the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Exactly right. Even though I had it 115-113 to Toney and he had the bigger moments in the fight, particularly the final seconds of the final round where he seemed to have McCallum hurt, he was also less consistent in his output and McCallum was just chipping away throughout without any big moments himself. A draw was a completely fair result in my view.

 

Pernell Whitaker v Buddy McGirt 1

An absorbing fight without ever getting genuinely exciting, there were enough ‘eye of the beholder’ type rounds to make this a close fight and not always that easy to score but I think Whitaker deserved the nod.

Most of the rounds were close enough that a well-timed flurry by either fighter could be enough to swing things in their favour in the eyes of the judges but Whitaker was definitely in control for much of the second half of the fight and took the last couple of rounds off.

What was interesting is that Whitaker started out the aggressor, backing McGirt up with a body attack and doing some good infighting. McGirt seemed to build a bit of momentum by the halfway stage and theoretically could have been ahead but Whitaker seemed to take over from there and have enough of a lead that he gave away the final two rounds on all three judges scorecards and still won comfortably enough.

1 10-9
2 10-9 (close. Whitaker landing the heavier-looking blows edged it for me)
3 9-10 (close. McGirt had the better of the first couple of minutes, Whitaker had the better of the last minute)
4 9-10 (McGirt landing the straight right to counter Whitaker and landing it with surprising frequency)
5 10-9 (Hard to score. McGirt landing some clean single shots while Whitaker doing more overall. Either way kind of round)
6 10-9 (Whitaker has been body punching well from the start and he landed some good ones here as well as solid head shots. Clear Whitaker round)
7 10-9 (better round from McGirt but not sure he did enough)
8 9-10 (McGirt is now stalking Whitaker with intelligent pressure and good defense. He landed more often in this round.)
9 10-9 (Whitaker now in full counter-punching mode, no longer the aggressor. He landed some sharp jabs and finished the round with a body punching flurry. He’s looking confident.)
10 10-9 (McGirt’s work has definitely lost some momentum and Whitaker is controlling the action)
11 9-10 (Better from McGirt who landed some good right hands)
12 10-10 (Whitaker showboats through much of the round and McGirt mostly follows him around rather than just ignoring it and throwing punches. No-one really takes it)

Whitaker 116-113 McGirt

 

I think I had it 115-113 for Whitaker, I didn't see anything controversial about this fight honestly. It's one of them competitive fights where there was no doubt who the winner was even though it was kind of close.

The only benefit of the doubt Whitaker got was his 1st fight vs Rivera, that fight is certainly alot more debatable.

 

No for sure, I totally get you mate!

 

Julio Cesar Chavez v Miguel Gonzalez (vacant WBC jr. welterweight title)

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

Total: 116-114 Gonzalez (actual scores: 116-114 Gonzalez, 115-114 Chavez and a 115-115 Even for a Draw decision)

Amazing how I haven't ever seen any action on this fight and is well worth a look-see for the bit of controversy involved. To begin, of course there was a heavy favoring element with the WBC to get this win for Chavez (he hadn't even fought at 140 in about 2 years), but all considerations involved, I felt the scores were in line - meaning nothing crazy. I felt Gonzalez did enough and I'm not going to give extra points for the Chavez name. Chavez was shrewd enough to try and steal many rounds with a flourish at the last 10 seconds of the round. Of course, the crowd loved it - he was their man. But it just wasn't the Chavez of old. He fought in spurts rather than anything sustained. Again, i felt Gonzalez did enough, but as the scores were all close, no brow-beating here.

 

I've been meaning to score this one.

 

I never understood why they didn't run this one back. I guess the Oscar rematch was too good to pass up, but there was a short window

 

Antonio Avelar KO7 Shoji Oguma

Oguma held the WBC Flyweight title here, and the underdog Avelar comes in a live underdog. He's a massive puncher but has a gappy defense and is kind of ponderous. The southpaw Oguma is defending his title for the fourth time, in front of a Japanese crowd.

The first round sees the two sizing each other up, and there's not much between them. From that point on, Avelar makes use of his excellent game plan of simply walking straight at the champion and making him work. The Mexican's superior power holds sway and while Oguma does have his moments (particularly the third, when he rocked the challenger with a straight left) Avelar comes forward behind a hard jab and follows with the weapon of choice against a southpaw, the straight right.

