the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Sal, I checked this fight out today and you're right, it was a fun fight and there were a lot of exaggerated moves by a couple of real technicians, who knew how to play to the audience. Clearly a couple of crowd-pleasers who came up in the era where the live gate meant everything. As for our cards, you and I agreed on like 2 rounds, which clearly says it all about this fight and the subtle shifts and nuances of both combatants. For me it reminded me of Leonard v Benitez or Napoles v Lewis in that you had one very highly skilled fighter on one hand, and in the other, another who was just that much better.

Round 1: Bratton
Round 2: Gavilan
Round 3: Gavilan
Round 4: Even
Round 5: Gavilan
Round 6: Even
Round 7: Bratton (Gavilan penalized)
Round 8: Gavilan
Round 9: Gavilan
Round 10: Bratton

Total: 5-3-2 Gavilan (actual scores: 52-48 Gavilan, 52-48 Bratton and 50-50 for a draw)

For one, I have no idea how the Illinois scoring system worked in the 1950s. The nearest I can come up with is they might be using the 10 point system where they divide it up amongst the combatants such as a 6-4 score for the winner of the round. I know the 11 point scoring system was used in Australia and the west coast at this time where the winner of the round receives a 6-5 score. I suppose that could be the case, but then one has to think how the 7th round penalization comes into play. I had already given Bratton the 7th round when the commentator mentions at the top of the 8th that they penalized Gavilan for holding and hitting and a rabbit punch in the 7th round. So I'm simply unclear now how this works. Suffice to say I thought Gavilan deserved the verdict. I felt he won his rounds fairly clear, whereas, anything Bratton won was very close. But it was a very good fight at high level.

 

Fight 8: Gonzalez vs Yaegashi

1:10-9
2:10-9
3:10-8
4:10-9
5:10-9
6:10-8
7:10-9
8:10-9
9:ko
10:
11:
12:

This is when Gonzalez really hit the mainstream, he absolutely dominated the lineal Flyweight champion of the world.

Hard sharp combinations, Yaegashi had nowhere to hide.

Yaegashi showed a tonne of heart but Gonzalez was too accurate, too strong, too good.

 

Roman Gonzalez v Juan Estrada 1

Watched and scored this one when I was way too tired so can't vouch for my scorecard but Gonzalez won, of that I'm sure. Cracking fight with Estrada showing good movement and combinations while Chocolatito tried to close distance and work the body. I hadn't seen Estrada before but he impressed me. Good fundamentals, good skills and an excellent chin. Gonzalez has all of those too and got stronger as he went on.

Some oustanding action in this one and it was just a high quality contest all the way through. It's whet my appetite for the rematch in March - really looking forward to that one now like I haven't looked forward to a fight in a long time.

1 9-10
(Estrada busier over first couple of minutes; Gonzalez sizing him up and got going in the last minute)
2 9-10
(Estrada boxing very well on the move; Gonzalez stalking)
3 10-9
(Gonzalez starting to land more combos)
4 10-10
(terrific round - momentum kept changing. Estrada deserved a share of it for his last seconds rally)
5 10-9
(Gonzalez controlled the action)
6 10-9
(Gonzalez on top now)
7 10-9
8 9-10 (close)
9 9-10
10 10-9
11 10-9 (good action)
12 10-10 (terrific finale)

Gonzalez 116-114 Estrada

 

Edit: Just realised I didn't post after watching Gonzalez vs Sosaast night. Not much to be said about that though, Gonzalez blitzed him.

Fight 10: Gonzalez vs Viloria

1:9-10
2:9-10
3:10-8
4:10-9
5:10-9
6:10-8
7:10-9
8:10-9
9:ko
10:
11:
12:

At this point now the media have proclaimed Gonzalez the number 1 fighter in the world. He's now got a victory over the top 3 rated guys who aren't him in his weight class.

Viloria was supposed to cause him some trouble with those sharp counters, and for the first two rounds he did. But then Gonzalez picked out a peach of a right hand to drop Viloria and he just kept the pressure up from there until Viloria had nowhere to run. In round 9 Viloria hit a huge hook to the body and it really took the wind from Roman, but he stayed tight, regathered his thoughts and stopped Brian that very round.

At the start of my binge I referred to Roman as a lesser Golovkin, in many ways he is. His jab is more of a probing range finder than a weapon, his footwork is good but not quite Golovkin standard, his punches don't carry the same blunt force trauma. But actually in many ways he's better than Golovkin, his combinationsnare much crisper, his accuracy is levels above Gennady, his defence is a lot more functional.

How can we separate two fighters as closely matched, simple, Roman has beaten of the top players in his division, Golovkin hasn't secured the fights yet.

So his number 1 place in the sport, is justified.

I actually tret myself to a double header this afternoon.

Fight 11: Gonzalez vs Arroyo

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

This is a victory that aged well as Arroyo went on to beat Cuadras, the guy who would push Gonzalez so close in the weight class above.

As for the fight itself Gonzalez was just too strong and too crisp, he didnt secure the stoppage but he was able to bully Arroyo around the ring and pretty much had things his own way. I didn't give Arroyo a single round.

 

Fight 12: Gonzalez vs Cuadras

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

Very good fight. Cuadras was quite negative early doors, landing some good body shots but mainly letting Roman do whatever he wanted.

