the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Vicente Saldivar WPTS 15 Howard Winstone II

That gorgeous jab probably wins Winstone the first, although it won him the first in the first fight also. Saldivar is putting the money in the bank with the bodyshots. Crowd loves Winstone's left handed work and he drops two good rights over in the second, too, but Saldivar is warming up a bit. Winstone is drawn into squabbles in the third. He loses these. He wants back on his bike that boy. It's not like he's getting beat up but he's not winning those exchanges. The best he's doing is an honourable draw. Still, he probably just shades the third which gives him a handy little lead.

Big fourth for Saldivar, but Winstone doesn't look rattled. He's still making room for himself with footwork, still raking out that jab. Watching the fifth, it's hard to see how this fight makes fifteen. Saldivar very clearly has his "clever boxing" pegged. Interesting that Sadlivar is hardly bothering with his own jab. He knows if he's going to chance it he's as well trying something bigger. Now i've said that he's started to fire it That left-hand to the torso Saldivar is throwing. Jeezus. Winstone has some great sucess in six though, both insdie with uppercuts to the body and outside with the jab. Even at mid-range where he lands two-handed. But by the end of the round he's been blattered back under control by the champ. It's all square after six. The difference, though, is that Winstone needs to take a moment when he ships a proper punch to the Mexican; Saldivar can keep working with impunity when he is landed upon by the Welshman. But Winstone has a wonderful eighth round to keep it close, the first round i scored him since the third. He fought a great, great ninth too but Saldivar landed the harder shots, finding his way inside with hurtful punches. There's the championship difference.

Winstone tends to lose passages when he tries to press which is very difficult or with this excellent fight headed where it's going. Trapped on the ropes he drops the eleventh and Sadlivar is out and ahead with four rounds remaining. Winstone just appears a little skittish now, like that bodywork Saldivar put in is having its affect. He's jabbing less, moving more, but he can't get away. Going into the 13th I have the Welshman in need of a knockout which you just know he isn't going to get. Disorganisation is a horrible state for a boxer to be in when he is up against a compact, aggressive genius type.

A hideous barrage of punches drops Winstone for nine with a minute remaining in the 14th. Saldivar drives him across the ring and nearly batters him through the ropes before unleashing the kind of beating that should have stopped the fight.

Great fight for such a one-sided scorecard.

SALDIVAR:4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,13,14,*15.
WINSTONE:1,2,3,8,

*Winstone down twice.

11-4 Saldivar.

 

Johnny Famechon UD15 Fighting Harada

Another wonderful left hand, and this one brings Famechon the first round. He boxes very like Ken Buchanan I think, but Harada will make you pay for an uneconomical moves. In the second, Harada barrels Faemchon back before dropping a donker of a right over the top to drop Famechon for a quick count. This is what happens to a fighter who rellies upon movement and speed, when he gets gotten he can suddenly look like a disorganised runner as opposed to an elegant boxer. The KD punch was looping and up round the ear and Famechon must be discombobulated. A similar punch sends Famechon spinning but not down in the third. Harada is just trying to glide in with multiple jabs though; Famechon should be able to counter that punch. Anyway or no he gets the jab going in the fourth and that opens up his footwork. Harada made the round extremely close with bodywork later in the round but I lean to the Australian. These rounds are so back-and-forth; Famechon rushes Harada to the floor though and Harada receives the count, so Famechon has sneaked into the lead with the third in. Lovely duck and move on the ropes at the end of the sixth to leave the round all square on my card. Harada just about shades the seventh with a body attack but it's not made easy by Famechon's constant movement and that troubling left. But it's the right that gives him the eighth a brutal punch, Famechon's best of the fight and it probably helped overhaul Harada's body attack. I think i'd have to give Famechon the ninth, too - Harada needs this tenth round. He just about gets it moving back to a head attack in the final thirty seconds of the round, landing two punches. But he's not landing that cleanly, these right hands aside. Weirdly, the body attack seems to have let him down a bit.

