the what fights did you watch today\scorecard thread.

Paul Pender v Carmen Basilio (Middleweight title)

Round 1: 10-10 Even
Round 2: 10-9 Basilio
Round 3: 10-9 Basilio
Round 4: 10-10 Even
Round 5: 10-9 Basilio
Round 6: 10-9 Pender
Round 7: 10-9 Pender
Round 8: 10-9 Pender
Round 9: 10-9 Pender
Round 10: 10-9 Basilio
Round 11: 10-10 Even
Round 12: 10-9 Pender
Round 13: 10-8 Pender (scores a knockdown)
Round 14: 10-9 Pender
Round 15: 10-8 Pender (scores a knockdown)

Total: 146-140 Pender*

*Actual scores were announced as 147-138, 147-131 and 148-135 but boxrec has a couple of them slightly different as well as official scores announced from the newspapers. Everyone had some slightly different scores but within a point or so.

I checked this out with trepidation. I wanted to see it more from a historical mindset, as it was always in the back of my head my Dad telling me how boring Pender was. However, I will say I actually enjoyed the fight. How could you not with Basilio involved? He was the perfect dance partner. Anyways, Basilio was up against it fighting in Boston with all 3 Massachusetts judges. I am a rather conservative judge but from the scores of the judges (one had the last round 10-7 and a few more exercised a 10-8 here and there for Pender where I did not) they were quite liberal. I had the bout Even after 11 rounds but after that Pender really took off. To be clear, he was no banger. But once he got full extension on his shots, his leverage really started to show against his much shorter opponent. Including whipping uppercuts and hooks with full leverage. There is no doubt in my mind the '57 Basilio would have taken Paul, but this was the '61 model, which was found wanting in areas other than heart. He was fortunate to last until the end as Pender really gave him a going over those last three rounds. But again, a fight I really enjoyed.

 

Paul Pender has a very negative press.

Retired Basilio, only man to beat Robinson twice and finishing his career at the top flight.

Quitting against Terry Downes and lack of ko power.

The latter was because he repeatedly broke his hands (I think both against a young Fullmer) and if you factor in he was not in love with boxing made sure he was not popular outside of Boston.

Good fighter who came back from repeated setbacks to catch Sugar Ray at the right time.

Wish there was more footage of him.

 

Marco Antonio Barrera v Prince Naseem Hamed (featherweight title)

Round 1: 10-9 MAB
Round 2: 10-9 MAB
Round 3: 10-9 Naz
Round 4: 10-9 MAB
Round 5: 10-10 Even
Round 6: 10-9 MAB
Round 7: 10-9 MAB
Round 8: 10-9 MAB
Round 9: 10-9 MAB
Round 10: 10-9 Naz
Round 11: 10-9 MAB
Round 12: 9-9 Even (Barrera's round but docked a point for rough-housing)

Total: 117-111 Barrera (actual scores: 116-111, 115-112 and another 115-112 all for Barrera)

For so many years Naz was good enough to get away with a lot of the Brendan Ingle-instilled style that he saw such success with. However, when against someone of the talent of Barrera, that head in the air, hands at your side kind of style is going to come back and smack you in the behind for not concentrating on fundamentals when you're in the gym. Still, good seeing this again.

 

One of the first big fights I can remember. I enjoyed watching Barrera beat Hamed. That said I think my last score was 115-112 like the judges. I thought he showed his class with slightly letting Hamed take some rounds. Been a few years since my last watch

 

Andre Ward vs Mikkel Kessler

I am not sure what motivated me to watch this fight. At the time it happened I was a big Kessler fan and did not like Ward. Over the years and especially on the general forum the narrative has been that Ward rigged the fight in his backyard and got away with murder and won a BS fight against Kessler where he cheated. I gotta say after watching it again years later, the narrative holds no water. Andre Ward dominated Kessler from the opening bell. There was not a serious clash of heads until the 8th round and by then Ward was dominating and having target practice. The clash in the tenth was pretty bad but by then the fight was strategically over. Had it a shut out over ten completed rounds

Hagler vs Leonard Partial

Watched this at the gym while doing cardio

10: 10-9 Leonard
11: 9-10 Hagler
12: 10-9 Leonard

Only watched the last three rounds and felt Leonard took the majority. Hagler to me looked very tired in the tenth, perhaps from missing punches or from chasing Leonard around. Ray landed some really clean combinations and moved and slipped well.

