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[BroncoInferno]

Who's watching the fights tonight? This is one of the best overall cards I can remember in several years. All six principles involved in the three fights are sluggers, so it should be an exciting evening end-to-end.

Who ya got? My picks:

Arturro Gatti-Alfonso Gomez: Gatti KO in the 8th. It will be competitive, though, and a Gomez win would not shock me

Kermit Cintron-Walter Mytthese--Cintron TKO in the 5th. I think this one will be an exciting slugfest, with the more talented Cintron overwhelming the bomber Walter.

Paul "The Punisher" Williams-Antonio Margarito--Williams TKO 10th. This one will be a barn burner. Both are aggressive, high volume punchers. Williams is a superstar in the making, and I think his physical avantages (including an astonishing 82" wingspan) will overcome the tough Margarito in the late rounds.

Kudos to HBO for putting together one of the most exciting cards of the last few years. If you enjoy boxing on occasion but are more of a novice fan, make sure you don't miss this card. I will be stunned if at least one of these fights does not emerge as a Fight of the Year candidate.

[Jason7730]

Yeah, these should be some exciting fights. And it's not on pay per view!!!

[Orange_Beard]

Paul "The Punisher" Williams-Antonio Margarito will be talked about as a top 3 fight of the year.

[Triplelefthook]

i like your first two picks Inferno. But i like margarito by tko in the 10th. margarito comes on late in fights. he always starts slow and gets stronger as the fight goes along. williams will look great early, and get stopped late

[Triplelefthook]

your boy won Inferno - congats! I had it 115-113 for Williams. The most impressive part was him winning the 12th round after getting hammered in 10 and 11. Great win there. That won him the fight on my card. i expected it to unfold the way it did in that Williams woudl dominate early and Margarita would come on late... i just expected williams to fall when he got in trouble late... he proved me wrong in that 11th round.

too bad tho i was really looking forward to Cotto-Margarito superfight. margarito is so worthless the one time i want him to win he blows the damn fight haha

[BroncoInferno]

your boy won Inferno - congats! I had it 115-113 for Williams. The most impressive part was him winning the 12th round after getting hammered in 10 and 11. Great win there. That won him the fight on my card. i expected it to unfold the way it did in that Williams woudl dominate early and Margarita would come on late... i just expected williams to fall when he got in trouble late... he proved me wrong in that 11th round.

too bad tho i was really looking forward to Cotto-Margarito superfight. margarito is so worthless the one time i want him to win he blows the damn fight haha

Honestly, my initial reaction was that the 115-113 scores were home crowd stuff. I thought the only two rounds Margarito CLEARLY won were the 10th and 11th, and I additionally gave Antonio the 7th. I scored it 117-111, and I can't see anyway that any impartial judge scored it better than 116-112. I need to review it since others (such as yourself) scored it closer.

Nevertheless, Paul got the much deserved unanimous decision. I hope he gets a big fight next. I think he would beat any of the top fighters at 147, and that includes Mayweather, Cotto and Mosely. None, in my opinion, could hold up to his physical advantages. He also has an awesome chin. Margarito hit him with a couple of bombs that did not phase Williams in any sense. If he can't get the three I mentioned, Cintron would be a great opponent in a unification bout. I thought Walter would give Kermit more of a fight than he did, but Kermit's win was emphatic and impressive. That would be a big time slugsfest. The welterweight division is unbeliveable right now.

[BroncoInferno]

Oh, and how pathetic is Margarito? He refused to give Paul any credit for his clear win. What a pitiful loser.

[BroncoInferno]

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2937076

Williams upsets Margarito for WBO belt

Associated Press

Updated: July 15, 2007, 3:01 AM ET

CARSON, Calif. -- Paul Williams won the WBO welterweight title with an upset victory over champion Antonio Margarito on Saturday night.

Williams (33-0) was hurt several times in the 11th round and was cut over the left eye. He was ahead on all three scorecards, 115-113, 115-113, and 116-112.

