the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Terence Crawford UD12 Ricky Burns

Crawford doesn't have it all his own way in the first, Burns lands a couple of very decent right hands; but it's the American's round, leading with the uppercut, bit quicker with the jab (battle of the jabs is close though) and some nice punches in bunches. The accuracy, I think, is the difference in the first.

Burns wins the second for me, landing more, busier too, but he has the look of a man trying to catch a sparrow in his attic. Southpaw doesn't suit Crawford in the second, but southpaw bodywork gives him the edge in a desperately close third.

The fourth is wider, and from memory this is as good as it gets for Burns. I wonder if he will win another round on my card? 5-1 after six.

Crawford is faster, the harder puncher, more accurate, more agile, more fluid, has better footwork, is better defensively...looked at a certain way this is actually a really good performance from Burns. Certainly, with a third strap at a third weight added recently, this is a better scalp for Crawford than it was at the time.

Crawford is the pressure fighter as well as the boxer by the end of seven. He does what he wants. He wants a volume jab, counter-punching opportunities and economy on power shots. Perfect boxing, on paper.

Burns lands a good punch - an unimpressed Crawford comes on to beat the hell out of him. Heartbreak for a fighter, that. He does this consistently throughout the fight.

Burns has a good ninth - but good by the standards of this fight. It looked like he might win the tenth, which Crawford seems to have taken off, but the American won it in the final minute of the round with good punches.

What a shellacking Burns got in the twelfth.

Crawford:2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12.
Burns:1.


11-1 Crawford.

Outstanding performance from Crawford and a whole load of heart from Burns. Not a great fight, but better than I remembered it.

 

Terence Crawford UD12 Raymudo Beltran

Crawford fights close but always moving, which brings a normally aggressive Beltran into range when he tags him left-handed. Second round he switches southpaw, leads alternately with the left and right, lands a beautiful lead uppercut to the gut. His control of range is consummate, but he does it with movement, which is beautiful. Introducing offence in layers. Very lovely. Beltran has just narrowed his stance, following his man around.

Beltran's stance is shortened, he's square, when he lands a good right hand, Crawford beats the **** out of him in response. It's smooth boxing in the truest sense. This is a wonderful display.

Beltran maybe has his best round of the fight in the sixth and still loses it. I have it 6-0 at half-way.

Wonderful speed and accuracy. Is Crawford's right jab even better than his left in this fight? Beltran's face says yes.

In the tenth, Crawford lands a right jab that sent Beltran to the canvas - incorrectly ruled a slip by the referee. One sided thrashing.


CRAWFORD:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12.
BELTRAN:

Astonishing shut out, underrated performance. I've never seen a fighter maintain his distance relative to the opponent so consistently and gracefully I don't think.

 

Edwin Rosario UD12 Jose Luis Ramirez

Ramirez looks like he's taking this very seriously. Rosario looks like he wants to circle left, stay away from that southpaw left, pop his jab. Ramirez is going to stalk. These two styles are very, very finely balanced. Ramriez has good footwork and uses it to move Rosario the other way a couple of times and scores with the left; Rosario takes the round with a handful of rights, up and down. I think he barely shaded the second, too, despite a delightful counter right hook from Ramirez.

That right is dialled in; Rosario takes the third as well, but these are all very very close rounds. Ramirez has closed the action and he wants to scythe to the body. I wish i'd scored the second for Ramirez now, because this is close and 3 -0 feels wrong. He edges the fourth though, with the right jab, which he's pushing a bit from outside, and bodywork when he closes.

Rosario fins his back to the ropes too much in the fifth, but he fights beautifully off them, flips Ramirez and lets go a flurry, lands some hard shots down the straight. It's a great round, they've all been good, but Rosario just seems a little too good. His short right hand is killing Ramriez.

Ramirez dominates early in the sixth though, but is nervous of the counter now. Nervous doesn't suit him. It's no coincidence he co-opoerates with a clinch for the first time in this round and it plays into Rosario's plan to come on strong late in the rounds. Ramirez is being out-generalled here. Probably works his way to the seventh though and with the pace slowing, also the eighth. Bit of a rally this. And the ninth...it looks like the Ramirez pressure/bodywork is paying off. Rosario has his hands full controlling his own positioning he's no longer able to control the pace properly, Ramirez is surging.

