By David Greisman
10:57PM ET - Okay, folks, I'm calling it a night. I've got the post-fight press conference and then a beer (or two) waiting for me. Thanks for tuning in to my first live ringside blog, and don't forget to check in every Monday for my column, "Fighting Words."
10:47PM ET - Froch saved his undefeated record and his world title in the final round. And the remaining fans in the stands are all Froch fans, chanting out of celebration (and perhaps inebriation).
10:45PM ET - Scorecards just came in: Jack Woodburn had Froch up 106-102 going into the last round, while Omar Mintun and Nobuaki Uratani both had it 106-102 for Taylor.
10:37PM ET - Carl Froch stops Jermain Taylor with 15 seconds left. What a fight! What an ending! Can we see a rematch? Or how about Froch against Librado Andrade?
10:33PM ET - Slugfest in round 11. Two tired fighters who see victory within sight. We're going to the final round...
10:29PM ET - Froch takes round 10. I have the bout 97-92 Taylor, though I can see it one round closer. We're entering the championship rounds.
Side note: I'm not saying Froch telegraphs his hooks and uppercuts, but his last right hook started on the other side of the Atlantic.
10:25PM ET - Soccer-style chants from the crowd quickly get drowned out by "U.S.A., U.S.A." chants, which stop, and then the soccer chants pick up again. This is a good crowd, nary an empty seat in the house, and the fight is good enough that I don't want to turn my head away again.
10:21PM ET - Froch takes round nine. My scorecard reads 88-82 for Taylor. The three scorecards Showtime just posted have it closer. Those scorecards were on large screens carrying the broadcast feed and visible to the boxers. Froch has come out in round 10 with renewed vigor.
10:17PM ET - Taylor has slowed down. Froch is coming on. He caught Taylor with a good left hook in round eight. Taylor hasn't thrown a right hand in a while. Has he hurt it? I type that, and then Taylor lands some hard combinations, including right hands, to take back round eight. 79-72 for Taylor, who essentially just said, "Is that all you got?"
Side note: The uppercut Taylor landed toward the end of that round just made Carl Froch look like a bobblehead doll.
10:13PM ET - Froch takes the second half of round seven and thus takes round seven, the first he's won on my scorecard. The writer to my right though round six could've gone to Froch as well, and I can see his argument.
Side note: The crowd keeps breaking out into chants of "U.S.A., U.S.A." I keep looking around for Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
10:09PM ET - "It's like everything's working for Taylor," T.K. says. I think he's finally growing up as a fighter, even if he still has tendencies of an athlete who boxes rather than a boxer who is athletic. Taylor recently turned 30.If this is what aging means, I don't feel so bad about getting older.
Taylor is up 60-53.
10:05PM ET - Taylor takes round five and is now up 50-44 on my card. This seems like easy work for him so far. Froch still has his left hand low. Some people never learn...
10:01PM ET – Taylor slows down in the fourth round, but he wins it anyway with his activity in the latter half of the stanza. I have him up 40-35. One wonders if he was taking the round off, or if he expended too much energy going after Froch like he did in his first fight against Kelly Pavlik.
9:57PM ET - T.K. and I were complimenting Froch's chin. And then Taylor sends Froch down for the first time in his career. Taylor had been looking for the home run the entire round, and he got contact three times, all big right hands that would make Jim Lampley proud – if HBO opted to pick up the fight that is. Speaking of picking up, Froch climbs off of the deck at the count of seven, but now T.K., who predicted a Froch victory, says, "It's going to be a short night for Froch."
9:53PM ET - Taylor takes round two, 10-9. Froch needs to find a way to deal with Taylor's superior hand speed. And I need to find a way to get that ring card girl's phone number.
9:49PM ET - Froch has his left hand low and Jermain Taylor has landed two or three good right hands already just in the opening minute. Froch's left hand is still low. Stimulus, response, Carl.
Taylor takes the first round, 10-9. He still doesn't have the best technique, and he still looks tense in the ring, but he's won the first three minutes.
9:41PM ET - Finally, we're getting the ring entrances for the main event. The crowd comes to its feet for Jermain Taylor, in first against world titlist Froch. Taylor came out to the tune of Hank Williams Jr.'s "A Country Boy Can Survive." And they're booing Froch, who is entering to the tune of Queen's "We Will Rock You."
Side note: You know, from this angle the WBC belt either looks like a high-school art project or something you'd see in a box at a yard sale.
