the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

I watched a 10 rounder today that I saw on a tape delay of about 6 months back in '72. My favorite fighter of all time was Armando Muniz and here he is in a 10 rounder with the veteran Raul 'Chato' Soriano. Man, watching this all this time later brings me back to hearing Mickey Davies and Tom Harmon broadcasting from the Forum. And the fight was awesome. California scoring of one point for a round and none for an even round.

Armando Muniz v Raul Soriano

Round 1: Soriano
Round 2: Even
Round 3: Soriano
Round 4: Soriano
Round 5: Muniz
Round 6: Muniz
Round 7: Soriano
Round 8: Soriano
Round 9: Muniz
Round 10: Muniz

Total: 5-4 Soriano (actual scores: 5-5 and two scores of 6-3 for Soriano by a majority decision)

You know I'm a Muniz die-hard when I'm screaming for blood when Muniz has Soriano in distress those last two rounds of a fight that took place 48 years ago. I have to give Soriano credit. Man, he knew every trick in the book. Good fight.

 

Jose Luis Ramirez v Edwin Rosario 2

I needed to watch a fight like this - a classic Mexico-Puerto Rico clash in the dusk in an outdoor ring in San Juan, it doesn't get much better than that for a setting.

And the fight more than lived up to its surroundings. The Ring's FOTY for 1984, Rosario started like he wanted to erase any doubts about their first fight's outcome, dropping Ramirez early in both of the first two rounds and giving him a beating in both. There was no doubt that both of those were 10-8 rounds for Rosario so the official scoring was off in this one (not that it would matter).

The comeback from Ramirez started in round 3 as he showed tremendous will after surviving the first two rounds to rock Rosario. Rosario was wary after that and it allowed Ramirez to establish a foothold in the fight. And he kept it going in the 4th. Even then, the end came suddenly, Ramirez throwing combinations and sending Rosario's head backwards before ducking under him and sending him into the corner face-first. Had Rosario managed to turn around he might have survived but Ramirez gave him no chance and battered him in the back of the head till the ref waved it off.

One of the great short fights.

1 8-10 (Ramirez down)
2 8-10 (Ramirez down again)
3 10-9
(26-29)
4 Ramirez TKO Rosario

 

I watched a couple of Mark Kaylor fights today, which I enjoyed for both action and controversy.

Mark Kaylor v Bobby Watts

This bout was originally supposed to be Tony Sibson against Bobby Watts, but Sibbo had to pull out with a back injury (according to the announcer) and Kaylor - perhaps he was on the undercard - was first set to fight Doug Demmings, then Stacy McSwain before they moved him up to the main event. What is interesting is what takes place peripherally. Check out the end of the first round and the beginning of the second round. Had me shaking my head. And then the end of the fight all hell broke loose. No point running a card here. Kaylor won every round, but of course, this was not a prime Watts. Still, you take advantage of everything that is thrown your way in this game. When the fight is stopped in the 4th with Watts under heavy pressure, he goes ballistic. He should have used some of that surplus energy to get off the ropes. Crazy stuff.

Mark Kaylor v Tom Collins

This is Kaylor now fighting at light heavy where I don't feel he really belonged. Still, he gave a good account of himself. I knew of Collins and had only seen his fight with Jeff Harding before this. Here we go for the Euro 175 title.

Round 1: Kaylor
Round 2: Kaylor
Round 3: Collins
Round 4: Kaylor
Round 5: Kaylor
Round 6: Collins
Round 7: Kaylor
Round 8: Collins (I gave this a 2 point round because Collins really battered Kaylor)
Round 9: Collins KOs Kaylor

Total through 8 rounds on British scoring: 78-77 1/2 with Kaylor ahead.

One side note to this fight was the 3rd round, which I originally scored even. In the 4th Harry carpenter really went on about what a good round the 3rd was for Kaylor. I was thinking, 'What?!' So I looked at it again - which I rarely do - and did change it, but in favor of Collins. Carpenter went on about one sequence where Kaylor landed 3-4 uppercuts in a row, but really that was it from him. On further review, I felt it was Collins round. As the fight progressed one could see Kaylor had absolutely no defense for Collins' overhand right, which he really began to fire in the 7th. During the 8th he was coming apart at the seams and it was just a matter of time.

