the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Thanks.
I thought Calvin nipped it as well. He was boxing just like his nickname....Silky Smooth

 

The remarkable thing about Grove is that a couple of fights later a guy who couldn't put a hole in a paper bag knocked Jeff Fenech out COLD. One of the most surprising one punch KOs ever.

 

Yes that was a great win for Grove. A career rejuvenation. He will go down in history as the last man to defend his title in a 15 round fight. Paez got the decision in a bullring in MexiCali Mexico. Grove actually won that fight as well but later his brother told me they were happy to lose the decision and avoid a riot. It was getting ugly.

 

Alexis Arguello vs Rolando Navarette

AA : RN

1: 9 - 10
Nothing really substantial
2: 10 - 9
Lovely right uppercut
3: 10 - 9
Arguello much closer in position than before. Excellent subtle pressure
4: 10 - 9
Arguello sniping N's eye with left and rights
5: TKO / RTD
Navarette's eye looks smashed up by the laser guided attacks of Arguello.

TOTAL: 39 - 37 ARGUELLO

A classic Arguello performance with a somewhat anti-climatic end, really. Nothing more to say other than Arguello's distance control and parrying was on point.

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Antonio Esparagoza vs Jean Marc Renard

AE : JMR

1: 10 - 10
Nothing substantial
2: 10 - 9
Esparagoza using his very long limbs to counter at range.
3: 9 - 10
Close, competitive. Renard a little more substantial.
4: 9 - 10
Renard bulling Esparagoza. Esparagoza very slippery, though.
5: 10 - 10
Esparagoza unloading effectively toward the end but was inactive for most of round.
6: KO
Sudden inverted 1 - 2 after a body punch flurry beforehand. Esparagoza wins KO.

TOTAL: 49 - 48 RENARD

A slightly ugly fight with two contrasting styles. Esparagoza was slippery in an off-beat fashion, but seemed a bit too lethargic or disinterested here to really show his championship class, whilst the Frenchman really went for it. This ended with a very weird KO and was slightly suspect imo, though the left looked solid enough so I can't say too much about it.

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Chucho Castillo vs Jerry Stokes

CC : JS

1: 10 - 9
Close. Castillo with the lovely body right - left hook upstairs combination
2: KO
Incredible right cross counter down the centre to KO Stokes, a poor man's Napoles.

TOTAL: 10 - 9 CASTILLO

What a punch! A bout that was gearing to be a decent skill battle instead ended with a destructive counter. As Stokes threw his right, Castillo slipped heavily to his left and threw a right cross with all his weight. Beautiful one shot destruction, which Stokes couldn't recover from.

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Chucho is a guy I like more and more as I see more.

Curious what happened late in the first round. Both guys backed away slightly and looked in the same direction. When the camera panned wide it looked as if an over-anxious cornerman had climbed to ringside or maybe even started to get in the ring.

 

Clyde Gray vs Angel Espada

FOTW
WBA Welterweight Title
1975

CG : AE

1: 10 - 9
Very close. Fast start. Just gave to Gray due to bodywork + consistency.
2: 9 - 10
Very hard to seperate. Espada a bit more substantial.
3: 10 - 9
Gray working the jab. Espada rocked with a right.
4: 10 - 9
Quality round. Gray worked well but is cut.
5: 9 - 10
Espada getting aggressive aiming for the eye.
6: 9 - 10
Espada landing his jab with regularity. Boxing beautifully here.
7: 10 - 10
Very close. Espada picking spots well.
8: 10 - 9
Gray working very well inside.
9: 9 - 10
Espada bulling early before picking spots.
10: 9 - 10
Espada starting incredibly agressive.
11: 10 - 9
Gray grinding it out. Espada tired.
12: 9 - 10
Espada active, picking spots again.
13: 10 - 9
Very close. Gray just grinding it with rights.
14: 10 - 9
Gray forcing it.
15: 10 - 9
Gray extremely aggressive! Espada exhausted!

TOTAL: 144 - 142 GRAY

Notes:

• Now this is a 'world title' match! Both men were extremely classy style wise, tough as old boots and incredibly game. I loved seeing both men at work here, especially Espada - man, what a beautiful Boxing style, incredibly smooth. However, Gray was a veteran here, and I saw this as a true 15 rounder, where the last three rounds decided my total score and winner.
  Spoiler

  However, Espada was declared the victor and new WBA Champion
  . This fight has a bit of everything - momentum changes, smart, smooth Boxing, aggressive inside fighting and game rallies. Everyone in the forum should check this one out. A closet classic. Thank you @PhillyPhan69 and @scartissue for suggesting this one and highlighting it! A top pick for FOTW!

