TONIGHT! Taylor v. Ouma, Berto v. Figueroa

by Scott Christ on Dec 9, 2006 7:36 PM EST in Live Boxing Coverage (Round-By-Round)

We will be LIVE starting at 10pm eastern for tonight's World Championship Boxing card from HBO: Jermain Taylor v. Kassim Ouma in the main event, and undefeated Andre Berto against Miguel Figueroa for the televised opener.

We will be scoring and covering the fight round-by-round, and we hope you'll join us for our sixth straight Saturday of fight coverage here at Bad Left Hook.

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Berto is beating his ass...

Just a small observation after the 5th.

AIM: Brentbrookhouse get ahold of me any time you want to talk boxing

by Brent Brookhouse @ Bad Left Hook on Dec 9, 2006 10:33 PM EST reply actions

Berto by ref. stoppage in the 6th.

Figeroa's corner should have stopped the fight before the ref had to make the decision.

The kid is for real. I'm talking star level talent. Maybe I'm a little caught up in the moment, but I'd buy stock in him.

AIM: Brentbrookhouse get ahold of me any time you want to talk boxing

by Brent Brookhouse @ Bad Left Hook on Dec 9, 2006 10:36 PM EST reply actions

Numbers don't lie

Berto: Landed - 193 Thrown - 510 Connect % - 38%

Figeroa: Landed - 51 Thrown -272 Connect % - 19%

AIM: Brentbrookhouse get ahold of me any time you want to talk boxing

by Brent Brookhouse @ Bad Left Hook on Dec 9, 2006 10:38 PM EST reply actions

I'll give an official prediction of...

Taylor TKO Rd. 5

He needs a statement KO and I see this ending after a knockdown, followed by a pummelling that the ref has to step in to stop.

AIM: Brentbrookhouse get ahold of me any time you want to talk boxing

by Brent Brookhouse @ Bad Left Hook on Dec 9, 2006 10:41 PM EST reply actions

Open Scoring

The open scoring experiment hasn't been talked about a lot but it is good to hear HBO touch on the fact that it is a bad thing. Judges are going to alter their scores to try to make sure things seem in line with the others.

If you're not aware of what open scoring is, the scores will be given to Michael Buffer at the end of the fourth and eighth round and read aloud. Aside from the possibility of increased controversy rather than lessened, I think it takes a little away from the excitement of the score reading at the end of the fight.

For example, a close fight that for some reason has been scored 6 rounds to 2 after the eighth you know that it has almost already over barring a KO...even though it is a good fight you're losing that mystique and in the process may lose ratings.

Just my thoughts though.

AIM: Brentbrookhouse get ahold of me any time you want to talk boxing

by Brent Brookhouse @ Bad Left Hook on Dec 9, 2006 10:50 PM EST reply actions

well thank god

First fight went about as was described by Brent. Time for the main event.

by Scott Christ on Dec 9, 2006 10:53 PM EST reply actions

Rd 1

Taylor is "ugly effective" its not perfect punching...he goes wide and wild, but he lands. Some guys can show their hand and still win, he is one of those guys. Taylor landed good for the first half of the round.

Ouma looked okay in the last minute, seemed a little bit better.

10-9 Taylor.

AIM: Brentbrookhouse get ahold of me any time you want to talk boxing

by Brent Brookhouse @ Bad Left Hook on Dec 9, 2006 11:00 PM EST reply actions

Rd 2

Ouma is smothering him and it is helping him to take less damage and fight his fight. When Taylor does land it moves Ouma, he is much bigger and stronger.

Taylor flurried in the last 10 seconds to try and secure the round. I like hard punches over just smothering the other fighter so I'm going to go ahead and go with Taylor in rd. 2.

