the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Note: the title was at stake for Wood only as the champion Lara failed to make the weight.

Mauricio Lara v Leigh Wood (featherweight title)

Round 1: 10-10 Even
Round 2: 10-8 Wood (scores a knockdown)
Round 3: 10-9 Wood
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Lara
Round 6: 10-9 Wood
Round 7: 10-9 Wood
Round 8: 10-9 Lara
Round 9: 10-9 Wood
Round 10: 10-9 Wood
Round 11: 10-9 Wood
Round 12: 10-9 Wood

Total: 118-111 Wood (actual scores: 118-109, 118-109 and 116-111 all for Wood)

In the first round and early in the 2nd, I saw Lara catch Wood with a counter left hook, both which momentarily rattled him. I thought at that point, 'Same old Wood, will get caught on a counter late in the fight.' But he didn't. He kept with a perfect game plan of jabbing, throwing in the occasional right and move in and out, which made Lara look like some clubfighter they plucked out of a Tijuana gym. A solid win for Wood.

 

Eubank vs Watson 1

This fight is a good example of how a myth can rise around a contest that doesn't hold when you rewatch it. When I saw this at the time I had it a Watson win and pretty much all the media at the time screamed robbery. Now with a bit more experience of assessing ring craft I have Eubank winning pretty handily. Watson came forward but lots of his work was ineffective. I had forgotten what brilliant reflexes Eubank had at his peak. I imagine that if you were in the actual venue Watson would look like he was making most of the fight, but on TV you can see how many of his punches fell short. Eubank also did some excellent body punching. However he did gas severely through the 10 and 11th rounds which makes me question his conditioning. Even though I felt he won the last round as Mike thought he had it in the bag.

It is one of those matches that while it never really catches fire is always tense and exciting and features some excellent boxing. It is difficult to score many rounds as Eubank tends to start the rounds well but then coast for the remaining minute when Watson comes on.

Another thing that struck me is that Watson didn't look that much different from his fight against McCallum, yes he had Eubank blowing while McCallum barely broke a sweat in their fight, at 33! It shows the big difference between two very very good fighters and a great fight IMO. I also feel that both Chris and Michael would struggle mightily against Toney and Jones and were perhaps fortunate not to have fought them, although I don't doubt each would have shown guts and courage in a loss.

1- Eubank 10 Watson 10

2 - Eubank 9 Watson 10

3 - Eubank 10 Watson 9

4 - Eubank 10 Watson 9

5 - Eubank 10 Watson 9

6 - Eubank 10 Watson 9

7 - Eubank 9 Watson 10

8 - Eubank 10 Watson 10

9 - Eubank 10 Watson 9

10 - Eubank 9 Watson 10

11 - Eubank 10 Watson 10

12 - Eubank 10 Watson 9

FINAL Eubank 117 Watson 114

 

Thomas Hearns W12 James Kinchen

I'd read a lot about this fight being a robbery and how Hearns got by on reputation, etc., etc. I would agree that Hearns didn't look terrific here; he gassed early and his shots had almost no effect on the remarkably stern-chinned Kinchen. With those attributes discounted, one could hardly forsee a Hearns victory.

The one ingredient Hearns had throughout his career is courage and fighting spirit. When he had to dig deep and fight, he did just that. He didn't always win as a result, but he was there one way or another and I've come to really admire him for that. He was never afraid to engage and he would seek out tough challenges and go out on his shield if he came up short. It's this sort of ethic that draws us to boxing in the first place.

Then there's Kinchen. Lots of talent, lots of toughness. But the desire just isn't there. He fights placidly, plodding after his opponent, landing here and there and seemingly satisfied that whatever he's doing is enough. Drives me bat**** crazy. This was a completely winnable fight for him if he'd just let the hands go. He wouldn't do it, and so Hearns was able to carve out rounds through sheer activity, leading the ever-pressing Kinchen on, stopping to let Kinchen walk into the hard jabs and right hands that strangely had no effect. No effect that is, except to score points and blunt Kinchen's momentum.

It was that kind of fight. Hearns starts out sharply, pumping hard jabs and ripping hard hooks to the body and laserlike right hands over the top in and effort to end things early and conclusively. In the fourth, Tommy seems to need to back up and take little breathers here and there as Kinchen wades through his best and begins landing more. Hearns backs into a corner and Kinchen lands a right and follow-up left that has Hearns shockingly oozing to the canvas. He's out on his feet and holds on for dear life, to the point that Mills Lane has to deduct another point from Hearns for excessive holding. Suddenly, we have a new fight.

Hearns comes out brave and busy in the fifth, taking the play away, but he's on progressively failing legs from here on out. Kinchen is parsimonious with his output, and Hearns survives the odd bad round here and there to generally steal most of the late rounds through sheer guts. I see no problem at all with Hearns winning this. He deserved to win. Kinchen simply didn't do enough.

1. Hearns
2. Hearns
3. Hearns
4. Kinchen (10-7, knockdown plus point deduction)
5. Hearns
6. Kinchen
7. Hearns
8. Kinchen
9. Hearns
10. Hearns
11. Hearns
12. Kinchen

114-112 Hearns. Actual scores are 114-114 and 115-112 and 114-112 for Hearns.

 

Tommy lost so many points in that round, it's ashame. Kinchen wouldn't have yo have done much more to get a draw.

 

I actually had it a draw.

