Sykes vs Johanneson

by Chaos100 on Mar 5, 2011 5:01 PM EST

Just watched a really entertaining back-and-forth between Gary Sykes and Carl Johanneson, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good both guys looked in there. Johanneson has been one of my favourite domestic fighters for a few years now, and it was good to see him give a really good account of himself in this fight.

Sykes was coming off the loss to Gary Buckland in Prizefighter, and Johanneson was sure he'd get to him and knock him out. In the ninth round he very nearly did, as a big right hand found serious purchase, and Sykes hit the deck. The rest of the ninth was reminiscent of round ten of Khan/Maidana, and Sykes ran, held, and toward the end of the round even started to take control again as it became evident that Johanneson had punched himself out.

After that scary couple of minutes, Sykes went after Johanneson, using speed and movement to open Johanneson up and make him vulnerable, but there never seemed to be too much danger of Sykes ending Johanneson's resistance early.

Scorecards came back unanimous for Sykes, but a couple of them were disappointingly wide, one having Sykes a winner by 9 rounds. For posterity, my own card was as follows:

Round 1: 10-9 Johanneson

Round 2: 10-9 Sykes

Round 3: 10-9 Sykes

Round 4: 10-9 Johanneson

Round 5: 10-9 Johanneson

Round 6: 10-9 Sykes

Round 7: 10-9 Johanneson

Round 8: 10-9 Sykes

Round 9: 10-8 Johanneson

Round 10: 10-9 Sykes

Round 11: 10-9 Sykes

Round 12: 10-9 Sykes

Ending with a final score of 114-113 for Gary Sykes.

That being said, the cards, while being wide, were at least favouring the right man (and I write as someone who had a small bet on Carl Johanneson).

Baffling moment of the fight: Carl Johanneson's corner effectively telling him not to go after Sykes in the final stanza. On my card he needed that round for a narrow win, and I think the Sky guys had it likewise. Sykes' corner told him that Sky had it level, and told him to go out and win the final round via volume and an ear-muff defense, while Johanneson's had either given up the ghost thinking the fight was only winnable by stoppage (unlikely, as they were telling Carl to counter rather than press) or they thought he was so far ahead that he only had to stay on his feet through the three minutes. It was kind of weird, and since I thought it was level at that point, I was less than impressed (to put it mildly) when I heard his corner advising him to go backwards.

For those who did not see it, I'd seriously recommend watching a re-run, as this was a really entertaining fight, with swings in momentum, both guys giving really good accounts, and even Glenn McCrory was decent in the box. Full credit to Gary Sykes, he was value for his win, and I for one (and I might be the only one, the way Richie Woodhall was talking) certainly do not write off Carl Johanneson at this point. He gave Sykes a hell of a fight, a hell of a scare, and is not done yet by my reckoning.

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Good, good fight.

Just watching it now, a bit late, but a great scrap. Fuck knows what Johanson’s corner were on though, “don’t go running after him”.. Perhaps they felt Sykes would rush onto another big shot?? Give Sykes his dues, he didn’t wilt after being decked. Quite the opposite in fact.

by Phill on Mar 5, 2011 6:07 PM EST reply actions

I had it the same, 114-113 Sykes

I think I had a couple of the earlier rounds different, but it was level for me through 6 and 8 rounds.

I thought it was going to be a split decision, as I figured I might have been a bit generous to Sykes with at least a couple of the close rounds.

It was a little curious to say the least, Johanesson’s corner’sadvice for the last round. Maybe they thought he was clearly winning and just had to survice, but he didn’t look like a guy who thought he had it won after the bell. I think he was basically just running on fumes a minute after the knockdown in the 9th, when the momentum swung back to Sykes and in the next couple of rounds especially he did not have a lot there. I thought Sykes might have knocked him out actually in 10/11, so maybe they were aware of that and were kind of advising him how to make it to the end.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)

by BrianBrock on Mar 5, 2011 6:39 PM EST reply actions

by the way

can you go 10-9 with a knockdown if the other guy came back strongly enough – was there an argument for that in the 9th do you think? Could he have scored it 8-4 with a 10-9 round? Sykes came back so strongly there, and not just a little flurry either.

I have to say, the British fights I’ve seen this year have been really good. Normally I mainly only get highlights, so am in a good stretch.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)

by BrianBrock on Mar 5, 2011 6:46 PM EST reply actions

Tough one Brian.. I'm not a big 'fight scorer', I just lose count!!

He was clearly stunned, took a while to recover, but…. recover he did.. and really piled the pressure on Johanneson.

by Phill on Mar 5, 2011 7:11 PM EST up reply actions

I'm slowly getting better..I think lol

I don’t know if he did enough in the round, but that would explain 116-112 better for me, and I did think it was a possibility as the round ended.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)

by BrianBrock on Mar 6, 2011 12:54 PM EST up reply actions

British judges do have a tendency to score plenty of even rounds, so I wouldn’t be exactly shocked if there’d been an even round in there on both the 116-112 (which would then have looked like 117-112 without the knockdown) and the 115-113 (116-113 accordingly). There was really no argument for calling the 9th a 10-9 round. Johanneson knocked him down hard, and then pressed for another minute and a half. Sykes came back well, but he didn’t so much as dent Johanneson back, let alone reply with a knockdown. If that was scored a 10-9, it amounts to either incompetence or sheer bias.

