the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

I thought it was fun.

 

...i thought it was fun.

 

Rubin Carter SD10 George Benton

Full of surprises this one. First up, Carter's jab is right on point, a wilful punch he looks like he probably throws in his sleep, which is a little odd. He out-jabs Benton for stretches stepping in firmly behind the punch so you know it's a stinger, although as often as not he's doing it to close the distance and get in close. Benton looks quite comfortable here. This in part is the other surprise, just how strong Benton looks. As noted in commentary, "Carter has muscles he hasn't even flexed yet!" but Benton, willowy by comparison, is at no point out-muscled and a couple of times he pushes Carter off without trouble, also walking him headfirst out of a corner at one point.

Another interesting thing was how conservatively Carter boxed. The only punch he really swung with was the left hook, he sort of lunged in with it as an alternative to the jab on occasion, and although he didn't have much luck he generally was allowed to close the distance. This conservative pace allowed him to rally towards the end of the fight and survive a difficult moment or two, at least in part. Carter generally looked the veteran here, holding cleverly, boxing carefully and punching cleverly with Benton after he missed, not allowing himself to be countered out of rounds. This was probably absolutely key, as it throws Benton off a bit and Carter banked the first two rounds. Benton would find his countering distance in the middle rounds somewhat, but here too Carter looked quite clever, banging to the body or covering up.

His defence was good too, high guard, decent head movement, he slipped his fair share and when you are throwing more that's a real bonus in a tight fight. It's easier to give the man who throws more the really tight rounds, and there are a few here:

CARTER: 1,2,6,9,10
BENTON: 3,5,7,8
EVEN: 4

After winning the 7th huge, Benton comes out and grabs the 8th too, and with things all square and Carter looking less than interested after the thrashing he took in 7, the momentum seems all with Benton. Carter boxed and fought back beautifully though and nicked it in a thrilling tenth. Carter starts violently and looks like he's going to try to cruise. It's so frustrating watching Benton wait, wait, but he finds his gap landing a beautiful three punch combo ending in a right down the pipe which staggers Carter a bit. It seems to justify Benton's philsophy but in the final minute a disaster, and Carter lands his own bomb staggering Benton even worse than he had been hurt himself. The damage is done and Carter the winner.

Reading Flea's rather smashing article on Benton, I think it's pretty clear that this is the one Benton didn't want to lose. He was 2nd going in, Carter was 8th. It's a shot-making kinda fight. It's so close aswell that I kind of felt a tug on occasion to silp a round to Benton where he didn't deserve one - I might even have done this, Benton is pretty extraordinary in many regards, but the 5th of this fight is the first round where i've seen generalship as the deciding factor - just so we can say history cheated him but it is not the case. He was to inactive. Even if he'd just decided "tonight i'm going to hold my left hand higher" he probably would have picked off enough semi-scoring type jabs to get the decision or a draw.

And that's the irony. The technician was laid low by technical factors in a fight against a puncher. Carter's jab and high guard earn him a really good win in what i'd see as a career's best, in-spite of the famous KO1.


Incidently, as well as being a really absorbing fight, it's a lovely fight film with a really nice commentary. Well worth a look:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Fz462y_ug[/ame]

 

Were our cards fundamentally different or did you just give 4 to Benton?