Bobby Cycz vs Horatio Ray Brandon

Later in Bobby's career, this seems like a comeback, stay busy type of fight vs a 10-2 (according to Boxrec) fighter. Had Bobby win the first 4 rounds before turning it off. Bobby was a little chunky but boxed well. His jab was precise and kept getting Brandon to fidget with his nose after he would land a good clean one often as a counter. He slipped shots well and used his left hand to control Brandon's head effectively. Was a good veteran performance in an over matched fight. I did not watch until the end which came in round 6.

Andre Ward vs Kovalev II

Just flicked on the 8th and final round after watching the Kessler fight. I watched this to see the controversy. In my memory (had only watched it once since it was live and that was years ago) was he hit Kovalev with a clear low blow and then Kovalev doubled over and Ward hit him with numerous low blows until it was stopped.

Upon review, Ward rocked Kovalev to his foundation with a big right hand counter and Kovalev was sucking wind. Ward targeted the body most of the round and was landing belt line shots. Tony Weeks warned Ward once and in the final volley a blow bent Kovalev over and then 2 more landed. The live feed from HBO had the view somewhat obscured. The YT channel did not show all of the replays so it was hard to tell if the blows were low or on the belt line. I also did not watch the instructions to see where Weeks called the line of fair and foul. Controversial end but I think even if you gave Kovalev five minutes to recover he was done

 

Muhammad Ali (c) vs Ron Lyle, scheduled for 15 rounds for the WBC and WBA world heavyweight championships on May 16, 1975, at Convention Center in Las Vegas.

This is the second of four title defenses for Ali in 1976, coming a month after his last-round stoppage of Chuck Wepner. He’ll return six weeks after this to outpoint Joe Bugner, then face Joe Frazier in the Thrilla in Manilla before year’s end. Ali is 46-2, making the second defense of his second reign. He is making a cool million for this bout and weighs 224 1/2, his heaviest weight to this point in a title fight (six pounds heavier than he was when he beat George Foreman to reclaim the crown).

Lyle is 30-2-1 and weighs 215. He’s ranked seventh by the WBC, dropping four spots after a decision loss to Jimmy Young in his previous fight. He is making $100K.

1. Lyle 5-4: Ali comes out moving forward behind a high guard. He seems determined to show he’s stronger than Lyle and wants to back him up … thing is, he forgot to punch. Hardly a blow thrown by Ali in this round. Muhammad backs to the ropes and covers up, but Lyle is caution. Ron does land a few good b body shots and an uppercut or two, but wants to avoid the rope-a-dope thing and mostly touches Ali as much as punching him.

2. Ali 5-4: Ali, who suffered a minor nosebleed in the first round, comes alive after a bit and lands a few snappy right leads to go with one sweeping left hook and a few jabs.

3. Lyle 5-4 (close): Ali opens up more behind that peek-a-boo stance, but Lyle counters well. He lands some good rights and a handful of body shots.

4. Lyle 5-4: Ali throws almost nothing and Lyle nearly matches his inactive, tapping a covered-up Ali on the gloves and forearms, but gets through with just enough telling punches to take this stanza.

5. Ali 5-4: After Lyle comes out frisky and tries to unload with little effect, Muhammad gets on his toes and Lyle seems flummoxed. He lands enough jabs to go with a sizzling right that gives h im the edge.

6. Ali 5-4: Same as the fifth but with fewer punches, particularly not as many jabs by Ali.

7. Ali 5-4: The champ settles down — he’s still moving but not on his bicycle. Ron finds some success with a double jab but Ali pot-shots him with right leads and one sweet hook.

8. Ali 5-4: You can make an argument for a two-point round here. Ali gets flat-footed and loads up while Lyle is on the ropes, really working him over.

9. Lyle 5-4: Ali is spent, mostly covers up with no resistance. Lyle pity-pats to the body and lands a few jabs to take a nothing round.

10. Lyle 5-4: Good body work and jab from the challenger.

11: Ali stuns Ron with a right and jumps on him. Ali lands by my count 39 unanswered punches (including a quadruple left hook) before the referee stops it at 1:08.

My card (using the five-point must system that was in place for this bout): 45-45. Official cards 49-43, 46-45, 46-46.

Of note: Ali predicted a KO 8 win and was oddly specific in predicting between the 2:35 and 2:38 mark. He really poured it on in the eighth to try to make it happen but Ron wasn’t going to let it happen.

