the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Tim Witherspoon vs Bonecrusher Smith 1

120-108 a shut out

So people always talk their 2nd fight but this fight was actually brutal, Smith took a beating in this fight. The punchstats were 315-99 in favour of Witherspoon. And I can't remember the last time I've seen such one sided stats in a Heavyweight fight.

Witherspoon pounded Smith in rounds 4 and 5, and pretty much took all the fight out of Smith, who basically fought to survive from that point on. I really don't know how Bonecrusher took so many flush right hands from Witherspoon. A few times Bonecrusher looked to be on the verge of getting stopped but somehow survived.

Honestly I would of pulled Smith out of there in the last few rounds, it was pretty obvious Smith had nothing to offer Witherspoon apart from taking a beating. I guess his corner thought he maybe could pull out a miracle like he did vs Bruno, but honestly I thought it was pretty apparent Smith had nothing on his punches to trouble Witherspoon.

Overall a good performance from Witherspoon who walked down Smith the entire fight, hammering him with overhand rights and punishing body punches. And credit to Bonecrusher for showing courage to take Witherspoons best for 12 very one sided rounds.

 

Eitenne vs Brewster is worth watching the 1st round is one of the best opening rounds in Heavyweight history. Eitenne was actually quite good in his prime, he was a rare Heavyweight who could throw 70-80 punches a round. He also had a classic vs Lawrence Clay Bey who beat Wladimir Klitschko in the amateurs.

I've not actually seen the full fight of Eitenne vs Oquendo only highlights, but I was always a bit surprised how Eitenne went down so frequently vs Oquendo who isn't really a noted banger. And up to that point in his career Eitenne had shown fairly good durability.

 

Saw this bout out there and just had to check it out.

Carmen Basilio v Art Aragon (scheduled for 12 - appears to be using 10 point system)

Round 1: 10-9 Basilio
Round 2: 10-9 Basilio
Round 3: 10-9 Basilio
Round 4: 10-9 Basilio
Round 5: 10-9 Basilio (Best round)
Round 6: 10-8 Basilio (extra point for a nasty battering)
Round 7: 10-9 Basilio (another thumping but Aragon fought back)
Round 8: Mid-way through the round Aragon's corner throws in the towel

Total through 7 completed rounds: 70-62 Basilio (actual scores: 70-57, 70-60 and 69-60 all Basilio)

Man, I tell ya, I loved this fight. Basilio administered one nasty body beating to Aragon throughout this fight. The judges were not as conservative with their scores as I was. But hey, I could also see someone calling the 1st and 5th rounds Even as well. Aragon really fought well those rounds but Basilio was on a wild tear this night. I think you guys would really love this fight, especially the 5th where they both let it all hang out. To tell you how I got into it, I was wincing from Basilio's body shots. Great fight.

 

I haven't seen this one yet, but I can believe it. Basilio is always fun and that fight Aragon had with Carter (the rematch I mean) is amazing.

 

Junior Jones W12 Marco Antonio Barrera (2)

This was the rematch of a fight that saw the unbeaten phenom Barrera unceremoniously pummeled and stopped by Jones (it was technically a DQ win). His aura balloon now popped, Barrera was determined to prove that effort was merely an aberration.

It was and it wasn't.

For this bout, Barrera came out very respectful of Jones' vaunted right hand power. He boxed from a distance and committed himself far less than the first time, wanting instead for Jones to open himself up and leave himself open to counters. It worked to a degree; Jones was perhaps overeager and thought he might be able to duplicate his earlier performance. Barrera was throwing far fewer punches but landing at very impressive rates, while most of Jones' shots glanced off or missed altogether. If I have a criticism here it's merely that Barrera waited a bit too much, was TOO respectful. While he was outthinking and outmaneuvering Jones, the American was still winning his share of early rounds through sheer activity and workrate.

The tipping point was the ninth round, which saw Barrera have a point deducted for low blows. Jones had won the round anyway, making this a huge 10-8 round in what had been a seesaw battle. It proved to be absolutely vital.

Jones rallied nicely in rounds 8-10, deciding that he was going to have to pick his spots and box more rather than load up and get countered all the time. He kept Barrera at a distance and pecked away, even hurting Barrera with a right hand in the tenth.