I have it even after ten. Had I been watching this live I might have picked Rosario to get got in the 11th or 12th. However, knowing how tough he is you know this isn't going to happen, but he hasn't won a round since the sixth.

Big 11th. Ramirez won that all day. So the best Rosario can get on my card is a draw. He doesn't get it. Talk about a (great) fight of two halves. Ramirez a narrow winner for me.

RAMIREZ:4,7,8,9,10,11,12.
ROSARIO:1,2,3,5,6.

7-5 Ramirez.

 

Stevie Johnston SD12 Jean-Baptiste Mendy

Two southpaws, both looking to work off their jabs, not hugely promising. Mendy's jab looks more raking, Johnson is busier. The temptation is to count them, but Johnston's occasional right hand probably shades the first. Decent bodywork to open the second, Johnston looks a half-weightclass smaller but is the man who wants to get inside and work. Good two-handed boxing inside. Mendy is finding him with punches though, when he works and when he takes chances.

It's a good fight. Johnston is committed to left hand work to the body and deploys the occasional uppercut. Mendy, he's waiting perhaps a bit too long but is being afforded countering opportunities. He might cede rounds but he wins 4 at the bell to have them 2-2.

A clash of heads at the beggining of the fifth opens a cut above Johnston's right eye. It's in a bad spot. He looks a tiny bit disturbed by it and i have him behind after the fifth. He is reticent in the sixth and Mendy is being allowed to peck his way to these rounds. It's uphill for Johnston from here. He is circling nicely, the footwork is pretty, but he's not bringing pressure any more. The bodywork has evaporated a bit and he's getting jabbed back.

This is weird, Johnston looks better, but Mendy is taking control of the lax pace. In the eighth, Johnston rallies a bit in that he finds the leads to keep Mendy very honest. He still gives ground more often than he should but sneaks the round with consistently good punching. Nice up-down jab, but when Mendy misses (Which is a lot) he's not making him pay as much as he should. He goes back to the jab and looking for points with the style that served him so well in the ams. He ties two rounds together here for the first time. But the round was close. How he got this decision in France is beyond me.

Johnston's right hook to the body re-emerges to make a difference in the 10th which is very, very close. Really, this is an even round, but as I have to score it i'll score it to Johnston based upon the defensive work. He makes Mendy miss very well and that right to the body is a good one. So I have it even for the first time since the fourth. Mendy hasn't won a round since the seventh - maybe i've been hard on Johnston and the investment in the body is paying off.

Two rounds for all the marbles - Mendy opens strong with two lefts. Johnston outlands him in the trenches though, and i'm afraid it's a matter of that cliche, who wants it more? Big lefts from Johnston give him a tiny lead going into the final minute. He gets over the line I think, to go into the lead for the first time since the third (on my card). He outfights Mendy pretty big in the last - that was actually an incredible performance in the second half of that fight. I enjoyed that one, it's underexposed and recommended.

Johnston:1,3,8,9,10,11,12.
Mendy:2,4,5,6,7.

7-5 Johnston.

 

Cesar Bazan SD12 Stevie Johnston

Big reach advantage for Bazan. Big size advantage for Bazan, he towers over Johnston. Johnston looks to get low, goingi to be the body again I think. Wtf, Bazan is huge. He didn't look this huge against Cotto. I suppose that's a weight up? Johnston probably shades the first though, Bazan is letting him in but, weirdly, working very well there. Right uppercut is nice.

Bazan takes the second though, not with the jab, which he's missing with regularity, but with an uppercut inside. He's doing literally nothing associated with size-advantage, no holding, leaning, mauling, no effective jabbing from the outside, so he's fighting Johnston's fight but doing OK. He has faster hands than I at first gave him credit for.

This fight is bizarre. Bazan isn't landing the jab, Johnston is walking in, but he's losing inside which is where he wanted to be. I fear it might get samey but it's a very entertaining first four, dominated by Bazan. Johnston take the fifth at the bell though with uppercuts of his own. Fascinating to see Johnston abandon his mobility and Bazan abandon his jab. Neither man fighting in the style one would normally expect to see. Even after six.

Johnston is now in another "who wants it most?" fight, BUT, the amount of infighting might make it an uneven contest as they get into the late rounds. Or maybe even in the seventh, where Johnston is made to look tired by the regularity with which he misses but he still outworks the bigger man for a lead. Going into the eighth, I don't have Bazan winning a round since the fourth, but he took that round for me in the final minute. That long uppercut from outside can be quite special.

