the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Zab Judah SD12 Lucas Martin Matthysse

Another controversial one. Super-slick but past-his-best Zan Judah meets the younger, stronger puncher Lucas Matthysse.

Probably Judah poaches the first on the left hand, looks spritely, moving well. I definitely didn't see this fight first time around so i'm interested. Lucas is crude, beatable, but finishes his career with a comparable 140lbs resume. Difficult second round to score, I think that Lucas probably edged it with straight right hands to the body, oftenblocked or partially blocked, and a delightful little left hook below the elbow. Lucas's corner is certainly delighted after this round.

Very tough third. Zab, who is having good luck with his jab, sucks up some body shots but seems to buzz Lucas with an uppercut near the end of the round; i'm going to give it to Zab but it's arguable. I also have him taking the fourth round on the jab. He's giving Lucas different looks, still fast enough to square up defensively with a view to countering hard when he knows the shot but maybe not quite fast enough to severely punish Lucas, a fighter I guess he would have found throughout when younger. Not that he looks that old in round five, catching Lucas with a variety of punches to out-point him in his type of round, busier, with opportunity for power punching. Judah has a meaningful lead at 4-1 and the sixth and seventh are huge rounds in this fight. Lucas is investing in the body big and Judah is no spring chicken. A fade is on the cards, so Zab needs to bank rounds.

They split them which kicks the can down the road but to be honest, Lucas has just about run out of time, though he does have that equaliser. And there it is! Lucas wins the ninth, narrowly, but in the tenth a glorious straight right has Zab chicken-dancing once again, doing the moonwalk in fact, before taking a knee at the ropes, good discipline by Lucas not to hit him as he goes/when he's gone. Zab untidily tries to fight through the disaster but Lucas unperturbed. Suddenly, Lucas can win it by taking the 11th and 12th.

He does this, pretty clearly, for a 114-113 win on my card. A little unlucky not to get the nod here, but no robbery.

Judah:1,3,4,5,7,8
Matthysse:2,6,9,10*,11,12

*Judah down.

 

****REPOST***

Rafael Herrera SD12 Chucho Castillo

This is a great wee scrap. The first clinch between the two is in the twelfth round, and although it takes a couple of rounds to boil up, when it reaches melting point we really have a cracking fight on our hands. It's rare to see such a wonderful fight between two guys who respect each other so much, and by round 10 they've pretty much feinted and punched each other into knots, but duke it out anyway with the fight perhaps in the balance.

Castillo dominates the first two rounds with his left hand. It's a lovely weapon, and for a while he boxes with it on a par with Kenny Buchanan or somebody like that, tossing in a beautiful short hook, not a full-blooded punch but neither is it a jab, and that's the shot he uses to dominate the first - switching to the jab in round 2. Herrera succeeds in taking this punch away from him though, with his own jab and a slight advantage in handspeed - his punches also look slightly shorter and crisper generally, nipping in often before Castillo can execute his own punch. There's absolutely no pawing though, it's a thudding weapon, and i'm surprised Castillo wasn't more busted up by this punch at the end of the fight, it watched like Chucho should have been more heavily marked up. As well as using his own jab to throw of Castillo, Herrera lands with frightening economy in the third, and Castillo looks a little unsure. For a spell of maybe 90 seconds, Herrera lands everything he throws and he has his opponents guessing. Generally the more economical man throughout, round three (also one of the fight's crucial inflection points) is in some ways his pinnacle.

Herrera adds dimensions in the fourth, winning it with aggression and short bodypunches, but he also shows a lovely radar, slipping back and adding excellent upper body and head movement to take the sting out of most of Castillo's good work. There's a real ebb and flow to this fight, and this is a round where Herrera excels at making his opponent miss, generally landing his own best shots.

His domination continues into the sixth, and Castillo looks worn out at the end of this one, but he is fighting back at the bell and again at the beginning of the seventh. By now, Herrera has nicked his jab from him, and he also gave a clinic on ditching the right, putting shoulder and glove between that punch as well as slipping and sliding to reduce impact and make his man miss altogether often. It's a clinic in regards defending the the right hand.

