the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Oscar De La Hoya vs Fernando Vargas

A pretty cool fight to revisit. Although it ends in a KO the scorecards are a SD at the time of stoppage. 2 for Oscar by a pt and the 3rd with Vargas up 3 (not sure I see that one lol?) I had a draw, but can’t see a case for Fernando...fortunatit didn’t need to go to the cards.

Some real nice back and forth ebbs and flows and momentum shifts here. Oscar does well circling and moving outboxing (but comoetuve exchanges for both guys) Vargas in the canter of the ring. Vargas hurts Oscar in the first and third, and controls the action 1-3-5-6 when he is able to get Oscar to the ropes. Oscar does a good job of moving and slipping out of the corners while Vargas does a nice job pressuring and stalking but is just not able to cut the ring off or keep Oscar in the corner/ropes enough. By 7-8 Oscar is taking control and it looks like Vargas is on his way out. But in 9 Vargas digs deep and outboxes Oscar, turning the tide again. It looks like in 10 Vargas has regained control but Oscar catches him good towards the end of the round and Vargas is stunned! A very patient Oscar probes continuously before landing a perfect left hook that drops Vargas. Vargas is shot...DLH patiently fires away and then Vargas to the ropes and Oscar pounces and overwhelms until Cortez jumps in and waves it off! TKO Oscar round 11.

RBR
1 Vargas
2 Oscar
3 Vargas
4 Oscar
5 Vargas
6 Vargas
7 Oscar
8 Oscar
9 Vargas
10 Oscar
95-95 at time of stoppage! Good fight to revisit.

 

Sugar Shane Mosley vs Oscar De La Hoya I

Very fun fight to watch with some real good exchanges and their styles mesh perfectly. I have now scored this 3 x’s and have a different result 1 for Shane by a pt 1 draw and now Oscar by 1. I think the Shane SD is a good decision either way.

Good tactical matchup between oscars jab and left hook and Mosley’s over hand right, and right cross. Shane slips into and out of southpaw and changes the speed and tempo, but I feel Oscar got the better of those situations. Mosley comes on over the last 4 to steal the win or make it close depending on your cards.

1 Shane
2 Oscar
3 Oscar
4 Oscar
5 Shane
6 Oscar
7 Oscar
8 Oscar
9 Shane
10 Shane
11 Oscar
12 Shane
Oscar 115-113 this time

 

The Felix Trinidad - Fernando Vargas jr. middleweight fight. Here we go.

Round 1: 10-7 Trinidad (scores 2 knockdowns)
Round 2: 10-9 Trinidad
Round 3: 10-10 Even
Round 4: 10-7 Vargas (scores a knockdown and 1 point deducted from Trinidad for a low-blow)
Round 5: 10-9 Vargas
Round 6: 10-9 Trinidad
Round 7: 9-9 Even (scored for Trinidad but penalized another point for a low-blow)
Round 8: 10-9 Trinidad
Round 9: 10-9 Trinidad
Round 10: 10-8 Trinidad (Vargas penalized 1 point for a low-blow)
Round 11: 10-9 Trinidad
Round 12: Trinidad stops Vargas

Total through 11 completed rounds: 105-99 Trinidad

My scorecard was pretty much in line with the other judges and Harold Lederman's card. I scored the 3rd round even whereas 2 judges gave it to Trinidad and one to Vargas. The only issue we had where I am in the minority was the 11th that I gave to Trinidad and they all gave to Vargas. So I watched the 11th a second time and I still felt Trinidad took that round, albeit closely. Anyways, that's my score and I can see you and I are very close here Philly as well as you scoring the 11th for Tito. That's what I call watching the same fight.

 

Shane Mosley vs Oscar De La Hoya 2

Not a bad fight but not worth rewatching unless you are going through some of their fights like I am. Tale of 2 fights this time. Oscar outboxes Shane early and Shane outworks Oscar late. Oscar seemed to get tired and didn’t show much over the final 4 rounds, but his early lead led to a draw on my card....the judges saw it different.

HBO commentary is dreadful in both fights. Merchant just doe not know.:::well pretty much anything boxing related. And his reflections on previous fights is seldom accurate it is almost laughable until you realize 1 he gets paid for this, and boxing fans repeat this drivel over the next 10-20+ years and then our forum becomes a swamp of woefully inaccurate opinions.

