the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Treated myself today to an awesome classic out of MSG from the mid '60s. A scheduled tenner. Here we go:

Dick Tiger v Jose Gonzalez

Round 1: Tiger
Round 2: Gonzalez
Round 3: Even
Round 4: Tiger
Round 5: Tiger
Round 6: Tiger drops and stops Gonzalez

Total through 5 completed rounds: 3-1-1 Tiger (actual scores unknown)

Man, these two simply knew how to entertain the audience. No frills, just get in there and make a fight of it for the paying audience. Gonzalez just thrived on clubbing his opponent on the inside, wherever he could. Tiger on the other hand, threw his punches more conservatively and more refined. By that I mean pinpoint. The left hook that dropped Gonzalez in the 6th was something to behold. Good fight.

 

Shawn O'Sullivan v Luis Santana (12 rounds - NABF welterweight title)

Round 1: 10-10 Even
Round 2: 10-9 Santana
Round 3: 10-9 Santana
Round 4: 10-9 O'Sullivan
Round 5: 10-10 Even
Round 6: 10-9 Santana
Round 7: 10-9 Santana
Round 8: 10-9 Santana
Round 9: 10-9 O'Sullivan
Round 10: 10-9 O'Sullivan
Round 11: Santana drops and stops O'Sullivan

Total through 10 completed rounds: 97-95 Santana (actual scores: 96-94 and 2 scores of 97-93 all for Santana)

I thought of this fight while on the 'greatest amateur who did not have a great pro career' thread. I named O'Sullivan to the list and checked out this fight again. Man, whatever it was about O'Sullivan - who was ranked as the #1 light-middleweight in the world at amateur - he just couldn't get out of the way of a punch. He fought so straight up it was easy to tag him. SRL was in his corner and kept trying to get him to fight low, but Shawn always had that chin in the air and Santana took advantage of it. Still, good moments by both fighters, but Santana always looked like he was going to take this.

 

Juan Manuel Marquez vs Manny Pacquiao 1

1 Pacquiao 10-6 3 knockdowns
2 Pacquiao
3 Marquez
4 Marquez
5 Marquez
6 Marquez
7 Pacquiao
8 Marquez
9 Marquez
10 Pacquiao
11 Marquez
12 Marquez

113-112 Marquez

I've always felt Marquez deserved to win this fight and my opinion hasn't changed, the first 6 rounds are pretty easy to score IMO. After that it gets a bit tougher for me the closest round in the fight was the 9th round, but for the most part i felt like Marquez was able to fight his kind of fight. It took Marquez 2 rounds to adjust to Pacquiao's speed, but once he did he had Pacquiao pretty measured apart from a couple of rounds. I also forgot how many good body punches Marquez landed in the fight aswell.

Overall for me Marquez won this fight on clean punching, ring generalship, nullifying Pacquiao's aggression for a large portion of the fight.

 

Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez 2

1 Marquez
2 Marquez
3 Pacquiao 10-8 knockdown
4 Pacquiao
5 Marquez
6 Marquez
7 Pacquiao
8 Marquez
9 Pacquiao
10 Pacquiao
11 Marquez
12 Marquez

114-113 Marquez

How did Harold Lederman have Pacquiao winning the 12th round ? his scorecard was reasonable up until that point, i also felt his scoring was way off in the 1st fight aswell.

Overall i felt like this fight was quite easy to score like the 1st meeting, the 1st round was close but Marquez landed a few body shots and the big right hand, was by far best punch of the round won the round for Marquez for me. Apart from that i didn't really see many other swing rounds, one fighter would always clearly win a round even if it was competitive.

Manny Pacquiao was definitely an improved fighter, and his defence and right hand was noticeably better. But he still had the same issues he had in the 1st meeting, Marquez's straight hand was always bothering him. And Marquez's ring generalship and counter punching style still posed the same problems.

Overall again just like the 1st fight, Marquez won for me based on ring generalship and clean effective punching.

 

Roberto Duran vs Iran Barkley

1 Duran
2 Barkley
3 Duran
4 Duran
5 Barkley
6 Barkley
7 Barkley
8 Barkley
9 Duran
10 Duran
11 Duran 10-8 knockdown
12 Duran

115-112 Duran

What's overlooked about this fight is that this was arguably one of Iran Barkley's best performances he actually showed underrated skills in this fight. But Duran was just too clever and crafty for Barkley, it don't seem possible that Duran could come on late in this fight with the amount of body punishment he took from Barkley early but somehow he did.

Quite a few of the early rounds were close Barkley would outwork Duran in alot of the early rounds with some nice body punching, jabbing, and occasional left hooks. But you have to watch closely Duran was actually rolling with alot of Barkley's punches. And when Duran would counter punch with the right hand it was landing flush right on the button and it would often wobble Barkley anytime he landed it.