9:35PM ET - Bad joke of the night, and surprisingly it didn't come from me.
Ring announcer Joe Antonacci, who handled undercard duties until the broadcast started and Jimmy Lennon Jr. took the mike, just came around and said, "In honor of Earth Day, that was an example of Green power."
I shouldn't admit this, but I wish I had thought of it first.
9:30PM ET - A quick thank you to BoxingScene's own Jake Donovan, who is taking my dispatches and crafting this blog. Jake, like me, is hoping Froch-Taylor goes quickly. In his case, he's covering the HBO broadcast tonight. And I'm sure he wants a beer, too.
9:24PM ET – You know, if Carl Froch-Jermain Taylor ends early enough, I can catch the HBO card and have a beer or two. Priorities, you know?
9:19PM ET - And this fight is over. Green put De Leon down four times in the second round. The final two knockdowns were really more De Leon having no legs left. The ringside physician was on the apron after knockdown number three but was never called into the ring.
The official time was1:54 of round two.
All that in mind, Green can look at his feet as much as he wants. It was De Leon whose shoe bottoms were facing upward when the fight was over.
You know, if Carl Froch-Jermain Taylor ends early enough, I can catch the HBO card and have a beer or two. Priorities, you know?
9:06PM ET - Allan Green is making his way to the ring. The lights are on, the cameras are rolling.
And me? I'm about to count how many times Green looks at his feet.
8:58PM ET - BoxingScene's own T.K. Stewart has sat down next to me in press row after a circuitous journey. After driving five hours to the arena, he learned that the promoters had slated him for a seat in the mezzanine, up with other reporters and photographers exiled to the media version of Outer Siberia. Not exactly where a writer with a laptop wants to be. A couple writers ended up moving elsewhere, leaving T.K. his choice of empty spots here in press row.
There's a certain set of writers who make their way to shows all around New England, almost all of which take place in Connecticut and Massachusetts. But this card is big enough that the national writers are here, too (that, and tonight's other major card is in Puerto Rico). Add in a number of British media here for Froch and you end up with a scenario like that T.K. confronted earlier.
The last time T.K. and I worked a Showtime card, he was picked to be one of three members of the media scoring the bouts for the network broadcast. I seem to recall Chris DeBlasio of Showtime joking with me that he'd get me up there next time. I've spent the last couple of weeks hoping otherwise, because I never seem to give Jermain Taylor enough credit on the scorecards, not against Bernard Hopkins and not against Winky Wright. All I'd need is for whatever respect I've gotten after four-and-a-half years to go down the drain from one bad scorecard.
Not that I'd have a bad scorecard. As one Baltimore Sun sports writer once told me, "I'm not bothered by what people say. I know I'm right."
8:48PM ET – Malignaggi got his legs back, took back control of the fight and took the decision on all three scorecards, 79-73. The only round he lost was the one in which he was hurt.
We've got 17 minutes before the broadcast begins. Allan Green will start off the show with a 10-round super-middleweight fight against Carlos De Leon Jr. This needs to be the first step back toward contention for Green, who basically wasted 2008, a year in which he outpointed Rubin Williams in January and then spent 10 months on the shelf before stopping Carl Daniels in November.
From what I recall, Green (or his team, at least) negotiated himself out of a fight with Kelly Pavlik. He also withdrew from an ESPN2 date. But here he is, back in a televised showcase.
8:32PM ET - With Malignaggi on the ropes as round six came to a close, Fernandez just landed a left hand that buckled Malignaggi's knees and left him holding on for dear life. Has Malignaggi been taking this fight too easy? Will he come out with renewed vigor, or showing the repercussions of that shot?
8:14PM ET - Malignaggi isn't taking Fernandez to be too serious a threat. His left hand is down at his waist. This looks like it'll be an eight-round sparring session, Malignaggi getting back in the win column as his team tries to figure out where to go from here.
Meanwhile, this is turning out to be a decent-sized crowd. Neither Jermain Taylor nor Carl Froch are major ticket sellers in the United States, but the undercard was stocked with fighters from New England and New York, the tickets were priced well and there are enough people within a two-hour drive (and coming to the casino to gamble) that this show has probably sold more tickets at face value than has next month's rematch between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver.
Vegas will still get the biggest fights, but this economy has made promoters choose wisely in bringing boxing to regional casinos and arenas.