Oh well onto joe Cortez! Can’t stand him, and while this was one of his better jobs he is still to vocal visible and involved in the action.

RBR
1 Oscar
2 Oscar
3 Shane
4 Oscar
5 Shane
6 Oscar
7 Oscar
8 Oscar
9 Shane
10 Shane
11 Shane
12 Shane
114-114

 

I need to tackle this one, Philly. When I watched t first time around I felt Oscar deserved it but didn't put pen to paper. Will have to have a go at it.

 

So did I mate....be warned it is not exciting lol. But the commentary team thinks Oscar won as well. Anyway I had Oscar up 6-2 after 8 but had Shane take the final 4. If you give one of those 4 to Oscar you should have an Oscar card. I would have a hard time making a case for Shane winning though.

 

Antonio Margarito vs Miguel Cotto I

Forget all the controversy that would come out after Margarito Mosley this was a heck of a fun fight.

Cotto boxes brilliantly for 5 rounds, but the body attack pressure and all out assault from Margarito is brutal down the stretch.

Cotto boxes brilliantly early sticking and moving keeping off of the ropes, but around round 4-5 he is taking 2 minutes or so of the round and can no longer get away during the final minute. Margo is throwing 100-130 punches per round and all with bad intentions. Cotto makes him miss a lot and his D and head body movement is excellent and Margarito only lands about 20%, but by round 6 that percentage begins to climb and Cotton workrate is cut in half as he is so busy trying to move all round. 6-8 Margo is all over Cotto who scores some good exchanges but is in survival mode and getting the worst of it. Rd 9 is close and Cotto more successful at moving and not getting pinned in the corner, and it’s a close round for either guy. Round 10 Cotto in survival mode again but has a slight edge for 2+ minutes but Margarito catches him and hurts him and takes the round. Round 11 Cotto is done retreats to the ropes and takes a knee under a barrage....again retreats to the corner and drops to a knee again....the corner waves it off

I came away, even this second time impressed by Cottos boxing and movement as well as accuracy and clean punching. Margarito impresses with that chin (not once did he even look fazed) and absorbs big shots like nothing and man his punch output was off the charts good throwing 100+ in nearly every round.

Margarito looked a good 10 lbs heavier and much larger? Not sure what actual fight weights were?

Either way if you can enjoy this fight without dwelling on the later hand wrap issue and whether it happens here as well this is a fun fight to revisit!

RBR
1 Cotto
2 Margarito
3 Cotto
4 Cotto
5 Cotto
6 Margarito
7 Margarito
8 Margarito
9 Cotto
10 Margarito
Margarito TKO 11 in a very fun fight

 

Shane Mosley vs Antonio Margarito

The hand wrap controversy comes to light. Was this a one time infraction I will leave to others to debate. As a fight this was a very fun one sided dismantling of Antonio at the hands of Shane.

Shane begins boxing as brilliantly as perhaps he has since his LW days. He one ups Cotto in that not only is he outboxing Margarito he has cut Margarito’s output in half. He successfully ties him up any time he does not like the way it is going and then lands and moves again. He outphysicals Antonio in wrestling and infighting. He never lets Antonio get set or comfortable enough to establish a rhythm.

The 2 things that impressed me most were Mosley’s jab which may be as good as he has thrown in years. And his infighting. It seemed Margarito wanted a midrange firefight, but Shane dominated the infighting and Margarito couldn’t seem to get any leverage with his longer arms at this range.

Masterpiece by Shane on par with any other great dismantling of a quality opponent!

RBR
1-6 Shane
7 Margarito
8 Shane 10-8
Shane TKO 9 79-72 on my card

 

Ben Villaflor vs Kuniaki Shibata I

Decent tactical steategic fight. To me the story lines of this fight are Villaflor seems a little lethargic especially early. He practically gives away the first 4 rounds and by virtue the entire fight IMO.

Combined with the solid defense and quick combinations of Shibata especially in the rounds where he was not pressured.

If Ben fought like the final 5 rounds he may have won this. But he seldom made Shibata uncomfortable and it would cost him his belt.