Margarito (34-5) was trying to defend his title for the seventh time. He fell far behind after six rounds then rallied, but fell just short.

"I thought I won the fight. Williams threw a lot of punches, but none of the punches ever hurt me," Margarito said. "After the ninth round, I thought I was ahead on all scorecards. I know I hurt him several times. I walked over to Williams' corner at the end of the fight and told him, 'You know you didn't win the fight.'"

Williams came out very fast and busy, and was able to outpunch Margarito in exchanges.

"I know I needed to win the early rounds because Margarito always comes on in the second half of a fight," Williams said. "But I thought I held my own in the second half."

Margarito tried to get closer to Williams in the first four rounds, but Williams held when he got inside.

Margarito had his first solid round in the fifth, landing some high quality punches, but Williams landed several clean right hands in the sixth.

Margarito's body punching began to slow Williams significantly in the second half of the fight.

The seventh and eighth were strong rounds for Margarito as the body work began to take effect, making Williams' legs shaky.

But Williams lengthened his lead in the ninth when his right uppercuts in close were very effective on Margarito.

Margarito applied non-stop pressure in the 10th and shook Williams with a right hand just before the bell.

In the 11th Margarito seemed on the verge of stopping Williams, hurting Williams several times and opening the deep cut over his left eye.

Promoter Bob Arum said after the fight that the loss did not diminish Margarito's status. Arum said he'll speak with Margarito next week about a fight against unbeaten Miguel Cotto.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

[BroncoInferno]

Man, I'm going to rewatch this fight, because the AP take does not sound right to me. I did not think Margarito ever got Williams seriously hurt. Maybe in the 11th, but I thought that was more fatigue. I certainly did not think it was close to a stoppage as the article claims. I think the pscychology of the crowd cheering wildly every time Margarito hit a flush shot is creating an inaccurate picture of the fight. Williams expression never changed and I think when he slowed down later in the fight it was more from getting tired than from Margarito hurting him. I thought he won an easy decision. I mean, he threw and landed nearly double the punches! Again, i need to give it another viewing. I was rooting for Williams, so maybe it was my bias.

Antonio is a shameless loser for not giving Williams any credit for the win. Paul won the first six rounds, in my view. I think some gave him the 5th., but, again, I think the crowd just went crazy when Margarito finally started landing some flush shots, but that Williams still was far more active and got the better of most exchanges in that round.

Anyway, very interesting that the end of the article indicates Margarito may still get the Cotto fight. You may get you wish and see that fight anyway, Triplelefthook. I hope Williams gets the credit he deserves from this win and gets a big fight next.

[BroncoInferno]

http://www.maxboxing.com/Fischer/Fischer071507.asp

Interesting article from Maxboxing. Arum ruled out a Williams-Cotto fight, saying he didn't think Williams won (he's Margarito's promoter, so take that for what it's worth--i.e. nothing). Also interesting that the informal ringside poll of 11 press members resulted in 4 giving the win the Margarito, 3 to Williams and 4 a draw. I simply cannot see how anyone could have scored the fight for Margarito other than having let the crowd cheering wildly when Margarito did anything of note influence them. It sounds like some folks bafflingly still aren't sold on Williams, so a unification bout with Cintron may be the best he can do for now. The winner of that bout would catapult themselves into a major, major fight with one of the big draws.

[Orange_Beard]

Wow, I was really impressed by Williams. That pace was unreal. I thought that there was no way that he could keep it up.
He did a great job of timing his shots as Margarito came in. He stopped him in his tracks a few times.

Williams, looked like he got hurt a few times, recovered quickly and kept going.
I thought Lamply was "hyping" Margarito.

Great win.

[BroncoInferno]

I thought Lamply was "hyping" Margarito.

I had some friends over and missed some of the commentary. What did Lamply say?

[Spider]

Paul Wiliams went ot the deep water , and showed alot in the 12 th ...... Upset and saddened By Gotti , Gomez just beat the snot out of him , it sucks getting old ..... Cintron literally blew up Mytthese .....