This content is protected

 

Marco Antonio Barerra vs Johnny Tapia

117-111 MAB. Tapia was game and competitive but undersized and not in the best of shape. Barerra in this fight was at his peak against one of the better BANTAMWEIGHTS in the history of the sport. Great fight.

 

I’d be interested to see how @scartissue and others scored this.

It was a curious fight.

Lyle seemed determined not to ‘fall for’ the rope-a-dope. He did a lot of touching and tapping on the inside rather than blasting to the body or trying to get through to the head with some mustard on it. There’s a difference between selling out 100% and loading up on everything and wearing yourself out and digging some meaningful shots to try to take something out of Ali … and he choose Door No. 3 — basically don’t expend any energy and thus accomplish very little. Maybe he was mesmerized by The Greatest and got faked out by the 4D chess move rather than taking advantage of it.

Then there’s Ali coming out behind a high guard and fighting the first round on the front foot … without really throwing any punches. He even came forward in a Joe Frazier-like crouch a time or two.I think he was most determined to push Lyle to the uncomfortable position (for him) of fighting on the back foot and establishing to Ron that he (Ali) was the stronger guy. He repeatedly pushed Lyle back and when Ron came forward he mostly held his ground and use pivoted rather than yield … apart from his voluntary retreats to the ropes to shell up — but he did this by choice rather than Lyle forcing him back.

Apart from the strategy of each guy, there’s the conundrum of how do we score a round when one guy barely throws a punch and the other hardly throws a real punch (Lyle playing patty-cakes and touching Ali’s gloves or body but not really a punch per se … more of a tap).

Interested how people saw this one.

 

Oh, man, Pat, I just remember this as dull. I remember watching the Victor Galindez v Ray Elson fight first, which was enjoyable. Then all the tipping around Ali and Lyle did before the 11th was just a drag. Ali got a lot of mileage out of the rope-a-dope, which was an outstanding tactic used spontaneously against Foreman. But the beauty of a unique fight plan is it's anonymity. Ali played to the press with rope-a-dope so everyone knew he was going to try it. Well, duhhh! Why would Lyle fall for something that has already been announced? Which again, made for one dull fight.

 

My question is more why Lyle didn’t get in tip-top shape and say ‘I can bang on your body all day, I can bang on your arms til you can’t lift them to throw punches’ like Leon Spinks did.

I’d love to have a guy rope-a-dope me. He’s handing me rounds.

 

Carl Froch vs Andre Dirrel

I guess I am just going to watch some of the Super 6 again. I always remembered this as somewhat of a boring fight with both men being very ineffective and having an ugly clash of styles. I always slightly leaned Froch and I know that is a fairly controversial opinion. I was eating dinner and drinking beer throughout most of this so I was not really scoring closely until I sat down and focused more.

9) 10-9 Froch
10) 10-8 Froch
11) 9-10 Dirrel
12) 10-9 Froch

I thought a lot of rounds were incredibly close, especially the first 4 rounds. I hate giving even rounds because the real judges don't but there were a few that were razor close. Dirrel was clearly the better boxer but he got out fought and in the spaces of his brilliance he let Froch out work him and peck away.

I felt Dirrel was fairly penalized for holding. Dirrel landed some bombs after the deduction but I thought Froch was winning the round before the point was taken and after Dirrel landed a few shots Froch landed a few to end the round. I thought 10 and 12 were pretty close

I really don't want to watch this again but feel like I am pulling a cop out by not having a real score for this controversial fight. Win or lose Dirrel fought a great fight and showed flashes of great ability and talent. It is a real shame his career didn't pan out.

Funny enough in round 8 around the mid point Dirrel fell and Froch held up on a shot. In a bit of foreshadow Al Bernstein said something along the lines of it is a good thing Froch held up as he could have been penalized or worse

 

Arthur Abraham vs Jermaine Taylor

1) 9-10 Taylor not much landing of note. Abraham threw a few big hooks but they looked blocked
2) 10-9 Abraham with Taylor winning the round behind the jab but not landing a lot. Felt Abraham's late rally stole round 2
3) 10-9 Abraham pretty close round
4) 9-10 Taylor, great round for Taylor though Abraham more so coasting and waiting. Lots of the Taylor jabs are blocked
5) 10-9 Abraham, thought Taylor won the first half of the round but did not have much to show for. Abraham rallied late to win
6) 10-8 Abraham, point taken for the low blow and Abraham won the round
7) 10-9 Abraham, annoyed by the ref still sticking his finger in Taylor's face
8( 10-9 Abraham after coming out slowly and letting Taylor jab away
9) 10-9 Abraham with Taylor getting rocked badly
10) 10-9 Abraham, Taylor had a better round than the 9th and landed a good right in the final minute but not enough
11) 10-9 Abraham but Taylor landed 2 solid rights and followed up with jabs. Had a case until the final 30
12) Abraham KO