There's no strategy here apart from try to hit the other guy. They are chest to chest and then mid-range, no jabs. Bit of a pitched battle this, the eighth was huge for Bazan but that one was the best of the fight and it goes to Johnston (Lederman disagrees with me on a round for the first time, Merchant had it even). One more and the worst he can do for me is a draw. The next is a hideous, mauling round and the bigger man takes that. This is ****ing great. Two rounds to go for all the marbles...again...

in the eleventh they both (understandably) look a bit shattered. There's a lot of holding, falling about, fighting off-balance. Johnston remains elusive with his head on the outside. Inside, all bets are off. Is Johnston just shading this round with right hands? Very hard to separate them, very hard. But i think so.

Horrible uppercut to the pit of the stomach brings Bazan the first half of the second round. That's the kind of margin that is separating them in these rounds. And another at 70 seconds left. He's edging this round. Good. That would make it a draw for me. It's a shame it wasn't a draw. Here's another cliche - nobody deserves to lose this.

Great, great fight.

BAZAN:2,3,4,8,10,12
JOHNSTON:1,5,6,7,9,11,

6-6

 

Stevie Johnston SD12 Cesar Bazan

Johnston is refusing to come in which is fascinating. The whole fight plan in the first fight was to take away the jab by getting in close and he's not doing it now. He's bouncing on the outside, inviting Bazan to punch straight, which he does, with some right-handed success, while Johnston looks for the left to the body which he lands throughout the first. This opens up Bazan for a nice combination upstairs with seconds left.

Beautiful parry of the uppercut at the opening of the second from Johnston. Bet they been training for that punch. The second is much closer, Bazan landing 3 snarling right hands from a near-square stance up close, but Johnston probably still edges it. Bazan, in turn, edges a very very even third but it was absolutely bizarre to see Bazan speak to a doctor after getting hit to the back of the head - and he then Johnston loses the point. He looks angry about it, too, and I thought won the round in the final seconds to make that an even round based upon the foul.

In the fourth, they recreate their previous encounter on the inside but on the outside, both landing punches regularly before they close for the final 80 seconds. Another good fight but I have it 3-0-1 after four. Already a long way back for Bazan.

Johnson is moving less, working inside more, but he's still landing with withering regularity. Bazan matches him in a harrowing fifth, but I got Johnston landing the cleaner work. If this split is legitimate, Johnston has to crumble in a big way. The great body work Bazan does in spells during the sixth could be considered one of the first building blocks of that collapse, perhaps. 4-1-1 after six.

Oh man, sickening left hands to the head to start round three for Johnston, he's really boxing well at all ranges. He's just not allowing himself to be dragged into the gutter war that was the first fight.

War in the eighth, Johnston wins, he can't be caught now on my card. I'm so keen to see how this ends up a split? The Bazan card is a 116-113 card Bazan. Wot. This is a one-sided hammering. The second half of the fight is pretty boring because Johnston is just doing his thing. I gave Bazan the twelfth though and the eleventh was arguable.

JOHNSTON:1,2,4,5,7,8,9,10,11,
BAZAN:6,12
EVEN:3*,

* Point off for hitting to the back of the head (Johnston).

9-2-1

 

Jose Luis Castillo MD12 Stevie Johnston

Probably Johnston won a bit of a nothing first. He's getting his left over not too bad and Castillo's jab looked only marginally better. Castillo starts landing his left to the body in the second though, nothing on it yet but it's scoring, a nice right hand lands down there too. To soon to say "ominous" but "interesting" for sure. Johnston's left hand wins him a really close third that is contested mostly inside, a really nice left uppercut, good straight left too, fast fight. Castillo is finding him to the body though.

Fourth is a good busy round. I think Castillo is just about edging it coming into the last minute but a good left hand makes it difficult, these guys are just tossing the leather. In close, Johnston is looking to hook he's not getting the room for the body. Castillo has a point taken away for hooking the arm. Life was so much easier where you just lost the round if that was the case but I think Castillo just about edged it.

Wow, fifth is active. Hellish to score, i'll give it to Castillo based upon the straight punches he lands when they go outside, which is infrequent. So all square after five. Sixth feels key. Castillo jabbing well at mid-range. Johnston is looking behind the elbow now, both sides, there's some wrestling...i can't believe how many punches these guys are throwing. Never thought i'd say it but i wish there was compubox. I think that Castillo is no better than Johnston so far, but that he is working a bit harder.