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Byron Mitchell (24-1-1 17 KOs) vs Julio Cesar Green (25-4-1 17 KOs)
July 27th 2002 for the WBA Super Middleweight Title

Green is coming into this fight having basically 1 fight in almost 3 years, an 8 round draw with Journeyman Charles Whittaker. Hes a former WBA middleweight and interim middleweight champion. Mitchell is in his second reign as WBA Super Middleweight champion having won the vacant title from Manny Siaca. Previously Mitchell beat long time champion Frankie Liles by come from behind KO to win his first title. Mitchell is about 29 old, Green is around 35 years old.

Round 1
Feeling out round for the most part until Green lands a nice left hook and drops Mitchell. Mitchell gets to his feet but he is hurt. At the end of the round Green gets a flurry in and lands a right hand which drops Mitchell again. I'm not watching the best quality video so it looked like it could have been a slip but replay confirms it was legit

10-7 Green

Round 2
Mitchell is still hurt and Green is beating him to the punch for the most part. Ref takes a point from Green for holding and hitting (a little early for that I think but Green gets the message and stops doing it)

9-9

Round 3
Mitchell is now recovered and begins finding success hurting Green and controlling most of the round. Green does come back at the end and the two slug it out

10-9 Mitchell

Round 4
Mitchell drops Green but ref rules it a slip. Green not getting up like someone who slips does get up. More success from Mitchell. Ref calls time and brings in the doctor to look at a cut on Green's eye. Margaret Goodman doesn't like it and the fight is stopped.

Byron Mitchell KO4 Julio Cesar Green

Fun fight, great comeback by Mitchell. I recommend watching if you have some spare time. Not sure how Green continuously got shots at WBA titles (I'm guessing being promoted by King? I thought I remember a rumour he was somehow related or knew someone in the WBA) but he did as well as I could expect for someone at his stage of his career.

Mitchell really gutted this one out. He had to dig deep to come back as he was getting pummeled by Green for 2 rounds, a gutsy performance.

Even though Mitchell was 25-1-1 at the time this was his last title defence. He would go on to lose a split decision to Sven Ottke in his next fight (never seen it) then get KOd by Calzaghe. This would start a pretty bad slide for Mitchell as he finished 29-11-1 with most of those losses coming from KO. Still, he would get a shot for the WBA light heavy title somehow (thanks Don King?) against Beibut Shumenov in 2009 (a KO loss). Also interesting is the announcers mentioned Mitchell had tested positive previously for steroids, which I was not aware of.

Green would have 3 more fights, two wins against journeymen and a loss by 1st round KO to Mikkel Kessler

 

Good account of an interesting fight between two guys I really like — Gray was one of those guys who hung around forever but never really broke through and Espadas was a smooth operator.

Putting this on my watch list!

 

From our FOTW:

I saw this fight for the first time only a couple of months ago. It was a bit of a puzzle when you look at the official scores, but Puerto Rico is a very intimidating atmosphere to score a fight. Anyways, I thought rather than just post my original card I would check it out again without looking at my old card or anyone else's who may have scored the fight. Here is my scorecard from January:

Vacant WBA welterweight championship - Angel Espada v Clyde Gray

Round 1: 10-9 Gray
Round 2: 10-9 Gray
Round 3: 10-9 Gray
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Espada
Round 6: 10-9 Gray
Round 7: 10-9 Espada
Round 8: 10-9 Gray
Round 9: 10-9 Espada
Round 10: 10-9 Espada
Round 11: 10-9 Gray
Round 12: 10-9 Espada
Round 13: 10-9 Espada
Round 14: 10-9 Gray
Round 15: 10-9 Gray

Total: 144-142 Gray (actual scores: 146-143, 147-139 and 148-134 all for Espada)

I should never trust anything until I lay my eyeballs on it. Luis Sulbaran, the judge who had it 148-134 should have just stayed home and mailed his card in. He wasn't planning on watching the fight to begin with with a card like that. This was a damn close fight and a draw would have been OK with me. With everything that was written on it (I must admit all by a Puerto Rican correspondent by Ring mag) I was expecting Espada to explode at any minute. Well, he didn't. It was Gray who forced the whole issue and had Espada hanging on like a lost lover by fight's end. I would love to hear anyone else's card on this one, but be forewarned. The vid is from Canadian TV who lean towards Gray and the audience absolutely scream at anything Espada throws, even a jab that comes up short, so don't be swayed.