Of particular interest was Avelar's jab. This was no range-finding thing, it was a weapon. He stepped forward with it, trying to push it out the back of Oguma's head. Oguma is understandably perplexed and can't get out of the way of the challenger's power. He fires back and occasionally strafes the challenger with his own shots but he's working so hard to make sure he's not getting caught with Avelar's bigger punches. Avelar feels like he's in control.

Beginning in the fourth, the challenger begins hurting the champion with his power shots. It's incremental at first, but the fifth is worse than the fourth, and the sixth is worse still. Finally, in the seventh, Oguma realizes this can't continue, he's getting ground down. Going for broke, he throws himself into an all-out attack, trying to catch Avelar with anything he can. He lands his share of bombs, even forcing Avelar across the ring and against the ropes, but the challenger is landing his own hard shots in reply. After one particularly ferocious exchange, Avelar lands a big hook and Oguma falls hard. Oguma can't beat the count.

Excellent fight. Avelar is good value.

1. Even
2. Avelar
3. Oguma
4. Avelar
5. Avelar
6. Avelar
7. Avelar stops Oguma

59-55 Avelar at the time of the stoppage.

 

I don't know what convinced me to have a look-see at the bout between Bernard Hopkins and Winky Wright - not to mention watching it to the very end. What's that definition of insanity? Something like, repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Well that's me in a nutshell. Insane to watch two fighters who I knew going in, that bored me to tears, and I numbed my mind watching them "go at it". Excruciating! Needed something entertaining to rid my mind of 12 rounds of clutching and what better way than a Matthew Saad Muhammad bout.

Matthew Saad Muhammad v Murray Sutherland (light heavyweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Sutherland
Round 2: 10-9 Sutherland
Round 3: 10-9 Sutherland
Round 4: 10-9 Sutherland
Round 5: 10-10 Even
Round 6: 10-9 MSM
Round 7: 10-8 MSM (scores a knockdown)
Round 8: 10-9 MSM
Round 9: Saad drops and stops Sutherland

Total through 8 completed rounds: 76-76 Even (actual scores: 76-75 MSM and 2 scores of 76-75 for Sutherland)

Oh, man, this was more like it. A real gutty performance by the outgunned Scot, who stayed on his bike pot-shotting Saad throughout and even cutting his right eye and really slicing up Saad's lower lip badly. But the slow starting Saad wasn't called Miracle Matthew for nothing and as that engine slowly revved up, one could see where this was going. Again, a gutty performance by Murray, who enjoyed some moments in this bout before Saad lowered the boom. This bout really put Hopkins-Wright in the rear view mirror for me.

 

I still don't know how you watched Qawi vs Ocasio I gave up after 5 rounds.

 

Harold Brazier W12 Micky Ward

I love Brazier. What a pro, such a throwback figure in a quickly-changing age. Late start to his career, and fought until he was 306. Fought at a high level too, despite having so many total bouts. Did everything pretty well, if not outstanding ay any one thing. That kind of well-roundedness, despite a relative lack of dynamic attributes, will still win you a lot of fights. Boxing is better for his being around at that time.

Ward is good fun too; an honest, workmanlike brawler with a big left hook. He's got that dynamic edge I referred to earlier, but not as solid fundamentally. Everything's a tradeoff I guess.

This bout happened at a time when I kind of went off boxing for the most part. 1988-1992-ish is kind of a blank period for me to a large extent for boxing, so I honestly didn't know who won this when I started watching. To be kind, the fight itself was far too one-sided to be good. Brazier was dominant in every aspect, walking unconcerned right at Ward and raking him with everything, including a withering body attack that had Ward doubled over and wincing in the late rounds whenever the punches snaked through.

Ward needs room to work, but he can't set himself. Brazier is constantly forcing him back and making him fight off the back foot. Ward tries to separate and box and spends an inordinate amount of time as a southpaw for some reason, and none of it works. Made me wonder if he went into the fight hurt or something but then left that idea alone, because I didn't want to cloud an excellent effort on the part of Brazier, whose fight plan was both brave and well thought out. He deserved all the accolades. I gave Ward only a share of the tenth, which probably should have gone to Brazier but I figured what the hell......

