I love the drive back to my Los Angeles home from Las Vegas
after a big fight like the one we all just experienced this
weekend. It gives me a chance to put my thoughts together as I
prepare to put down in words the events I witnessed over the
weekend. As I tried to fully grasp exactly what happened on
Saturday night during the fight for the Undisputed Middleweight
Championship between Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor I swayed
back and forth on my “expert” analysis. Truth be told, I found
myself a bit wishy- washy and had trouble nailing this one down,
and that’s when it hit me! I don’t think anyone has nailed this
one down yet, everyone in the media has a different opinion and
I have yet to hear anyone agree as to what exactly went down.
The fighters and their teams don’t really know, Jermain seems a
bit unclear about his victory and Bernard is still certain he is
the Champ! That’s all well and good, I guess? But I will tell
you what is not well and good, and that’s the fact that the
judges for this fight don’t really know what happened either,
and it was in their “expert” hands that the fighters trusted
those four belts with! I should have known there was going to be
a problem when I looked up at the big screen while they were
announcing the judges and saw what I thought was HBO was running
a promo for “Tales From The Crypt”!
Now let me say that I have the utmost respect for Mr. Ratner and
The Nevada State Athletic Commission, but I think it’s time we
get some new blood in those judges’ seats. These officials have
done a fine job in their time, but it’s time to remove them from
their chairs, you know, kind of like when you had to hide the
keys from Grandpa because you just couldn’t trust him behind the
wheel anymore. I hate to say it, but some of these judges can’t
be trusted anymore as well! Take one look at the scorecard and
it is obvious that something is wrong. Now, I am not going to
start picking individual instances because I don’t want to be
accused of being a honk for one fighter or the other. But we
posted the scorecard on our site, go take a look, the
differences in those three cards are mind-boggling!
Just so you don’t think I am avoiding the issue, at the end of
the fight I thought that maybe, just maybe, Bernard had done
enough in the end to pull out the fight and he was going to be
handed the decision. When they announced Jermain as “The New”
Champ, I was totally okay with that decision, surprised but not
upset is how I would describe my thoughts. In my mind, Hopkins
did give away a good bit of those early rounds and he might have
stole or outright won a few in the middle, and there can be no
doubt in anyone’s mind that the last 4 rounds were all Hopkins!
As for Jermain, he fought a helluva fight;
he probably learned more in these 12 rounds than has learned
throughout his entire career. He never gave in to Hopkins mind
games and his heart of a warrior should be recognized and never
forgotten.
Taylor came out strong and while Bernard was busy trying to set
his trap, Taylor took it straight to the Champion as he racked
up a clear early lead. Most will agree that although Bernard
came on strong at the end, he may have waited to long to start
his charge and in doing so he didn’t leave himself enough time
to overcome Taylor’s early dominance. In fact that is exactly
how it played out, and when the cards were read, Jermain came
out on top in a close split decision. The crowd seemed in full
agreement with the decision as the scores were read and if there
were any boo’s, they were drowned out by the cheers for the
newly crowned Champion.
The fighters left this one in the hands of the judges and for
all the disparity in the scorecards; no one can say that Taylor
didn’t earn his victory. It goes without saying that this one
calls for a rematch and the wheels are already in motion to put
these two back into the ring this fall. Hopefully the judges for
the second affair will be chosen wisely in case the outcome
falls into their hands again, or maybe the next time the
fighters won’t let this one go to the scorecards. Either way,
it’s already the most highly anticipated fight on the horizon,
and wherever it is held, you can be sure the seats will be
filled!
The undercard saw Super Bantamweight Champ
Oscar Larios go at it one more time with the tough as nails
Wayne McCullough, and although no one will ever question the
grit of the fighter from Ireland, you do have to agree that his
corner did the right thing by stopping this one after ten brutal
rounds where Larios was landing punches at will. There was no
reason to let this one go on as Larios proved to be too much for
his three time archenemy. The future looks bright for Larios as
he solidifies his place amongst the best in the Super Bantams.
For Wayne who gave it his best shot, it may be time to call it a
career.
Junior Bantam Champ Fernando had all he
could handle with late fill-in Everth Briceno who was a lot more
than anyone expected, in fact I think he did better than the
suspended Eric Morel would have done. The unanimous decision
seemed to by a wider margin than what I saw in the ring, but
there is no question that Montiel came out on top. In his losing
effort Briceno caught the eye of many in attendance and it
should come as no surprise if we see him again in the near
future.
After a two year layoff, it was nice to see
Vernon Forrest make his return to the ring in the Jr. Middle
division, and he looked sharp as he made quick work of Sergio
Rios by stopping him at 2:43 of round two.
In the off PPV bouts Abner Mares, Vicente
Escobedo and Jonathon Oquendo made quick work of the sacrificial
lambs they were fed, stopping them in the third, first and
second rounds respectively. All three fighters remain
undefeated.
Questions or Comments? Please Contact
Will "The Thrill" Trillo
