All three judges had Nishioka ahead by a couple of pts and therefor won by clear UD. Unanimous decision. I think was the right decision. Kudos to the judges!!
I just saw the fight last night, I stumbled upon it accidentaly on one of the Fox sport channels. I scored it 8-4 for Nishioka, I gave Marquez rounds 1,2,3, and I think 8. There was another close round in there that I gave to Nishioka so I can see anywhere from 9-3 to 7-5 for Nishioka as being fair decisions. Good fight and I'm interested in what they each do next. I think Nishioka would be a very tough fight for Donaire and I'm not postitive Top Rank goes there. Marquez is nearing the end but he still has some fight left in him, I would love to see Marquez-Arce. Both guys are faded but still have enough left and the styles to make for a very good fight.
I had it a split technical draw, but one point away from a no contest. Had Hopkins scored two more knockdowns it would have been a DQ, IMO.
Rewatching the fight, my Gawd Rafa took a beating in the 10th, how on Earth didn't he go down? :yikes Good action fight, superb skills, wonder why some people say it wasn't very good.
Even a faded Rafael is in a different class level, he'd bloodgeon Arce in a mismatch type of a fight.
It was good fight, not action packed however, which is why alot of fans did'nt enjoy it. Nishioka has good defensive manuevers, but he was too defensive for the better part of the fight, which is why I had Marquez up a couple of points heading into the last three rounds. Good and decent fight, but definitely not a great fight.
Wait... are you basing your observations regarding my view of the fight .. on an avatar? Not very wise to judge people on that, it only questions your objectivity. Not that I need to 'defend' my scoring, but the card is in front of me, so I'll post it. Big fan of both, but guess what, I could've made 100 Rafa rant threads and still score an objective fight. :yep 1) Nishioka (very close) 2) Marquez 3) Marquez 4) Nishioka 5) Nishioka 6) Nishioka 7) Nishioka 8 ) Nishioka (cut round) 9) Marquez 10) Nishioka (borderline 10-8 ) 11) Nishioka 12) Nishioka 117-111 Nishioka Noticed you scored the 8th for Marquez, now I question your objectivity. After two minutes of Toshi dominating the round, they clash heads, Nishioka starts to bleed and they finish the round on exciting (and even) exchanges - and you scored it for Marquez? I suggest to revisit it. Of course it was not a brawl, but who said only brawls can be exciting. Marquez-Barrera and Calzaghe-Kessler are among my favorites to this day. It was a nice fight! :thumbsup
I'd agree that Marquez is the favorite but I think its more competitive than you might. Marquez is in a different class than Arce but their careers are going in different directions right now and you could make the case that Marquez has faded more than Arce which levels the field a bit. Marquez most likely wins one of those one-sided but very entertaining type of fights. I'd like to see it.
116-112 Nishioka for me. I don't think Marquez lost steam as much as Nishioka figured out around the 5th round that he couldn't miss with the lead left.