RBR
1 Shibata
2 Shibata
3 Shibata
4 Shibata
5 Villaflor
6 Villaflor
7 Villaflor
8 Shibata
9 Shibata
10 Villaflor
11 Shibata
12 Villaflor
13 Villaflor
14 Villaflor
15 Shibata

Shibata 68-67

 

Kuniaki Shibata vs Victor Frederico Eschegaray

Very cool tactical strategic fight.

Eschegaray who I have never watched before has a jab among the best I have seen. He almost won this fight behind a jab 95% of the time.

Shibata is constantly thinking and adapting a brilliant boxer defensively moving skillfully and countering in quick combination flashes and moving out of range always disrupting your rhythm.

Very cool fight! Check it out if you haven’t seen it.

2 KD’s by Shibata in the final round seal the fight. Eschegaray argues both of them, but they look legit to me and there should have been a 3rd between when his glove touches the canvas.

I don’t know how to score the 15th with the 5 pt system in place, so I just have it 9-6 in rounds

1 Shibata
2 Shibata
3 Shibata
4 Eschegaray
5 Shibata
6 Eschegaray
7 Shibata
8 Eschegaray
9 Shibata
10 Eschegaray
11 Shibata
12 Shibata
13 Eschegaray
14 Eschegaray
15 Shibata (+ 2 KD’s)

 

Kuniaki Shibata vs Ernesto Marcel

Once again the word robbery gets tossed around to liberally for my taste. I have heard for years that this fight is a robbery? I don’t get it! To me the 6 pt 11-4 card for Marcel is the closest thing to a robbery here. I can see a draw or 2-3 pts for either guy.

Robbery aside this is a technical masterpiece with some good clean punching but no real fireworks. Both guys are to good defensively and counter punching for that to happen....along with the fact that they paced themselves from the start. Many rounds saw them circle and probe for a minute to a minute and a half before exploring aggressively offensively. In many of the rounds first half of the fight Shibata would fight for 2 minutes and Marcel coming on strong the final minute better. Making them close to score...

I felt Marcel won 4 rounds cleanly and 12-13-15 emphatically with Shibata only taking one prettt clearly giving the illusion of a one sided fight if you don’t score in 15 isolated compartments.

Great technical fight for fans of the sweet science! I wish these guys had fought 2-3,times.

RBR
1 Shibata
2 Marcel
3 Marcel
4 Shibata
5 Shibata
6 Marcel 4-4 pt deducted
7 Shibata
8 Shibata
9 Marcel
10 Marcel
11 Shibata
12 Marcel
13 Marcel
14 Shibata
15 Marcel
67-67 Draw

Marcel winning 5 of the final 7 also makes it look like he won cleanly if you discount the close early rounds...the pt he had deducted (lame IMO) sealed a draw on my card. I had Marcel 8-7 in rounds and that pt was a killer.

 

Fidel Bassa vs Dave McAuley I

This is the fight of the year 1987...or it should have been but I guess Hagler Leonard was much more exciting....

What a gutsy performance from both guys who could have succumbed earlier in this fight.

Bassa scores a quick KD in rd 1 and builds an early lead throygh 2. It looks like McAuley is in over his head. McAuley lands a punch that drops Bassa....except it never looks like a punch landed lol....never seen anything like this. But Bassa is wobbly from a punch that seems not to exist? There are 3 potential KD’s from McAuley during the fight a 2nd in 3, rd 6 and 13 early? But none of those get ruled a KD for some reason?

McAuley wins rounds 4-5 but does not seem to pressure Bassa enough during these 2 rounds where he still looks visibly out of it from the phantom KD and a second that was not counted. McAuley seemed like he could have ended it or put some serious wear and tear on Bassa but let it slip away. Round 6 McAuley and looks like a clean clear KD sends Bassa to a knee but again not scored as a KD?

Rounds 7-8 Bassa has his legs back and gets into a nice rhythm. Bassa deductedca pt after rd 6.....McAuley looks tired and I have doubts he can last much longer.

9 McAuley lands a beautiful right and sends Bassa down again! And follows it up with another. Not sure how Bassa survived this round.

10-12 Bassa gets it back together during 2 close rounds, and Fidel takes over in the 12th and while both guys are fatigued it looks like McAuley is running on fumes.