Marco administered a nice body attack again in the final two rounds to close the difference, making this about as tight a decision as you can get. The one point deduction proved to be the decider to me.

1. Jones
2. Barrera
3. Barrera
4. Jones
5. Jones
6. Barrera
7. Barrera
8. Jones
9. Jones (10-8, deduction for low blow)
10. Jones
11. Barrera
12. Barrera

114-113 Jones.

 

Sal, I had it a wee bit wider but we're on the same page. This is what I wrote:

Junior Jones vs. Marco Antonio Barrera II

Round 1: 10-9 Jones
Round 2: 10-9 Barrera
Round 3: 10-10 Even
Round 4: 10-9 Jones
Round 5: 10-9 Jones
Round 6: 10-9 Barrera
Round 7: 10-9 Jones
Round 8: 10-9 Jones
Round 9: 10-8 Jones (point deducted from Barrera for continued low-blows - 3rd warning)
Round 10: 10-9 Jones
Round 11: 10-9 Barrera
Round 12: 10-9 Barrera

Total: 116-112 Jones

Actual scorecards were 116-111, 114-113 and 114-112 all for Jones

Amazing how a fighter can show up and have that Indian hex over a great. And this is the case here. You gotta give Jones his due.

 

Absolutely; amazing too, how much an improvement in tensile strength we see in Jones with just those added four pounds. He was very brittle at 118 and was just physically worn down against Johnson in losing the bantamweight title, rather than losing to a great fighter. Here, he absorbed great, sustained body shots, fought and wrestled inside, and showed off a nice left hook to the body. Just better and stronger all around.

 

@scartissue @salsanchezfan

For me I thought Barrera fought a bit too cautious overall, and Jones for me showed more hunger and deserved to win a competitive but clear decision.

 

We had the same tally, Scar:

Junior Jones v Marco Antonio Barrera 2

Another terrific performance against Barrera from Junior Jones, who showed just the right combination of ring smarts and toughness to keep Barrera at bay.

Barrera was more accurate with his punch output but too sparing with it too, particularly in the second half of the fight.

The point deduction? A little harsh. I thought it was borderline and Jones didn't seem affected, suggesting it wasn't that low a blow. But even without that deduction, I had Jones winning.

Funny to think that this would be the end of Jones' best, whereas Barrera would come back (more than once as well) to have a Hall of Fame career.

1 10-9 (nice snapping jab from Jones)
2 9-10 (good work from Barrera towards the end of the round gives him the edge)
3 9-10 (Jones inaccurate with his punches, Barrera doing some solid work)
4 10-9 (Jones busier and landed the better punches)
5 9-10 (Barrera landed some nice shots to take the round)
6 9-10
7 10-9
8 10-9 (good round from Jones who had Barrera backing up)
9 10-8 (Jones winning the round plus a point deduction for a low blow for Barrera. Barrera strangely passive)
10 10-9 (superb performance from Jones. He is dominating the second half of the fight. To his credit, Barrera is standing up well to the right hand this time around but he's taking a fair few and not doing enough.)
11 10-9 (Barrera looking out of ideas, decides to abandon the boxing and exchange a bit. But Jones has the round again)
12 10-10 (scrappy round until the final exchange- both giving as good as they get. No clear edge to either fighter)

Jones 116-112 Barrera

 

Scott Ledoux v Marty Monroe

Round 1: 10-9 Ledoux
Round 2: 10-9 Ledoux
Round 3: 10-10 Even
Round 4: 10-9 Ledoux
Round 5: 10-9 Monroe
Round 6: 10-9 Ledoux
Round 7: 10-9 Monroe
Round 8: 10-10 Even
Round 9: 10-9 Ledoux
Round 10: 10-9 Monroe

Total: 97-95 Ledoux (actual scores: 97-96, 97-93 and 98-94 all for Ledoux)

Man, I know I saw this fight back in the day but it got lost somewhere in the old noggin. I'm glad I spotted this out there because it was worth seeing again. A damn good fight and I would have been OK with a draw. I was at odds with how Dick Stockton and Gil Clancy at ringside were scoring it. But that was because how close every round was. Definitely recommend this.