8:04PM ET - Paulie Malignaggi is up next, in his first appearance since losing to Ricky Hatton. His opponent tonight is Chris Hernandez, whose record reads 16-6-1 (9 knockouts).
No blue hair. No extensions. No shaved head. Back to business for Malignaggi.
7:57PM ET - Ali is getting into the chants. After scoring a knockdown in the third round, he showed off by faking a bolo punch with his right hand and then following with a left hook.
Abraham's made it to the fourth round. He seems content to last the distance, suddenly slick, circling away from Ali. But Ali catches him with half a minute left, traps Abraham in a corner, plants his feet and tosses in a thudding left hook. The bell rings, and this one's going to the scorecards.
Ali gets the 40-35 nod from all three judges.
7:46PM ET - Turn your head moment #2: First we get a fighter in the opening bout coming to the ring to Arturo Gatti's old entrance music. And now? An "Ali, Ali" chant in support of Sadam Ali.
7:37PM ET - Coming up next is Olympian Sadam Ali, 2-0, of Brooklyn, against some dude named Bryan Abraham, 1-0-1, of Schenectady, N.Y. This is a junior welterweight bout, scheduled for four rounds.
Abraham came to the ring with what appears to be a brick-patterned bandana wrapped around his mouth. Not exactly Bernard Hopkins' executioner's mask or Michael Katsidis' gladiator helmet.
Apparently Abraham's nickname is "The Brick." I'm betting this brick is about to get laid out.
7:31PM ET - Dominick Guinn is one of those mysteries wrapped in an enigma (or whatever). He can't win when it matters most, but he can still show, on occasion, why he was once a highly touted heavyweight prospect.
Guinn scored the first knockdown in the opening moments of round one, leaving Johnnie White all wobbly legged with a right hand. Guinn sent White to the canvas for the second official knockdown soon thereafter, landing a big left hook. Guinn then proceeded to clobber White against the ropes until the referee stepped in, 121 seconds into the fight.
Side note: I still think the tattoo Dominick Guinn has on his back is lame... "BOXING" written in block letters.
7:26PM ET - O'Connor got the sixth win of his career, taking all four rounds against Hartman, showing off his superior skills and hand speed. O'Connor scored two knockdowns: one in the second, the other in the fourth round off a body shot. All three judges saw O'Connor the clear victor, 40-34.
I'm just not sure how far O'Connor can climb due to his lack of heavy hands. But he's already built a local fan base; the kid could eventually be a regional attraction.
Now on to our third fight: former heavyweight prospect turned measuring stuck Dominick Guinn against an undefeated big man named Johnnie White (21-0, 18 knockouts).
7:12PM ET - Hartman, a ham-and-egger from Missouri, isn't here just to play the designated opponent. O'Connor's landed the cleaner combinations, but Hartman keeps coming. Hartman made a tactical error in the second round, however, switching southpaw to match up with the left-handed O'Connor. O'Connor proceeded to land a left cross, planting Hartman on his rear end just before the end of the second round. Hartman got up, but a clear message was sent. O'Connor walked back to his corner with his gloves in the air, getting applause from those who've already filed in.
7:02PM ET - Nelson takes a six round unanimous decision, 59-55 and 58-56 (twice) in a fun opening bout, one undefeated fighter against another.
Up next is Danny O'Connor, an Olympic alternate from Framingham, Mass., who has racked up a 5-0 (2 KO) record at junior welterweight. He's facing Travis Hartman, a 9-11-1 fighter best known for facing Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. early in the kid's career. Hartman's only won two of his last 11, and several of those fights have ended early. O'Connor doesn't have much power. He does have decent hand speed, though. Depending on how much Hartman has left (which is a good question), this could be a test for O'Connor at this early point in his career. We're scheduled for four rounds.
6:31PM ET - The first fight is under way here at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods, a beautiful new venue at the Connecticut casino. I'll be here in press row blogging throughout the night. Right now we're in round one in the first of seven scheduled fights. This opening bout features super middleweights Jonathan Nelson, an 8-0 fighter out of Little Rock, Ark., against Eddie Caminero, 5-0, of Lawrence, Mass. Caminero came out to the ring to the tune of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck." Big shoes to fill. That's Arturo Gatti's old entrance music. Caminero goes by the nickname of "Thunder." Nelson's out to prove that Caminero's little but sound and fury, signifying nothing.