Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
Two fights of interest around the world last night, one an ugly and controversial affair that no doubt will continue to be discussed in boxing circles. Here's my report:
Amir Khan - UD12 - Gairy St. Clair
And when I say UD, I mean UD. Khan pitched a complete-game shutout in London last night, 120-108 on all three judges scorecards. Myself, I gave the sixth to St. Clair, but hey, a round here or there doesn't change the fact that Khan fought a marvelous bout in a big step-up situation and certainly answered any doubters as to his ability to handle world-class competition and go a full 12 rounds. If you haven't seen The Pride of Bolton yet, let me tell you that he's just about everything he's cracked up to be - handspeed, lateral movement, creative combinations - he's got the whole package. He throws punishing and accurate uppercuts from outside with both hands - I haven't seen a fighter doing that effectively in a long time. As for the negatives, I'd say he has two big question marks that he better answer before he steps in there with elite competition. He paws with his jab and holds his right lazily low - despite his dominance yesterday, he ate the most crowd-pleasing shots of the fight, wild overhand rights from St. Clair that would have done a lot of damage coming from a bigger man. Also, he seems like he still has some habits from his amateur days of punching to score rather than to hurt - often he throws his right across his body off his front foot as if he's just trying to tap his man, a maneuver that leaves him needlessly vulnerable to all sorts of countering. St. Clair didn't have the juice to make him pay much last night for his bad habits, but the top of the 135 foodchain right now is a very hungry crowd of boxer-punchers. Before the year is out, it's very possible that Khan will find himself in the ring with one of that bunch, and if he does, he'd better learn to keep those gloves up and throw all his punches with bad intentions.
Z. Gorres - D12 - Vic Darchinyan
A debacle in the Philippines yesterday marked by an unruly crowd and an incompetent referee. The result, to my mind, was that Vic Darchinyan got robbed blind in this IBF super flyweight eliminator. In the first round, the ref called a knockdown on Gorres on what was clearly a slip, prompting the crowd to pelt the ring with water bottles. Later on in the fight, I counted at least two times that Gorres was knocked down, very clearly so, where the ref ruled slips. Even discounting that, however, Darchinyan should have won this fight going away. I had him up 114-111. Gorres was cut badly in the sixth round from a clash of heads, and though I doubt that would have affected the outcome very much no matter how the referee handled it (because I sincerely doubt Gorres would have stopped fighting in front of his rabid hometown fans), the fact that the cut was the result of a butt and not a punch was never indicated and Gorres was never informed of his rights regarding the continuation of the fight. Also, it is worth mentioning that Darchinyan is a notably dirty practitioner whose rough-house tactics require constant intervention. A sound referee should always accompany him in the ring. On the whole, this was a very shady decision that rightfully has been disputed.
Amir Khan - UD12 - Gairy St. Clair
And when I say UD, I mean UD. Khan pitched a complete-game shutout in London last night, 120-108 on all three judges scorecards. Myself, I gave the sixth to St. Clair, but hey, a round here or there doesn't change the fact that Khan fought a marvelous bout in a big step-up situation and certainly answered any doubters as to his ability to handle world-class competition and go a full 12 rounds. If you haven't seen The Pride of Bolton yet, let me tell you that he's just about everything he's cracked up to be - handspeed, lateral movement, creative combinations - he's got the whole package. He throws punishing and accurate uppercuts from outside with both hands - I haven't seen a fighter doing that effectively in a long time. As for the negatives, I'd say he has two big question marks that he better answer before he steps in there with elite competition. He paws with his jab and holds his right lazily low - despite his dominance yesterday, he ate the most crowd-pleasing shots of the fight, wild overhand rights from St. Clair that would have done a lot of damage coming from a bigger man. Also, he seems like he still has some habits from his amateur days of punching to score rather than to hurt - often he throws his right across his body off his front foot as if he's just trying to tap his man, a maneuver that leaves him needlessly vulnerable to all sorts of countering. St. Clair didn't have the juice to make him pay much last night for his bad habits, but the top of the 135 foodchain right now is a very hungry crowd of boxer-punchers. Before the year is out, it's very possible that Khan will find himself in the ring with one of that bunch, and if he does, he'd better learn to keep those gloves up and throw all his punches with bad intentions.
Z. Gorres - D12 - Vic Darchinyan
A debacle in the Philippines yesterday marked by an unruly crowd and an incompetent referee. The result, to my mind, was that Vic Darchinyan got robbed blind in this IBF super flyweight eliminator. In the first round, the ref called a knockdown on Gorres on what was clearly a slip, prompting the crowd to pelt the ring with water bottles. Later on in the fight, I counted at least two times that Gorres was knocked down, very clearly so, where the ref ruled slips. Even discounting that, however, Darchinyan should have won this fight going away. I had him up 114-111. Gorres was cut badly in the sixth round from a clash of heads, and though I doubt that would have affected the outcome very much no matter how the referee handled it (because I sincerely doubt Gorres would have stopped fighting in front of his rabid hometown fans), the fact that the cut was the result of a butt and not a punch was never indicated and Gorres was never informed of his rights regarding the continuation of the fight. Also, it is worth mentioning that Darchinyan is a notably dirty practitioner whose rough-house tactics require constant intervention. A sound referee should always accompany him in the ring. On the whole, this was a very shady decision that rightfully has been disputed.
posted by Large at 10:12 AM
3 Comments:
I think Darchinyan was brought through by Jeff Fenech, who while not so bad in the ring, has become quite the dirty practitioner out of it..
ML - did you see the fight - very very bad scene all around.
Large, I didn't. I've seen darchinyan fight a few times, and he seemed dirty even when cleaning up guys that were clearly rubbish. I can only imagine how he'd be when faced with genuine competition..
Post a Comment
<< Home