Unlucky Fighters

Tangent! I play Football every Sunday. We have to be careful about playing the offside rule, because then we are effectively putting our trust in the linesmen. They are human, they are not infallible and are certainly capable of error. Given the level of football that we actually play, the linesman are usually substitutes so they aren't even really qualified. That doesn't really have anything to do with the thread, other than you can certainly draw comparisons between that and fighters throughout history who have employed strategies that either aren't favored by judges or aren't appreciated by judges.

Gerry Penalosa is a prime example. He's always employed a very sturdy defense in all of his fights, which has allowed him to continue well into his 30s, still fighting at the very top level. That being said, rather than actually maneuvering out of the way of punches altogether, he employs a high guard, and covers up well on the inside to minimize the effect of his opponents shots, not allowing the fighters to create leverage. I'm impressed by this, I go, "Wow, look, Gerry is defending expertly here, hardly any of the opponents punches are actually landing or being effective". However, the judges could be taking a different stance and this is often reflected in the scoring.

Also a factor in a lot of Gerry's losses earlier in his career would be his decision making. He fought Japanese fighters on multiple occasions in their own back yard, and as any educated Boxing fan will tell you, this is a risky thing for a world caliber fighter. I don't know if they are swayed by the overzealous crowd, but hometown decisions are frequent in this sport, and I tend to think that has always been the case. Gerry could have been dominating rounds against Japanese fighters, and showing great defense in the manner in which I earlier explained, but that would give the judges more than enough reason to score on aggression.

Discuss. Which fighters have typically been very unlucky with the judges? Why do you think this was? Stylistic reasons? Hometown decisions? Perhaps they were just unlucky a lot of the time. Tell the Classic!

 

Yeah, I expected to hear Marquez's name soon enough. He's a great shout.

 

Do people actually believe Buchanan was going to beat Duran?

 

As long as we agree that Duran was on his way to a decision win. :good