the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Chris Eubank v Michael Watson I

Round 1: 10-10 Even
Round 2: 10-9 Eubank
Round 3: 10-10 Even
Round 4: 10-9 Eubank
Round 5: 10-9 Eubank
Round 6: 10-9 Watson
Round 7: 10-9 Eubank
Round 8: 10-10 Even
Round 9: 10-9 Eubank
Round 10: 10-9 Watson
Round 11: 10-10 Even
Round 12: 10-9 Eubank

Total: 118-114 Eubank

Actual scores: 116-113, 115-113 both for Eubank and a 114-114 Even card for a majority win for Eubank.

To begin, I did a little check of the history on this thread and found our posters at 3-2-1 for Eubank (excluding my card), so it is a controversial fight, as one can see by my 4 even rounds. But let me start with Watson. I've seen him fight twice against Benn and McCallum, but I was unimpressed here. Eubank fought in bursts and Watson stuck with fundamentals, but he fought with no fire and his jab appeared to me like it was always coming up a bit short. It was touching Eubank, but just. And those last four rounds where Eubank was clearly fatigued, it was Eubank flailing like a desperate man trying to hold onto his bauble rather than Watson trying to take it. Watson caught a lot of Eubank's blows on his arms but he needed to fight with a bit more fire, which made the difference on my card.

 

Emile Griffith v Luis Rodriguez 3

A better fight than their turgid second encounter that I watched yesterday, this one was largely fought on the outside with Griffith keeping his distance this time, rather than rushing in. It got a bit scrappy again towards the end but Rodriguez edged this on my card due to his superior infighting and keeping a slightly higher punch output than Griffith. It wasn't easy to score though and there were plenty of ambiguous rounds as reflected by the 3 evens rounds I scored.

Not a classic by any means, but aesthetically an improvement over their previous fight.

1 10-9
2 10-9 (good start from Griffith)
3 10-10
4 9-10
5 10-9
6 10-10 (very tight and close)
7 9-10
8 9-10
9 10-10
10 9-10 (Rodriguez edged it with his body attack)
11 10-9 (close, bit scrappy)
12 9-10
13 10-9 (very close, swing round)
14 9-10
15 9-10

Griffith 143-145 Rodriguez

7-5 in rounds to Rodriguez with 3 even.

 

I had their 3rd fight 8-3-4 for Rodriguez. Both the AP and UPI had it 8-6-1 for Rodriguez.

 

Bernardo Pinango UD 15 Frankie Duarte

Travesty. Prime example of the ever-corrupt WBA taking care of their Venezuelan compatriot. Blatantly foul, and the bout was held in Duarte's native L.A. no less. Here's how I had this:

1. P
2. D, 10-8 (round taken early from Pinango for low blows.
3. D
4. D, 10-8 (another point taken for low blow)
5. P
6. P
7. P
8. D, 10-8 (yet another point taken)
9. D
10. P
11. D, 10-8 ( knockdown! Duarte surging)
12. P
13. D
14. P
15. P

142-139, Duarte

Messy fight, but dramatic because of the heartwarming story of Duarte's return from the depths of drug addiction to return at the age of 32 to finally challenge for a world title. The announcing team was the house team of Rich Marotta and Ruben Castillo, who did all the fights at the Inglewood Forum, which was Duarte's home court. They were rather shameless in plugging for Duarte.

Pinango was slow and odd in his delivery; after jabbing, he'd sort of lob overhand rights while leaning to his left, perhaps to negate the counter hook coming back at him, but it looked strange. Duarte, cut badly around both eyes, was a mask of blood in the second half of the bout. He chugged forward and rattled Pinango on numerous occasions, dictating the tempo almost all the way. Mathematically, the only way the official scores made sense is if you gave Pinango every round in which he did not have a point deducted or was knocked down. The scores were:

142-141
145-140 ( jesus)
143-140

Disgusting decision, taken from a guy that had earned his shot and really took advantage of the opportunity. He was very simply never going to be allowed to win a decision no matter what, that much was obvious.

