the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Bruce Curry W12 Leroy Haley (2) WBC Junior-welter title, 1983

First and foremost, while respecting what all fighters give to their chosen profession and what they put on the line, these two were a hot mess. Curry looked beyond shopworn and shaky. HIs balance was terrible, his chin looked ready to cave in at any moment, he loaded up with telegraphed shots from all angles, his defense was almost nonexistent.....he was awful. And I had him winning the fight.

Haley, for his part, seems a man caught between styles. He's short and squat like a 140-pound Qawi, but has no power (15 KO's in 48 victories). He can't box a lick either, so he spends his time dancing around trying to decide the most opportune time to lunge in and flail at you, the gameplan apparently designed to simply make you look worse than him.

Curry is defending the title he won from Haley the previous year, a fight which Haley admits he didn't train for. He promises to do better this time. The fight had not much in the way of ebb and flow, save for the few times the feather-fisted Haley managed to wobble the shaky-chinned Curry (which was surprisingly often). Curry did best in the infrequent stretches when he flashed his jab and stopped loading up, but they never lasted long. He'd revert to winning the rounds that he did by sheer force of will, barging ahead and winging punches from his heels and Haley dodging most of them while countering here and there. The split decision was actually judged pretty well, I thought, no one being more than two points in the other guy's favor.

A tedious bout, if I'm being honest. Curry would then lose his title by TKO to Bill Costello early in '84 and Haley for some reason garnered another shot against said Costello, flooring the champion with, of all things, a headbutt to the chin.

Aaron Pryor slept well in 1983/84, let's just say that.

1. Curry
2. Haley
3. Haley
4. Curry
5. Haley - Curry badly hurt by right hands
6. Curry
7. Curry
8. Haley - Curry controlling the action until shaken up late in the round.
9. Even
10. Curry
11. Curry
12. Even

116-114 Curry.

 

A three-for-one post as I didn’t score any of these but watched them all yesterday:

Basilio-DeMarco 2
Corrales-Castillo 1
Barrera-McKinney

Yes, I’ve seen them all before (and scored them all before - in this thread too) but I just wanted to watch some fights I love and these three are among my top 10-20 ever.

If you asked me to choose one over the other, I don’t think I could but I suppose Corrales-Castillo 1 would be the consensus choice and certainly the best major fight of the past 20 years and Basilio-DeMarco 2 is one of the all-time classics…

… But Barrera-McKinney… phew, that’s such a great fight for both the skills on display - a thinking man’s war - and the heart that McKinney shows between rounds 8 and 11.

He looks to be totally overwhelmed in the 8th and 9th and on the verge of being stopped, then comes back hard in the 10th to wrestle the momentum back and could possibly have forced the stoppage without the unbelievable poor judgement of the referee who decides to break the action mid-flow to replace McKinney’s mouthpiece when McKinney was demonstrably on top! Shocking officiating.
Then McKinney scores a flash knockdown in the next round to tighten things up a bit on the cards.

Even in the final round, he was ready to get back up despite taking a significant beating before the ref intervened. Definitely one of those fights where you admire the loser as much, if not more than the winner.

 

Sal, remember this fight when it took place and you're spot on. Can never get myself to rewatch it.

 

Checked out a couple of Hernan Marquez fights today.

Nonito Donaire v Hernan Marquez (some crap Interim super flyweight title)

Round 1: 10-10 Even
Round 2: 10-9 Donaire
Round 3: 10-9 Marquez
Round 4: 10-9 Donaire
Round 5: 10-8 Donaire (scores a knockdown)
Round 6: 10-9 Donaire
Round 7: 10-9 Donaire
Round 8: Donaire drops Marquez and stops him

Total through 7 completed rounds: 69-64 Donaire (actual scores: 2 scores of 68-64 and a 69-63 all for Donaire)

Marquez was simply out-gunned by the much taller Donaire. The only reason it was close through the first 4 rounds is because Donaire insisted on fighting southpaw like his opponent. Once he switched orthodox, the full range of his physique came into play. I will say this - which is why I pursued another fight with Marquez - and that is I was impressed with his counter shots, which were downplayed by the announcing team because Donaire was firing the more flamboyant shots. Also, only once did I see Marquez press Donaire to the ropes and he did well, but most of the fight was fought at distance which was Donaire's bread and butter. But as I said, I saw enough of Marquez to want to see him again. And I'm glad I did.

Brian Viloria v Hernan Marquez (unified WBA and WBO flyweight titles)

Round 1: 10-8 Viloria (scores a knockdown)
Round 2: 10-9 Viloria
Round 3: 10-9 Viloria
Round 4: 10-9 Viloria
Round 5: 10-9 Viloria (Marquez batters Viloria most of the round but gets dropped late - only a 10-9)
Round 6: 10-9 Viloria
Round 7: 10-9 Viloria
Round 8: 10-9 Viloria
Round 9: 10-9 Marquez
Round 10: Marquez looks like he's going to finish the job but gets dropped and Viloria goes after him into the Marquez corner where Marquez' trainer Robert Garcia stops the fight.

