25.4.09

Taylor vs. Froch: Round by Round

Showtime had to kill some serious time since the first fight was over early in the second round.  They showed some interviews with both fighters.  Taylor comes out to the ring first.  He comes out to some slow country song, interesting.  Froch follows to the tune of We Will Rock You by Queen.  It's definitely a pro Taylor crowd.  Froch's family is in attendance.  

Froch is 31 years old and Taylor is 30.  Froch has a half an inch reach advantage which won't mean much.  Talyor is 28-2 with 17 KOs and Froch is 24-0 with 19 KOs.

The intros are finished, here we go.

Round 1
They meet in the center.  Froch throws the first jab.  Taylor lands a jab and dodges a counter.  Taylor lands a great right hand.  Froch looks more cautious now.  Taylor looks to land the right hand.  Froch throws another jab.  Taylor counters with a jab.  Taylor is really looking good in there.  Froch has stopped throwing the jab.  Froch already has redness on his nose.  Taylor gets in and throws a jab and a right.  Taylor counters again.  His hand speed looks better than ever.  Now Froch lands a good right hand.  He lands a left hook.  Both look patient now.  Taylor counters with a short left hook.  Good round for Taylor.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round 2
Froch throws the first jab of round 2.  Taylor doubles up his own.  There is already some redness under the left eye of Froch.  Not much happens in the first minute.  Froch lunges with his jab.  Taylor goes back to countering.  He counters with a left uppercut.  He counters again with a right and Froch counters that with a straight right.  Taylor lands a hard jab.  Taylor barely misses with a haymaker.  Froch lands a left uppercut.  Froch is keeping his hands low.  Taylor whiffs an overhand right.  Both fighters are skillful counter punchers.  

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round 3
Froch comes out swinging.  Taylor gets him with an uppercut.  They tie up.  Froch backs Taylor up with a combo.  Both fighters remain hesitant.  Now Froch gets busy with a hard combo and Taylor covers up.  Froch is keeping his hands almost completely at his side.  Taylor gets in a huge counter with a right hand.  Froch smiles.  Taylor catches Froch with another big right hand and Froch is sent spinning into the ropes.  Taylor gets him again and Froch goes down!  Froch is in trouble.  He makes it up but he looks wobbly.  Taylor doesn't go in for the kill and Froch makes it out of the round.

Spartan117: 10-8 Taylor
Uatu: 10-8 Taylor

Round 4
Taylor looks too hesitant for someone who just had his opponent in serious trouble.  Froch comes out back and throws a big combo to the head and body.  Taylor ties up.  Taylor loads up a right hand but misses.  Taylor counters with a left straight that knocks Froch's head back.  Taylor is landing some great counter punches.  Froch has his legs back under him.  Taylor is using some good defense too.  Neither fighter is doing a whole lot.  Taylor loads up the right hand but changes his mind.  

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round 5
Froch counters with a double jab.  Taylor lands a better jab with some power behind it.  Froch comes forward and Taylor lands a right hook to the body and a left upstairs.  He blocks a hook from Froch.  Both fighters throw their jabs.  Neither let their hands go, still very cautious.  They tie up and throw some body shots on the inside.  They break up and Taylor goes to the body.  Froch starts punching now and lands a left to the head.  They fight before the bell.  Taylor gets a left a few seconds after the bell.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Taylor

Round 6
Froch lands a jab.  No action in the first 30 seconds.  Froch comes forward and Taylor makes him eat a jab.  His counters are incredible.  Froch has been eating them all night.  Now Froch lands a great right hand that backs up Taylor.  There is some swelling under the left eye of Taylor.  Froch throws another combo and Taylor covers up.  This is a better round for Froch so far.  Taylor throws another counter that lands.  Taylor hits Froch with another jab.  Now Taylor comes forward and lands some great punches to the head of Froch.  Tough round to score but I give it to Froch.

Spartan117: 10-9 Froch
Uatu: 10-9 Froch

Round 7
Froch throws the first punch, a left-right combo.  Taylor throws a left hand followed by a right.  Froch throws another great combo but Taylor blocks it.  Froch lands another jab.  There are a lot of jabs being thrown by both fighters.  Taylor's jabs are landing perfectly.  Froch comes forward and Taylor knocks him off balance with, you guessed it, a jab.  They trade jabs again.  Froch throws a flurry that Taylor blocks.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Froch

Round 8
Froch lands the jab.  Taylor throws his own.  Froch backs up Tyalor with a combo upstairs.  Froch hasn't been throwing anything to the body.  Froch is starting to use the right hand against Taylor.  This is Froch's best round so far.  Froch lands a left counter that knocks Taylor off balance.  Taylor slows the the punches.  Froch continues to back up Taylor.  Taylor is doing virtually nothing.  I'm not sure what happened to him but he's doing significantly less in this round.  He doesn't look tired.  Now he finally wakes up and throws a crazy combo that looked like it hurt Froch.  Froch wasn't expecting it and Taylor throws another combo.  It wasn't enough to win the round but it looked great.