 

Here is how I had it and what I wrote:

Round 1: 10-9 Pinango
Round 2: 9-9 Even (I scored for Pinango but he lost a point for a low blow)
Round 3: 10-9 Duarte
Round 4: 10-8 Duarte (Pinango loses another point for a low blow)
Round 5: 10-10 Even
Round 6: 10-9 Pinango
Round 7: 10-9 Pinango
Round 8: 10-9 Duarte (the version I saw had the first 2 minutes of the round, which I scored even but Pinango loses yet another point for a low blow)
Round 9: 10-9 Pinango
Round 10: 10-9 Duarte
Round 11: 10-9 Pinango
Round 12: 10-8 Duarte (Duarte scores a knockdown)
Round 13: 10-10 Even
Round 14: 10-9 Duarte
Round 15: 10-10 Even

Total: 144-141 Duarte

Duarte got robbed IMO! The WBA brought in their own Latin judges and I felt ripped Frankie off. I cannot make a case with the points deducted plus the knockdown on how one could have given this to Pinango. I think what really sticks with me is how two of them had it comfortably for Pinango, not even close. A closer scrutiny shows the one official Juan Mayo, who scored it widest for Pinango, never officiated in a bout before or after this fight. He had to be some WBA lackey whom they needed to balance the scales the 'right way.'

 

I must have written at least the knockdown round down wrong! My final score I'm sure is right, but not sure now about the order of the rounds after a certain point.

 

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1977-09-17,

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LHW Title
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Round 1: López 10-9, clear.
Round 2: López 10-9, swing.
Round 3: Galíndez 10-9, clear.
Round 4: Lopez 10-9, close.
Round 5: Lopez 10-9, close.
Round 6: Galíndez 10-9, close.
Round 7: Galíndez 10-9, close.
Round 8: López 10-9, swing.
Round 9: Galíndez 10-9, clear.
Round 10: Galíndez 10-9, clear.
Round 11: Galíndez 10-9, close.
Round 12: López 10-9, swing.
Round 13: López 10-9, swing.
Round 14: Galíndez 10-9, close.
Round 15: Galíndez 10-9, swing.

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Early on, López was the active fighter who was leading the action, working a nice lead and firing back when Galíndez looks for counters. As it progresses, Galíndez figures he needs to quit sitting back, and take it to López. When he did, he started winning the rounds. López nicely adapting, and starting dance Galíndez's dance, made the last 3/4 rounds very competitive and difficult to score.

Yeah, certainly not the robbery I've heard of, or even close to one. Close decision? Sure. Worthy of a few boos? Sure, why not? But a robbery? Nah, mate. Yeah there's a bunch of swing rounds but I gave more of them to López anyway... I guess I'll have a gander through the old FOTW tomorrow.

Awesome two-way technical fight, though. Very nice skills showcased here, lovely variation and diverse skills from Galíndez, lovely left from López.

 

Right, so I did some checking and it's the second fight which is controversial. Not this one.

 

Good post which I appreciate. A lot of myths have been allowed to build up around this fight - mainly that it was a highway job, and that everyone at the time thought and said so. Neither are true. I think the fact that Watson was so close to glory in the rematch (I honestly didn't give Eubank any of the first ten rounds there) and the general wave of sympathy for him feed into these myths of the first fight - not helped, either, by Ian Darke's irresponsible call for BBC Radio that, "Watson has been plain robbed!" which has become something of a soundbite when this fight gets brought up. If you watch the ITV broadcast, all three of their commentators (McGuigan, McDonnell and someone else who I can't remember at the minute) said while they were waiting for the verdict that they wouldn't like to pick a winner, and that a draw might be the fairest result.

As you say, Eubank wasn't too busy but Watson wasn't really adapting to his movement or landing anything clean with any regularity, especially for the first six or seven rounds. Watson was definitely the better man in the second half of the fight, and had good, pretty clear rounds in 9 and 11 in my opinion, and Eubank at times did look very tired with his technique falling to bits. But a good finish for Watson doesn't necessarily cancel out a poor start.

Last time I scored, I had 115-114 to Eubank. I gave him rounds 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 12. I had the 11th even and Watson took the rest. As you allude to there were a lot of low-quality, close rounds so I wouldn't really object to anyone having it close (two rounds absolute max) for Watson or whatever. But this fight was no robbery.

 

With Ricky Hatton being thrown into a couple of recent threads here, I thought it'd be a good time to revisit his fight against Luis Collazo, one I haven't seen since it took place but which I've been meaning to take a second look at for ages. Everyone knows it was a close one but I don't remember too much uproar at the time, but sure enough after Hatton's fall from grace I saw more and more posts referring to this one as a robbery, Hatton being exposed etc. etc. Time to see if those claims stand up to scrutiny.

