Eight-round fight.

Farrell wants distance, Marrone wants to get inside. Clinch from Farrell every time Marrone gets in there. Marrone works the jab a bit early, then starts leading with a right to the body. Lots of slapping at the other guy, very little effective going on. The type of round you hate to score in case a fight goes the distance and is close, because this is a toss-up.

Marrone 10-9

Marrone with a left counter, and then a hard jab. Marrone misses a big swinging right, but lands a good left to the body just after. Marrone is tossing out a bunch of big swings, all missing, but he does occasionally land a decent punch. Farrell, well, does not.

Marrone 10-9
Marrone 20-18

Marrone is doing all he can to push this, but Farrell just clinches once Marrone gets inside. That in itself wouldn't be a bad idea, but he's doing nothing offensively, and what he does has zero snap on it. Farrell, suddenly, nails Marrone with a right hand that appears to shake Marrone up a tiny bit. Farrell's starting to dirty box inside, sticking uppercuts on the clinches. Marrone might be hurt a little. Combo from Marrone is ugly, Farrell counters it, sort of.

This is bowling shoe ugly through three rounds.

Farrell 10-9
Marrone 29-28

Farrell 10-9
38-38 through four

This was a round I'd prefer to give to nobody, but Marrone now looks work.

Farrell 10-9
Farrell 48-47

Little trade to start the round, Marrone caught with a couple of quick shots and Marrone looking to swing heavy on Farrell. This is the first time Farrell's been past the fifth round.

Marrone catches Farrell with a little left upstairs, but Farrell was already in the process of going to a clinch. PBP says that nobody looks horrible in this fight, but I'd have to disagree. Marrone takes a left, and by takes, I mean asks for and then eats. Little bit of blood on his face now. Farrell has done fuck all this fight, really, but he's clearly winning it now by my eye.

30 seconds left in the sixth, and you start to wonder at this point in this type of fight, "Will either of these guys ever matter?" Farrell is 27 years old and this is how good he is, and this is how awkward he is, and this is the type of shape he keeps himself in for a Shobox fight. Marrone is more aggressive but accomplishing nothing.

Farrell 10-9
Farrell 58-56

The Farrell corner thinks they're losing this fight badly and that they need a KO. If someone sees Marrone winning this fight, then God be with them, but he's done nothing since the second.

Marrone is staggered with about 40 seconds left. This is starting to look like a bar fight that no one will break up. Two guys throwing wobbly punches and breathing really hard.

Farrell 10-9
Farrell 68-65

So by MY card, it's Marrone that needs the KO.

If this was the only fight a person ever saw, they would have no idea what the fuck "the sweet science" is supposed to mean.

This round is as ugly as it gets. Marrone is fucking terrible tonight. "Not to pick on either guy..." I guess I don't have that kind of journalistic integrity, because I will say right now, this is the worst fight I've seen this year. Absolutely awful performance from both guys.

20 seconds to go, thank God. No one gets knocked out. Horrible, ugly fight.

Farrell 10-9
Farrell 78-74, but that's not going to be the real score at all, I don't think

Mike Marrone majority decision

I don't see it at all. Crowd boos the result. Marrone has more money in his future. A terrible fight, and Marrone is just Lou Duva's boy.

10-10

As for Holt, he's going to have to push the action here. Arnaoutis lands a little jab combo to the body. Holt isn't doing much of anything. Holt wants to get his jab in there, and he's throwing it pretty hard. Arnaoutis continues to keep his distance while Holt just lays back. Left to the body from Arnaoutis, and a nice one. Holt steps in quickly to try a right to the body, but it fails to land. Another slow round.

Arnaoutis 10-9
Arnaoutis 20-19

Arnaoutis is the first to let his talent flow, and Holt just keeps waiting, like he wants to counter only. Holt comes in with a hook. Holt wants to lure Arnaoutis inside, and Arnaoutis doesn't feel like it. This feels like it might be about to open up a little bit. Holt holds and hits, referee says nothing.

Neither guy is impressing, really. Not the best fight thus far, but it's close.

Arnaoutis 10-9
Arnaoutis 30-28

Arnaoutis again does not want to engage. He's losing me as a scorer, he may have lost the official judges a round ago. Holt eats a jab. Holt drives forward, Arnaoutis gets out of the way. Arnaoutis with a couple of shots with Holt against the ropes. NOW this is a tactical fight, whereas the first couple of rounds were just a waiting game. That's where a lot of TV guys miss a point; "tactical" is not really a bad thing. "Tactical" is Bernard Hopkins. Most of the things they call "tactical" are just slow-paced, dull boxing.

Holt 10-9
Arnaoutis 39-38

Holt is showing zero respect for Arnaoutis now, which may get into Arnaoutis' head and lure him into a fight he's tried desperately to avoid. Holt misses a knockout uppercut attempt on a counter to an Arnaoutis left that misses. Holt is now showboating like crazy as the round ends, and all hot dog bullshit aside, he won this round and is starting to take the momentum of this fight.

Holt 10-9
48-48 through five

And Holt is bored with Arnaoutis more than anything. More hot dogging after Arnaoutis continues to bounce around, and Holt mostly doesn't do fuck all himself. A dead round, but I guess Holt won this one, too.

Holt 10-9
Holt 58-57

Two minutes of the seventh round go by and nothing much happens, then Arnaoutis hits some shots against the ropes. This round, Holt isn't landing the clean shots, and Arnaoutis may have stolen this one. Holt does land a right upstairs, and that one shot may have given HIM this round.

Holt 10-9
Holt 68-66

Yeah, Mike Michael doesn't know what he's doing.

Arnaoutis starts firing a little with Holt against the ropes, no staggering but a slight slip from Holt. Arnaoutis is back to pawing with his jab, seemingly afraid to engage Holt. Holt throws his own jab out there a little bit, nothing to get excited over. More trading this round than in any other, and that's not saying a whole lot. A slightly different round, but again hard to score.

Arnaoutis 10-9
Holt 77-76

SSDR.

Holt 10-9
Holt 87-85

A minute into the round, and you can hear Michael pleading with Arnaoutis to let his hands go. For a fight that really could have been a solid show, this has been dreadful.

Holt lands a jab and a hard body shot that clearly hurts Arnaoutis, and Holt wants to pounce. Holt gets off balance, but he lands a couple more rights to the bread basket. He now knows he's hurt Arnaoutis.

Holt 10-9
Holt 97-94

Holt sticks a long jab in there, then Arnaoutis is warned for a low blow. Jab from Arnaoutis, and Holt hits to the body again. Arnaoutis just has no balls, to be entirely frank. He's fighting like a guy who doesn't give a shit if he gets that world title shot or not, or at least like a guy who's scared to death to fight Kendall Holt with any passion.

Holt 10-9
Holt 107-103

So this is it, the final round. Can't say as though it's come quickly enough. Could be three minutes of staying back from Holt, which would combine to make a full 36 minutes of it.

OHHHH, Holt catches Arnaoutis with a right to the jaw, which puts Arnaoutis down. He's up, and this fight is as good as over. To Arnaoutis' credit, he was finally coming in. Maybe that's why he didn't go in earlier.

50 seconds to go, and we get nothing more. Arnaoutis wasn't prepared, wasn't gutsy enough, and the only time he tried to really charge in on Kendall Holt, he got floored in the 12th round.

Holt 10-8
Holt 117-111

Unanimous decision for Kendall Holt

So it was pretty much the same score I had. Wasn't much of a fight, and Arnaoutis never looked like he was 100% in it.