the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Unfortunately Milton will always be remembered for the Don Curry earth shattering loss.

You described him perfectly.

Apart from quality wins over Colin Jones,Pedro Villela (beat Starling), Steve Hearon and Doug DeWitt he gave a peak (the fight before knocking out Curry) Mike McCallum a terrific fight, even jolting the great McCallum with a left hook before succumbing in the 10th.

Was pretty much finished after that though his fight with Lupe Aquino is a mini-classic.

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Orzubek Nazarov v Dingaan Thobela II (lightweight title)

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

Total: 120-108 Nazarov (actual scores: 118-108, 118-111 and 118-110 all for Nazarov)

This has to go down in my book as one of the worst body beatings I've seen. A single shot doesn't stand out. Just a steady battering of the ribs on the slender waist of Thobela. I actually thought after the first couple of rounds that Gussie was fighting the wrong fight - giving Thobela room to fire off those lead rights onto the southpaw stance of Gussie. But man, he was just slow in starting because when he got that engine revved, he never let up on Thobela's ribs. Thobela must've really ached for the next week or two after this fight.

 

yeah, maybe part of it is that he was a small bit of the whole tapestry of fighters I grew up on back then. I still wax nostalgic when I hear the voices of Tim Ryan and Gil Clancy.

 

Roy Jones W12 Antonio Tarver (1)

I had never seen this fight, and had read tons about it being a controversial decision, how off Jones looked, etc. Had to check it out.

Jones of course was following up on his historic victory against John Ruiz to annex a portion of the heavyweight crown, and was asking a lot of his body in paring it back down to 175 to challenge new titlist Antonio Tarver. Jones is the challenger here. Tarver is long and rangy and left-handed. If those tools are all put to use properly, it's a difficult proposition for most fighters in the best circumstance.

Jones was indeed "off." He tired very quickly and was fortunate that Tarver didn't become more aggressive than he was. Tarver maddeningly fought only in spurts, when Jones became so knackered that he had to retreat to the ropes for a breather. To his credit, Tarver found a home for the straight left through Jones' guard against the ropes time and again, which was shocking. I'd never seen Jones field that many shots. He would cover up, let Tarver whale away to the head and body for perhaps 30 seconds, and then Tarver would back away or Jones would grab. In ring center Jones was the boss, pot-shotting Tarver with straight rights. He didn't throw a ton, but his rights to the midsection were thrown almost across his body, as if he were trying to gut Tarver or something. They looked and sounded hurtful. Then he'd get tired, retreat to the ropes again, and Tarver usually advanced in kind to flurry as best he could with Jones in limbo.

And so it continued. It became then a question of whom you thought controlled the three minutes more. Jones with his longer stretches of controlled inertia in ring center, or Tarver with his more bombastic yet more infrequent outbursts when Jones retreated to the ropes. In that way, it's not the easiest fight to score.

In the end, I just thought Jones "read the room" a little better, and understood the flow of the fight a bit more than Tarver did. Hard to really fault Tarver too much for not advancing and throwing more, as we all know how explosive and speedily powerful Jones could be when presented with a target. A modicum of caution was called for here, but as seen in hindsight it was a tad overdone.

Jones showed plenty of grit in taking the 11th with plenty of flurries when he hardly seemed able to walk across the ring, and the 12th was a tossup, with both throwing finally with abandon or close to it. It was the kind of fight that you could make a case for either way, so I don't deride those who might have thought Tarver narrowly won. I could see that. When I tallied my own card, I was slightly surprised to see Jones the winner. It's as if he understood that math trumps initial impressions.

1. Tarver
2. Tarver
3. Jones
4. Jones
5. Jones
6. Jones
7. Tarver
8. Tarver
9. Jones
10. Tarver
11. Jones
12. Even

115-114 Jones.

 

Sal. I scored this about 2 years ago. Check it out. How close is that in scorecards? This is what I wrote:

Antonio Tarver v Roy Jones I (light heavyweight title)

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

Total: 115-114 Jones (actual scores: 114-114, 116-112 and 117-111 both for Jones for a majority win for Jones - also Harold Lederman scored it 116-112 for Jones)

I only found 4 scorecards on this thread on this fight (don't think I'm scrutinizing these things for hours, the whole process takes under a minute) with 3 going for Jones and the 4th scoring it a draw. This fight deserves a bit of attention. I found it to be a good fight and a tense fight right down to the wire, unlike many of Jones' fights from this era, which were blowouts. Man, when Jones controlled ring center, he was an artist in there, but when Tarver took him to the ropes, he rained havoc on Roy. A good fight, which again, deserves more attention.