 

Tomasz Adamek v Paul Briggs 1

Very good fight in which one fighter, Briggs, possessed the greater power but didn’t land regularly enough and the other fighter’s punches had no discernible effect but he landed them with greater frequency. It’s a ‘what you like’ kind of fight.

Adamek toughed it out down the stretch though and his combination punching meant he was always outlanding Briggs by about 3 punches to 1.

Briggs’ greatest success was with the overhand right but he landed single shots most of the time and was unable to take advantage by landing in combination.

1 10-9
2 10-9 (Briggs cut over left eye from clash of heads)
3 9-10
4 10-9 (close)
5 10-9 (Adamek outlanding Briggs about 3 to 1)
6 9-10
7 9-10 (close. Good back and forth action)
8 9-10 (Adamek hurt several times. He’s still outlanding Briggs but the Aussie is landing the more powerful, hurtful punches)
9 10-9 (close. Tough to score. Briggs landed the best punch of the round but Adamek outworked him)
10 10-9
11 10-9
12 10-9

Adamek 116-112 Briggs

 

Oleksandr Usyk vs Michael Hunter

1 Usyk
2 Hunter
3 Hunter
4 Usyk
5 Usyk
6 Usyk
7 Usyk
8 Usyk
9 Usyk
10 Usyk
11 Usyk
12 Uysk 10-7 round


118-108 Usyk

Entertaining fight Hunter had some success in the early going as Usyk started slow, and Hunter may of won 3 out of the first 4 rounds, although i gave him only 2. But after the 4th round Usyk was in complete control, and took the fight to Hunter showing real effective aggression landing in combinations and completely outworking Hunter. As the fight wore on Hunter become less and less competitive.

But i do want to discuss the 12th round, now i thought the referee let Hunter take way too much punishment in this round. And i honestly i think he was trying to give Hunter the benefit of the doubt so he could survive. He also gave Hunter a standing 8 count, but i thought the round was so dominant in Usyk's favour that i actually scored it 10-7 instead of 10-8, Hunter was basically assaulted in the 12th round. And the referee played a very dangerous game as Hunter could've been seriously hurt.

Overall a pretty entertaining fight worth watching, but Usyk was dominant after the 4th round.

 

Mark Medal KO5 Earl Hargrove

I had never seen this fight, but felt I knew all about it. It was written up in some detail along with an in-depth profile of Medal following the win in one of the first boxing magazines I ever bought. As such, Medal became familiar to me at a very early stage in my fanhood, though I never saw him live on TV back in the day.

This was every bit as exciting a slugfest as was advertised at the time. Highly recommended, this one's a lot of fun.

Hargrove comes in at 24-0 with all 24 wins coming by stoppage. Medal is 22-1 with 19 KO's but not as touted, as it's hard to mentally get past 24-0 (24) I guess. Mugabi was the same way when he came along in a sort of parallel track.

Hargrove quickly shows himself to be one of those tightly-wound punchers who comes in full of energy and venom and throwing bombs for about two rounds before falling apart. Not much ability to pace himself, doesn't defend all that well, but he's exciting while he's there.

Medal paces himself better and has a good idea of a balanced attack, throwing hurtful shots to the body, perhaps realizing his goal is the middle game. Meaning that if he GETS to the middlegame he's essentially won the thing. He patiently lets Hargrove expend himself, throwing enough back to disallow his opponent from just rolling him away. The Philadelphian takes the first two rounds on activity and menace, but Medal (from New Jersey) is patient and better-schooled. He begins backing up a tiring Hargrove in the third, though Earl punches back hard.

The fourth is even more pronounced for Medal, and he comes out for the fifth hot, throwing hard shots with a bit more extension now that the tiring Hargrove is no longer forcing his way in. Medal connects with a hard right that forces his foe back and he unloads 18 unanswered punches on him, forcing the stoppage. With the win, Medal wins the IBF junior-middleweight crown.

Good one, do check it out..........

1. Hargrove
2. Hargrove
3. Medal
4. Medal
5. Medal wins by stoppage

38-38 at the time it ended.

 

I've always heard great things about this one. Can't wait to see it, in 30 years.

 

I don’t think I did a write up on this one but I watched it last year and it’s great fun. Interesting that you mention Mugabi as he and Hargrove met after this and The Beast blasted him out. After the Medal fight, Hargrove was essentially done.