Spartan117: 10-9 Froch
Uatu: 10-9 Froch

Round 9
Froch throws a looping left hook.  He backs Taylor up with a flurry.  Taylor gets in with a combo.  The fight has slowed.  Taylor blocks a right uppercut.  Now Froch lands a hook to the body.  Froch leans in with his right hand and Taylor shakes his head.  Taylor lands a left hook.  Froch comes forward and Taylor ties up.  Froch lands a right uppercut on the inside.  Taylor gets caught up in the corner and Froch grazes him with a left hook.  

Spartan117: 10-9 Froch
Uatu: 10-9 Froch 

Round 10
These are important last rounds.  Froch comes forward and makes Taylor eat wide hooks.  Now Froch gets more busy than he's been in any round.  He throws a 7 or 8 punch combo.  Taylor's defense is still impressive, but he's not throwing anything.  Froch gets another right hand in.  Taylor is not doing anything.  He must be tired.  Froch tries to block with the shoulder roll but Taylor gets in a double jab.  Taylor leads with a right hand and knocks Froch off balance.  Taylor turns it on in the last minute, but it's not enough to win the round for me.  

Spartan117: 10-9 Froch
Uatu: 10-9 Froch

Round 11
Froch comes in with a big right hand and Taylor covers and backs up.  Froch starts taunting and winds up the right hand.  Taylor has stopped countering completely.  Froch lands a great, looping right hand.  Taylor throws and misses an uppercut.  Taylor lands a jab.  Blood starts coming from the nose of Taylor.  Now they trade huge bombs.  Each fighter landed massive shots.  I thought one of them would fall but they continue to throw.  Taylor lands a magnificent left hand that sends Froch off balance.  They finally start letting their hands go and this round has been pure entertainment.  They throw wild, wide punches.  It's tough to say who won the round and who landed the better punches.

Spartan117: 10-9 Taylor
Uatu: 10-9 Froch

Round 12
They both come out not throwing much.  Taylor goes back to countering.  Taylor counters with a great right hand.  Tyalor follows up with a combo and Froch counters him.  Froch throws a left-right combo to the head.  Froch staggers Taylor with a huge right hand bomb.  It looked like Taylor was going to go down.  Froch smells blood and tries to end the show!  Taylor is in serious trouble.  Taylor tries to throw back but he's not doing anything of value.  Froch continues to punish Taylor.  Froch rocks Taylor again with huge combos and Taylor is pretty much out on his feet.  The ref looks like he may stop it.  He does! It's over!  

The winner, and still WBC supper middleweight champion, by KO 2:46 seconds into the 12th round Carl 'The Cobra" Froch

Froch says that he could sense that Taylor was tired.  He calls him world class and a tough fighter,  but he applied the pressure and knew he could finish the show.  They analyze Taylor's knockdown. Froch says it was a great shot that he didn't see coming.  Now they show his own knockdown.  He says it was a great decision by the ref in the stoppage.  

Taylor says that he should've finished the fight but he wanted to be patient and thought he would catch him again in the later rounds.  He is asked if the ref made the right decision in the stoppage.  Taylor says that he's the referee and he needs to make that decision and adds "if I couldn't defend myself then he made the right decision."  

Froch calls Callzaghe "out of his armchair" and invites him to give Britain a great fight.  He thinks he can get him out of retirement.

The scorecard shows that if Taylor would have stayed on his feet to finish the fight he would have won a split decision.  

4 comments:

spartan117 said...

Congrats to Froch. He showed that he's a good fighter with a good chin but also showed some technical flaws.

I doubt we'll see Taylor in another title fight. He has, as he always has had, some stamina issues and he proved tonight that he is one of the worst finishers in the sport. He would've had a chance at a TKO victory if he would've thrown anything after he scored a knock down.

uatu said...

I think he was wise not to pursue the knockout after the early knockdown, especially because of his stamina issues. that's how he lost to pavlik the first time

spartan117 said...

The key would be to throw meaningful punches. He didn't throw anything.

uatu said...

I am not sure that Froch was as hurt as you think he was.