Bad Left Hook Fight of the Month Poll: August 2009

Past winners:

• January 2009: Antonio Margarito v. Shane Mosley (53%)
• February 2009: Juan Manuel Marquez v. Juan Diaz (93%)
• March 2009: Ricardo Cordoba v. Bernard Dunne (81%)
• April 2009: Carl Froch v. Jermain Taylor (49%)
• May 2009: Carlos Abregu vs. Irving Garcia (35%)
• June 2009: Marcos Maidana vs. Victor Ortiz (45%)
• July 2009: Cristobal Cruz vs. Jorge Solis (32%)

This month, the best was saved for last. It looked like it was going to be a relatively weak crop of fight of the month candidates, but we get a number of really solid fights in the last two weekends of the month.

Robert Stieglitz vs. Karoly Balzsay - There was a fair amount of back and forth action in this one which saw Balzsay start out hot, but completely gas out and fade away late, leading to the knockout victory by Stieglitz.

Robert Guerrero vs. Malcolm Klassen - Much like the first fight, this one saw Guerrero start strong and Klassen come on late, only this time Guerrero was able to hang onto the decision. Guerrero didn't have as much pop on his punches as usual, but threw about 100 punches a round, while Klassen generally landed the harder shots and was much more accurate with his placement.

Juan Diaz vs. Paulie Malignaggi - Almost as if you had scripted it, Diaz spent most of the fight coming forward and trying to pressure Malignaggi, while Malignaggi controlled the distance with his jab and popping off shots from the outside. A good fight, slightly sullied by the ending, where Diaz received a questionable hometown decision in what was generally a tough fight to score.

Tavoris Cloud vs. Clinton Woods - While it was a bit one-sided, there was good action in the fight between Cloud and Woods, especially coming from Cloud, who threw tons of punches for a light heavyweight.

Juan Urango vs. Randall Bailey - Almost like Diaz vs. Malignaggi, except both guys could punch and the overall skill level was a bit lower. Urango bullied forward the whole fight while Bailey tried to control the distance. In the 6th round, Bailey flashed his power, knocking down and badly hurting Urango, who miraculously got up and made it through the round. Urango came right back, however, dominating from the seventh round on, knocking down Bailey in the 9th and 10th before Bailey's corner stopped the fight in the 11th.