the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Pat, laughed my tail off at this one.

 

Another from our ongoing FOTW.

Tommy Hearns v Sugar Ray Leonard II

Round 1: 10-10 Even
Round 2: 10-9 Hearns
Round 3: 10-8 Hearns (scores a knockdown)
Round 4: 10-9 Leonard
Round 5: 10-8 Leonard (very dominant round IMO)
Round 6: 10-9 Hearns
Round 7: 10-9 Hearns
Round 8: 10-9 Hearns
Round 9: 10-10 Even
Round 10: 10-9 Leonard
Round 11: 10-8 Hearns (scores a knockdown)
Round 12: 10-9 Leonard

Total: 115-112 Hearns (actual scores: 113-112 Hearns, 113-112 Leonard and a 112-112 Even for a Draw. Also, Harold Lederman scored it 115-111 for Hearns)

Damn good fight. Two rounds that were really up to the beholder - I felt - was rounds 5 and 9. I rewatched round 5 after question-marking it and felt it should be a 2 point round for SRL for a very dominant round. However, round 9 I did not just give that to Leonard for stunning Tommy, because I felt Tommy was having a good round until then. Scoring that round Even felt accurate to me. Anyways, again, good fight.

 

Eddie Machen v Johnny Summerlin

I was rummaging around today to find a decent fight to peruse and I found one with Machen v Summerlin. Here we go on the NY rounds scoring system.

Round 1: Machen
Round 2: Machen
Round 3: Summerlin
Round 4: Machen
Round 5: Summerlin
Round 6: Summerlin
Round 7: Machen
Round 8: Machen
Round 9: Machen
Round 10: Machen

Total: 7-3 Machen (actual scores: 7-3, 7-3 and 6-3-1 all for Machen - although the ring announcer called the last card as 6-4)

After 6 rounds this was anybody's fight. Machen's short-punching against Summerlin's body-punching and hard straight right. It wasn't until the 7th that Machen began showing some kind of urgency and took over from there. The 9th and 10th were Machen's biggest rounds and he came close to ending the show, but Summerlin was fighting back hard at the final bell and the ref had to come between them. I was very impressed with Summerlin's straight right, which Eddie had an issue getting away from. A very good fight between a hot prospect and proven contender.

 

Checked out another classic today. The 1955 heavyweight bout between Nino Valdes and Bob Satterfield in Chicago, with Illinois implementing the 10 point must system and clearly explained by announcer Jack Drees.

Nino Valdes v Bob Satterfield

Round 1: 10-10 Even
Round 2: 10-9 Valdes
Round 3: 10-9 Satterfield
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Satterfield
Round 6: 10-9 Satterfield
Round 7: 10-9 Valdes
Round 8: 10-9 Valdes
Round 9: 10-9 Satterfield
Round 10: 10-8 Satterfield (scores a knockdown)

Total: 97-94 Satterfield (actual scores: 97-88, 97-93, 98-92 all for Satterfield)

To begin, big Nino had one thing going for him. He was big. Man, talk about a fighter that just lacked every fundamental going. Don't know if he ever had any kind of amateur career, but I would say that was doubtful. He fought so straight up, never planted himself in order to use his physical attributes. His jab was minimally used, his punching consisted of big swipes and slaps. He had 30 pounds and several inches in height and reach over Bob, yet was trying to fight him on the inside and just couldn't do any real damage to someone as fragile as Bob, despite his imposing size. He really was a mauler, which made this fight so sloppy. And if you want to talk about defense, he had none. Bob could nail him with that big overhand right at any time. Clearly Rocky and Floyd's people avoided him. He had attained top contender status during both their reigns. Size can be intimidating, but in this case, IMO, both could have handled Nino and would have had a good name like Nino on their records rather than a Don Cockell or Peter Rademacher. OK, that's me on my soapbox today. For historical purposes I would say check this out, but not for excitement unless you want to just check out the 10th.