The flashing right hand to (anywhere on) the head is the punch for Harada now; it leaves him vulnerable to the jab though - so this is a classic battle for what remains. Harada takes a lead with a sizzling right hand that barrels Famechon over in a neutral corner and the fight, suddenly, is turned on its head. It's even in rounds, Harada ahead on the additional KD. Which thankfully makes the draw impossible. Famechon comes back determined and game in twelve, jabbing going away. So good that this fight has 15 rounds. Huge round for him to win, and he wins it. Very close thirteenth - i'm coming down for Famechon. All results still possible; Famechon wins the fourteenth out of sight, beats Harada hard, does damage, lands all punches - and then gets binned by another KD. Drama. It's just a leathal swinging right hand thrown from the boots, an ugly punch but a great one. Famechon is hurt.

So I have Harada winning on the strength of the two additional KDs, but no real problem with the official decision for Famo by one point.

HARADA:2*,3,7,10,11*,14*,15
FAMECHON:1,4,5**,8,9,12,13,
EVEN:6,



*Famechon down.
** Harada down

 

Barry McGuigan UD15 Eusebio Pedroza

What a night this was.

Pedroza wants to get on his bike and jab, obviously, then punch before grabbing inside. McGuigan is right after him though, quick across the canvas, quick punches with either hand. He's got the speed to keep Pedroza moving and moving and i'm sure he's already wishing he had fewer years in his legs. By the second, McGuigan is dialled in on the Pedroza movement, which is so so early; he's jabbing very well on the front foot and shooting out a nice right hand to the body. Pedroza just can't stop moving. When he does he gets clipped. When he's moving, things are very close to even, Pedroza probably shading the battle of the jabs, McGuigan pegging him back with that right hand. Very nice skill in the third as McGuigan leans back from the right-hand danger-zone and counters.

Pedroza stands his ground in the fourth in earnest for the first time, and he does brillliantly, thorwing uppercuts, a wide left to the body, he shades the exchange and then lands another uppercut but it's early to be abandoning the circling strategy adn go head-to-head and he is getting hit tot he body; all the while though sneaking in little hard uppercuts. The fifth is even better. Pedroza lands good punches including that flamboyant right to the body, McGuigan matches it with a left hook around the liver. McGuigan catches Pedroza with a hard punch at the bell of the sixth to make them even on my card.

In the seventh, things change. Pedroza beings very very badly, almost ominously, getting hit repeatedly by the jab on the way in, missing with a wild right to the body and taking one in turn. It's Pedroza's best round of the fight. Things only have to be a little different, maybe, for Pedroza to hold his title. But Pedroza sleepwalks back to his own corner half way through the round and McGuigan detonates a right on him. Pedroza is shaken after a quick count but gets his legs back under him to see out the round. Pedroza comes out very aggressively in the eighth, McGuigan is taken aback by the sharp straight punches. But he comes back strong; by the end, he is on top. He keeps coming up on the inside then dipping up and landing this little left hook. Not a huge punch, but a good clipping one. I really can't separate them in that round so it's going to be even, don't like doing it, but there it is.

Pedroza looks old in the corner.

The champ just isn't moving off as quickly as he was before. His upperbody movement is good, but he's holding his ground more and that means that every now and then the challenger lands a crackling shot. In hard to score rounds, these punches matter so much. Hurt again in the ninth, Pedroza is clearly behind going into a crucial tenth. It's one of the poorer rounds of the fight but Pedroza spends the first minute or so short of quality. For all that Barry is untidy too, I think, probably, he shaded it in the final seconds. This makes him a heavy, heavy favourite to win. He also looks the fresher of the two, although with Pedroza's deep tank and performances generally in the final five, he'll be cautious.

Pedroza shades the eleventh for me, in close, sneaky, clever punches, but his retreat now is disorganised and he's probably better holding his mark now. Although now i've typed that, Pedroza is moving well again and somehow winning this round. This means that I have Barry only two points ahead at the end of twelve.

Pedroza looks recovered and is experienced. McGuigan is not and the pace is telling on him too. His footwork is very good though, he's still keeping Pedroza in the line of fire, but Pedroza is coming back with very good punches. McGuigan finds a tired Pedroza inside though and for a moment it looks like the champion might go, but once more he comes back. Pedroza now needs a KO on my card. I gave a close and untidy fourteenth to McGuigan on the pressure, too. The fifteenth also. He's just stronger now, notably so. Extraordinary stuff though.