Score: 108-100 Abraham

Abraham really is a **** trying to cry the ref to get low blow calls. Did the same thing vs Miranda. Some what boring fight as of the 4th. Abraham looking to ***** and look for help from the ref but he is getting away with rabbit punches. Long arms and shell makes it tough to land clean body blows. Taylor reduced to just kind of jabbing at the guard but can't get much else in. Taylor a few times goes body then head but even still it is isolated.

Taylor really could not adjust. He arguably won 2 and 3 making it closer than my card. He had the jab, some body work and the occasional right. He needed to press more and vary his punching to win. Knowing what happened to Taylor seeing the KO just feels tragic

 

Arthur Abraham vs Andre Dirrel

1) 9-10 Dirrel
2) 9-10 Dirrel
3) 10-9 Abraham
4) 8-10 Dirrel
5) 9-10 Dirrel but Abraham did have success
6) 9-10 Dirrel, Abraham tries faking a low blow and the ref shrugs him off. Dirrel lands 2 solid left crosses down the stretch
7) 9-10 Dirrel, possible missed knockdown, Abraham cut
8) 10-9 Abraham as he trapped Dirrel on the ropes and warning for stiff arming got Dirrel off the ropes.
9) 9-10 Dirrel, Abraham tries to fake another low blow and Dirrel jumped on him. Abraham landed a solid right near the end of the round
10) 10-9 Abraham as Dirrel gets rocked and goes into survival mode the last minute or so of the round. Feet did tangle but a shot did land
11) DQ win Dirrel

Taylor had success with his jab when he had Arthur come forward and open. Dirrel led Abraham into the shots. Dirrel followed what Taylor did but just sits on his shots more, threw a wider variety of punches and the southpaw stance definitely confused Abraham. A mature improvement upon the Froch fight. Dirrel looking great when making Abraham lead hence getting him out of the shell and getting nailed. He wants you to jab into his guard where he can hook. He looks lost when he has to come forward

Gotta say SHO is great compared to what we get now. Liking this Bernstein and Tarver combo on commentary

Rd 9 they look at Abraham's cut eye. Imagine how different history is if they stopped it here. Would have totally prevented the devastating DQ KO Dirrel suffered that hampered his career

I was thinking Laurence Cole was largely good at least compared to his resume but may have missed two knockdowns and did call the DQ before the doctors had a real chance to look at Dirrel. Seemed premature to call it when Cole called it. Not saying DQ was the wrong call but maybe the timing was controversial.

Still to this day the shot did not seem that hard, there was a long delay after he was up right before he fell down to the canvas touching his face. Didn't break his fall but did lift a hand then fall over.

He was winning clearly, Abraham was having success but Dirrel was winning and in control, why would he fake his way out with only a round and a half to go

 

@Mastrangelo put this onto our attention. Here we go.........

Myung Woo Yuh v Willy Salazar (Jr. Flyweight title)

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

Total: 117-115 Yuh (actual scores: 116-113, 117-112 and 118-110 all for Yuh)

Man, this was a tight fight to score - one can see this with 4 Even rounds. You have the fast pace of Salazar against Yuh, whose every punch is a bomb. It's up to the judge to weigh what one feels the most relevant. As an unabashed Yuh fan I loved the competitiveness in this bout, whereas some of his fights were simply overwhelming his opponent. Salazar really reminded me of Gaspar Ortega. The same fast boxing, speedy, sharp combos and that looping right hand. And like Ortega he didn't mind engaging. The 12th round was headed into round of the year areas until the ref stopped the round to have Salazar's cut on his left eye inspected, which really broke the momentum IMO. Totally recommend this fight to all.

Sidenote: Is Yuh any relation to Jae Do Yuh, who won and lost the jr. middleweight title from Koichi Wajima? Or is the name Yuh like Smith in Korea?

 

I think it's unlikely They were related. The most common name in Korea seems to be "Kim", although with their names usually consisting of 3-4 letters, there's probably less variety overall ).