One last thing. I have griped in the past about these ring announcers who just did not know how to keep an audience in suspense when announcing the decision, and this fight was no different. I was spoiled early as a fan by listening to Jimmy Lennon, Sr., who would not divulge the winner until the very last second, so when I hear these guys I just shake my head. However, if one thinks I'm being fussy, believe me, it isn't lost on everyone. I had the PC loud, and after the first score was announced as a unanimous decision with judge #1 calling it 97-88 for Satterfield, my wife, who was doing something and paying no attention said, "Well, that was stupid!" I asked her what she was talking about and she said, "Well everyone knows who won now." So again, it isn't lost on everyone.

 

Larry Holmes (c) vs. Alfredo Evangelista, scheduled for 15 rounds for the WBC heavyweight championship on Friday, Nov. 10, 1978, at Cesars Palace Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas.

Larry is 28-0 (19) making the first defense of the title he won by split decision over Ken Norton. Alfredo is 23-2-1 (18) and challenging for the second time after going 15 rounds in a lackluster affair with a poorly-conditioned Muhammad Ali 18 months prior.

Evengelista is the EBU heavyweight champ by virtue of beating Lucien Rodriguez (who would challenge Larry some five years later).

Holmes weighs 214 1/4 to Evangelista’s 208 1/2.

The fight is televised in prime time on ABC with Howard Cosell and Keith Jackson on the call.

Scoring:

Round 1 — Holmes 10-9: Larry fights flat-footed, pumping the jab and throwing heavy leather as he seems to be gunning for the early KO.

Round 2 — Holmes 10-9: Holmes times his right uppercut as Alfredo plods forward trying to get in range.

Round 3 — Holmes 10-9: Larry pot-shots, still flat-footed and looking to do damage.

Round 4 — Holmes 10-9: Holmes bounces on his toes and rips combinations.

Round 5 — Holmes 10-9: Alfredo really opens up for the first time, throwing some hard shots in combination but lands little and Larry carves him up taking advantage of the openings.

Round 6 — Homes 10-9: Larry batters his foe to the body and head. Alfredo’s face is swelling and he ends the round with a nasty cut under his left eye.

Round 7 — Holmes closes the show with a one-shot KO with a right hand. He sets it up as if walking away, half-turned, then drops the bomb. Alfredo is counted out at the 2:14 mark.

Easy pickings for Larry and a nice showcase for a man who is already wearing the championship comfortably. He shows that jab but also his full arsenal in taking out a stubborn but outclassed opponent (who looks like if Captain Caveman joined the Beatles).

Of note: On the undercard, Alexis Arguello pounds out a 15-round decision over Arturo Leon and Ken Norton blasts Randy Stephens in the third round. Scott LeDoux (another future Holmes challenger), Stan Ward and Macka Foley also win.

Larry talks after of possibly facing Jimmy Young next and then the winner of Norton-Shavers, but Young has already lost to Ossie Ocasio and blows his title shot by losing a rematch with Jaws a couple of months after this one. Instead, Ocasio gets the shot.

 

Michael Dokes vs. John L Gardner, scheduled for 10 rounds, heavyweights, on Friday, June 12, 1981, at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

This was on the undercard of Larry Holmes’ defense against Leon Spinks.

Televised by ABC in prime time, Chris Shenkel on the call.

Dokes, 215, is 20-0-1 (10). His draw vs. Ossie Ocasio was avenged via first-round stoppage in the rematch. Dokes also has wins over Tex Cobb, Jimmy Young and Lucien Rodriguez.

Gardner, 208 1/2, is 33-2 (28) and he EBU champ. He has wins over Ocasio, Mike Koranicki and Lorenzo Zanon, all by KO. His losses are to Ibar Arrington (KO 1) and Young (L 10).

Scoring:

Round 1 — Dokes 10-9: Both come out blazing and landing big shots, but Dokes throws and lands more combinations and has more snap.

Round 2 — Dokes 10-9: More of the same. This is an old-fashioned donneybrook.