[BroncoInferno]

Yeah, Gatti got murdered. I consider most of "The Contender" boxers C-list club fighters, so I expected Gomez to have his moments but lose. Gatti is washed up. It is sad, he gave us some of the most exciting fights of the last decade.

Honestly, he was never an elite fighter, and got destroyed when he faced top level fighters. His classic slugfests were against journeyman types (Robinson, Ward, Ruelas). Nevertheless, I'd watch Gatti against a B-lister over any Mayweather fight any day of the week.

[Spider]

Yeah, Gatti got murdered. I consider most of "The Contender" boxers C-list club fighters, so I expected Gomez to have his moments but lose. Gatti is washed up. It is sad, he gave us some of the most exciting fights of the last decade.

Honestly, he was never an elite fighter, and got destroyed when he faced top level fighters. His classic slugfests were against journeyman types (Robinson, Ward, Ruelas). Nevertheless, I'd watch Gatti against a B-lister over any Mayweather fight any day of the week.

Yeah Gotti was B list , brawler that cut easy , but he gave 110% every fight , got love that .........

[Spider]

though old fighters do have a home in the heavy weight ranks , maybe if Gotti put on a 100 pounds or so ;D

[BroncoInferno]

though old fighters do have a home in the heavy weight ranks , maybe if Gotti put on a 100 pounds or so ;D

LOL Hey, a washed up James Toney is a top heavyweight contender these days, why not Gatti ;D

[Spider]

LOL Hey, a washed up James Toney is a top heavyweight contender these days, why not Gatti ;D

;D

[bap454]

Oh, and how pathetic is Margarito? He refused to give Paul any credit for his clear win. What a pitiful loser.

I agree. Margarito kept saying at the end of the fight that he got robbed. He also said that he blocked all of williams shots and was never hit flush. Hats off to his heart and non stop pressure but absolutely hate his cockyness and arogance. Im glad he got beat. At most I would give 3 maybe, maybe 4 rounds to Margarito at best. NO WAY MARGARITO WON!!! Deal with it crybaby. :loser:

[Spider]

I agree. Margarito kept saying at the end of the fight that he got robbed. He also said that he blocked all of williams shots and was never hit flush. Hats off to his heart and non stop pressure but absolutely hate his cockyness and arogance. Im glad he got beat. At most I would give 3 maybe, maybe 4 rounds to Margarito at best. NO WAY MARGARITO WON!!! Deal with it crybaby. :loser:

Margarito vs Cintron part 2 .......... Margarito would know he has been hit

[Orange_Beard]

I had some friends over and missed some of the commentary. What did Lamply say?

Just seemed to me that he would get really hyped up for every time Margarito threw a punch. He makes it sound like every Margarito throws a punch it could end the fight. He tends hyped up on the favorite.

[RunSilentRunDeep]

Williams clearly won the fight. I think some thought he was more hurt than he was because he's so gangly that he looks awkward when he bends and pivots sometimes.

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Margarito is a total loser for the way he acted. <o:p></o:p>

It was sad to see Gatti so helpless. Maybe he could have been quicker if he didn't have all that hair gel weighing him down.

[CHANGSTER]

Paul "The Punisher" Williams-Antonio Margarito will be talked about as a top 3 fight of the year.

That was a real good fight. I just kept thinking, first you race a horse, now your boxing? Chad Johnson has a lot on his plate.

I swear everyone I was watching with was yelling at the screen,"knock that damn Bengal out Margarito!"

[Triplelefthook]

Oh, and how pathetic is Margarito? He refused to give Paul any credit for his clear win. What a pitiful loser.

agreed 100%. Regarding the scoring - i did have it 7-5, but 8-4 is quite reasonable as well imo. either way - williams very clearly won the fight and the maximum amount of rounds you could have given to margarito still doesn't have him as anything but the clear loser in the match

[bronco610]

The only time Margarito had Williams in trouble is when he would double up on the body with a couple lefts then go up stairs with a right. Worked for 2 rounds so then he stopped doing it. Idiot. Then gripe because he got beat.