Body Blow - Fegatilli Upsets Foster Jnr

Steve Foster Jnr vs Ermano Fegatilli - European Super Featherweight title

Britain suffered its first real boxing defeat of the year last night when Belgian Ermano Fegatilli dethroned Salfords Steve Foster Jnr at the Reebok premier suite in Bolton. The Challenger Ermano became only the 2nd fighter in Belgian history to win the European title.

Immediatley after the fight the Foster camp blamed the defeat on a virus which sapped Steve Jnr energy???. Maybe there is a bit of truth in this because from round 6 onwards Foster severely tired and the light hitting Fegatilli was able to floor the champion 5 times. The fight started quite even both fighters probably winning 2 of the first 4 rounds. Fegatilli did look a little faster although Foster Jnr seemed to be landing the harder shots especially to the body.

The 5th was Fosters Jnrs biggest round and he dominated the Belgian and then looked like taking over the fight but when the 6th started Foster jnr seemed to lack energy and was content to sit on the ropes whilst Fegatilli blasted away. Now as mentioned before Fegatilli isn't a big puncher (5 kos in 22) tell you that but he was beginning to repeatably hurt foster to the body. I had the fight even going into the 9th but then the fight began to go sour for the champion as Fegatilli dropped him with a vicious body shot. Foster took an 8 count and survived the round.

Body shots then floored Foster 3 times in the 10th. Foster was very lucky there wasn't a 3 knockdown rule as the fight would have been over but now he was way behind on the cards (i had it 96-90) and his corner were very close to throwing in the towel. The 11 th went the same way for Fegatilli as he floored Foster Jnr again , this time it did look that Maurice Hope in Fosters corner was going to end the fight but he gave his fighter the benefit of the doubt which when using the "virus" claim could have been dangerous for Foster.

Credit where credits due. Foster came out in the 12th clearly still hurt but he pushed himself forward throwing punches and won the round. Fegatilli seemed to play it safe as he knew with 5 knockdowns he had the fight in the bag. It was a great effort by the Belgian and a great bit of bravery by Foster Jnr to see the fight out.

The judges had this fight closer than many on TV and on the boxing forums sites etc. My full scorecard is below along with Eastsideboxing member (put em up). As always i have added the scores from all the boxing sites , TV etc

BOXINGSCORECARD                                                 PUT EM UP

Round 1.....10-9 Foster jnr..............................................10-9 Foster Jnr
Round 2.....10-9 Fegatilli.................................................10-9 Fegatilli
Round 3.....10-9 Fegatilli.................................................10-9 Fegatilli
Round 4.....10-9 Foster Jnr.............................................10-9 Fegatilli
Round 5.....10-9 Foster Jnr.............................................10-9 Foster Jnr
Round 6.....10-9 Foster jnr............................................. 10-9 Foster Jnr
Round 7.....10-9 Fegatilli.................................................10-9 Fegatilli
Round 8.....10-9 Fegatilli.................................................10-9 Fegatilli
Round 9.....10-8 Fegatilli.................................................10-8 Fegatilli
Round 10...10-6 Fegatilli.................................................10-6 Fegatilli
Round 11...10-8 Fegatilli.................................................10-8 Fegatilli
Round 12...10-9 Foster Jnr.............................................10-9 Foster Jnr

TOTAL.....115-108 FEGATILLI....................................116-107 FEGATILLI

Judges Scorecards : Franco Chiminale... 114-110 Fegatilli
                               Soren Saugmann ..  114-109 Fegatilli
                               Arnold Golger.........114-109 Fegatilli

ERMANO FEGATILLI WINS BY UNANIMOUS DECISION

TV, Boxing Forums , Websites and Written Press Scores

Glen McCrory (sky)..... 116-107 Fegatilli
Bob Mee (sky).....  115-108 Fegatilli
John Rawling (sky).... Fegatilli won clearly

Alexey Sukachev (boxingscene)...115-108 Fegatilli

Boxingscene forum...4-0 in favor of Fegatilli , 1 card of 117-108 was posted

Eastsideboxing forum ...9-0 in favor of Fegatilli , cards..116-107 , 115-108

Boxrec forum...9-0 in favor of Fegatilli , cards..116-107 , 116-110 , 116-108

Budweiser Forum...3-0 in favor of Fegatilli , cards..119-110 , 117-108 , 115-108

Boxing Asylum forum...1-0 in favor of Fegatilli , card...115-108

Saddo Boxing Forum...2-0 in favor of Fegatill although no cards were left

Sturm Stops Hearns And History

Felix Sturm vs Ronald Hearns - WBA Middleweight Title

In Germany on Saturday night Defending WBA Champion Felix Sturm stopped the son of the Legendary Tommy Hearns by 7th round knockout. Ronald Hearns was hoping to emlulate his father who won the middleweight title 24 years ago by battering Juan Roldan in 4 rounds. Although really a Light-middleweight Ronald Hearns was given a surprise chance against the German champion maybe on the back of his surname?.