Tommy Hearns v James 'The Heat' Kinchen

Round 1: 10-9 Hearns
Round 2: 10-9 Hearns
Round 3: 10-9 Hearns
Round 4: 10-7 Kinchen (Kinchen scores a knockdown and 1 point deducted from Hearns for holding)
Round 5: 10-9 Kinchen
Round 6: 10-9 Kinchen
Round 7: 10-9 Hearns
Round 8: 10-9 Kinchen
Round 9: 10-9 Hearns
Round 10: 10-10 Even (The version I saw had a shortened 10th round. In a fight as close as this it could be a game-changer)
Round 11: 10-10 Even
Round 12: 10-9 Hearns

Total 114-114 Draw

Official scores were 115-112 Hearns, 114-112 Hearns, 114-114 Draw. Good fight.

 

Sammy Serrano v Roger Mayweather (jr. lightweight title)

Any fight involving a Puerto Rican in Puerto Rico must be unnerving for any opponent. I was watching an interview with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad where he said he told Mayweather that if he wins, don't go jumping around waving your arms in victory. And then he added, "So what does he do? He jumps around waving his arms." I can't recall if there was trouble after the fight with the fans and Roger's celebration, but I have to look into that out of curiosity. Anyways, I won't run a card here as I gave Roger every round for a 70-63 card through 7 completed rounds before he ended matters in the 8th. I didn't feel it was until the 6th that Serrano really started fighting back with the realization that this fight isn't going his way, and from there things really picked up. I believe it was the 8th he actually had stunned Mayweather until Roger came across with the finisher, which ended a very long and unexceptional title reign by Serrano. Actual scores at the time of the stoppage was 69-67, 70-67 and 69-65, which translates to 3-1-3, 3-0-4 and a more reasonable 5-1-1 in rounds all for Mayweather. I just didn't think Serrano did anything remarkable to win or share a round, but the officials were from Venezuela (2 of them) and from Panama. Man, you couldn't get more WBA affiliated countries than that.

 

Eubank vs Watson 2

Still a classic fight, although the tragic ending will always cast a shadow over it. Weirdly this is pretty much how I remembered the first fight with Watson pretty dominant and boxing brilliantly, when in fact the first match was rather ragged. Both fighters look like different men at 12 stone and unlike the first match Watson landed plenty of meaty shots, body blows and regularly punched through Eubank's guard. Almost like a repeat of fight 1 Chris looked totally spent by half way but then found that extra gear. Rounds 11 is one of the greatest of all time. Round 12 one of the saddest. While it is easy to critisize Watson's corner in the heat of the moment the fact the ref had to drag him into ring center for the final round should have set alarm bells ringing.

One thing I forgot was the lack of an 8 count when Eubank was decked. If this had happened quite possibly he would not have knocked Watson down although he may well have still won in the final round, but I suspect Michael would have held on for a narrow points win.

1- Eubank 9 Watson 10

2 - Eubank 10 Watson 9

3 -Eubank 9 Watson 10

4 - Eubank 9 Watson 10

5 - Eubank 9 Watson 10

6 - Eubank 9 Watson 10

7 - Eubank 9 Watson 10

8 - Eubank 10 Watson 9

9 - Eubank 10 Watson 9

10 - Eubank 10 Watson 10

11 - Eubank 10 Watson 9

12 - Eubank wins KO

Eubank 104 Watson 106

 

Thanks for the recap. Like Benn-McClellan or Mancini-Kim or Pintor-Owen, this is one of those that I just can’t revisit knowing how it turned out.

 

I felt I had to watch after reviewing the first fight but the only way I could was to think of it as a memorial to Michael's talent and courage but I doubt I will rewatch again now.

 

Kinchen cheated in this fight.

 

Completely understand — wasn’t intending to imply you were wrong for doing so, just saying I can’t. I appreciate your doing it for us.

There’s a part of me that would love to watch Mancini-Kim and Pintor-Owen as both fallen warriors put up great fights … but I just can’t.

 

How so?

 

He tested positive for painkiller Lidocaine.

 

James Toney vs Mike McCallum 1

1 McCallum
2 Toney
3 McCallum
4 Toney
5 McCallum
6 Toney
7 McCallum
8 Toney
9 McCallum
10 Toney
11 McCallum
12 Toney

114-114 Draw

I've haven't seen this fight in years and this is the 1st time i've actually sat down and scored it properly, but i have to say i loved this fight. Probably one of the highest skilled high paced technical fights ever real artistry beautiful fight.

What's funny about this fight is i don't think i've ever scored a fight with both men never winning 2 rounds in a row, my scorecard must look really weird but that's how i saw it.

Overall it did appear to me that Toney did slightly have the better of it, with his cleaner and much more effective punches especially with the right hand which was his money punch. And he did have the best moments in the fight hurting McCallum in rounds 10 and 12, especially the 12th round where it looked like McCallum was ready to go at the end.

But at times McCallum would outwork Toney with his jab and body punches, and although i do like quality over quantity. In some rounds McCallum just landed too many punches overall for him not to be given those rounds.

I would say finally the draw is probably one of the most legit draws i've ever seen, certainly nothing wrong with this fight being scored a draw as it was very close. But like i said it did appear Toney did have the better of it overall, but looking at my RBR i scored it a draw so there you have it.

 

Hmm. Never heard that. Interesting.