FAO DiegoFuego...

[Guest]

... how did you score Hopkins vs. The Blow then? I missed out on a lot of the discussion.

Found it hard to score - if I'm :wank: over a fight I don't pay exact attention to scoring - but wouldn't have argued whoever got it.

[DiegoFuego]

When I initially watched the fight live, I thought Calzaghe won a close but clear decision about 7-8 rounds to 4-5 rounds from the looks of it. I did not score it at the time and was drinking heavily.

I scored it a few days later and had it 114-113 Calzaghe, so 7 rounds to 5. I really don't want to watch it again so that's my final answer until 2012.

I think Compubox was as off that night as it was for the Mayweather-Castillo fight. Either that or Compubox is counting shots to the shoulders as landed punches. I didn't think a shoulder shot was a scoring blow. Maybe effective in the long run but not a scoring blow.

[Guest]

The first time I scored it to B-Hop tbh, just on effective punching. It's okay firing off 50 lovetaps a round but if there's nothing on them then I can't get that impressed. Also, I thought the decision would go against Joe on US soil in close rounds. (Should have thought it through more... the good looking HBO fighter on the verge of big money fights with a high octane style against the ugly guy with the spoiling style who said he's retiring anyway).

It was a ****ty fight, agreed. In general, do you like to watch a bit of Calslappy time though?

[DiegoFuego]

Calzaghe and Hopkins are really hard to watch so throwing them together guaranteed a run to the liquor store before the fight. I had some (admittedly pro-white friends) all excited about it wanting to see Hopkins get "whooped by a white boy," though I guaranteed an ugly, ugly fight. I said in the weeks leading up to the fight that the only good thing about the fight was that SOMEBODY had to lose. I prayed every night against a draw and it almost happened.

The only Calzaghe fight I enjoyed was the Kessler fight. I haven't seen a watchable Hopkins fight since he crushed Tito in 2001.

[Guest]

You didn't enjoy the Lacy or Mitchell fights?

And yeah, a bad pick for a casual boxing crowd.

[DiegoFuego]

No way did I enjoy the Lacy fight. Not only did I expect a hell of a lot more from Lacy, but I just don't like one-sided beatdowns. I didn't enjoy Mayweather-Gatti all that much and this came just about 8 months after. When you think about it, those were two of the biggest beatdowns in the history of the sport given the magnitude of the fight. Plus they were prolonged beatings, drubbings really unlike other famous ones, say Tyson KOing Spinks in 1 round.

[Guest]

I must admit, there came a time - after about round 7/8 - when I got sick of it. In all reality, that should have been a TKO after the ref stopped it or the corner pulled him out. Why it didn't happen I'll never know. But initially I enjoyed the skill.

I've seen a couple recently that I haven't enjoyed for the same reasons, can't recall off the top of my head. I think one might have been some green teefs in a domestic where one was outclassed, the other was probably Moby vs. Lockett. Lockett's no Danny Williams, is he?

[DiegoFuego]

I felt very sorry for Lockett and was almost hoping he would get hit hard enough to go down and stay there without having to take knees. I think Pavlik felt sorry too. There was one knockdown, I think the last one, where Lockett was wobbled. Pavlik could have ripped his head off with an uppercut, but he visibly lowers his hands and lets Lockett take a knee. Check it out. He could have Zertuche'd him. Pavlik has a heart.

[Guest]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Moby and he clearly knew the guy was outclassed.

That said, part of me cringed every time he took a knee... it wasn't like when Danny Williams broke down Vitali's body and TKO'd him for three years.

But yeah, a total mismatch. What pissed me off was I had a cheeky fiver on Lockett because he was 11-1 against and I thought a gamble's a gamble... this in the same weekend when Mora beat Forrest and Ponce De Leon got KO'd in a round. I picked the wrong unlikely underdog that week for a gamble.