The first half of the fight was clearly in favour of Roman.

But then something happened that had never happened before, Roman actually started to slow down a bit. Cuadras had a lot of success in the 2nd half of the fight and I believe its a lot to do with the body work he put in early doors. Roman started having a bit less sting on his shots and Cuadras was able to land at will almost. The showboating didn't really impress me though and I still felt the middle rounds were going the way of Gonzalez.

The last 3 rounds were a very strong finish for Cuadras, but for me it was too little to late. Cuadras needed a ko by this point.

 

Jel, needed to see a good brawl today and alighted on this one

Matthew Saad Muhammad v Jerry 'The Bull' Martin

Round 1: 10-9 Martin
Round 2: 10-9 Martin
Round 3: 10-9 Saad
Round 4: 10-9 Martin
Round 5: 10-10 Even
Round 6: 10-9 Saad
Round 7: 10-9 Martin
Round 8: 10-9 Saad
Round 9: 10-10 Even
Round 10: 10-9 Saad
Round 11: Saad stops Martin

Total through 10 rounds: 96-96 (actual scores 95-95, 96-94 Saad and 97-93 for Saad)

Good brawl. I'm still inclined to say the stoppage was a bit early. Another punch or two would probably convince me because there was a lot of time left and Saad was an excellent finisher. But it is what it is.

I'll tell you a funny story after Martin's 3rd title loss against Qawi. I was at work with a couple of guys talking about the fight. One of the guys was very knowledgeable and the other guy wasn't but he had a very quick wit about him. I was saying how Jerry 'The Bull' Martin keeps getting these title shots and has been knocked out by Saad, Mustafa and Qawi. Then we started talking about Michael Spinks and wondering who is he going to fight next. Mr. Quick-wit says, "How about Jerry 'The Bull' Martin...once he gets out of the hospital." We were on the floor laughing our arses off.

 

And he got Qawi next so he probably pre-booked his hospital bed ('Back again, Jerry? Who was it this time?')

 

LOL! Outstanding, Jel. Knowing him by name.

 

Marcos Maidana v Erik Morales

Wicked fight which I had deceptively wide for Maidana but this was really competitive - rounds 7 and 8 you could quite conceivably give to Morales but I didn't - had I done so it would be a lot tighter on the scorecards - though I think Maidana was the rightful winner. He closed the show in the 11th and 12th as Morales finally ran out of steam but it was a hell of a gutsy showing from Morales, who fought with one functioning eye from round 2 on.

Loads of shifts of momentum - there were often several in the same round, which made it hard to score those ones.

1 10-9 (really aggressive start by Maidana)
2 10-9 (better round from Morales but thought Maidana edged it)
3 9-10 (close)
4 10-9 (close)
5 9-10 (great round)
6 10-9
7 10-10 (either way type of round, more great action)
8 10-9 (close again)
9 10-9
10 9-10
11 10-9
12 10-9

Maidana 117-112 Morales

 

George, I checked this fight out this morning and then saw that you had already scored it a few months back. I agree with you that it's a fun fight with some tough rounds to score and well worth watching. Unfortunately, that's probably all we agreed on. LOL! But as you said, it can be a tough one on the scorer. Here we go.

Iran Barkley v Mike Tinley

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

Total: 115-114 Barkley (actual scores: 116-111 and 116-112 both for Barkley and 117-112 for Tinley for a split win for Barkley)

This is the first time I've seen a Mike Tinley fight. I remember when he was fighting - coming up in an era of some real hotshot middles who all turned pro at the same time and were all regarded as hot prospects. I remember many of his results, but the first time I'm laying eyes on him. A real nice boxer with a sharp edge on his shots but really lacking any real pop to them. Then you had Barkley whose badly swollen eyes plagued him his entire career (met him once when his career was over and he was working a fighter's corner - man, you should've seen those eyes!). But it was Barkley's big pop to his shots that won this fight for him. Good fight among real hot prospects.

 

GGG - Ginger 2
10-9*
9-10
10-9
10-9
10-9
9-10
9-10
9-10
10-9
10-9
10-9
10-9

8-4 for Golovkin, not as big a robbery as the first bout but Golovkin should've got the nod. Round 1 could've gone either way obviously but the rest of the rounds had a clear winner pretty much.

 

GGG - Ginger 1
10-9
9-10
9-10
10-9
10-9
10-9
10-9
10-9
9-10*
9-10*
10-9*
10-9

Thought I'd revisit the 1st seeing as I scored the 2nd. 9/10/11 were close but again a clear GGG win, not as big a robbery as I remember.

 

Marco Antonio Barrera - Erik Morales I

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

113 - 113

 

Marco Antonio Barrera - Erik Morales II

Round 1 9-10
Round 2 10-9
Round 3 10-10
Round 4 9-10
Round 5 9-10
Round 6 10-9
Round 7 10-9
Round 8 9-10*
Round 9 9-10*
Round 10 9-10
Round 11 9-10
Round 12 10-9

113 - 116

 

Jose Luis Castillo - Diego Corrales

Round 1 9-10
Round 2 9-10
Round 3 10-9
Round 4 10-9
Round 5 9-10
Round 6 10-9
Round 7 10-9
Round 8 10-9
Round 9 10-9
Round 10 Corrales by KO