As the fight started Hearns looked loose and let his shots go but most of them were jabs that were hitting the champions arms. Sturm has a style similar to Arthur Abraham where he walks forward with hands held high around his face picking shots. What was apparent even this early in the fight was that Sturm was very accurate with his punches as he constantly caught the challenger when Hearns stopped his jab.

Round 2 again followed the same pattern with Hearns throwing more punches but not landing and Sturm picking his shots well. Hearns was constantly on the back foot and didn't have the power his father had to stop the champion getting close. The 3rd was harder to score , i had it 10-10 as Hearns began to land more with the jab but again was getting caught himself. It was the battle of the jabs withe very few right hands.

Sturm had a decent 4th as he continued to back the challenger up and catch him at will. To his credit though Hearns began the 5th much better and seemed to hurt the champion with a right to the body that made Sturm back up for the first minute and a half of the round. Sturm did come back late in the round  but it wasnt enough to even get a share.

The pace quickened in the 6th with the champion closing the distance much much quicker ,  right hands bounced of the challengers head and it only seemed a matter of time before Sturm got his victory as Hearns simply doesn't have enough pop on his punched to really make a dent.

 The end came in the 7th although a bit premature Hearns took a huge right to the head and seem to be a punch from going down before the ref (Raul Caiz jnr) jumped in and stopped the fight. It was far to early to stop the fight although there wasn't much of a complaint by Hearns or his camp. The champion moves on to bigger fights and NOW must move away from Germany for tougher fights as the quality of his challengers has not been great.One fight id love to see is Sturm vs Martinez but in all honesty i cant see it happening as Martinez will probably end the Germans Title reign probably by knockout.

FELIX STURM VS RONALD HEARNS

http://www.boxing-core.com/videos/_Felix_Sturm_vs_Ronald_Hearns_Part_1_of_2?vid=10002635

http://www.boxing-core.com/videos/_Felix_Sturm_vs_Ronald_Hearns_Part_2_of_2?vid=10002636

My scorecard is below along with the usual boxing fans scores from the forums and websites.

Round 1.....10-9 Sturm
Round 2.....10-9 Sturm
Round 3.....10-10 Draw
Round 4.....10-9 Sturm
Round 5.....10-9 Hearns
Round 6.....10-9 Sturm

TOTAL...59-56 Felix Sturm

FELIX STURM WINS BY 7TH ROUND KO

Boxing Fans And Websites Scores

Boxrec...7-0 in favor of Sturm with the only card being 60-55 Sturm

Eastsideboxing....8-0 in favor of Sturm with the only card being 59-55 Sturm

Boxingscene...9-2 in favor of Sturm with the only card being 60-54 Sturm

Fightfrancise (uppercutter)..had it 58-56 in favor of Hearns????

Experience Over Workrate - Theophane Lifts Title

Lenny Daws vs Ashley Theophane - British Light Welterweight Title

A Fight of Two Halves , that was the tale of the exciting British Light welterweight scrap that took place at Wembley Arena between Lenny Daws and Ashley Theophane. The fight as expected started at a brisk pace as the champion Daws used his non stop style to knock Theophane out of his game plan. Although sometimes scrappy there was no doubt that the champions work rate was what gave Daws an early lead. I had it 58-56 to Daws after 6 whereas Steve Bunce covering the fight for Premier Sports had the champion 5-1 up in rounds.

The second half of fight would become different though as Theophane began to time his punches alot better and his early body work began to slow Daws down. When the fight reached the 9th round it still looked like the champions workrate would see him through until a wicked combination of body punches and a big right had changed the fight around. Theophane was now in the ascendancy , Daws was badly hurt and soon after had to take a second count although to his credit he survived the round and ended up firing back at the American based Theophane.

With the fight just about even (i had it 85-85) after 9 rounds it looked as if all the experience gained by Theophane in the American gyms was showing as the challenger paced himself perfectly. I had him winning 2 of the last 3 rounds to cap a fine come from behind win. Both guys though deserve immense credit as it provided the fans with an excellent Mick Hennessy promoted main event.

Below as always is my scorecard along with all the boxing fans  , TV , written press and boxing websites scores.