And that's why i gave Duran a few of the close early rounds despite Barkley having a higher workrate. And it's evident after the fight that Duran is virtually unmarked where as Barkley was bruised and swollen which further proves my point about Duran's defence and more effective punches.

Despite me saying all that though Barkley still did have a lead early on i had him 5-3 up after 8 rounds it possibly could of been 6-2. But the last 4 rounds unlike some of the early rounds were simple to score. As Barkley started to wear down and Duran got stronger and stronger, and in the end Duran pulled it out clearly with the knockdown to win a competitive but clear win on my card.

Overall a great fight i'm sure you don't need me to tell you that there was some fantastic inside fighting aswell as fine skills on display. But Duran clearly won by landing the more effective punches and having the much better defence.

 

I’m sure this must have been done to death but I was inspired to watch the whole of Tyson v Tillis again…not just highlights…for the first time in decades. after a debate with a pal of mine who insisted the fight was a draw.
So here’s how I scored it:

Round 1 Tyson
Round 2 Tyson
Round 3 Tyson
Round 4 Tyson
Round 5 Tyson
Round 6 Even
Round 7 Tillis
Round 8 Tillis
Round 9 Tillis
Round 10 Tyson

TYSON 6 TILLIS 3 EVEN 1

That was much closer than I remembered! I gave Round 4 to Tyson because he knocked Tillis down, but Tillis was doing well in that round up to that point.

Tyson was definitely the better fighter in the early stages without flat out dominating all the rounds, but became careless and scrappy in the 2nd half of the fight as Tillis caught Mike with some good shots.

All in all it wasn’t a great performance by Tyson’s high standards, but a very decent showing by Tillis.

 

Ron Lyle KO6 Earnie Shavers

I had only ever seen highlights of this one, so glad I got around to watching it in full.

What a fun little brawl. It showed a lot of what Shavers was about, good and bad; tremendous power in both hands and no gas tank. Lyle, for his part, employed the somewhat dubious plan of laying on the ropes and waiting for Shavers to open himself up in the latter part of rounds. He's one of few to do that and live to tell the tale.

Shavers came out with a ferocious attack, keeping Lyle against the ropes and hammering at anything that presented itself. Lyle rolled with some shots, ducked others, and absorbed what he had to, firing sporadically back, just enough to give Shavers pause and occasionally rock him.

In the second round, Shavers connected with a beautifully timed hook and Lyle collapsed down and into the ropes, tangling himself a bit in the process and momentarily dead to the world. All credit to him, he somehow got up. The bell rang soon after, clearly saving him.

After the third, Lyle got smart and started quickly, taking the early initiative back from Shavers. That, coupled with Shavers shooting his bolt after the fourth, meant Lyle was now in command. He came out early in the sixth immediately hammering away, and Shavers had no means of protecting himself and he fell face furst in slow motion, much as a tall building would teeter and collapse under the blows of a wrecking ball, which in substance is what Lyle had become.

1. Shavers
2. Shavers, 10-8
3. Shavers
4. Lyle
5. Lyle
6. Lyle floors Shavers and Shavers is counted out.

 

With inspiration from @Dynamicpuncher, I decided to rewatch Vitali Klitschko vs Chris Byrd. I was under the assumption that Vitali was dominating & in full control before the shoulder injury, but after he challenged me on that, I decided to go back & watch the fight.

Vitali Klitschko vs Chris Byrd
​

Rounds Won/Even
Klitschko - 1,2,4,6,7,8
Byrd - 3,5,9
Even - /

Notes​

* Byrd wins via 9th TKO Corner Stoppage
*Rounds 3 & 9 were close, but I feel Byrd edged both
*I had Klitschko winning by 3 points at the time of the stoppage​

My Scorecard
(K) 87-84 (B)

Winner: Byrd via 9TH RTD TKO

My Review
A tactical, pedestrian fight with spurts of action. Neither guy look spectacular IMO, but Klitschko was ahead in my book. He wasn't dominating or putting on a masterful display like he was expected to do (& his younger brother would eventually do) - just doing enough to win a decision. Byrd would open up in spurts, then go in a defensive shell for the majority of each round. His best work was when he would use counter-combinations when Vitali would miss. A decent HW title bout.

​

 

That's a fair very assessment of the fight well done and i respect that you went back and rewatched it.