The official scores of 118-110 from all three judges seemed generous to Ward, but no harm done. He would learn and improve, and Brazier, already well into his 30's, would also fight on for many years, though he never did win that sorely-wanted world title.

120-109 Brazier.

 

LOL! Y’know, some fights I don’t have an issue with like Qawi-Ocasio or Mancini-Camacho (I watched that back in the day with a ver knowledgeable friend who said after about 3 rounds, “I’d be driven mad if I watched one more round of that.”) But some fights have me hitting the off button. I couldn’t get to round 5 in Holyfield-Oquendo or Reid-Malinga or the second fight between Basilio and chuck davey. Guess it’s just a matter of tastes.

 

Michael Gomez vs Alex Arthur

Excellent British title fight I remember watching at the time. Arthur was a smooth boxer but couldn't solve Gomez's surprisingly tight inside fighting. Mike looked brilliant in this match, hopefully he made a bit of dosh for his fight with Khan. Alex made the mistake of trying to brawl his way out of trouble, probably because he was fighting in his home town, when he should have used his excellent jab. Arthur's career can only be called a disappointment given the talent, even with his final record of 31-3.

1 - Gomez 10 vs Arthur 9

2 - Gomez 9 vs Arthur 10

3 - Gomez 10 vs Arthur 9

4 - Gomez 10 vs Arthur 9

5 - Gomez wins KO 5

Gomez 39 Arthur 37

 

Mike McCallum vs Herol Graham

A very close fight which reminded me a bit of Hagler vs Leonard. What do you prefer, flashy bursts of punches or more solid damaging blows? Accept Mike didn't throw away the first few round but got into his groove early despite the endless puzzles Herol threw his way. After a horrible scrappy start I thought Mike was going to totally dominant from the second round. But to be fair to Herol he got his rhythm and showed a lot of guts to trade with McCallum. Some may think it was foolish for Graham to try and punch with The Bodysnatcher but I honestly don't see what else he could have done given the pressure he was under and the obvious disparity in punching power. Herol's punches made no sound while Mike's could be heard from the back row I imagine. While my final score is very close I did scored a knock down for Herol in round 5 despite it looking like a slip and then gave Mike just a 10-9 score in round 8, despite Graham loosing a point as I though Herol was winning the round up to that point. Others may well have scored these round differently giving more of an edge to McCallum which would make it a wider score, though still close.

Herol didn't do himself much favours with his annoying habit of turning Mike and hitting (hence the point deduction). Like Pernell Whitaker (and to a lesser extent Bernard Hopkins at his most frustrating) I can understand why Graham's style may turn some judges off. Some moments were pure poetry, followed by tiresome clinching and theatrics. Many of his bursts of punches, in replay, didn't land against Mike's canny defence. It was clear that Mike could hurt Graham but Herol's punches just bounced off McCallum's iron jaw like marshmallows. To a lesser extent like Chavez-Taylor the final look of each fighter was testament to who was landing the significant shots as Herol was puffy while Mike's face looked like granite.

Having said all that it was very very close and I can certainly understand those who would give Herol the win by a few rounds or a draw. After this fight Herol looked like a future champ and while it has been said before it is tragic how it never happened for him and his subsequent health issues. It is also instructive to see how much more effective Graham was against Mike than Michael Watson.

As for McCallum it once again reinforced what a gritty old school fighter he was. Someone who truly fought the best, mastering all styles, his videos are surely a treasure trove of moves for anyone wanting to learn the craft of a top class boxer.

1 - McCallum 9 Graham 10

2 - McCallum 10 Graham 9

3 - McCallum 10 Graham 9

4 - McCallum 9 Graham 10

5 - McCallum 8 Graham 10 ( Graham knock down)

6 - McCallum 10 Graham 9

7 - McCallum 9 Graham 10

8 - McCallum 10 Graham 9 (Graham point taken)

9 - McCallum 10 Graham 9

10 - McCallum 10 Graham 10

11 - McCallum 10 Graham 9

12 - McCallum 10 Graham 10

FINAL McCallum 115 Graham 114

 

They were going to put out a Johnny Nelson’s Greatest Hits DVD … but when they reviewed all his fights they realized he never hit anybody.