First off - this was a poor fight, a pretty forgettable contest. Lots of huff, puff and desire, but not much quality or prolonged spells of real action. This was Hatton's first Welterweight contest at anything more than regional level. Collazo was a genuine, quite big Welter, and this was also the first time in a few years (and first time at anything like world level) that Hatton had boxed a southpaw, so not an easy assignment.

I had Hatton winning this fight by the skin of his teeth, 114-113. The knockdown in the first few seconds obviously making the difference on my card. Needless to say, there were two or three very close, ugly rounds which could have gone to either man, so Hatton couldn't have had any complaints if a tight one had gone against him.

But Collazo should have been kicking himself after this, because Hatton was there for the taking if he'd have started a little quicker and fought with a bit more strategy. Hatton looked technically horrible in this fight - no head movement at all, barely throwing a jab on his way in, leaping in with wide shots and even struggling on the inside after the first few rounds. He also looked tired and a bit weaker down the stretch (reflecting that 140 background) and was legitimately hurt in the last round, having to hold to buy time to clear his head.

Hatton started well, not just with the knockdown but in the first two rounds generally. He used the uppercuts, got Collazo to the ropes, put together some decent combinations switching between head and body. But he used a lot of energy in those rounds pushing for an early finish and looked like he needed a second wind in the next few rounds. Collazo was way too open in the early stages and spend too much time on the ropes, trying to best Hatton inside, and didn't really settle into his boxing until the fifth round. But when he did he looked much the better fighter, landing the jab, walking Hatton on to some nice shots, pivoting away from trouble etc. Collazo was clearly on top in 5 and 6. Round 7 was close, but then he lulled badly in 8 and 9 and gave Hatton the momentum back. Those rounds were ugly as hell, no quality to speak of, but Hatton was just outworking him. It wasn't until the twelfth that Collazo started boxing clever again and putting together some speedy threes or fours, but it was too little, too late for me - just.

Not a robbery, but Collazo was the architect of his own downfall to some extent. This was arguably the worst winning performance of Hatton's career - certainly his championship career - and on the back of this it's amazing that anyone really gave him a chance against Mayweather at Welter the following year.

R1: Hatton (10-8)
R2: Hatton (Hatton started the round well, let Collazo back into it late)
R3: Collazo
R4: Hatton (close)
R5: Collazo
R6: Collazo
R7: Collazo (close)
R8: Hatton
R9: Hatton
R10: Collazo
R11: Hatton
R12: Collazo

114-113. Won't be in a rush to give it a third viewing!

 

Mike McCallum vs Herol Graham

Round 1: 10-9 Graham
Round 2: 10-9 Graham
Round 3: 10-9 McCallum
Round 4: 10-9 Graham
Round 5: 10-9 Graham
Round 6: 10-9 Graham
Round 7: 10-9 McCallum
Round 8: 10-8 McCallum
Round 9: 10-9 McCallum
Round 10: 10-9 McCallum
Round 11: 10-9 McCallum
Round 12: 10-9 Graham

114-113 McCallum

 

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1986-08-03,

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SFW Title

Round 1: Lockridge 10-9, clear.
Round 2: Chavez 10-9, close.
Round 3: Lockridge 10-9, swing
Round 4: Chavez 10-9, close.
Round 5: Lockridge 10-9, close.
Round 6: Chávez 10-9, clear.
Round 7: Chávez 10-9, clear.
Round 8: Chávez 10-9, clear.
Round 9: Chávez 10-9, close.
Round 10: Even 10-10, swing.
Round 11: Lockridge 10-9, close.
Round 12: Chávez 10-9, swing.

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Fun fight, very watchable and not that hard to score, although there was a few swing rounds. Excellent movement and timing from Chávez, good chin and heart from Rocky.

 

Julio Cesar Chavez vs Roger Mayweather 1

JCC : Mayweather

1: 9 - 10
JCC trying to adjust to Roger's jab, but is having trouble despite his parrying.
2: KO
Brutal right hands end it.

Notes:

• Chavez struggles early, but timed in beautiful right hands to hurt and KO the much longer Roger, who apparently had a 76 inch reach!