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Let’s forget the past few days: Weekend Review

Fighters Network
14
Nov

BIGGEST WINNER

No one: Not the best weekend of boxing.

A plodding Luis Ortiz and reluctant Malik Scott served up one of the most miserable heavyweight fights in recent memory on Saturday in Monte Carlo. On that card, awful scoring marred a decent bantamweight fight between Jamie McDonnell and Liborio Solis, who lost a unanimous decision that was greeted by knowing boos from those on hand. Danny Garcia stopped a grossly overmatched Samuel Vargas in a stay-sharp fight that had the feel of an uninspired sparring session in Philadelphia, Garcia’s hometown. Jarret Hurd beat up on a game but undersized (read: helpless) Jo Jo Dan on the Garcia-Vargas card. And the women also contributed to the garbage, as an Argentine fighter named Ruth Stephanie Aquino was accused of faking a knockout against Delfine Persoon and disqualified in the first round Friday in front of Persoon’s disappointed fans in Belgium.

Sad series of events.



I don’t want to overlook the strong performances of Javier Fortuna, Jason Sosa and a few others who emerged from the weekend with important victories but, overall, we might be wise to throw the fights of Friday and Saturday in the circular file and forget they ever happened – especially because we have Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward coming up this weekend.

 

BIGGEST BORE

Ortiz-Scott: Most of the blame must go to Scott, who, well aware of Ortiz’s punching power and a first-round knockout loss to Deontay Wilder fresh in his memory, wanted nothing to do to with the intimidating Cuban. Scott threw 12.8 punches per round, according to CompuBox. That’s called surviving, not fighting. Scott should be embarrassed.

Ortiz added to the debacle, though. He was unable to cut off the ring or make adjustments necessary to hurt Scott enough to end the fight. Scott went down about a thousand times – in some cases as the result of punches, in most because he seemed more comfortable there – but he was never in serious trouble.

The result was a sloppy, boring fight that had no business being on television.

I presume Scott (38-3-1, 13 KOs) was chosen as Ortiz’s opponent because he would be stopped in spectacular fashion early in the fight, which would’ve enhanced Ortiz’s reputation as a killer puncher. Those who handle Ortiz (26-0, 22 KOs) overestimated his ability. He has plenty of power, as we’ve seen many times, but he’s merely an adequate boxer and so-so athlete. So a fight meant to make Ortiz more marketable instead showcased his limitations.

I wouldn’t go as far to say the fight was a disaster for him – he did win all but one round on one card, after all – but he certainly didn’t take a step forward.

 

MOST DISTURBING

McDonnell-Solis: I thought Solis (25-5-1, 11 KOs) earned the victory but I had it close,  115-113 (seven rounds to five) for Solis, who built a big lead in the first half of the fight and did enough down the stretch to hang on. So a draw or a very close victory for McDonnell (29-2-1, 13 KOs) wouldn’t have been an outrageous outcome, in my opinion. I can live with judge Stanley Christodoulou’s score, 115-113 for McDonnell.

The other two scores were offensive: Nelson Vazquez had it 116-112 and Robert Hoyle an unfathomable 117-111. That means Hoyle gave nine of the 12 rounds to McDonnell, who simply didn’t land the punches to merit that kind of tally. Maybe the Las Vegas-based Hoyle was overcome by jet lag or maybe it was just an off night. Bottom line: It was ugly.

I applaud McDonnell for climbing back into a fight he was losing, although I would advise him to show up before the seventh round in future outings. I wonder whether difficulty making weight played a role in his performance. And there’s a silver lining for Solis, who was understandably devastated by the decision but also enhanced his credentials as a legitimate threat to the top 118-pounders.

And the Venezuelan will get an immediate rematch with McDonnell if there is any justice whatsoever in boxing.

 

RABBIT PUNCHES

I don’t want to be too hard on Garcia, who did his job by stopping Vargas in the seventh round. That sets up a truly compelling title-unification showdown with Keith Thurman on March 4. And I understand why Garcia-Vargas was televised: It was meant to promote the fight with Thurman, who was at ringside as a television analyst. Their nose-to-nose trash talk in the ring after the fight was dramatic. Here’s what I feel is a legitimate question, though: Should the fans be subject to such a lousy matchup (Garcia-Vargas) to help sell a future fight? Garcia-Thurman will sell itself. I would rather have seen a competitive fight this past Saturday. …

Take nothing away from Hurd, an excellent young fighter with tight technique and explosive punches. And I understand the choice of Dan (35-4, 18 KOs) as an opponent: He’s a tough guy with a recognizable name, which made him a marketable opponent. He was just too small for Hurd (19-0, 13 KOs). I think such a matchup can be justified if the smaller fighter is superior in some significant way; perhaps in overall skill or hand speed. Dan seemed to be overmatched in every way, which made me uncomfortable with the matchup. I was relieved when it was stopped. Note: I should’ve mentioned when this was originally posted that Dan was a last-minute choice to fight Hurd.

The Aquino disqualification (watch it here) was strange. A disgusted Persoon (37-1, 16 KOs) said to local media afterward that Aquino (8-3-1, 1 KO) “did not really come for boxing. She fell at the end of the first round without ever having been really touched.” Aquino seems to say on the video that she did take a blow but, to the eye, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Persoon seemed to be on the mark when she said: “It is scandalous.” You be the judge. …

Fortuna (31-1-1, 22 KOs) turned in an excellent performance against previously unbeaten Douglas (17-1, 12 KOs) on the Garcia-Vargas card, surviving a first-round knockdown to win a well-deserved 10-round lightweight decision. A very determined Fortuna simply outhustled Douglas. That gives the Dominican back-to-back victories over previously unbeaten fighters after he was stopped by Sosa this past June. … Meanwhile, Sosa (20-1-4, 15 KOs) defeated capable Stephen Smith (24-3, 14 KOs) by a one-sided unanimous decision in defense of his bogus WBA “world” junior lightweight title on the Ortiz-Scott card. Jezreel Corrales is the actual WBA 130-pound titleholder. …

Hard-charging IBF strawweight titleholder Jose Argumedo (19-3-1, 11 KOs) gave a strong performance on a live RingTV.com stream, stopping mandatory challenger Jose Antonio Jimenez (17-6-1) in the third round on Saturday in Mexico. Jimenez went down twice. You can watch the fight here. Argumedo, who is trained by Canelo Alvarez’s mentor Eddy Reynoso, could face Katsunari Takayama in a rematch next. Argumedo defeated Takayama by a ninth-round technical decision to win the 105-pound belt last December in Japan.

 

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