The 'what fights did you watch today?' thread

Jose Luis Ramirez-Edwin Rosario 2.

Rosario starts like a house on fire but runs out of gas against the hard punching vet, forced to trade with Ramirez until he his punched to a standstill. He fails to take a knee and takes a hammering before being rescued by the referee. Great come from behind win for Ramirez

 

Quality shootout that. Ramirez was a tough puncher. I feel he was robbed against Arguello as well.

 

Watched a fair few fights today (and plan to watch a few more yet) re-visiting some enjoyable stuff as well as catching up on some recently acquired bits of footage. As a treat I watched a trio of George Benton fights in order (they followed one another for Benton at the time) and they were as enjoyable as I remembered. It’s ridiculous to think Benton was ‘just’ a contender.

George Benton Vs Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter

BENTON: 2; 4; 6; 7; 8;
CARTER: 1; 3; 5; 9; 10
Benton 95-95 Carter

A highly enjoyable bout between two extremely dangerous Middleweight contenders of the highest quality.

Carter, the thickset bomber, has to show his full skillset to get much done here, including slips and counters of his own, against the master defensive fighter Benton, who displays his varied artillery here as well as his ability to time his opponents offensive with deft slips and positioning in punching range.

Benton’s hand speed, counter punching and equal strength on the inside allows him to do enough work to earn a draw IMO, and the same goes for Carter, who doubles and triples his left hook with aplomb to make sure he lands leather on his quicker foe, and uses it to set up a stubby right hand in the later rounds. The inside battle between the two is gruelling with them taking turns to hit the other in the body and with quick uppercuts to the head. Benton’s footwork and counter ability ace despite being past his best, and he shoots in shots to head and body with real zip. He whips out a ‘check hook’ at one point as Carter goes for him.

The 10th round is a brilliant one. Carter bombing with both hands early and Benton’s defensive radar taking the edge off of them is an exchange that forced a grin upon my face. After Carters initial onslaught, Benton backs Carter up and lands with both hands, only for ‘Hurricane’ to weather the storm and back Benton up towards the end of the round, landing with ferocity. Both men respect each other at the end of the contest, and ‘Hurricane’ Carter takes the official split decision in a bout that could’ve went either way for me.

George Benton Vs Allen Thomas

BENTON: 3; 4; 5; 6; 8; 9; 10
THOMAS: 1; 2; 7;
Benton 97-93 Thomas

Thomas has an imposing, consistent prodding jab and it takes until the 3rd for Benton to really get his timing down. He then bosses most of the fight, has Thomas hurt a few times and whenever he ups his punch rate he lands with both hands with a variety of sharp, fast shots.

George Benton Vs John Henry Smith

Against a bigger opponent, Benton tries to feint and counter his man, landing a big overhand right in the 2nd round, and finishing his man for a ten count with a stiff right cross that came off a wicked left hook. Benton KO2 Smith.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCO86_Z5p9o[/ame]

Azumah Velson Vs Marcos Villasana II

A complete performance from ‘The Little Professor’ who forces the never flinching very strong Mexican hardman back when he forces the action, and makes him plea for Nelson to come forward when the Ghanaian goes on the back foot. Villasana was a dirty fighter, and he repeatedly low blows Nelson right in the bollocks throughout the fight. Villasana probably edged one or two of the mid-to-late rounds, but Nelson got his second wind and easily outboxed Villasana on his toes pot shotting at the end. A dominant win for Nelson, in a fight where he really had to work for it against a nails puncher.

Antonio Esparragoza Vs Pascual Aranda

ESPARRAGOZA: 1; 3; 4; 6; 7; 8; 9;
ARANDA: 2; 5;

Aranda is a basic but gutsy pressure fighter, and wins some rounds based on sheer workrate coming straight up the middle (and could probably edge some more, but I went with the champions cleaner punching in the bursts he provided). Esparragoza, the Champion, is landing the cleaner shots throughout, letting off with seemingly endless punches when he decides to burst, and playing cover up waiting to counter as the challenger throws the kitchen sink at him. Eventually bleeding around the eyes and from inside the mouth, the brave challenger eventually succums to a barrage of clean punches in the 10th. Esparragoza KO10 Aranda

Antonio Esparragoza Vs Marcos Villasana

Esparragoza was starting to cement himself as champion. He’d beaten Stevie Cruz (who had beaten Barry McGuigan) and had defended against Aranda. The hard-punching Mexican had bounced back from his loss to Nelson for the WBC title by proving his toughness in a shootout with big-punching Jamie Garza.

ESPARRAGOZA: 2; 3; 4; 5 (+1); 6; 7; 8; 11;
VILLASANA: 1; 9; 10; 12
Esparragoza 116-111 Villasana

Esparragoza looks a sure fire bet for an easy win after the first half of the fight, keeping Villasana inside his shots whilst only being a half step away from being safe of the Mexican’s blows. When they engage in firefight it's exciting stuff as well, with both looking to pop out of danger and retaliate but the Venezualan's counter punching looking the far better work. But the effort takes it out of him, and Villasana manages to rough him up well as he tires in the later rounds. Regardless, the Champion looks to fire back when hit with a good shot, so both warriors make for a spirited effort throughout the 12 rounds, but considering Villasana was deducted a point in the 5th for low blows, I find it hard to see how they came up with a draw on the night.