For the 2nd week on boxingscorecard i have a guest this time from http://www.boxrec.com/ who has kindly supplied his scorecard for me. Thanks to (Alexpaterson) for doing this.

BOXINGSCORECARD                                          ALEXPATERSON

Round 1.....Daws 10-9..............................................Daws 10-9
Round 2.....Daws 10-9..............................................Daws 10-9
Round 3.....Theophane 10-9......................................Theophane 10-9
Round 4.....Daws 10-9..............................................Daws 10-9
Round 5.....Theophane 10-9......................................Daws 10-9
Round 6.....Daws 10-9..............................................Theophane 10-9
Round 7.....Draw 10-10............................................Theophane 10-9
Round 8.....Daws 10-9..............................................Theophane 10-9
Round 9.....Theophane 10-7......................................Theophane 10-7
Round 10...Theophane 10-9......................................Theophane 10-9
Round 11...Daws 10-9..............................................Theophane 10-9
Round 12...Theophane 10-9......................................Daws 10-9

TOTAL...114-113 THEOPHANE............................115-111 THEOPHANE

Judges Scorecards: John Keane...... 115-112 Theophane
                              Dave Parris........115-111 Theophane
                              Howard Foster..115-111 Theophane

ASHLEY THEOPHANE WINS BY UNANIMOUS DECISION

TV And Boxing Fans Scores

Steve Bunce (Premier Sports)... 114-112 Theophane

Boxrec Fans...5-1-1 in favor of Theo with cards 115-111 , 113-113 and Theo by 2 or 3

Eastsideboxing fans... 9-0 in favor of Theo ,  cards 116-110 , 115-113 , 115-111 , 117-109

Boxingscene fans...2-0 in favor of Theophane , 1 fan had Theo up by 1

Alex Sukachev (boxingscene)... 115-111 Theophane

Budweiser Boxing fans... 2-0 in favor of Theophane with both scoring 114-111

Hearns The History Maker

Virgil Hill vs Thomas Hearns - WBA Light Heavyweight Title

On a warm summers night in Las Vegas Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns won the last of his 6 world titles by upsetting defending champion Virgil Hill on a unanimous decision. After 5 rounds of the fight it looked like native of North Dakota would remain champion as on my card anyway was out jabbing the Legendary Hearns.

Now theres something you don't see , Hearns getting out-jabbed. Infact in watching my Thomas Hearns career set i don't think I've seen anyone beat the Hitman in terms of jabs but that what Virgil Hill did in the rounds he won. Hill always had a great jab which served him right through his career. Its a pity he had not much else especially a right hand. In this fight at the old Caesars Palace it was the right hand that won the fight for Hearns and the failure of Hills right that made the difference.

Everybody knows what the right hand is to Hearns and in the middle part of the fight he started to dominate by rocking the champion more than a few times. I had Hearns winning 6 ,7 ,8 and 9.which put him a few points up going down the stretch.

A young Freddy Roach was in a frenzy trying to tell Hill to let his punches go as he could see the title disappearing. Hill did rally on my card picking up 2 of the last 3 rounds but it was not enough.

Below is my scorecard along with some fight fans scores from different boxing forums. This fight was very hard to find scores on the net even checking the archive of boxrec , boxscene etc left not much to go on. Thanks goes out to the fans who scored this fight.

THOMAS HEARNS VS VIRGIL HILL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ82E7qZclk Round 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj6lljyi05g Round 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbfx6s-sLq4 Rounds 3 , 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVxLXBbnHiI Rounds 5 , 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zuv_cvT7D20 Rounds 7 , 8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPuhthkh92c Rounds 9 . 10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVvcctWgVvw Rounds 11 , 12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEZW0k5fQ3A Judges Scores

Round 1.....Hill 10-9
Round 2.....Even 10-10
Round 3.....Hearns 10-9
Round 4.....Hill 10-9
Round 5.....Hill 10-9
Round 6.....Hearns 10-9
Round 7.....Hearns 10-9
Round 8.....Hearns 10-9
Round 9.....Hearns 10-9
Round 10...Hill 10-9
Round 11...Hearns 10-9
Round 12...Hill 10-9

TOTAL.....115-114 Thomas Hearns

Judges scores: Chuck Giampa 116-112 Hearns
                       Jerry Roth        115-113 Hearns
                       Art Laurie        115-113 Hearns

THOMAS HEARNS WINS BY UNANIMOUS DECISION

TV And Boxing Fans Scores

Freddie Pacheo (showtime) 115-113 Hearns

Eastsideboxing fans : 6-0 in favor of Hearns and only card posted was 116-113 Hearns