Total through 9 completed rounds: 89-81 Viloria (actual scores not known but the Mexican announcers - one of which is MAB - has the exact score as mine)

I hate to say an early stoppage, but Marquez was fighting back in the corner and had just landed a counter left when Garcia stopped it. Hey, he was closer to the action than I and I was just enjoying the hell out of it. Around the 7th and 8th one could see Viloria starting to get a bit sloppy and throwing arm punches and it appeared the tide was turning, which it did in the 9th when Marquez came back. Both were fighting on pure heart late and Viloria's left hook that dropped Marquez in the 10th was a doozy and turned the tide back. Despite the one-sidedness in my score, I enjoyed this fight.

 

Robert Garcia v Diego Corrales (jr. lightweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Garcia
Round 2: 10-10 Even
Round 3: 10-9 Corrales
Round 4: 10-9 Garcia
Round 5: 10-9 Corrales
Round 6: 10-7 Corrales (scores 2 knockdowns)
Round 7: Corrales drops and stops Garcia

Total through 6 completed rounds: 58-55 Corrales (actual scores: 57-55, 57-55 and 56-56 with Corrales leading)

Oh, man, where was I when this fight took place? First time seeing it and believe me it was real Corrales v Jose Luis Castillo stuff. The sharpest, cleanest exchanges I've seen in a while. Corrales just chopped him down but not without a fight. Brilliant!

 

Muhammad Ali v Joe Bugner I (Nevada's 5 point must in effect)

Y'now, I saw this fight back in '73 and never really paid attention to the actual scoring. Years later with the advent of boxrec I saw the (sort of) close scores and thought the youthful Ali fan in me did not take into account some of Bug's work (back then i thought Ali controlled it clearly) and wished to rectify this today. So I checked it out today and am left shaking my head as I scored it 60-50 for Ali, giving Bug only a share of rounds 2 and 4. In fact, a more liberal judge than I, I could see giving a 2 point round to Ali for the 10th round where Ali gave Bug a real going over. To be clear, actual scores were 57-54, 56-53 and 57-52 all for Ali, which I don't think gives a real clear view of what happened. I thought Bug fought only sporadically throughout. At times I thought, "OK, here we go now." when Joe would suddenly start throwing some jabs or go to Ali's body. But in true Bugner fashion, he would then stop and Ali was pouncing again. Joe truly was a physical specimen, but he really needed some motivation. This fight and his fight with Joe Frazier later in the year were probably two of his best. His worst being the second Ali fight and the Jack Bodell fight. In both 15 rounders I felt he just stood there eating punches, doing an imitation of a heavy bag. Anyways, I digress, suffice to say I didn't see it as close as the judges, but I might be in a minority here. Anyone else score this?

 

Ike Quartey vs ODLH

1 ODLH
2 Quartey
3 ODLH
4 ODLH
5 Quartey
6 Quartey 10-9 Both fighters traded knockdowns
7 Quartey
8 Quartey
9 Quartey
10 ODLH
11 Quartey
12 ODLH 10-8 knockdown

114-113 Quartey

Decided to watch this fight again and do a proper scorecard.

Overall i don't think ODLH did enough after the 4th round, Quartey had trouble finding his range with his jab as ODLH competed with him very well in the jab department and overall just doing a bit more fighting.

But after the 4th round apart from the famous 6th round where they traded knockdowns, Quartey bossed the fight with his jab as he finally found his range. And ODLH just stood off and stopped throwing his jab allowing Quartey to dictate the fight behind his jab.

Overall i have no problem with ODLH getting the nod as it was a very close fight with the 2 knockdowns, although the 2 judges scoring it 116-113, 116-112, in favour of ODLH is a bit puzzling to me.

But overall i thought Quartey just about nicked it when he dictated the fight between rounds 5-9, round 11 is probably the most debatable round in the fight and that could be a major factor on who you think won the fight.

 

D, scored this sometime back. We're remarkably close in our assessments.

Oscar DeLaHoya vs Ike Quartey (welterweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Oscar
Round 2: 10-10 Even
Round 3: 10-10 Even
Round 4: 10-9 Oscar
Round 5: 10-9 Ike
Round 6: 10-9 Ike (both fighters score knockdowns but Ike has the best of the exchanges)
Round 7: 10-9 Ike
Round 8: 10-9 Ike
Round 9: 10-9 Ike
Round 10: 10-9 Oscar
Round 11: 10-10 Even
Round 12: 10-8 Oscar (Oscar scares a knockdown)

Total: 115-115 Draw (actual scores: 115-114 Quartey and scores of 116-113 and 116-112 both for Oscar on a split win)

Oscar barely scrapes home with a draw in this one on my card.

 

Apart from the even rounds we pretty much saw the same fight, i think rounds 2 and 11 are the hardest rounds to score and depending on how you score them could alter the outcome on your scorecard.

I'll be rewatching a few of ODLH's controversial decisions in the upcoming days if you want to compare scorecards.

 

You got it, D.

