every round. If a guy hurts a guy i normally score the round for that guy. But here it's not so clear cut. Very good fight though with that extraordinary first round since when Shields has been beating the **** out of Cuevas. The fourth is brutal, with exchanges inside, with Shields landing some wonderful uppercuts, with him dishing up in excess of a dozen left-rights in an incredible round form which Shields emerged with a bad cut above his right eye.

It's insane action. The quesitons are: how does Shields survive that cut? How does the fragile looking Shields stand up to this punishment? Who knew Pipino's engine was this good? How does he continue to take these punches? Shields declared before the fight he wanted to "stay away" but he's ended up fighting a total war. 3-2 shields, one third done. Both fighters have supposedly hurt their lefts by this point. I'm unsure how much this mattered for Shields who was leading with his right from the second (before he hurt it) and who comes pretty square anyway (probably the source of the constant exchanges) but it's obviously a bit alarming for Cuevas; that said, he appears to continue to use it a lot. Maybe he can't make a proper fist, I don't know. The fight is calling out to be dominated by a jab, to be fair.

5-5 after 10 in an absurdly good war, but I thought Cuevas edged the next two, but they're close close rounds, Shields taking everything Cuevas gives and then finding his own punches, always.

Thirteenth is key. Shields, I thought, rode what Cuevas brought well enough while landing his own stuff to take a lead in a key round, but Cuevas is so sinister. When he gets hit hard, he steps back, re-organises and just moves back in, steady. And he does that here and it pays off and he takes that round. I have Shields needing a knockout now.

9-6 Shields, probably a fair reflection and I was glad Shields was able to gut and spoil his way to the fifteenth.

Shields:2,3,4,6,10,15.
Cuevas:1,5,7,8,9,11,12,13,14.