Boxrec fans : 3-0 in favor of Hearns with scores of 116-111 Hearns twice

Boxingscene fans : 1-0 in favor of hearns although no card was left

Boxingasylum fans: 1-0 in favor of Hearns , fan had Hreans up by 2 points

Crolla Looks A Million Dollars

Anthony Crolla vs John Watson - Vacant British Lightweight Title

His nickname is "million dollar" and Anthony Crolla certainly looked a million dollars by moving up in weight at late notice to win the Vacant British Lightweight Title by dominating John Watson. Crolla delivered the knockout blow in the 9th round as Watson fell apart from a big right hand.

The fight was quite easy to score. I had it 78-74 or 6-2 in rounds to Crolla as he made a fast start winning the first 3 rounds. I thought Watson came back well in the 4th and 5th as he more than matched Crollas workrate. At that time i thought Watson was going to dominate as his body attacks seemed to slow Crolla down.

From rounds 6 through to the stoppage Crolla began to dominate again scoring the more cleaner blows. The 9th round was the biggest round of the fight as Crolla hurt Watson a few times before knocking Watson down with a big right hand to the temple. The ref waved the fight off straight away which was an excellent decision as for a few minutes there was a worry about Watson as he lay on the canvas. Thankfully the excellent ringside doctors and safety team were able to allow Watson back to his feet and walk back to his dressing room.

Going round the boxing forums everybody that posted had Crolla ahead although i only managed to obtain about 8-9 scorecards, It was an easy fight to score as Crolla basically dominated most of the fight.

Like always below is all the collated scores from the boxing forums , TV and boxing sites along with my scorecard.

New to the boxingscorecard is a friend from budweiser boxing (the budweiser) who has also scored this fight , his card is also below

BOXINGSCORECARD.................................THE BUDWEISER

Round 1.....Crolla 10-9......................................Crolla 10-9
Round 2.....Crolla 10-9......................................Crolla 10-9
Round 3.....Crolla 10-9......................................Crolla 10-9
Round 4.....Watson 10-9...................................Watson 10-9
Round 5.....Watson 10-9...................................Watson 10-9
Round 6.....Crolla 10-9......................................Crolla 10-9
Round 7.....Crolla 10-9......................................Crolla 10-9
Round 8.....Crolla 10-9......................................Crolla 10-9
Round 9.....Crolla wins by KO...........................Crolla ahead 78-74 at stoppage

TOTAL....78-74 Anthony Crolla

Judges Scorecards at the time of stoppage were...78-74 , 78-75 , 78-75 For Crolla

ANTHONY CROLLA WINS BY KO IN THE 9TH ROUND

Boxing Fans and TV Scores

SKY TV - Jim watt...78-74 Crolla , Richie Woodhall had Crolla 3-4 points up.

Boxrec - 2-0 in favor of Crolla , 78-74 and 78-75 were the scorecards.

Budweiser Boxing - 2-0 in favor of Crolla , 78-74 , 77-75 were the scorecards.

EastsideBoxing - 5-0 in favor of Crolla , scores ranging from 79-72 to 78-75.

* AS MENTIONED EVERY FAN ON EVERY FORUM HAD CROLLA WIINING ALTHOUGH MOST NEVER PRODUCED A SCORECARD.*

WAR - Booth Beats Arthur

Jason Booth vs Jamie Arthur - British ,  Commonwealth Super Bantam Titles

In the hardest fight of the year to judge so far Jason Booth rebounded from his world title defeat last year to win Jamie Arthur's Commonwealth Super Bantam title adding to Booths own British crown. This match was not covered as much as i expected on the fight forums for some reason but both guys must deserve huge credit as they took this fight at 3 weeks notice.

Frank Maloney can also be pleased as his 2 boxing shows in the early part of the year have thrown up very good main events (the other being McDonnell vs Jamoye). Boxing fans can also look forward to a rematch as Maloney told Sky Sports that he had no problem for a return but just after Jason Booth challenges for the vacant European Title.

When the fight started it looked like Booths world title shot had taken too much out of him as on my card and on most boxing sites cards Arthur took 3 of the first 4 rounds. The middle rounds were the hardest to score in the fight before Booths experience and work rate began to tell as he dominated the latter stages. Booths late pressure is obvious what swung it on the judges scorecards although i dont think the 117-112 score by Marcus McDonnell by fair to Jamie Arthur.

If Frank Maloney can update his website then i will be able to stick a link to the fight for those who missed it but as always my scorecard is below along with the boxing fans forums scores and Sky TV experts views.