 

Juan Diaz v Acelino Freitas (WBA and WBO unified lightweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 Freitas
Round 2: 10-10 Even
Round 3: 10-9 Freitas
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Diaz
Round 6: 10-9 Diaz
Round 7: 10-9 Diaz
Round 8: 10-9 Diaz
Freitas retires between rounds

Total through 8 completed rounds: 78-76 Diaz (actual scores: 77-75, 76-75 and 79-73 all with Diaz leading)

Freitas started out so well with his pinpoint bombs while Diaz was clearly going to make this an attrition fight. With the shots that Freitas was landing early, it was a credit to Diaz' jaw, toughness and heart to work his way through the hailstorm to beat down and test the heart of Freitas. And that is always the stigma Freitas has to carry in regards to his career. Lost twice in his career and quit both times. Easy for us to say what he endured with us sitting in the armchairs, but you know the scribes would be pointing this out before any big match of his. He shouldn't be remembered for that because he was such a big banger, but it is what it is. I do want to see a couple more of his fights as it has been awhile. And I will over the next couple of days.

 

Shane Mosley vs ODLH 2

1 ODLH
2 ODLH
3 Mosley
4 ODLH
5 Mosley
6 ODLH
7 ODLH
8 ODLH
9 Mosley
10 ODLH
11 ODLH
12 Mosley

116-112 ODLH

Awful decision i really don't know how Mosley got the nod here, ODLH fought a smarter fight and controlled the fight with his jab in the first half of the fight. Mosley just wasn't throwing enough punches and any of the rounds he did make competitive ODLH just out punched him.

Yes Mosley when he did land did indeed land the harder punches but it was one punch at a time, ODLH for me controlled the fight with his jab despite fading a tad down the stretch. He still out punched Mosley in most of the rounds and deserved to win the fight.

@scartissue

 

Well done, D. We had a couple of rounds different but saw it the same. Oscar got jobbed.

Oscar DeLaHoya v Shane Mosley II (Jr. middleweight title)

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

Total: 117-114 DeLaHoya

Actual scores were 115-113 X 3 all for Mosley. The Harold Lederman card was 115-113 for Oscar. I thought Oscar really did a good job of controlling the fight from the outside until Mosley finally got inside in the later rounds. It was clear to me that Mosley was not a junior middle. He no longer had that speedy pumping jab he had at lightweight and was really gunning for the KO the whole fight. Of course, what we know of him now getting caught up in the PED thing it is now understandable with the weight gain, whereas with Oscar it appeared to be more natural with his height and all. Regardless, I thought Oscar fought a smart fight and deserved the decision.

 

ODLH vs Pernell Whitaker

1 Whitaker
2 ODLH
3 ODLH 10-8 Whitaker automatically gets a pointed deducted due to WBC rules about accidental clash of heads
4 ODLH
5 Whitaker
6 ODLH
7 Whitaker
8 ODLH
9 Whitaker 10-8 knockdown
10 Whitaker
11 Whitaker
12 ODLH

113-113 Draw

Very tough fight to score Whitaker's whole offence was his right jab, and ODLH was never able to land any combinations in this fight having to rely on the occasional pot shotting with single punches.

Whitaker should be credited for his excellent defence/ring generalship, and i certainly gave him his fair share of rounds based on that along with his effective right jab.

ODLH i felt like stole a few rounds by landing the best punches in the round, as he was able to land some occasional straight right hands and left hooks which were the eye catching punches in uneventful rounds.

Overall i feel like a draw would've been a very fair result, the judges scorecards of 115-111, 116-110 x2, in favour of ODLH were way off the mark. The point deduction for Whitaker was a stupid rule in which when there's a accidental clash of heads the uncut fighter automatically gets a point taken, but in all fairness Whitaker's knockdown of ODLH was more of a slip so i guess it was fair all in all.


@scartissue

 

Diego Corrales KO7 Roberto Garcia

On the recommendation of @scartissue , I checked this one out. Very fun fight. I'd seen only a little of Corrales, both Castillo fights and the Freitas bout. This continues my education.

Garcia is the defending champ, and I have tro admit never hearing of him before. He's solid and well-schooled, nothing at all wrong with him, but he lacks that dynamic quality that Corrales had. Corrales starts slow as is his bent (at least when I've seen him), allowing his smaller opponent to build up a head of steam and build a lead.

Corrales starts to get untracked in the fifth, the first round he wins on my card. It was never a question of "if" but "when" after that, though Garcia wasn't going quietly.

Two knockdowns in the sixth shifted things dramatically and brought the challenger closer on the cards but honestly, one could tell a scorecard was going to be academic anyway after that round. The seventh shows Corrales surging now, and a straight right flush on the face sends the champion down on his back along the ropes and the fight is immediately waved off without a count. I was a little surprised at the quickness of the stoppage but the writing was on the wall. Garcia stood little chance at that point, and it was probably a good thing it was ended there.

Good recommendation!

1. Garcia
2. Garcia
3. Even
4. Garcia
5. Corrales
6. Corrales, 10-7 (2 knockdowns)
7. Corrales floors and stops Garcia

57-56 Corrales at the time of the stoppage.