Round: 10-9
Total: 20-18 Taylor

AIM: Brentbrookhouse get ahold of me any time you want to talk boxing

by Brent Brookhouse @ Bad Left Hook on Dec 9, 2006 11:03 PM EST reply actions

Rd 3

Taylor continues to go backward and fire power shots, they're landing alright but Lennox Lewis is right when he says that jabs would set up everything. I remember all the talk about his jab when he was coming up so it is odd to see it go out of his game.

I still think Taylor won the round, but it to me is more that Ouma is coming forward but not being effective than that Taylor is really having his way with Kassim.

Round: 10-9 Taylor
Total: 30-27 Taylor

AIM: Brentbrookhouse get ahold of me any time you want to talk boxing

by Brent Brookhouse @ Bad Left Hook on Dec 9, 2006 11:08 PM EST reply actions

Rds 1-3 from me

ROUND 1

Very live crowd. This is awesome. I love this shit.

This is ognna be interesting with the height differential.

Taylor is swinging. Ouma is Ouma, he's not going to back off one bit. Ouma wobbles on an uppercut, but comes right back. Taylor with a hard straight right and he is just throwing the leather around. Taylor is letting it fly. Ouma cannot open up his game so far. Left goes through the gloves of Ouma. Jab, hard right. Ouma is fuckin' fearless. Body shot from Taylor.

Nice, exciting first round.

Taylor 10-9

Great, the servers are shit up again.

ROUND 2

Taylor appears to be too strong for Ouma, and Ouma not strong enough for Taylor, but Ouma is fighting like he always does, just with less punching than normal. This was a much tougher round to decide on from my vantage point.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 20-18

ROUND 3

Left hook from Taylor, Ouma keeps coming at him. He's just not getting his hands off the way he usually does. Taylor lands a vicious 1-2 at the end of the round.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 30-27

by Scott Christ on Dec 9, 2006 11:08 PM EST reply actions

Round 4

Nasty right from Taylor at about 1:20, and Ouma may be hurt. Another wicked shot from Taylor. Ouma may need to change his plan. He's just getting caught too much.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 40-36

Here comes the lame open scoring.

by Scott Christ on Dec 9, 2006 11:11 PM EST reply actions

Round 5

More good trading, Ouma looks the best he's looked all night, landing some great shots. Taylor's cut above the left eye, ruled as an accidental headbutt. Taylor still won this round, but Ouma was in control like he was against Powell earlier this year.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 50-45

by Scott Christ on Dec 9, 2006 11:16 PM EST reply actions

Round 6

This has been an entertaining fight, most rounds rather similar, and Taylor is just plain winning. Ouma is fighting his heart out, but it's not happening for him through the first half of the fight.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 60-54

by Scott Christ on Dec 9, 2006 11:18 PM EST reply actions

Round 7

Ouma is really impressive just in how hard he's still working. He almost certainly cannot knock Taylor out, but goddamned if he's not fighting like he always does, and he doesn't have great KO power to begin with. He's also just absorbing some tremendous shots.

Wicked combo from Taylor. Ouma finally seems like he might be gassing out. Taylor backs up, but then he comes in. Ouma just drives at him and can't get anything to stick.

For a fight that I've got as a clean sweep, this is a pretty damn good show.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 70-63

by Scott Christ on Dec 9, 2006 11:24 PM EST reply actions

Round 8

More of the same. Taylor is in complete control despite Ouma being the one moving forward, and given the fact that he still clearly has more work to do on his all-around game.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 80-72

by Scott Christ on Dec 9, 2006 11:26 PM EST reply actions

Round 9

It's official and known: Ouma has to knock Taylor out. We'll see if Taylor goes into a shell knowing he doesn't have to do anything to win this fight, but I'd doubt it. It's not Taylor's style. Ouma has won two rounds on one card, which is nice to know. I'd now like to find out which they were.

Considering I don't think Ouma can score the KO, this fight's intrigue has been all but killed for me. I know Ouma can't win.

I hate this damned open scoring.

Another round for Taylor.

Taylor 10-9
Taylor 90-81

by Scott Christ on Dec 9, 2006 11:30 PM EST reply actions