These are very close rounds, but Castillo is winning them. Where's the southpaw jab? Johnston is again electing to fighting on the inside and when he tries to go out they inevitably get closed again. Very clever fight by Castillo. They say Johnston was more experienced going in, and maybe at title level, but in real terms he is not. After 8, Castillo has a handy lead, would be handier if he hadn't lost that point. Still, Johnston is used to rescuing fights down the straight...

Castillo just punches wherever whenever, he just makes punches no matter what the situation. It's such a mature performance given he's used to knocking guys out, and he's never going to knock prime Johnson out. There is not a lot of clean work here, Castillo makes sure of it, so the busier guy is hugely favoured in those circumstances. Johnston lands some good clipping shots to the jaw though in the very last seconds so I got Johnston there. Castillo clearly outhits him in the tenth, however, and Johnston is in trouble on the cards.

Great flurries from Johnston in the eleventh has you wondering why he didn't do that earlier, or, better, why there aren't fifteen rounds to contest here. I think Johnston was probably knocked down in this round but the referee ruled it a slip; taking the referee at his word it was a Johnston round. Johnston had a good surge in the twelfth, too, and i'd shade that to him aswell. That makes it close - but Castillo is the right man.

CASTILLO:2,5,6,7,8,10,
JOHNSON:1,3,9,11,12
EVEN:4*

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

6-5-1 Castillo.

 

Jose Luis Castillo D12 Stevie Johnson

The rematch is in Johnston's hometown of Denver. Johnston is sharp defensively, and he is successful in the first at backing Castillo up. Meanwhile he's doing well with the left while Castillo has success with the jab. Castillo narrows it up with more activity nearere the end of the round, but Johnston controls the action. Defence was the difference.

Good straight left upstairs is a good opening for Johnston. Castillo is a bit stranded outside, but on the other hand, Castillo isn't going to have to look for him. Johnston probably just about outfights Castillo in two, also, but things are getting closer. Johnston looks better in three, also, but Castillo pins him to the ropes and wins the round just before the minute mark. Big round, and Castillo wins it.

I have it all square after six.

The fight is inside now but Johnston has a very good round in there and I have him leading into the second half of the fight. The way Castillo comes fighting back at the end of the round is chilling though.

I have Johnston ahead after 10.

Crazily, Castillo works really well off the ropes in the eleventh and i think, creeps his way to a round Johnston really should have won. By the end though, Johnston is very nearly hanging on and Castillo wins it big. There's enough of a hangover that Castillo wins the twelfth so I have it a draw.

So do the judges, but in a heartbreak moment, the decision was mis-read for Johnston who believed he had reclaimed the strap. He had to go to the dressing room of Castillo and present him with the belt after the score was corrected.

CASTILLO:3,4,5,9,11,12.
JOHNSTON:1,2,6,7,8,10.

6-6

 

Wanheng Menayothin UD12 Saul Juarez

Menayothin, the best straweight in the world, takes on Saul Juarez, ranked #8 and probably his best opponent to date.

Menayothin likes a look at his guy and Juarez seems happy to co-operate in the first. Both light on their feet, nothing really happens, Jaurez probably takes it on the activity and the occasional cuffing left. Menayothin continues to "look" in the second, jabbing occasionally, married to a high, tight guard, Juarez is doing a little more...you can see now Menayothin trying to dial in the counter-right hand to the Juarez jab and i think they're positioning is getting closer...it is, and Juarez scores well with dual counters.

A good bouncing left hook from Jaurez is the best action of the round and spurs Menayothin into action. His response is two handed but he retreats again from exchanges, I think they are coming though. This leaping left hook is keeping Juarez right in it though. It's not exactly a gazelle punch but it's a chance taking punch against a fighter like Menayothin and it probably brings him the round. He's looking for a left round the corner to the body, too.

Juarez gives a lot of ground in the fourth and is starting to look disorganised. Menayothin is bringing insistant pressure and this ramps up the pace of the fight. Juarez is twice warned for low blows, correctly, but the fight is conducted in fine spirit. Menayothin has found his man now and wins the round with right hands, right hand counters and one-twos. But there are exchanges here and probably some key exists for Suarez if he can find it. That rather desperate looking left lead might not be it though.