Round 1.....Arthur 10-9
Round 2.....Arthur 10-9
Round 3.....Arthur 10-9
Round 4.....Booth 10-9
Round 5.....Arthur 10-9
Round 6.....Booth 10-9
Round 7.....Booth 10-9
Round 8.....Booth 10-9
Round 9.....Booth 10-9
Round 10...Booth 10-9
Round 11...Arthur 10-9
Round 12...Booth 10-9

TOTAL : 115-113 Jason Booth

Judges Scores : Ian John Lewis..........115-113 Booth
                        Richie Davies.............115-114 Arthur
                        Marcus McDonnell....117-112 Booth

JASON BOOTH WINS BY SPLIT DECISION

TV And Boxing Fans Scores

Sky TV - Jim Watt 116-113 Booth , Bob Mee and Richie Woodhall had Booth 3 up with 1 round left
               Glen McCrory though Booth had won

Boxrec - 4-2 in favor of Booth , only card posted was 116-115 Arthur most had Booth by 1-2 points

Livefight - 2-0 in favor of Booth , only card posted was 115-114 Booth

Budweiser Forum - 1-0 Booth but fans said a very close fight

Boxingscene - 2-0 Booth , only card posted was 116-112 Booth

Tiberi Tames Toney But Not The Judges

James Toney vs Dave Tiberi - IBF Middleweight Title

Browse around boxing forums and websites etc and you will find many threads dedicated to controversial decisions. The Toney vs Tiberi fight features quite alot on every forum as it was considered one of the worst of the 90s. Before watching and scoring this fight for the blog i had only read about this fight in the old 90s American boxing magazines. It wasn't until a member of the boxrec forums pointed this fight out that i actually watched it and then saw how Dave Tiberi was robbed but then retired.

The 3 main boxing websites i used for my research had hundreds of posts on this fight but didn't leave many scorecards although in total i got around 6-7. The overall thought was that Tiberi was robbed. Id say that about 80-85% of the fans thought that Tiberi won and won clearly. Fans who thought Toney won only saw him a winner by 1-2 points.

Thanks again to the member of boxrec (oliverfennell) who pointed me to this fight as it was a total war. Tiberi really went for it and should have got the title. Toney years later admitted that Tiberi had won as his swarming non stop punching style gave the champion so many problems.

I had Tiberi winning by 3 points but it should have been 4 as the ref in his first world title fight took a point off in the 6th for a low blow (8-4 in rounds). It was reported that Toney was weight drained for this fight but you cant take anything away from Tiberi who never took a backward step.

As mentioned Tiberi retired after this fight in a kind of protest. He was offered big money to come back but he kept his word and stayed out of the ring. An interesting story to come out of this fight was that 2 of the judges (William lerch and Frank Garza) who both scored for Toney were not Licenced in New Jersey?? so how this result stood is a mystery.

My scorecard is below but i only have fans forums views on this fight as i found it very hard to get any press , boxing mags etc to print a score in google search.

JAMES TONEY VS DAVE TIBERI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g_qAfepILA Toney - Tiberi.... part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqNSrAko7p0&feature=related Toney - Tiberi....part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEUO0jKbYIs&feature=related Toney - Tiberi....part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffwIl6NqdrE&feature=related Toney - Tiberi....part 4

Round 1.....Toney 10-9
Round 2.....Tiberi  10-9
Round 3.....Tiberi  10-9
Round 4.....Tiberi  10-9
Round 5.....Tiberi  10-9
Round 6.....Toney 10-8.......ref deducts point from Tiberi for low blow
Round 7.....Tiberi  10-9
Round 8.....Tiberi  10-9
Round 9.....Tiberi  10-9
Round 10...Toney 10-9
Round 11...Toney 10-9
Round 12...Tiberi 10-9

TOTAL....115-112 Dave Tiberi

Judges scores : Frank Burnette 117-111..... Tiberi
                      : William Lerch 115-112........Toney
                      : Frank Garza  115-111.........Toney

JAMES TONEY WINS BY SPLIT DECISION

Boxing forums and fans scores

Boxrec - lots of posts on this fight but only a few cards , 117-111 or 116-112 for Tiberi

Boxingscene - again lots of posts , 116-112 , 114-113 , 117-110 Tiberi , 114-114 by 2 posters

Eastsideboxing - plenty of posts saying Tiberi won , most favored 115-111 , 116-111 Tiberi

Alex Wallau - ABC - did the commentary on the fight and had Tiberi up by 3 going into the last round