I had the fight 114-113 Johanneson. As Rich says, the corner instructions were frankly ridiculous. Although I still thought Carl deserved the nod, it was such a tight fight that gambling on having the decision sealed was simply ludicrous. Both were very impressive – Sykes’ footwork has improved dramatically since he fought Andy Morris, when he was so sluggish on his feet, although his basic defence is still very sloppy. Johanneson landed the right to the body with ease at times, and that was basically why Sykes had to stop moving and trade with a harder puncher. It was a terrific fight, and I’d be more than happy to see it again. As for the rumours of Sykes stepping up to fight Fegatilli, I’d personally advocate Sykes stick around at domestic level for a little while longer. Fegatilli looked a very skilful fighter against Foster Jr, and his bodywork could be a huge problem for Sykes.

"Occasionally, there is a boxing match that, in its demonstration of skill, courage, intelligence, hope, seems to redeem the sport - almost. Perhaps boxing has always been a sport in crisis, a sport of crisis."

by Oli Goldstein on Mar 6, 2011 1:03 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah, I wasn’t sure about the 10-9 round but I thought that would have been more reasonable than scoring it 9 rounds to 3.I was getting into it and pulling for Sykes, so maybe I got over-excited when he came back in the 9th.

I think more even rounds are a far better way to go, then you don’t get skewed scores where one fighter clearly gets every close round. Perhaps you could have a limit of being able to score 2 as such per fight, although that may not be practical.

I can see a score of 114-113 the other way, but I think that after the knockdown he clearly needed all the last 3 rounds, and he deserved it for winning them. You did have him sweeping rounds 10-12?

I missed Fegatilli’s fight, sadly, but it sounded like they were very keen on making that one. Will try and catch up on it some in the week…

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘’Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'’ (Bernard Hopkins)

by BrianBrock on Mar 6, 2011 2:20 PM EST up reply actions

I did indeed have Sykes sweeping 10-12. I think I scored one of the closer early rounds, and one of the closer middle rounds, for Johanneson, because he just seemed to be landing cleaner and more effective punches for me. Sykes looked flashy, but the way I saw it, he was missing a lot too. Johanneson was very consistent in digging – and landing – to the body, so I suppose that really edged it for me. I could certainly see it for Sykes though, too. It was very, very close.

by Oli Goldstein on Mar 6, 2011 2:43 PM EST up reply actions

A lot of the earlier rounds were scorable either way.

I can see a 115-112 card for Sykes, I can even see as wide as 115-112 for Johanneson, considering Sykes was mainly landing on the gloves (I do think you’ve underrated Johanneson’s defence a little; it’s much, much better than it used to be, even if it still isn’t impenetrable) and Johanneson was landing clean shots in every round through 1-9.

I think anyone who knows boxing at all would have had Sykes clearly winning 10-12, and as Brian says, I thought he needed to in order to get the nod. Fair play to the lad, he needed to do it, and he did it pretty decisively.

I also agree that Fegatilli would give Sykes a whole load of problems, but while I thought he was good to the body, he also isn’t as clearly heavy-handed as Johanneson, and as such I think he might land more, but without the same end result.

I suppose the factor that edged it for me was Sykes seemed to control the pace of the fight in rounds 1-6, before the body-work slowed him down a touch. Without the clear disparity in speed and movement, Johanneson would maybe have won more rounds on my card in rounds 1-8, and would have been better than even after 6 and 8. 9 was a massive round for him, obviously, and I was sure he’d have it in himtofinish Sykes, but in the same vein as Maidana, he started swinging from the hip and trying to bludgeon his man with pure power, rather than taking the opportunity to size up a fading (or maybe ‘faded’) foe and pick the one shot that would have won him the fight. More haste = less speed, and all that. I was disappointed that he didn’t pick his shots more, and I think (isn’t hindsight wonderful?) that he would have won the fight there and then had he looked for accuracy rather than just brute strength.

In 2008 Lewis commented on a possible match up with Riddick Bowe. "He waits until I am in retirement to call out my name," said Lewis. "I will come out of retirement to beat up that guy. I'll beat him up for free."

by Chaos100 on Mar 6, 2011 3:05 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah, you’re right about rounds 10-12. Johanneson had looked so organised before, and it sort of looked like he’d actually gassed after the onslaught in 9.

by Oli Goldstein on Mar 6, 2011 3:23 PM EST up reply actions

No doubt.

He was finished after 1:30 of round 9, and that was largely due to his own rush of blood, kind of like Mike Jones in the first Karass fight. Lunging and missing, or lunging, winging ineffective shots, getting caught off balance and tied up does not bode well for energy preservation. He made the same mistakes as Maidana did against Khan: he had his man ready to go, and then forgot about distance, timing, accuracy and all the other things that had got him to that point….

by Chaos100 on Mar 6, 2011 6:55 PM EST up reply actions