Juarez begins the fourth trying to counter Menayothin's pressure left handed and swarm attacks when he gets inside. The swarming counter attack is good, the left hook not so much. Menayothin dominates outside and comes off at no worse even inside, so this is a disastrous pattern for the Mexican. Menayothin is countering Juarez's jab beautifully, right handed to the head, left handed to the body. Stunning accuracy with that body-shot. Man, he has all the shots to that body. But it's not a "body-attack" in the traditional sense, it's part of a quilt of punching that is keeping Juarez firmly guessing. Great round from Menayothin, excellent stuff.

Menayothin is like two fighters. The technically grounded one who is waiting and looking, and the turn tiger one who is happy to toss in a hard right hand at close quarters that looks like a swing. They compliment each otehr these styles. He has a fine boxing brain too, taking away Juarez's left in the sixth with right handed counters. He's finding the body regularly this round. Juarez has sort of been reduced to reacting. That Menayothin is dialled in is demonstrated by the opening of the seventh. He waits, waits, makes Juarez miss, waits, then lands a one-two over the top from distance. Juarez, bravely, keeps at it when Menayothin is quiet, especially and he might win resting rounds this way. But he's naturally been discouraged by Menayothin's discovery of him, which is about complete. He counters the right hand with a cuffing left hook. Counters thelunging left with a cuffing right. Meanwhile he is able to lead and land himself, quickness, accuracy and timing all perfected at this point.

Menayothin is springing in and out in the first minute of the eighth. Juarez is trying ot jab him. Juarez is changing up often enough that he's providing a test but Menayothin is just too good. Sudden jabs, lead right hands, he has success with all of it and Juarez is again reduced to waiting for chances and/or lunging. Both are going to get you nowhere against Menayothin. I think, to beat him, you need white-hot pressure, huge power, something like that, something extreme because he's excellent, absolutely excellent the full package in many ways. Whether it's the slow water torture of the jab or the sudden pain of that left hook to the body he know his business.

Juarez tries busy in the ninth but gets driven back by a right hand and speared by the jab. I think that he had a slightly better (losing) round than he has done throughout the fight though. This is too one-sided to be excellent but it's been great watching Menayothin push off Juarez and the different things he's tried. Very impressive performance against a good fighter. Why doesn't Menayothin fight good fighters more often though? Juarez probably edges the 11th and 12th close to make it a respectable 116-112 for me.

MENAYOTHIN:2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
JUAREZ:1,3,11,12

 

Juan Manuel Marquez UD12 Juan Diaz

Wouldn't want to be Diaz after that first fight. What do you do? At the opening Diaz wants to jab more. Horrible idea against Marquez, really, but I see what he means. Keep the action more limited until 8 or 9 then go for it. Diaz actualy does OK in the first, lands a few jabs and a series of cuffing lefts, but Marquez starts landing the single shots in the peace between attacks, as you'd imagine. That uppercut must be giving Diaz flashbacks.

Probably Max Kellerman said during this fight (I'm watching the Russian broadcast)"Sometimes...when two guys taste each other's power...in the ORIGINAL fight...they can't. Go through that. Again. So you end up with a fight that is contested less aggressively." And probably that's bull****. What's happening is, Marquez is dominating because Diaz is less aggressive because that didn't work for him. If he thought it would bring him the win he would fight with full aggression and Marquez would give him more of the same. Here, with Diaz trying to box, Marquez is just dominating the boxing which is all anyone would expect to see.

Some very neat punching at the end of the fourth while moving off the centre line might have bought Diaz the fourth however - maybe. Beautiful left uppercut straight right combo in the fifth puts Diaz on his heels and restores order, however. You get the impression that Marquez could hold this together for 25 rounds. Diaz's commitment to his jab is impressive though and it gets him somewhere i the sixth by my eye, but a horrible left hook with 20 second remaining of the round has him clinching then running, which is weird to see. He does well in the eighth, too, but Marquez is always going to find him with good punches under this strategy.

If Diaz was planning to launch himself at some point, the 10th is way overdue. But I think he does sneak that round on the uppped aggression which still doesn't meet any single round from the 1st fight. He tries a little harder in the eleventh, but Marquez knows he has the legs to give ground and the timing to score points. Still, the Diaz bodyattack is in danger of making these scorecards respectable.

DIAZ:4,10,11,12
MARQUEZ:1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,

8-4 Marquez. Not so much boring as consummate.