the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Jel, you and I were definitely on the same page during this fight.

 

Duane Bobick v Chuck Wepner

Saw this fight was out there and wanted to see it for no other reason than I had never seen it before. Y'know, the funny thing about the career of Duane Bobick was that all his greatest wins were over B-level opponents. Mike Weaver (only a 6-5 clubfighter at the time), Scott LeDoux, Bunny Johnson, Randy Neumann, Larry Middleton, Mike Schutte, Pat Duncan and no one quite says 'B-level' like Chuck Wepner. I gave Wepner the first round only because the always slow-starting Bobick did very little. Wepner is very hard on the eyes with his big awkward slaps and his multitude of rabbit punches. Harold Valan did a crap job. 6 rounds of Wepner nailing Duane on the back of the head and I think he cautioned him twice. Nothing more. A fighter who was notorious for rabbit-punching and who bragged about it, and nothing more than 2 cautions during the fight. But once Bobick revved up his engine he won the remainder of the rounds and stopped the badly bleeding (what else?) Wepner in the 6th. I recall all of us fight fans giving Duane a lot of stick back in the day, but to tell you the truth, Futch schooled him pretty good on keeping things contained behind a tight guard and utilizing short, jolting punches, which he performed very well in this fight. But be forewarned if watching this. Chuck Wepner's style is very hard on the eyes.

 

Alexis Arguello v Vilomar Fernandez I (10 rounds - NY scoring on the rounds basis)

Round 1: Even
Round 2: Fernandez
Round 3: Fernandez
Round 4: Fernandez
Round 5: Fernandez
Round 6: Arguello
Round 7: Fernandez
Round 8: Arguello
Round 9: Fernandez
Round 10: Arguello

Total: 6-3-1 Fernandez (Actual scores: 6-4 and 5-4-1 both for Fernandez and a 5-5 Even card for a majority win for Fernandez)

For one, Fernandez fought a brilliant fight. Staying on his bike, potshotting in an out at every opportunity. This style, coupled with Fernandez' terrific jaw, was always going to be a tough proposition for Arguello. But not insurmountable. I just have never seen a more uninspired performance by Arguello. He fought with a total lack of urgency throughout the 10 rounds. Seemingly, only turning it on in the 10th. Even between rounds he just stared off into space, looking like he wasn't really interested or paying heed to his corner (although he would give an obligatory nod here and there). I don't know, it just looked like the perfect storm between one fighter who was fighting for an opportunity and the other who had grown complacent. Never saw this kind of sleep-walking performance from Arguello again, so maybe it was the kick in the shorts he needed.

 

Scar, here's mine:

Alexis Arguello v Vilomar Fernandez 1

1 9-10
2 10-9 (close)
3 9-10
4 9-10
5 10-9 (close)
6 10-9 (best round for Arguello)
7 9-10
8 9-10
9 9-10
10 10-9 (good final round action)

Arguello 94-96 Fernandez

 

Jel, did you see what I meant when I said a sleep-walking performance by Arguello? I don't know if you agree with me on it, but I didn't feel it was solely a good performance by Fernandez. Arguello's lackluster performance factored into the way this fight unfolded as well.

 

To some degree Alexis was always a one-gear guy. And he was always stoic.

When he would just steadily plug along and show no emotion and no urgency and then catch up with the guy and end it, it was seen as brilliance — a patient assassin. On rare occasions like this where he never quite pulled the trigger to turn it, he looks like he’s sleep-walking.

There are some exceptions — Pryor made him fight at a higher pace to not get run out of the ring and he matched the ferocity, but a guy like Vilomar is doing just the opposite … he’s limiting the exchanges and shortening the fight and all of a sudden you look up and time has run out.

Look at Arguello-Billy Costello. Alexis more or less sleep-walks through every minute of that and then BAM turns it with one punch.

That punch never came against Fernandez. And Vilomar was a well underrated guy who had flashes of brilliance himself and wasn’t an easy puzzle for anyone to figure out.

 

Oh, no doubt, Scar. I felt he either wasn't focused (possible as this was him testing the waters at lightweight with a potential showdown with the champion, Duran, waiting in the wings) or he felt he had enough time over 10 rounds to get to Fernandez eventually. He almost fought it like it was a 15 rounder and he had more time. He only really showed proper urgency in the 10th - had he started like that he'd have broken Fernandez down fairly quickly. It was a headscratcher of a performance from him.

To his credit, Fernandez fought a perfect fight.

 

Ray Mancini vs. Arturo Frias

I’m not going to do a complete write-up of this wonderful and brief war, but I had a hankering for some quick action and dialed it up tonight.

They met head-on and never stopped trading. Arturo got the better of it from the start, rocking Ray with a big left hook, and landed the more telling blows for the first 2 minutes. His punches were short, accurate and impactful, whereas Ray was a bit wild while also doing some good body work.

Frias suffered a pretty nasty cut under his left eye and Mancini was bleeding from the nose. But they just kept wading in.

Finally Ray landed a good left hook and Frias was stunned a bit and Ray never let him breathe until it was over. He knocked Frias down and came at him with a fury to force a stoppage in the final seconds of the round.

I imagine most of us have seen it but it’s always worth another watch.

 

Pat, here's my card:

Ray Mancini v Arturo Frias

1 Mancini TKO Frias

 

That’s exactly how I scored it.

 

Alexis Arguello v Vilomar Fernandez II

I couldn't resist checking out the rematch.

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

Total: 99-92 Arguello (actual scores: 98-92, 98-92 and 100-91 all for Arguello)

This was more like it. A focused Arguello on the task before him. This was Arguello after the 14th round KO by Pryor and trying for a rematch. Tying up the loose end - which was Fernandez - was still a daunting task, but Alexis was up to it this time around. I gotta say, despite the win, Vilomar's style really presented an issue for Arguello. That cagey, in-and-out style of his was still able to tag Arguello, but this time around, just not enough to win rounds. Fernandez gave it his all, but again, this was a focused Arguello.

 

Scar, I scored this about a month ago. Here's my card:

Alexis Arguello v Vilomar Fernandez 2

1 10-9
2 10-10
3 10-9 (some decent action)
4 10-8 (Fernandez put down by a left hook)
5 9-10 (good recovery from Vilomar)
6 10-9 (close)
7 9-10 (close. Props to Fernandez for keeping it competitive. He's putting some dig into his shots too, which is discouraging Arguello just enough from going all out in his attacks)
8 10-9 (good action. Arguello hurt Fernandez early but Fernandez landed some beautful uppercuts and mounted a strong finish to keep things close. Much more competitive fight now than a few rounds ago)
9 10-9
10 10-9
Arguello 98-92 Fernandez

 

Awesome. Love the detail.

 

Bubba Busceme gave AA similar stylistic problems with an in-and-out attack IIRC (years since I’ve watched it) before the Explosive Thin Man dropped a grenade on him.

 

I remember the fight. Bubba got off to a good fast start but then started to wilt. Arguello was such an attrition fighter.