 

Fight 13: Gonzalez vs Rungvisai

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

This is a very very close fight. I felt the first round was clear, but then 2,3,4 and 5 all could have gone either way.

Gonzalez is such a crisp puncher, and a master on either the front or back foot. But Rungvisai was just always there always throwing and always causing damage.

Very close middle rounds book ended by a pair of 10-8 rounds either way.

In the first half of the fight I had the sense that second by second Rungvisai was the superior fighter, but Gonzalez was able to steal the rounds with his huge pin point combinations. In the second half of the fight Rungvisai didn't really give him the opportunity for those high light reel shots as he started walking through them.

I actually felt Gonzalez needed that last round to avoid defeat and scrape a draw on my card and I felt that's what he did.

113-113

Again this is absolutely no robbery, very close fight, could have been anything from 114-112 Gonzalez to 116-110 Rungvisai.

 

Fight 14: Gonzalez vs Rungvisai 2

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

This was anything but a close fight. Rungvisai knew from the first fight he could take the power of Gonzalez and this time he didn't show him any of the respect.

When Gonzalez began to throw his combinations, instead of retreating, Rungvisai walked him down and kept throwing himself.

When those punches weren't driving Rungvisai back, you could see the heart break of Gonzalez and suddenly the P4P king was no more.

With little else off on offer Gonzalez tried meeting fire with fire and going toe to toe and after two heavy knockdowns the fight was called off.

It's crazy seeing the man who looked like the best ever fighter from FLW and below, the man who rose from obscurity to become the P4P number 1, get so thoroughly outclassed.

Age isn't on his side, neither is size. His defence is nowhere near what it was and his power isn't as prevalent in the higher weight class. We suspected it against Cuadras, we've proven it against Rungvisai.

 

Fight 15: Gonzalez vs Yafai

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

Gonzalez has his first crack a title since losing in one sided fashion to Rungvisai. He is taking on a younger, bigger title holder in a fight to try prove he still belongs at the top of the sport.

It's immediately apparent that Gonzalez is still as good as he's ever been. His hand speed, his foot speed, his reflexes, his timing, all of it is there in all its glory and it makes you wonder if maybe Rungvisai is just the wrong man for Gonzalez.

Roman thoroughly dominates Yafai and the stoppage really does look inevitable from round 3 onwards.

This was a great comeback for Gonzalez.

 

Fight 16: Gonzalez vs Gonzalez

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

Roman genuinely looks back to his best. Just none stop action from him apart from round 10.

He expertly cuts the ring off, his combinations are still sharp, accurate and pinpoint.

His hand speed is still next level as his foot speed.

He doesn't look, in any way, a lesser fighter than when he beat Cuadras for the title in this division.

If he beats Estrada he will once again be P4P ranked, and since binging these fights, its one in really looking forward to seeing now.

 

Fight 1: Beterbiev vs Cloud

1:10-6
2:ko

The next boxing binge is going to be Beterbiev, I figure after watching two recent legends (Golovkin and Gonzalez) who are on the down side of their careers now, I'll binge watch some of the currently prime P4P ranked guys.

Round 1 starts with Beterbiev being very patient. His feet are in constant motion and he seems to be using his jab as a bit of a maneuvering device as he constantly shifts and extends that jab to get Cloud trapped in a corner.

Once he has him backed up he absolutely rag dolls him on the inside and creates tremendous leverage with his inside shots despite being listed as over 6 foot.

Cloud didn't know what hit him. Cloud was well on the slide but he had never been destroyed like this before.

This fight was 6 years ago, a very wasted length of time as far as he's concerned.

 

If you're gonna binge someone. Make it Estrada.

 

Decided to watch and score this one, Scar.

Edwin Rosario v Howard Davis

Excellent, competitive fight in which the challenger gave the champ all he could handle and nearly pulled the win out but the two knockdowns were the difference, particularly the one in the final seconds of the final round that certainly saved Rosario's title.

Rosario started well with that early KD but Davis fought his way back quickly and they traded rounds through the rest of the fight, Rosario always slightly ahead on my card because of the two point round in the second. Davis fought a composed fight but Rosario showed grit to get over the line at the end. Although for the most part it was a bit of a chess match, it was always absorbing and top quality stuff from both fighters.