 

Yeah, it's one of those where the drama is not in the action but the anticipation. You usually had that with Jones anyway, being as skilled and explosive as he was. Even when nothing was happening you knew eventually it would, and quickly, so you didn't dare turn away.

Not a great fight, but totally agree in its ability to absorb the viewer. There's a lot to unpack with this one.

 

No full report, but watched Pipino Cuevas destroy the very confident South African southpaw challenger Harold Volbrecht in five rounds.

Harold fought smartly and imo won the first three rounds (the first very narrowly as little happened) but was perhaps a bit too encouraged by his success and got a little greedy, going for some bigger punches rather than be content with a few points here and there.

Cuevas ended it on a one-punch KO with a left hand (from a southpaw stance as Harold had gotten him turned a bit sidewise). Pipino’s power is just breathtaking. People don’t react to it same as they do normal hard punchers — but given that he broke jaws and eye sockets and such on the regular, it makes sense that his shots actually not only do damage … they hurt.

Here is is for anyone who wishes to see it.

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It was a very interesting storyline heading in too with lots at stake. Roy looked better in the rematch briefly before being caught. I think getting back in so quickly vs Glen Johnson was a huge mistake and that brutal KO effectively ended him

 

Pipino for me is one of those fighters that would be a very live underdog against all but the very top tier 147-pound champs. I very definitely choose him to stop Palomino if they ever signed to fight. Palominos style is all wrong.

 

Victor Rabanales v Dio Andujar (bantamweight title)

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

Total: 119-113 Rabanales (actual scores: 118-110, 117-111 and 116-113 all for Rabanales)

Oh, man, virtually no science to this fight, but what a slam-bang affair these two put on for the paying public. I've always said that Victor Rabanales reminds me of a bantamweight version of Bazooka Limon with those ungainly, wide arcing punches that land hard. Not to mention the great jaw and blood streaming from both eyes during the contest. You'd swear they were clones. As for Andujar, he was a damn good challenger with 52 bouts behind him against good opposition, he was ready for this fight and did not let anyone down. A cracking fight.

 

Donald Curry (c) vs. Colin Jones, scheduled for 15 rounds in Birmingham, England, for the WBA and IBF welterweight championships on Jan. 19, 1985.

Curry, 147, is 20-0 and making the fifth defense of his WBA crown and fourth of the IBF. He picks up $375K in a fight that is proclaimed as the first $1M gate in England.

Jones, 146, is 26-2-1, and making $115K.

I had Curry winning every round, with the first a big close. He picks Jones apart with a spearing left jab and lands solid rights behind it over the first two rounds, staying in the pocket and backing Jones up. Jones opens up toward the end of each of those rounds, especially trying to work the body with his left hook, but he can’t dissuade the champ.

Jones is bleeding from the nose a bit after two and comes out afire for the third. He tries to take it to Curry with some serious combos and has some moments, but Donald stands his ground and begins to fire back. At some point in the third he rips a left uppercut that opens a nasty gash across the bridge of Colin’s nose, and targets it with the jab to increase the damage.

Jones comes out to start the fourth on borrowed time and Curry really rips into him. The ref stops in after 36 seconds and consults with two ringside physicians, who wave it off.

It would have been nice to see Jones be able to stay together for another few rounds, but Curry was doing all the major damage and landing at a high rate with pinpoint shots. I think it was inevitable.

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Norton vs Ali 1

1. Ali 10-9
2. Norton 10-9
3. Ali 10-9
4. Norton 10-9
5. Norton 10-9
6. 10-10
7. Norton 10-9 close
8. Ali 10-9
9. Norton 10-9
10. Norton 10-9
11. Ali 10-9
12. Norton 10-9

116-113 Norton.

 

Oscar De La Hoya vs Felix Sturm

I thought De La Hoya cleanly lost this fight then, and still have Sturm winning the fight now.

116-112 Felix Sturm. 7-5 for Sturm is the absolute closest score you can have for Oscar and he still lost.

DLH rounds: 1, 2, 4, 5
Sturm rounds: 3, 6, 7, 8, ,9, ,10, 11, 12

 

Yes. Hopkins fight was already set up, so there was no way Oscar was losing it...