the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Marcus, thought I'd check out a little Miguel Cotto today and zeroed in on the Margarito fights, which I've seen but never score. Saw you checked it out. Here we go........

Miguel Cotto v Antonio Margarito I (welterweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Cotto
Round 2: 10-10 Even
Round 3: 10-9 Cotto
Round 4: 10-9 Cotto
Round 5: 10-9 Cotto
Round 6: 10-10 Even
Round 7: 10-9 Margarito
Round 8: 10-9 Margarito
Round 9: 10-9 Cotto
Round 10: 10-9 Margarito
Round 11: Margarito stops Cotto after 2 knockdowns (Cotto takes a knee in both cases voluntarily)

Total through 10 completed rounds - 97-95 Cotto (actual scores: 95-95 and 2 scores of 96-94 for Margarito)

This was a bout of perceptions. Cotto was scoring with the cleaner shots, but Margarito - although missing or having many blocked - was in appearance, pounding away at Cotto and doing facial damage on Cotto as the aggressor. So it's really how one perceives how this fight is going. Like I said, I lean towards the cleaner shots. @Marcus S. , I agree with you also on the question of the plaster in the gloves point. That will always hang over this fight. Still, enjoyed the fight.

 

Miguel Cotto v Antonio Margarito II (jr. middleweight title)

The rematch was as hard-bitten as the first. However, Cotto came in with a better plan of firing in salvos, getting out but never on the ropes. Whereas Margarito didn't change a thing. Apparently adopting a 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' attitude, he just came up short but never stopped trying. I only gave him a share of rounds 3 and 7 with the rest to Cotto for a 90-83 score through 9 completed rounds before a very indecisive doctor stopped the bout between rounds 9 and 10 with Margarito's right eye slammed shut. All 3 judges had it 89-82 for Cotto.

 

With Tom slow-cooking in the oven needed to check out some good old-fashioned MSG boxing. So I alighted on.......

Dick Tiger v Rubin (Hurricane) Carter (NY rounds scoring basis)

Round 1: Even
Round 2: Tiger (scores 2 knockdowns)
Round 3: Tiger
Round 4: Tiger (scores a knockdown)
Round 5: Even
Round 6: Carter
Round 7: Tiger
Round 8: Tiger
Round 9: Tiger
Round 10: Tiger

Total: 7-1-2 Tiger (actual scores: 6-2-2, 8-1-1, 9-1 all for Tiger)

The only thing missing on this bout was audio and believe me, that was a biggie. Some of the shots thrown here between these two would have sounded exquisite. But I wanted to see it and a couple of times during the contest I just blurted out, "Tiger is one bad dude!" Carter too, for his part showed a decent jab when the attack wasn't working for him and in the 6th round - the only round I gave him - he really used the ring well to keep Tiger at bay on the end of his jab. But that could only work briefly with Tiger gunning for you. Again, good fight, but I might say damn good fight if we had the audio for some of those bombs.

 

Sumbu Kalambay W15 Iran Barkley

The one Kalambay championship effort I'd yet to see. He won the vacant WBA crown with this effort.

The guy is just so smooth. Rolling effortlessly away from right hands, keeping the high guard even late in fights, whipping that right uppercut counter off the ropes........nothing he does badly. Barkley just can't find him. He chases and chases, but after eating many right hand counters from Kalambay, decides to try to match left hands with the Italian/Congolese, and it just goes badly. He's far slower and less fluid than Kalambay so by the time Barkley decides to wind up and throw, Kalambay has already seen it coming, ordered out some dinner, eaten, relaxed by the fire a bit and went home by the time the punch gets there. He slips it, of course.

By the tenth round, Barkley is backing up because chasing Kalambay isn't working. Letting Sumbu lead didn't work either, so he just continues to eat leather. He takes the 15th on sheer aggression and volume punching alone, but it's far too little too late.



One-sided fight, but a treat for Kalambay fans, and an underrated win.

1. K
2. K
3. Even
4. K
5. K
6. K
7. K
8. K
9. K
10. B
11. K
12. K
13. K
14. K
15. B

148-138 Kalambay.

 

Larry Holmes v Leroy Jones (heavyweight title)

I haven't seen this fight since it took place, with no real interest in seeing it again if not for a recent discussion I was involved in regarding which weight classes I would get rid of. It has been my contention for sometime that cruiserweight harkened in the era of the enormous heavyweights and probably ushered in PED use as well. Like there was suddenly a void that needed to be filled. No longer were fighters trying to get to a reasonable, mobile and fast weight where fundamentals and emphasis on stamina were part of the training regimen. Today, it's bigger is better. Well, out of curiosity I checked out this fight between Holmes and Jones. Jones was big for the era. 6'5" and almost 255 compared to Holmes' 211. And it was an interesting fight. Jones would have fit right in with todays fighters, but that regular sized heavyweight really did a demolition job on him. Actual scores were 70-62, 70-63 and 70-64 all for Holmes through 7 completed rounds before Larry lowered the boom in the 8th. I had it 70-62 giving Larry a 10-8 round in the 6th for a prolonged battering. It's just a bit of nostalgia on when heavyweights were actually exciting.

