the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Jose Luis Castillo vs Floyd Mayweather

Fascinating fight! Firstly I feel the ref was pretty poor. The points taken off were ridiculous and clouded the scoring. You could argue Floyd did knock Castillo down in the 2nd round which of course would make my score a draw if that was a 10-8 for him. Very very close rounds, Castillo threw a lot but a good example of how compubox can be deceptive as not many landed cleanly in the early rounds despite the higher work rate. I am not 100% happy with my scoring, some rounds I gave a nod to Castillo as MW was simply not doing enough, despite Castillo not landing cleanly.

I had Floyd narrowly winning the two rounds where the points were taken which of course plays against Castillo as I made round 10 a 10-9 rather than 10-8.

More than anything I feel that Floyd didn't take the title as challenger, it seemed like he felt he was the champ and could coast rounds he should have fought with more urgency. He was too cautious overall despite proving his guts in some toe to toe exchanges like round 11. Mayweather's conditioning must have been awesome as Castillo looked like a WW but never seemed to hurt Floyd.

Every ATG is allowed an off day, but for all those who see Mayweather as unbeatable through history I would find it hard to see Floyd winning against the Chavez of the Rosario fight on this performance.

Despite all this is was close and I only really feel a bit disappointed for the following reasons. I think that much that is wrong with modern boxing was captured in this fight. Really Castillo should have kept his title with an exciting high stakes rematch to follow setting up a series. But of course we couldn't have the sacred "0" go from Floyd's record, this being a mark of shame rather than a badge of courage. Secondly titles are so meaningless these days that the idea you have to TAKE a title from a champ is gone, so it is easier for fighters like Money to coast as every title is just seen as a stepping stone to something else than having any intrinsic value.

I have to watch the second fight now!

1 - Mayweather 10 Castillo 9

2 - Mayweather 10 Castillo 9

3 - Mayweather 9 Castillo 10

4 - Mayweather 10 Castillo 9

5 - Mayweather 9 Castillo 10

6 - Mayweather 9 Castillo 10

7 - Mayweather 9 Castillo 10

8 - Mayweather 10 Castillo 8 (Castillo point removed)

9 - Mayweather 9 Castillo 10

10 - Mayweather 9 Castillo 10 (Mayweather point removed)

11 - Mayweather 10 Castillo 9

12 - Mayweather 9 Castillo 10

FINAL Castillo 114 Mayweather 113

 

Do you mean he’s been forgotten about?

 

Scar, as usual you’ve nailed it with your description of the fight as to why it’s such a good one. The sharpness and cleanness of the punches, particularly from Pintor, is what made this a really enjoyable one for me. Technically outstanding but with enough action to keep the pulse racing, I love fights like this.

Here’s my card and write up from a while back;

Lupe Pintor v Alberto Davila 2

After 10 rounds, I had this absolutely even with nothing between the two fighters. Over the first 10 rounds, I would expect scorecards to vary and I reckon I'd come up with a slightly different card myself each time. But Pintor came on in the championship rounds, upping his workrate while Davila's slowed a bit and he pulled away to a clear win on my card.

Both fighters showed excellent punch variety and mixed up their attacks from head to body but I would say Davila focussed more on the head, using his jab to set up the straight right while Pintor focussed more on the body with his main weapons beng left hooks as well as uppercuts, although he had success with the straight right too.

Davila definitely threw more than Pintor over the first two thirds of the fight while Pintor looked like he was landing the more impactful punches, but I don't want to overstate that difference as it was a fight of fine margins with every round closely contested. That changed from about round 12 where Pintor started to clearly land more and rocked Davila's head back on a few occasions. Pintor moved more from that point on and started outlanding Davila who seemed to tire a bit. That was enough to swing things Pintor's way and he deserved the decision in the end.

1 10-9
2 9-10
3 9-10 (good round for Davila who appeared to hurt Pintor)
4 10-9
5 10-10
6 9-10 (close, good in-fighting from both men)
7 10-10 (tough fight to score)
8 10-9
9 10-9 (close)
10 9-10 (close)
11 10-9 (close but Pintor won it with right hands imo)
12 10-9 (Pintor's best round so far)
13 10-9
14 10-9
15 10-9

Pintor 146-141 Davila

 

Every time I watch a Pintor fight I am like "dam this guy was tough!".

 

Jel, have you ever seen Davila's title defense against Enrique Sanchez? You would love it if you haven't. A brilliant fight and a 7th round hurricane thrown in for good measure.

 

Azumah Nelson vs Jeff Fenech

Awesome fight, puts my previous watch Mayweather vs Castillo to shame, this is how you fight for a title Floyd!

Probably the best infighting I have ever seen. A lot of rounds were hard to score as they were stood head to head in the corner slugging away. Fenech threw a lot of leather but it must be admitted that a lot of his combinations landed on Azumah's cross armed defence. However it felt like Jeff's fight and I was surprised I had him winning by only one point. After a huge surge in the middle rounds by Jeff we saw Nelson start boxing on his feet to win the first parts of the rounds before Fenech came back to claim the last minute. I think Jeff rally sealed it with the las round.

I maybe wrong but I think Azumah said he was ill before this fight? Not sure if true but after a bright start his legs seemed to go leading him to hang on the ropes and play into Jeff's style. He looked tired and also looked like he knew he lost. Looking forward to watching the second fight now.