1 10-10
2 10-8 (Rosario puts Davis down with a hard jab)
3 9-10 (Davis rocks Rosario with a good right hand)
4 9-10 (Davis is well in the fight)
5 10-9 (close)
6 9-10
7 10-9 (close)
8 9-10
9 10-9
10 10-9 (best action round of the fight)
11 9-10
12 10-8 (great final round which Davis was winning until Rosario hurt him but he might still have taken it.. but the final seconds knockdown secured it for Rosario)

Rosario 115-112 Davis

 

He's on my list, just not yet haha. Spence is after Beterbiev, then Crawford, Inoue, Usyk, Estrada, Canelo

 

@Jel, Here's my card for Rosario-Davis. Very good fight.

 

Fight 2: Beterbiev vs Page

1:8-10
2:ko

Beterbiev looks very far removed from a great talent here. His patience and footwork were nowhere to be seen and he was involved in a very messy brawl. One which saw him dropped in the first before returning the favour three fold in the second.

Not much positive to say about this one, other than his powers of recovery and, well, his power.

Fight 3: Beterbiev vs Campillo

1:10-8
2:10-9
3:10-9
4:ko

This fight was much better. His patient approach was back, throwing the jab and the overhand right enabling him to position Campillo against the ropes, and it was this that led to him dropping him in the first round.

In the 2nd round Campillo tried walking Beterbiev down, he was the bigger man and the quicker man, he was able to get his jab first and impose his will somewhat, the problem was Beterbiev was actually quite comfortable on the back foot, showed good patience and countering and when he countered with the right he soon had Gabriel retreating so parity could be restored.

The finish was brutal. He actually did a walk off ko after the right uppercut left hook combination.

Brutal.

We're now in 2015.

 

Today I watched the first fight between John Conteh and Chris Finnegan. Finnegan's British and Commonwealth titles on the line and Conteh's European title back when all 3 were contested over 15 rounds. Here we go.

Round 1: Even
Round 2: Conteh
Round 3: Conteh
Round 4: Finnegan
Round 5: Conteh
Round 6: Conteh
Round 7: Conteh
Round 8: Conteh
Round 9: Finnegan
Round 10: Conteh
Round 11: Conteh
Round 12: Conteh
Round 13: Conteh
Round 14: Conteh
Round 15: Finnegan

Total: 11-3-1 in rounds but using the British scoring in effect at the time I had it 74 1/4 - 72 1/4 for Conteh. Referee Sid Nathan, the sole arbiter, had it 74 1/4 - 73 1/2 for Conteh. So if I am correct in what I am looking at, Nathan must have had about 6 even rounds.

Conteh just was not going to be denied. And as plucky as Chris was he just lacked the kind of punch that was going to deter Conteh. I will say this, he fought his heart out to win that last round. Two outstanding fighters in a tough era.

 

Lupe Pintor v Alberto Davila 2

After 10 rounds, I had this absolutely even with nothing between the two fighters. Over the first 10 rounds, I would expect scorecards to vary and I reckon I'd come up with a slightly different card myself each time. But Pintor came on in the championship rounds, upping his workrate while Davila's slowed a bit and he pulled away to a clear win on my card.

Both fighters showed excellent punch variety and mixed up their attacks from head to body but I woild say Davila focussed more on the head, using his jab to set up the straight right while Pintor focussed more on the body with his main weapons beng left hooks as well as uppercuts, although he had success with the straight right too.

Davila definitely threw more than Pintor over the first two thirds of the fight while Pintor looked like he was landing the more impactful punches, but I don't want to overstate that difference as it was a fight of fine margins with every round closely contested. That changed from about round 12 where Pintor started to clearly land more and rocked Davila's head back on a few occasions. Pintor moved more from that point on and started outlanding Davila who seemed to tire a bit. That was enough to swing things Pintor's way and he deserved the decision in the end.

1 10-9
2 9-10
3 9-10 (good round for Davila who appeared to hurt Pintor)
4 10-9
5 10-10
6 9-10 (close, good in-fighting from both men)
7 10-10 (tough fight to score)
8 10-9
9 10-9 (close)
10 9-10 (close)
11 10-9 (close but Pintor won it with right hands imo)
12 10-9 (Pintor's best round so far)
13 10-9
14 10-9
15 10-9

Pintor 146-141 Davila