 

Wilford Scypion W12 Frank Fletcher

This was essentially the end of Fletcher's iconic run in the early 80's. He'd had heart-in-your-mouth battles against Green, Braxton, Singletary and Jackson leading up to this, as he neared a title shot with Hagler. He just needed to get by Scypion.

It goes that way so often, doesn't it?

Honestly speaking, this fight was emblematic of poor judgment on his management's part, at least speaking in terms of chances at the brass ring. Fletcher just isn't a middleweight. The Singletary win aside, all his big wins came against 154-pounders. While understanding the big prize would have been a shot at Hagler's throne at 160, he stood a much better, clearer shot at a 154-pound title and stood a better chance at actually winning a belt there. He would've been flayed by Hagler within six rounds, easy. Granted, his handlers probably understood the short shelf life such a fighting style portends and perhaps just wanted to get him whatever nice paydays they could while they could. Still, he's no middleweight.

The fight itself was messy because..........well, Fletcher. Both fought a determined fight, but size won out here. Fletcher would typically open the rounds aggressively, and pound away for perhaps 20-30 seconds but then Scypion's strength came to bear, and he forced Fletcher to the ropes where he smothered his offensive efforts while landing hacking shots of his own. Fletcher was often forced to fight off the back foot and off the ropes. There were times when his sheer volume of punches off the ropes won him the round on my card (5th, 6th rounds) but you could see it was a matter of winning small battles within the context of a greater war being lost.

Not a great fight, but an effective one for Scypion and an ill-advised one for Fletcher, despite the hot-and-cold nature of Scypion's career.

1. Scypion
2. Scypion
3. Fletcher
4. Scypion
5. Fletcher
6. Fletcher
7. Scypion
8. Scypion
9. Fletcher
10. Scypion
11. Scypion
12. Even

116-113 Scypion.

 

Sal, I checked this out awhile back. You can never go wrong with a Frank Fletcher fight. Here is what I wrote:

Wilford Scypion v Frank 'The Animal' Fletcher (NJ rounds scoring basis)

Round 1: Even
Round 2: Scypion
Round 3: Fletcher
Round 4: Scypion
Round 5: Fletcher
Round 6: Scypion
Round 7: Scypion
Round 8: Scypion
Round 9: Even
Round 10: Even
Round 11: Scypion
Round 12: Fletcher

Total: 6-3-3 Scypion (actual scores: 6-5-1, 7-4-1 and 8-3-1 all for Scypion)

Those last 4 rounds really became clinch/maul fests, most instigated by Scypion. But he was fighting a smart fight.

 

I thought the strength difference was really pronounced. Served Scypion well to lean all over him. Good point, it was inaccurate of me to pass the sloppiness of this fight off on Fletcher entirely.

 

Did you ever see Fletcher's fight with Clint Jackson? Outstanding.

 

I did; probably the best fight in that astounding run he had. Jackson just couldn't match his work rate.

 

What a war that was. His fight with Norberto Sabater wasn’t quite as intense but another good brawl.

 

That one ruined Sabater. Just saw that recently.

The Green fight was terrific while it lasted but Green capitulated before it become a true classic, sadly.

 

Frank made Green blink. He thought he was a hard rock, but the Animal turned him into sand.

 

Junior Jones W12 Orlando Canizales

Couldn't remember if I'd ever seen this before but based on the fact it happened in 1996, when I was living in corporate housing in Phoenix that had only the basic cable package with no HBO, I doubt I did. NIce to get caught up on it anyway.

Canizales is just a step behind the whole fight. It's frustrating to watch because as the fight goes on, you realize the guy he has in front of him is frail and skinny and a bit brittle. Jones, in an effort to keep Canizales at bay and on the end of his long punches, overextends his shots fairly frequently and leaves himself lunging forward and off-balance, and his shots are often quite wide. Given these facts and Canizales' own needs, one would think Orlando would be hell-bent on getting inside and mauling and roughing up the taller Brooklynite. Not necessarily going full Hamsho on him or anythingm but a little intensive pressure would have been nice.

All Canizales did all night was follow him around the ring, unable or unwilling to cut the ring, instead preferring to try to stay at range and deliver his own combinations from outside as well, a strategy that was not going to work on this occasion. Many times Canizales would have Jones against the ropes or near them, and instead of shoving him against the ropes and whaling away at whatever he saw as he should have done, the Texan often pivoted to the right in an effort to find juuuuuust the right angle to throw the left hook, allowing Jones to scoot away from danger back to mid-ring simply by moving to his right. Time after time after frustrating time this happened. Canizales just would NOT close the distance, even when offered the opportunity. He was determined to try to deliver his short little workmanlike punches from Jones' chosen distance.

One of the judges, who must have been on Canizales' Christmas card list, unconscionably had this one 119-110 for Canizales. He deserves to have had his license revoked for that travesty. The other two had it about right.

1. Jones
2. Jones
3. Even
4. Jones
5. Canizales
6. Jones
7. Jones
8. Jones
9. Jones
10. Canizales
11. Jones
12. Jones

118-111 Jones.

 

Junior Jones is very under-appreciated and underrated IMO.