Two interesting points, firstly the commentators were talking like Nelson's career was over, a bit premature! Also I was amazed that if Fenech had won this he would have been (at that time) only the fourth champ to win four titles after Hearns, Leonard and Duran! Now every superstar seems to have 5 titles minimum!

1 - Nelson 10 Fenech 9

2 - Nelson 10 Fenech 9

3 - Nelson 9 Fenech 10

4 - Nelson 9 Fenech 10

5 - Nelson 9 Fenech 10

6 - Nelson 10 Fenech 10

7 - Nelson 9 Fenech 10

8 - Nelson 10 Fenech 9

9 - Nelson 10 Fenech 9

10 - Nelson 9 Fenech 10

11 - Nelson 10 Fenech 9

10 - Nelson 9 Fenech 10

FINAL Fenech 115 - Nelson 114

 

Azumah Nelson vs Jeff Fenech II

Very good fight even if Jeff seemed a shadow if his former self. I feel that the second knock down (which I didn't score as a 10-8 as clearly a slip) destroyed his confidence as he knew he would be too far behind in the scoring (remembering the very close first fight) and he knew he would not be able to knock out Azumah with his steel chin. I had it surprisingly close but unlike the first match this felt like a Nelson victory from round 1. Masterful display from Nelson!

1 - Nelson 10 Fenech 8

2 - Nelson 10 Fenech 9 (no knock down)

3 - Nelson 9 Fenech 10

4 - Nelson 9 Fenech 10

5 - Nelson 10 Fenech 10

6 - Nelson 10 Fenech 9

7 - Nelson 9 Fenech 10

8 Nelson KO win

Scores Nelson 67 Fenech 66

 

Thanks for the recommendation, Scar - I haven’t so I’ll be watching that one soon!

 

Azumah had malaria the first time they fought! Showed up as the real Nelson next time and completely outclassed Fenech imo.

Always wondered what Nelson-Sanchez II might have looked like given Azumah being so green the first time and how he reversed things in this return match.

As for Fenech being a shadow of himself in the rematch, it was just nine months later right? I think it’s the same Fenech but a different Azumah.

 

I had it a bit wider but some very close rounds also.

Azumah Nelson v Jeff Fenech (jr. lightweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Nelson
Round 2: 10-9 Nelson
Round 3: 10-9 Fenech
Round 4: 10-9 Fenech
Round 5: 10-9 Fenech
Round 6: 10-9 Fenech
Round 7: 10-9 Fenech
Round 8: 10-9 Fenech
Round 9: 10-10 Even
Round 10: 10-9 Fenech
Round 11: 10-9 Nelson
Round 12: 10-9 Fenech

Score: 117-112 Fenech

I will say this, rounds 3, 4 & 5, which were fought in the corner with Fenech the aggressor. I would have no problem anyone scoring any of these rounds even or for Nelson. They were that tight. Those counters that Nelson was landing were intense. I just thought Fenech shaded those rounds.

 

Thanks for the info, that explains a lot!

 

Very interesting! Based on the result of the second fight I actually think Azumah's punches in the first fight may have had a significant effect on Jeff, this was Jeff's hardest fight and first against an ATG (I think?) and I wonder if the effort just took too much out of him? As you said Nelson landed some heavy shots in the clinches while Fenech through a greater quantity.

 

Pipino Cuevas v Harold Weston (welterweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 2: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 3: 10-9 Weston
Round 4: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 5: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 6: 10-10 Even
Round 7: 10-9 Cuevas
Round 8: 10-9 Weston
Round 9: 10-8 Cuevas (battering)
Weston is retired between the 9th and 10th rounds

Total through 9 completed rounds: 88-83 Cuevas (actual scores: 88-83, 88-83 and 89-86 all for Cuevas)

I saw this live back in '78 and I'm sorry it took me so long to revisit this one. Absolutely outstanding! When one hears so many boxing phrases over the years of one's 'piston-like jab' or such, let me tell you, the 'scythe-like left hook to the body' was made for Cuevas and its not just embellishment. That's real.

About the fight, I recall an interview with Weston where it was asked, "Why didn't you box him?" And he replied, "I planned to but Cuevas had a longer reach than me and my punch kept coming up short." Totally see it. Really obvious in the first round of Cuevas' size advantage. Also, to explode a myth, Weston's jaw was never broken. He was retired due to a cut in his mouth causing his jaw to swell. The mags at the time were jumping on that calling Cuevas a jaw-breaker because he had broken Angel Espada's jaw quite recently, so i guess it sounded good. But Weston was back in the ring 2 months later.

As for the fight, man, they just let it rip. Weston tried fighting in the pocket and was landing beauties, but Cuevas had an incredible jaw pre-Hearns and it was no use hitting him. Regarding the 6th round which I scored Even, gun to the head, I would probably go with Cuevas that round, but the heart of Weston cannot be denied the way he fought back and deserved a share of that round. However, Cuevas did give him a going over in the 9th, which I felt was a 10-8 round and clearly, Gil Clancy and company quite rightly pulled him out before the start of the 10th. Again, an outstanding fight.

 

I love Cuevas and think he stops Palomino if they ever fought. For a guy who supposedly had nothing but a punch, he was sure at the top awhile.