13 Bassa goes down, but again not ruled (I couldn’t tell if this was one or not?)...McAuley has nothing left, and Bassa drops him. Corner throws in the towel but I don’t think he could have gotten up anyway.

Game challenge from McAuley and a value to effort from both guys. Fun fight that everyone should enjoy!!!?

1 Bassa 10-8
2 Bassa
3 McAuley 10-8
4 McAuley
5 McAuley
6 McAuley
7 Bassa 9-9
8 Bassa
9 McAuley
10 Bassa
11 Bassa
12 Bassa
Bassa by TKO 13 while behind on my card 111-112, as well as all 3 judges by 3-2-2 they scored a few even round 4-3-3 by their scoring. I had 6 close rounds with 3 for each guy? I assume they had 2 of my close Bassa rounds even and 1 of my close McAuley rounds even to get to their scores.

Fun fight to check out if you haven’t seen it before

 

Fidel Bassa vs Dave McAuley II

Meh....fought at a higher skill level perhaps but lacked the fireworks and excitement of the first fight. McAuley seemed confused and never really got comfortable attacking outside of the 11th rd and by then the fight was settled.

Dirty fight with lots of uncalled fouls head butts clinching incessantly from both guys and both of them holding behind the neck while punching a few seperate Times. Definitely did not live up to my hopes after watching the first fight.

Bassa adjusted brilliantly from the first fight and Dave never seemed to even be in this fight


RBR
1 Bassa
2 EVEN
3 Bassa
4 Bassa
5 Bassa
6 Bassa
7 McAuley
8 Bassa
9 Bassa 10-8
10 Bassa
11 McAuley
12 McAuley
117-111 Bassa

The judges had this fight much closer than me...even the British commentary felt like Bassa dominated lol

 

Jung Koo Chang vs German Torres

Wow this is a one sided beat down from Chang. Torres seems ill prepared to face change pressure and unsettled throughout the fight as he gamely tries to get into it only to be thwarted at every turn.

Tony Perez is a horrible ref and has no control over this fight, freeing Chang to use some rough dirty tactics and make no mistake Chang is a dirty S O B! Clinching/wrestling head butts hitting on the break holding the back of the head while punching rabbit punches galore throwing the other guy to the canvas repeatedly. This is a brutal assault and may be the most dominant I have seen Chang look against a quality fighter.

Torres never gets into this fight and outside ofcwinning a few sequences and exchanges in a few rounds....wow...this is all Chang

Sprinkled in with the rough house tactics and unearned fouls (1 penalty lol), it is all Chang. Chang brings intelligent intense pressure right out of the gate throwing punches from all angles. Moving out of range where Torres can’t land. Torres stalks and as soon as he gets in range Chang springs like a cobra coiled springing really quick and is inside backing torres up before he can get going...rinse and repeat over and over and over. Torres has a few (alright very few) sequences where he stalks moving forward and lands good before Chang thwarts him over and over again.

RBR
1 Chang
2 Chang
3 Chang
4 Chang
5 Chang 9-9
6 Chang
7 Chang
8 Chang
9 Chang
10 Chang 10-7
11 Chang
12 Even
Jung Koo Chang 119-107 on my card.

 

Jung Koo Chang vs German Torres II

A controversial decision and deservedly so. A MD for Chang and while I don’t disagree I did have 5 close rounds for Chang and 4 close rounds for Torres....this could go either way and if not in Korea the decision may have gone the other way.

This is 2 seperate fights the first 6 rounds Chang does not bring pressure like he did in the first fight and Torres does not seem overwhelmed by the moment this time. The 2nd half some great midrange and infighting mixed with some dirty fouls along the way. Chang is given a lot of latitude with punching behind the head etc. one blatant power punch to the back of Torres head barely draws a warning.

Good tough fight down the stretch. I felt Torres won 1 clear (not wide but not a lot of action) and Chang clearly won 6/9 but the other 9 rounds is anybody’s guess and I have no confidence in my card. This type of fight gives me an appreciation for the hard job judges have.

RBR
1 Torres
2 Chang
3 Torres
4 Torres
5 Chang
6 Chang
7 Torres
8 Chang
9 Chang
10 Torres
11 Chang
12 Chang 115-113 on my card

If you watch this one please give me a shout! I would love to see your card as I found this one very hard to score!