Jim Lampley talks a bit about the big fight before introducing the first televised fight, a welterweight contest between Alfonso Gomez and Jesus Soto-Karass. Gomez is 20-4-2, while Soto-Karass sports a record of 24-3-3. As you may expect, Michael Buffer is on hand to do the introductions.
These guys get right down to business, though both men are warned early for low punches. The first round is fairly even, but Gomez lands a few harder punches that probably give him the edge. Leaderman has Foreman up by 3 points.
Soto-Karass is having success with his jab but not getting a ton of follow-up shots to land with it. Gomez gets cut near his right eye about halfway through Round 3 that looks pretty bad. Jesus gets docked a point for a low blow.
The cut was ruled to have been caused by a headbutt. Harold Lederman has Gomez winning all three rounds, and Soto-Karass gets another point deducted in Round 4. Gomez is still fighting hard but the blood seems to be bothering him a lot.
It's possible Gomez could be up by six points after four rounds because of the deductions. Soto-Karass starts to step on it a bit with combination punching in Round 5.
Between rounds, we see Cotto enter the arena. Jim Lampley remarks that Cotto's team is always quiet when they first arrive, and he's actually sitting in the crowd watching the undercard fights.
The cut remains the big issue in this fight, and Lampley and Emanuel Steward discuss whether or not the fight should be stopped. The ref calls a halt to things with less than a minute left in Round 6, and we'll go to the scorecards.
The scores come back 58-54, 57-55 and 57-55, and Gomez wins a unanimous decision.
The second fight of the undercard is between Daniel Santos and Yuri Foreman.
It's off to a relatively slow start. Both fighters are feeling each other out in round 1. There's a lot of Yuri Foreman butt-kissing from the commentators. Foreman got caught with a huge counter in round two that buckled the legs of Foreman. Foreman was in trouble and clinched to stay up, then landed a huge left hook that dropped Santos. Santos complained that it was a punch to the back of the head. It looked clean to me.
Foreman is fighting a smart fight but he's not taking many risks. He's very hesitant to throw his power right hand. Foreman landed a huge right hand and Santos was in big trouble with about 20 seconds left in the 4th round. Santos clinched to make it out. Foreman is in total control of this fight. He's landing more right hands now and taking more risks.
A cut opened in the middle of round six over the eye of Foreman. It was caused by an accidental headbutt. It doesn't look that serious.
The cut continues to get worse. Ref, Jay Nady, had the doctor look at it. The doc says it's OK to continue. Leaderman still has Foreman up by 4 points going into the 8th.
They cut in the action to show the Cotto corner in Manny's dressing room to observe the hand wrapping. On an interesting note, Manny wraps his own hands, which is very strange.
Foreman continue to fight a good fight. Santos is getting gassed down the stretch and Foreman is landing fast accurate punches. The HBO cast has their pom pom's out in full force. They are talking about all things Yuri Foreman and how great he is.
They are both swinging for the fences in the 12th. Santos is going for the KO. No Foreman starts to get on his bike. Foreman lands a quick left hand and drops Santos again with a minute left. Santos makes it up and waves in Foreman to come forward at the end of the round.
Foreman should win by unanimous decision. The judges score the bout 116-110, 117-109, and 117-109 all for the winner by unanimous decision Yuri Foreman.
The last undercard is in the middleweight division and is between Troy Rowland who is 25-2 with 7 KOs and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. who is 40-0-1 with 30 KOs. Chavez looks a lot like his father.
No feeling out round here. They are swinging away from the beginning of round 1. Both fighters are landing some good shots. Chavez is looking to land a big left hook. Rowland looks like he was put in there just to be a target for Chavez but he is giving Chavez a run for his money.
On an unrelated note, Will Ferrell is ringside to see the fight. As is Mark Wahlberg, Toby Maguire, Magic Johnson, and Derek Jeter.
Not much going on in the fight. Neither fighter is landing much of value. The crowd is getting a little bored and restless in anticipation for the main event. Chavez is landing some good body shots now. They crowd is quite hushed during the last round. Now they start to boo. This has been one stinker of an undercard for one of the years biggest pay-per-views.
The judges score the bout 99-101, 98-92, and 97-93 all for the winner by unanimous decision Julio Cezar Chavez Jr.
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7 comments:
call me crazy. this first fight might not be horrible
Well sadly we'll never know because of that cut and the blatant low shots from Soto-Karass. It had potential.
I believe that HBO has gotten worse with their cheerleading as of late. Maybe because they are under pressure from the media and fans and showtime and mma.
how many rounds is the jr fight scheduled for?
10 Rounds
i guess we aren't getting the old arum guarantee of main event fighters in the ring by 11:30 tonight
that's an A-list crowd.
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