 

Thanks

 

Chris Byrd vs Vitali Klitschko

1 Vitali
2 Vitali
3 Byrd
4 Vitali
5 Byrd
6 Byrd
7 Vitali
8 Vitali
9 Byrd
10 Vitali doesn't come out for the 10th round

86-85 Vitali

I'm a man of my word here's my scorecard after rewatching the fight @Showstopper97

A few things i want to point out about this fight, Byrd basically nullified Vitali's jab by parrying it constantly with his right jab. Which is huge weapon to take away when your fighting the much bigger man. It also shows Vitali's jab was nowhere near as good as Wladimir's, who had a pretty potent jab where as Vitali's was just poking it out there.

I also felt like Vitali was a bit too tentative in this fight, he didn't really impose himself on Byrd. And he allowed the much smaller Byrd who isn't a big puncher, to start backing him up after the 5th round.

As i said before to @Showstopper97 i've never understood where this myth came from, that Vitali was "dominating Byrd". For me it was a very close tactical fight, and Byrd was starting to come on in the 2nd part of the fight. As Vitali was starting to tire from all the missed punches, and i think Byrd deserves more credit for his performance especially since he took the fight on late notice. Yes the injury to Vitali's shoulder was unfortunate, but Byrd had tired Vitali out and Byrd was coming on strong, backing up Vitali and hitting him with the left hand.

 

Carl Froch v Jermain Taylor (super middleweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Taylor
Round 2: 10-10 Even
Round 3: 10-8 Taylor (scores a knockdown)
Round 4: 10-9 Froch
Round 5: 10-9 Taylor
Round 6: 10-9 Froch
Round 7: 10-10 Even
Round 8: 10-9 Froch
Round 9: 10-9 Froch
Round 10: 10-9 Froch
Round 11: 10-9 Taylor
Round 12: Froch drops and stops Taylor

Total through 11 completed rounds: 105-105 Even (actual scores: 106-102, 106-102 both for Taylor and a 106-102 for Froch)

Man, this one will test your scoring. To begin, I do not like Froch and never did. His porous style and awkward punching never did anything for me, but I gotta call them the way I see them and I feel Taylor let Froch into this fight in the middle rounds by not punching. I just can't see any of these scores to tell you the truth, but this was Taylor's to give away and he did an admirable job of it.

 

If you've never seen it Carl Froch vs Jean Pascal is an exciting fight which was also a close one as i remember it.

 

Angel Manfredy vs Ivan Robinson

4/17/1999

Round 1: 10-10. Great round.
Round 2: 10-9 Manfredy. Close. Great round.
Round 3: 10-9 Manfredy
Round 4: 10-9 Manfredy. Close.
Round 5: 10-9 Robinson. Close.
Round 6: 10-9 Manfredy. Great round.
Round 7: 10-9 Manfredy
Round 8: 10-9 Manfredy
Round 9: 10-9 Manfredy
Round 10: 10-9 Manfredy

My Score: 99-91 Manfredy

Judges Scores: 100-90 and 99-91x2 for Manfredy by UD

Not a bad little scrap (if I'd seen it I had forgotten it) though pretty one-sided from a scoring perspective.

 

This was a good fight i actually had a debate recently, saying i thought Manfredy was better than Gatti H2H, he seemed to think i was way off. But Manfredy did do alot better vs Robinson than Gatti did, aswell as beating Gatti himself.

This was my thoughts on the fight.

Angel Manfredy vs Ivan Robinson

1 Manfredy
2 Manfredy
3 Manfredy
4 Robinson
5 Robinson
6 Manfredy
7 Manfredy
8 Manfredy
9 Manfredy
10 Manfredy

98-92 Manfredy

I noticed a little while ago @scartissue was enjoying watching Angel Manfredy fights, well i suggest you watch this one. It's a very entertaining battle rock em sock em robots.

Also if i can quote another poster here @Saintpat i believe we had discussion awhile ago. And he said "a fighter can lose a wide decision on the scorecards, but the fight can still be competitive" well that quote certainly describes this fight in a nutshell.

Ivan Robinson threw nearly 100 punches in most of the rounds, and you think to yourself "Well wow can a fighter loser such a wide decision then ?" well despite Robinson throwing alot of punches. His punches were not that effective, and Manfredy would block alot of Robinson's ineffective punches. Whilst also coming back with his harder punches.

Manfredy said before the fight he noticed, Gatti hurt Robinson late on in their fight with body shots. And that he would go to Robinson's body early. Well true to his word he did just that even making Robinson grimace in the 1st round with a body punch, and he was able to hurt Robinson numerous times in the fight with body punches. I've talked about how effective Manfredy was with his body punches, but overall he just landed the much more effective cleaner/harder punches, and that's what pretty much won Manfredy the fight in a competitive but very clear win for Manfredy.

Overall i recommend anyone watching this fight, it was a fun fight to watch and although not quite as good as Gatti/Robinson 1 it wasn't that far off.