Floyd Mayweather Jr wins by split decision; A report from Ringside
By Danny Serratelli (May 10, 2007) Doghouse Boxing (Photo © German Villasenor)
There was a packed house at the MGM Grand Garden and both combatants came to fight… albeit in their own way. The consensus in the arena after 12 rounds was that Oscar De La Hoya had won the fight. Although many of the fans in attendance would be informed later that from their vantage point, they may have been unable to witness Floyd’s alleged superiority on the inside that the fans watching the telecast and the people compiling the punchstat numbers were privy to.

The fight had played out exactly as I had predicted. A day earlier I had analyzed the fight and came to the conclusion
that the fight would be close and that the fighter with the ability to win the close rounds would emerge victorious by a split decision. I had called both Chuck Giampa’s 116-112 and Tom Kaczmarek’s 113-115 scorecards exactly before the fight. Where I was wrong was that I had assumed that Oscar’s experience along with a perceived home field advantage would enable him to figure out how to steal the many close rounds. My 3rd judge’s prediction was 115-114 Oscar, while Judge Jerry Roth scored the fight 115-113 Floyd, my prediction was still just an even round and 1 round where Roth went the other way and it was on point.

Unfortunately, due to the immense popularity of the fight, many credentialed press were not accommodated with seats that would enable them to do a professional job of covering the action. From my vantage point, Oscar started stronger than expected and he forced all the action. Floyd did an admirable job of employing his masterful defense, but it appeared that Oscar was throwing much more and landing a little more, particularly in the early rounds.

Due to the pro-Oscar crowd as well as my seat not being where I have grown accustomed to scoring a fight from, I started checking in with knowledgeable fighters and fans on the phone. To my surprise I was told by a colleague for whom I have the utmost respect for, HBO’s Harold Ledderman had Mayweather winning the fight pretty easily at the half way point, at a time I had it 5-1 Oscar.

I started to assume that Floyd must have been doing some masterful subtle work in there that I couldn’t pick up from my seat in the arena, and I was also told by television viewers of the punchstat numbers. Most of the times in close fights like this; people give too much importance to the value of punchstat numbers. While sometimes a helpful tool, the punch stat numbers are often misleading.

Many people are unaware of how punchstat numbers are even tabulated. Laptop computers with two keypads and two operators generate the numbers. The operators proceed to press buttons for jabs landed and missed and power punched landed and missed. If a punch is blocked by an opponent's gloves or arms, it's registered as a miss. Each operator records the efforts of one fighter.

For me “power punches” is a troubling term to give an uneducated person trying to score a fight. A “power punch” is simply a punch that is not a jab. Many flurries and pot shots are a far cry from a stiff shotgun job as far as power goes, but any punch that is not a jab is a “power punch”. From the crowd at this fight, unless you were in the best seats in the house, it was not possible to see Floyd landing the cleaner or harder punches at close quarters. It was also difficult to tell if Floyd was in fact picking off all or most of Oscar’s punches, particularly to the body. I am very much looking forward to watching the tape or the broadcast next weekend on HBO.

Freddie Roach reiterated what I had stated in my prediction that he felt Oscar would take it when it went to the scorecards. “In the close rounds I thought we might get the edge because we were making the fight happen,” Roach said. Oscar could have stepped back and made Floyd come to him. Back in 1999 both Oscar did just that and Ike Quartey employed a similar counterpunching style leading to a chess match in which both fighters often waited for the other to initiate the action. Quartay possessed a wicked jab at that time, and won many of the middle rounds. In one of his few strong finishes in a big fight, Oscar closed the show like a champion, although I do believe he still came up short on my scorecard.

Rewinding back to 10 years ago again back to De La Hoya versus Pernell Whitaker in 1997; in that fight Oscar was the younger fighter, but both Floyd and Pernell back then were the slicker fighters. Oscar was the aggressor in his fight with Pernell, and with Floyd. With Pernell it paid off, but with Floyd it did not. The same judges, Roth and Giampa who scored 10 years ago, by 6 and 4 respectively for Oscar in that fight, scored for Floyd in this fight by 4 and 2 points this time around on the cards. I had predicted that the combination of Oscar being seasoned enough to know how to get the judges to give him the very close rounds along with the partisan crowd advantage in Vegas would be enough to make a difference in the close rounds, and he did try to steal rounds by flurrying at the bell, but that obviously was not enough.

Despite what popular opinion says, and what I was told by the HBO people, punchstats etc, my scorecard read 116-112 De La Hoya when all was said and done. I would like to see the tape to substantiate a score like that, but it was only one point off from ringside judge Tom Kazmarek. For the first half of the fight I truly believed that Floyd was giving away rounds and possibly trying to employ the “rope-a-dope” while banking on the fact that Oscar would fade late like he has done many times in the past. To an extent he may have, but not as much as he has in other fights.

Because of the fact that scoring a boxing match is subjective, people who want to score the fight in an honest and sincere way will have their work cut out for them. If a person was in the arena, they may have scored 3-4 very close rounds to Oscar, but if they were watching the HBO team telecast of the fight, the same may hold true, whereby Mayweather would get those 3-4 razor close rounds. A flip of 4 rounds either way from a draw, would create a whitewash at 118-112.

I stand by what I scored in the arena the night of the fight, however I would not be the least bit surprised if my 116-112 Oscar turned to 116-112 Floyd after viewing he tape. Further, I wouldn’t even be surprised if my score remained exactly the same, that is just the way it is with scoring fights. I have always felt it is easier to score a fight off of television than from being there live, the cards usually seem to end up more accurate. You see everything from every angle more clearly, and if you miss something the first time they find a better angle on instant replay.

After being greeted by 50 Cent’s entourage when I came to the MGM to pick up my credential, it was all pretty much downhill from there. I had only seen Oscar fight live once before, against Jesse James Leija at Madison Square Garden back in 1995, and he was already a huge draw. I expected the trip west for me to Vegas to feel like I was going to “The Oscars”, but no such luck. While there were a lot of high profile celebrities there like Eddie Murphy, John Cusack, Mike Tyson, Jennifer Lopez (who’s husband, Marc Anthony sang the National Anthem), the atmosphere while exciting, did not live up to the hype.

Despite all the hype this fight has received for being the beginning and end of boxing and a savior fight, which an extent it was, there are still a lot of fights coming up that will bring the almost the same atmosphere and probably more excitement. Miguel Cotto vs. Zab Judah at Madison Square Garden, and Arturo Gatti vs. Alfonzo Gomez (although people who have never seen Arturo Gatti fight live may disagree) are two excellent fights on the horizon. So when people suggest boxing is dead or dying, invite them to Miguel’s house at Madison Square Garden or Arturo’s house at Bowardwalk Hall this summer and let them draw their own conclusions.

The soap opera has already begun and with the dollars a rematch will produce it becomes almost a sure thing, unless we get a close spin-off fight, like Shane Mosley vs. Mayweather. Imagine if in a rematch, both fighters picked up where they left off when they finally opened up with only 10-20 rounds left in the fight? It would never happen, but that is an exciting thought. Floyd will retire for a few weeks, and who knows if either Floyd or Oscar will make another album or start another record label, but when all is said and done as Uncle Roger said, if they left now, “they would be leaving too much green on the table.”


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