Here is my card from today:

Round 1: 10-9 Gray
Round 2: 10-9 Gray
Round 3: 10-9 Gray
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Espada
Round 6: 10-9 Gray
Round 7: 10-9 Gray
Round 8: 10-9 Gray
Round 9: 10-9 Espada
Round 10: 10-9 Espada
Round 11: 10-9 Gray
Round 12: 10-9 Espada
Round 13: 10-9 Espada
Round 14: 10-9 Gray
Round 15: 10-9 Gray

Total: 145-141 Gray

Not too shabby. The only round I had different was the 7th which I gave to Espada the first time around and now which I gave to Gray. I feel Gray outworked him and the scores do not reflect what actually took place during this fight.

 

Dwight Qawi v Evander Holyfield I

Round 1: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 2: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 3: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 4: 10-9 Qawi
Round 5: 10-9 Qawi
Round 6: 10-10 Even
Round 7: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 8: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 9: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 10: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 11: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 12: 10-10 Even
Round 13: 10-9 Holyfield
Round 14: 10-9 Qawi
Round 15: 10-9 Qawi

Total: 146-141 Holyfield, but wait! Alex Wallau says right after the fight that referee Vinnie Rainone deducted a point from Qawi for a low blow. One has to think it was for the 15th, but I'm not sure. So whatever round it was deducted, my card would be 146-140 for Holyfield (actual scores: 144-140 and 147-138 both for Holyfield and a 143-141 for Qawi for a split win for Holyfield.

The first time I saw this I actually thought Qawi edged it, but I was a fan and screaming at everything Dwight threw. Looking at it more realistically, a solid win for Holyfield in a terrific 15 round contest.

 

Yeah, I thought was a clear Holyfield win, Scar. My card is on the wider side.

Evander Holyfield v Dwight Qawi 1

Good, sustained back and forth action in which Holyfield banked rounds by being busier. I gave Evander 7 rounds in a row although several were close. I'm not surprised the difference between official scorecards was as wide as it was.

Had Qawi been able to match Holyfield's punch output, he could have won the fight because he seemed to hit harder and his punches had greater impact. But Holyfield was the rightful winner.

1 10-9
2 9-10
3 10-9
4 9-10 (excellent back and forth action)
5 10-9 (close, good exchanges again)
6 9-10 (excellent head movement from Qawi and the more telling blows from him)
7 10-9
8 10-9 (close. Holyfield the busier, Qawi landed some big shots towards the end)
9 10-9 (good boxing from Holy)
10 10-9
11 10-9 (close)
12 10-9 (close again. Qawi landing well when he throws but not busy enough, which is why Holy keeps edging these rounds imo)
13 10-8
14 10-10
15 9-10 (clear Qawi round. Why didn't he do that earlier?!)

Holyfield 146-139 Qawi

 

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Despite this one being a flyweight fight, I'm looking at some of the best 108lbers right now. Some of guys I'm not totally familiar with like I am Yuh, Chang and Zapata. Instead, I'm looking at Chiquita, Carbajal, Alvarez, Lopez maybe. And Baby Jake. I love Jake's style so I'm happy to see more of it. And I'll probably watch some Yuh anyway coz I noticed the DeMarco fight has been uploaded in a cleaner fashion, and I love that one. Anywho, Jimenez vs Matlala.

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10 : 9
10 : 9
9 : 10
9 : 10 (38/38)
10 : 9
10 : 9
9 : 10 (

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Jimenez is quite an underrated fighter. Held his own with both Too Sharp and Kittikasem as well as winning this one. Probably not worthy of too much mention, but definitely a solid little fighter.

Baby Jake was a nightmare upclose. You can see his little smirk whenever he got the chance to start working. Instant leap in quality there. He just immediately starts to flurry, fluid as anything, has one of those 'radars' that all top infighters are blessed with. Those short arms get so much leverage on the punches. Six or seven of those to the midsection mustn't be nice. Sting like ****. He had an awesome punch selection. Worked the jab well to set up his cross-counter, and his hooks to the body were horrible.

 

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