WTF? I just looked up that Ricky Spain dude and his record on that night was 7-0 but if you check his boxrec he finished his career 2-23... How the hell?
The only reason he layed on the ropes is because Usmanee couldn't land anything affective most of the time. Mendez landed more power shots, cleaner power shots and with more power. What more do you want.
Skilful fighters can keep pressure fighters from fixing them on the ropes as much as Mendez was on the ropes here. A number of these rounds he allowed himself to be there and have Usmanee punch and punch and punch, Usmanee missed a lot but also landed and Mendez only landed clean intermittently. It should not be a surprise that the judges had it a draw, as I have said Usmanee won points for ring generalship on most of the rounds. Mendez fought a poor fight although I did have it 115-113 Mendez, a draw however was a perfectly respectable interpretation of the fight. If I had given Usmanee the 10th or 11th, rounds which were very close, then I would not have scored it for Mendez.
Skilful fighters can keep pressure fighters from fixing them on the ropes as much as Mendez was on the ropes here. A number of these rounds he allowed himself to be there and have Usmanee punch and punch and punch, Usmanee missed a lot but also landed and Mendez only landed clean intermittently. It should not be a surprise that the judges had it a draw, as I have said Usmanee won points for ring generalship on most of the rounds. Mendez fought a poor fight although I did have it 115-113 Mendez, a draw however was a perfectly respectable interpretation of the fight. If I had given Usmanee the 10th or 11th, rounds which were very close, then I would not have scored it for Mendez.
It's a shame that more people don't take into account the science of the sport. Mendez is clearly a fighter that needs distance to be most effective and likes to counter the opponent. Usmanee took away the distance most of the fight and forced Mendez to fight "his fight". I know it may not count for much and Mendez did make adjustments, to the point where he was effective but he was taken out of his element. When you make someone fight your fight, that counts for something, in my book at least......it IS a scoring criteria after all.
I had it 115-113 Mendez and I don't see how to score the fight for Usmanee, but Mendez didn't beat the **** out of Usmanee or even dominate. He spent about 2 minutes of every round with his back on the ropes landing some shots and getting hit with some shots, and every now and then he'd put together flashy and accurate combos that didn't seem to hurt Usmanee, but at least racked up points.
I think there were enough close rounds for there to be a draw. The difference between the ESPN (the fans, not Teddy's) scorecard and the judges was that they give the last two rounds to Mendez.
Skilful fighters can keep pressure fighters from fixing them on the ropes as much as Mendez was on the ropes here. A number of these rounds he allowed himself to be there and have Usmanee punch and punch and punch, Usmanee missed a lot but also landed and Mendez only landed clean intermittently. It should not be a surprise that the judges had it a draw, as I have said Usmanee won points for ring generalship on most of the rounds. Mendez fought a poor fight although I did have it 115-113 Mendez, a draw however was a perfectly respectable interpretation of the fight. If I had given Usmanee the 10th or 11th, rounds which were very close, then I would not have scored it for Mendez.
I disagree I think Mendez was smart not running around because fighters like Usmanee need you to run to be affective. The way I see it Mendez beat him at his own game. Mendez stayed in the pocket, rolled with his punches and landed clean counters all night.
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