MCGUIGAN:2,3,6,7*,9,10,13,14,15
PEDROZA:1,4,5,11,12,
EVEN:8.

*Pedroza down.

145-140 McGuigan

 

Erik Morales UD12 Guty Espadas Jnr.

Morales starts pretty tentatively, for him, but he follows the punches in and lands enough leather to take the first. He's more aggressive in the second round and I think wins it a little more clearly despite some great pressure from Espadas late. Familiar sound of Morales' corner begging him not to trade

They do trade less in the third, though it's still lively; and I reckon Esapdas maybe nicks it on the workrate and press. Twitchy fourth, but Morales probably nicks it with some neat bodywork including a right uppercut to the torso. Morales getting that fast footwork behind a straight right at the beginning of the fifth. Then he snipes from a low position with another lead right, lands. Espadas is coming on but he could do with being a bit more careful about it - he should be moving his head or something. Espadas does take the sixth though to keep Morales in sight. The seventh, then, has the feel of a key round. Espadas took it despite a brutal rally form Morales. Espadas isn't doing all that much but until the last minute Morales did almost nothing. So this fight is there to be won. And all even after 8. I don't have Morales winning one since 5.

Beautiful right uppercut from Morales after fifty seconds, thrown while moving away, back to the ropes. This is what he needs now. He's also getting the straight right over for the first time in a while (he has had success with the left hook). Booming right hand with 1:00 left.

Oh, straight right to the body then another over the top. Morales is sleepy for this one but that's a beautiful two-piece. The rest of the round is closeish, but Morales has seen this off now I think. Only needs one more round to close it up.

Morales starts the eleventh brightly, but Espadas ends up dominating him with roughouse bodywork at the ropes. Morales looks tired. I'm surprised. One round left - Morales for the win, Espadas for the draw. Morales begins by missing. Espadas is dropping a jab following it up with bodywork...Morales looks shattered. He's doing nothing. Espadas catches him with the big round. That's an Espadas round and a draw.

MORALES:1,2,4,5,9,10,
ESPADAS:3,6,7,8,11,12

 

Marco Antonio Barrera UD12 Prince Naseem Hamed

I remember watching this fight live, thinking that Hamed would be good because he just looked like he had the distance pegged. He was "hanging" into the range with his right and i just thought he would land more punches, off the bat. I was disabused by those left hooks and then that right in the first round. Still, Hamed could hold a punch. He needs to in this round. He gets hit. A lot.

Barrera has his hands high, he's compact, neat, he's boxing properly with proper respect for the opponent's punching power while Nas just fannies about as he always did, hands low, big punches, relying on speed, speed of hand and speed of reaction. Barrera has his number.

Barrera is just too accurate. When Hamed ditches the right, he's off balance and out of position for the left, which will land. He's also having weird success showing Hamed the shoulder when he misses; turning away from the right hand and the left seems to just go whistling by. So Nas is off the pace, not at his best, that is clear. He lands on the inside though, with a very good punch - probably enough to take a scrappy, boring round.

In the seventh, Nas is trying to jab more, not sure it goes great, Barrera is still working well with his jab. But that's a closer round I think. I have this uncomfortably wide now. I wish Hamed would win a round. I think he arguably got the eighth, he's fighting contrarily now though, coming forwards, trying to score a traditional jab while Barrera, weirdly, counters with lead power punches. Total role reversal.

Oh **** MOTD, i'll finish this in a mo.

Resuming.

Nas is landing now, but here's Barrera coming back with his own good punches every time. The experience of the Morales fight telling, perhaps. Hamed maybe took that one though.

Barrera just winding down the fight using Nas's aggression against him, taking advantage of his opportunities to punch, remaining disciplined in defence.

BARRERA:1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,11,12*
HAMED:5,10,

*Barrera has a point deducted for ramming Hamed's head into the turnbuckle and supposedly screaming "Who's your daddy??" at him

So, 117-110 i think, what a hiding.