Round 3 — Dokes 10-9: They continue to trade toe-to-toe. Dokes never gets on his bicycle and stands his ground against an aggressive opponent.

Round 4 — Dokes ends it at the 1:54 mark, knocking Gardner silly with a left hook to start a flurry that ends the fight, punctuated by another explosive hook.

This is a fun one. I highly recommend it.

 

It was a fun one. Just rewatched it now. Makes me yearn for the days when heavyweights were fast and sharp and didnt have a perpetual wad of suet hanging over the trunks.

 

John H. Stracey v Carlos Palomino (welterweight title)

As scorecards are unavailable, I must assume this was scored on Britain's - then used - 10 - 9 1/2 system by the sole arbiter. But since there is nothing to compare it too, as Sid Nathan's card was not made public, I will stick to the more universal 10 point must system.

Round 1: 10-9 Palomino
Round 2: 10-9 Palomino
Round 3: 10-9 Palomino
Round 4: 10-9 Stracey
Round 5: 10-9 Stracey
Round 6: 10-9 Palomino
Round 7: 10-9 Palomino
Round 8: 10-9 Palomino
Round 9: 10-9 Palomino
Round 10: 10-9 Palomino
Round 11: 10-9 Palomino
Round 12: Palomino drops Stracey twice and ref stops bout in Palomino's favor

Total (after 11 completed rounds): 108-101 Palomino

I should also mention that a more liberal judge may have given Palomino the 10th by a 2 point margin as he battered Stracey that round.

Man, Carlos Palomino was not to be denied in this bout. I felt it took a herculean effort by Stracey to take the 4th and 5th on my card, but he just couldn' keep that up as Carlos was on him every round. Also, I don't know if the usually staunch Sid Nathan was having a word with Stracey between rounds that we were not privy to, but it seemed like he was granting Stracey some liberties there. I counted 5 separate times that Stracey hit Palomino after the bell. Carlos took the first three incidents good-naturedly, but that 4th and 5th he was getting fed up. I will say that he really took it out on John's body, though.

BTW, just from a historical perspective, I remember thinking at the time that Palomino really didn't deserve a title shot at the time. He only had a draw with Hedgemon Lewis on his record along with a win over shop-worn Zovek Barajas. But what happened here was that the draw with Lewis was a very good fight and a rematch was signed by promoter Aileen Eaton from the Olympic Boxing Club. After the rematch was signed, Lewis got the call for a title fight with Stracey and the only way Eaton would allow the match was for Mickey Duff to agree to compensate Palomino with some monetary figure and agree to a title fight for him in the event that Stracey won. Aileen Eaton and the Olympic held a lot of sway back in those days.

 

Erik Morales vs Pablo Cesar Cano

My first time watching this one. Lovely veteran performance from Morales. He goes from looking slow, getting outboxed and not landing anything, to setting and changing the timing and landing lovely veteran combos for the eventual cuts stoppage. Cano was a solid young fighter too - much better than the supposed 'world beaters' you'd see someone like Hearn promote the hell out of nowadays. Nice clean fight which I recommend. Also, a brilliant, deliberately delayed right in round 4 was probably the highlight punch for me.

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Carlos really showed his stuff with that body attack in this fight.

He had a ceiling — short of Duran and Benitez, would have also been a bridge too far to take on Hearns too. Cuevas would have been interesting but I have to go with Pipino.

 

Joel Casamayor v Michael Katsidis

Here was a fun fight with lots of drama. I once said I don't think there is such a thing as a dull Michael Katsidis fight. I think he could go to church and come back with a cut eye and nose bleeding. Anyways, here we go.

Round 1: 10-7 Casamayor (scores 2 knockdowns)
Round 2: 10-9 Casamayor
Round 3: 10-10 Even
Round 4: 10-9 Katsidis
Round 5: 10-9 Katsidis
Round 6: 10-8 Katsidis (knocks Casamayor out of the ring)
Round 7: 10-9 Katsidis
Round 8: 10-10 Even
Round 9: 10-8 Katsidis (wins the round and 1 point deducted from Casamayor for a low blow)
Round 10: Bout is stopped after Casamayor drops Katsidis and ref stops it during the followup exchange.