 

How widely available is the Benton/Carter fight, if at all? :think

 

Just havin' me tea :good

 

Don't eat it too fast :yep

 

Carter vs Benton -
[url]http://www.megavideo.com/?d=6OL377PE[/url]
[url]http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6OL377PE[/url]

 

Already sent it to him in one piece :good

 

Wallet get's beaten to the punch? How often does that happen? :yep

Cheers fellas!

 

I don't see any links from Flea in this thread...

I was not beaten. :nono

 

That's because Flea Man's read the forum rules :deal

 

Manny Pacquiao Vs Juan Manuel Marquez III

PACQUIAO: 1; 2; 12
MARQUEZ: 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11
Pacquiao 111-117 Marquez

Now the dust has settled, I felt it was time to give this fight another look and see if my views had changed. Marquez fought a patient, controlled fight, and Manny was too reserved and didn’t take the fight to Marquez as he should’ve done, as well as Marquez judging his rushes and making the necessary movements that Pac couldn’t get much done and was off balance. Marquez landed the nicer, cleaner combinations and counters throughout, there were some close rounds but I feel even giving them to Pacquiao wouldn't have given him the nod. Marquez usually came out better in the exchanges. Little fireworks here, Manny edged the last just because Marquez did very, very little. Bad matchup and approach for Pacquiao, the perfect gameplan and execution by Marquez. Not the end of the World as some made it out to be at the time.

Koji Kobayashi Vs Kazuo Katsuma

KOBAYASHI: 3; 4; 9; 11
KATSUMA: 1; 2; 6; 7; 8(+2); 10;

Kobayashi was being set up to fight Jiro Watanabe in an all-Japan Super Flyweight title clash, in a rematch, as Watanabe had starched Kobayashi inside a round when the two were undefeated prospects. Kobayashi, the former WBC (lineal) Flyweight Champ’, was big even for Super Fly, lanky, stiff, upright and basic offensively, a bully of a fighter. The last bit of top level prowess is beaten out of him here by Katsuma, who was the Japanese Super Flyweight Champion at the time and on a winning streak. Both men throw a lot of punches and have porous defences, so it makes for an entertaining fight, if scrappy technically.

Katsuma seems to be trying to emulate Fighting Harada, but he punches way too wide and it stops him sustaining a barrage as the Japanese great often did. The 4th is a war, with Kobayashi landing his powerful straight left many times with his smaller opponent somehow braving the heavy shots coming his way.

Sadly, my version skips the 5th, but they don’t seem to have lost any momentum in the 6th, trading shots but Katsuma making the ex-lineal Fly champ look ragged, backing him up and buckling his legs as the bell rings to end the round.

Katsuma continues to swarm on Kobayashi. Kobayashi gets his man against the ropes and wings in left hands, but stood straight up with no head movements and his hands down by his chest he gets caught square on with a right hand, and the Ref’ ridiculously gives him a standing count moments later as the smaller man continues his barrage. Kobayashi is ****ed by the end of the round.

Incredibly he makes a case for winning the 9th. Hi legs are gone, but he wills himself through some rough patches to just punch out a close round IMO. Katsuma takes the 10th as although Kobayashi is still game, he’s nearly impossible to miss, and he gets hit with numerous left hands as his Bambi-On-Ice legs look ready to go at any time. Still, he lands some hard clean punches in the 11th, and looks like he might go the distance. Then, at the beginning of the 12th another barrage of shots causes the Ref’ to step in for, for ****s sake, another standing count. Katsuma doesn’t stop, stepping in with a stiff straight right to buzz Kobayashi, and then tears into him to force a definite stoppage. Katsuma TKO12 Kobayashi.

Jiro Watanabe Vs Kazuo Katsuma

WATANABE: 1; 2; 3; 4(+2); 5; 6;
KATSUMA:

And so Katsuma got the next crack at Watanabe’s WBC Super Flyweight title. The gulf in class is immediately apparent. Watanabe was a bad ass but sometimes lackadaisical he was so cocky and laidback, and in the early rounds seems more annoyed that his barnet keeps getting ruffled. Watanabe dictates the pace, skipping circles around his opponent and landing with snappy accurate shots whenever he chooses. Missing with a left hand in the 4th he immediately plants his feet and digs into a right hook that floors Katsuma heavily. Patient but deadly, Jiro lets fly with both hands before dropping Katsuma with a right uppercut in close that looks like it was trying to decapitate the poor man. Watanabe nearly has him out of there but runs out of time, the game challenger even firing back as the bell goes.

In the 5th and 6th, Watanabe toys with Katsuma, bossing him around and peppering him with sharp shots. Katsuma, fatigued but trying to remain lively, out bounces himself and falls over. As soon as he gets up, sensing his man is done, Watanabe tears into Katsuma with both hands and fells him. Looking done in, Katsuma rises but goes down from little for the second time in the round. Completely outclassed, beaten up and outgunned, Katsuma is wisely saved from any further punishment. Watanabe TKO7 Katsuma

 

Roberto Duran-Sugar Ray Leonard I

**** me what a fight. This is what a genuine superfight should be. Leonard gained huge amounts of respect after this fight despite it being his first loss. Both show here why they went on to become ATGs. Truly epic fight.

 

Duran was already an ATG by that point :deal