Castillo has problems then, and starts to try to bring Herrera on in the 8th. I love this sort of thing, these little shifts that have a seismic affect on the fight. Castillo is having more luck, but his shift gives free reign to Herrera's aggression. It leads to a really weird situation where Herrera looks less sure and lands less, but Castillo, hit up and a little tired just doesn't throw enough punches to take the rounds. If he was busier in these rounds he could have won the fight, I think. Castillo digs in again though, in nine, and starts landing his left hooks once more, often as the counter-puncher, to win his first round since the second. Castillo then goes back into the pocket, which I think might have been because he felt he was losing the fight, but that perhaps Herrera was starting to feel the pace (which is high from round 3 on, especially in the fourth).

The eleventh is a hard round and a hard round to score. I thought Castillo perhaps just, just out-fought his rival, though I could see this one appearing any one of three ways on a card. Chucho had the round in the bag for me, but looked disorganised and got tagged in the last minute, arguably evening things up. Castillo has generally had to work harder throughout to land his stuff, thrusting himself forwards or feinting and dipping to get his punches home. Herrera on the other hand has success with every punch in the book, man of them the harder shots, and when he does get into trouble, he goes back to his jab, which I think is his best shot. Both men show real art in their boxing.

I couldn't seperate them in the twelfth making my card 6-5-1 to Herrera. Offical cards were 6-5-1 and 7-4-1 to Herrera, both reasonable, and 6-5-1 Castillo, which felt like a reach to me. I admired Castillo's adaptability and bravery perhaps even more than Herrera's domination, but it felt like a Herrera victory. He landed the more hurtful stuff, and seemed to boss the fight, except when Castillo decided to fight what would become his opponents fight, whoever won the individual rounds. Also, Castillo never, ever won a round big, whereas Herrera cleanly won a handful.

But a great, great bantamweight scrap between two really excellent super-tough craftsmen.


HERRERA: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

CASTILLO: 1,2,9,10,11

EVEN: 12

 

Timothy Bradley TD10 Devon Alexander

Two undefeated beltholders; Bradley made a million dollars for this fight. He mined his career that boy, imagine getting to fight Manny three times off the back of some bull****?

Alexander looks like he wants to toss the southpaw hook. Both are quick. Feet in hand, haha, just a little joke there. But their feet aren't getting away with them, the soutpaw problem looks like a no here. Alexander maybe a little quicker? Bradley wins the first minute with a very nice right hand. Nice one two from Alexander at the top of the second minute though. He's moving AND Bradley is stalking. Another nice right hand...very close, pretty exciting opening. Good squabbles, good refereeing. Bradley flurry at about 35 seconds remaining - probably enough to take the round.

It seems to me that Alexander isn't taxing Alexander quite enough to get indoors. But he's doing well in the second round. Throwing in little squabbles, landing one or two, this is how you make your speed matter, but Bradley is able to keep on the pressure at a cheaper price. Bradley wants Alexander's body; it's near the top of his lists.

Clash of heads in the third opens a cut on Alexander's right eyelid, not gushing, but what a bummer. Just roughhousing I think, it's accidental but kind of inevitable - probably. Bradley, aggressive throughout, looking for the left hook outside (lands a couple including a belter at 40 seconds in) to take the round clearly, too. He's fighting aggressively, violently, with little respect for Alexander. Good pressure, good fight.

Devon's feet are impressing me here, just about keeping him out of trouble through four. Good mobility very good judgement of distance and he's countering the pressure well with flurries here in the fourth which he wins for me. He's actually landing more on Bradley than Bradley is on him and this fight is up for grabs. Alexander grabs the first minute pretty clear with straights; moving off before Bradley can necessarily counter - and you know what, it's enough to bag him another good round for me, sets him in the lead for the first time. Bradley comes back strong in the sixth though, he has a good sense for a key round and that was one. All square after six.

Alexander could give a **** about his jab, just not interested. Shame.

Alexander takes the seventh, looks in command, noteworthy that the commentary team disagrees with me. Bradley pulls it all even in the eighth landing a couple of hard right hands and stealing it from Alexander who just about outworks him otherwise. Several read clashes in the eighth. Bradley outhits Alexander to take an interesting ninth. This fight (and i say this a lot) is absorbing rather than excellent but that probably means it's the type of fight that turns casuals off. And I'll never understand why, because it's beautifully poised and a fascinating clash of styles and wills.

A much more serious clash of heads spells the end of the fight though - Alexander, hurt, in distress or pretending to be in distress (give him the benefit of the doubt but it doesn't look great). If the tenth gets scored, it's even, so 5-4-1 Bradley.

BRADLEY:1,3,6,8,9,
ALEXANDER:2,4,5,7,