Total through 9 completed rounds: 86-83 Katsidis (actual scores: 2 scores of 84-83 for Katsidis and one 85-82 for Casamayor)

Although Casamayor was not a big puncher, he was a terrific counter-puncher and that was how he scored all 3 knockdowns against the ever charging and face-first Katsidis. Although I had Katsidis ahead, the toll was really being taken on Katsidis face before the 10th round knockdown. He had come back well after that first round disaster, but charged right into that left hook in the 10th. Again, lots of drama.

 

Azumah Nelson v Jeff Fenech 2

In perhaps the best win of his illustrious career, Azumah Nelson turns the tables on Jeff Fenech to score an upset win in front of Fenech's home crowd in Melbourne, Australia. After his struggles against Fenech the previous year (Nelson claimed he was recovering from malaria and escaped with a disputed draw in Vegas), it was anticipated that Fenech would finally end Nelson's reign and perhaps we would be seeing the last of The Professor. But Nelson outstrengthed, outboxed and outpunched the previously unbeaten Fenech to brilliant effect from the opening bell. It was an awesome performance from the 33 year old Nelson and a devastating defeat for Fenech, one which he would never recover from.

1 10-8
(remarkable start from Nelson, who drops a seemingly tentative Fenech and physically bosses him throughout the round)
2 10-8
(Fenech did a little better this round but then gets tagged and dropped again)
3 9-10
(close. The round starts the same way as the previous two with Nelson hitting Fenech as he comes in before a switch seems to flick in Fenech and he remembers how he usually fights. He tries to stifle Nelson by bullying him to the ropes and eliminating any clean punching room. Nelson gives almost as good as he gets. Fenech looks like he is about to knee Nelson at the end of the round. Finally, Fenech seems to have clicked into gear)
4 10-10
(Fenech seems to have found some sort of foothold in the fight now. Both fighters had good moments with no real edge to either - good quality action)
5 10-9
(close. Shaky start to the round for Fenech as he is wobbled by Nelson. To his credit, he comes back well to stun Nelson a little but not quite enough to take a share of the round)
6 10-9
(Fenech gets Nelson where he wants him and tries to volume punch his way to winning the round but he's catching some sharp counters and then Nelson turns the tables on Fenech and batters him in the corner.)
7 9-10
(close one. Fenech just about took it)
(68-64)
8 Nelson TKO Fenech
(Fenech has Nelson where he wants him - with his back to the ropes. But Nelson times his counter attack perfectly and hits the Aussie with a blistering power combo to drop him. Fenech looks out on his feet when he gets back up and Nelson batters him before Arthur Mercante wisely stops it)

 

Yoko Gushiken vs Juan Guzman

First, this is quite the underrated little war. A fierce work rate (measured in Canelo fights, it would be at least 2+ in terms of work rate by 6 rounds ) from both men, especially Gushiken, with just a non-stop rain of awesome form. The guy was really just a pleasure to watch stylistically - smooth feet, awesome punching mechanics even under duress and a cool head. However, he did struggle at times here, being rocked by Guzman at one point, even, and not having the most constant head movement. This fight does show me what I had already envisioned, really - a stylist like Zapata would be an absolute nightmare for Gushiken. He would do much better against a Roman Gonzalez type.
The highlight of this one was round 3, a belter. Competitive but clear that Gushiken is the better man, which he proves with a 7th round stoppage.
Also, the quality of this video is simply superb.

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Rough, watched and scored this bout a few months back. Totally loved it. One of those closet classics few know about. I would also recommend - if you haven't already seen it - the second fight between Gushiken and Pedro Flores. Gushiken was at the end of his line by this time, but it is a very good fight. And Flores really draws a template on how a right-hander should fight a southpaw.

 

Thanks scar. I'll have to check that out.