Froch vs. Johnson
Boy did I mislead my followers with my Froch vs. Johnson pre-fight post. Those two had a brutal war of attrition, and it was great to watch.
Froch out-landed Johnson. He was throwing more combinations that wore Johnson down over the course of the fight. The older Johnson landed the bigger shots, though--straight right hand bombs when Froch lowered his left hand, which was frequent. Froch kept taking the punches well, but I thought they would eventually catch up to him in the later rounds. They didn't.
Instead, Froch came back after each bomb Johnson landed with power punches of his own. I had been hoping that Johnson could pull off the upset, and several times it looked like he would, but I kept gaining more and more respect for Froch after each of his rallies. I learned that one of Froch's greatest assets is his chin.
Froch beat Glen Johnson by majority decision.
So my mistake, it was a great matchup. I've gained a lot of respect for both guys, and I've become very excited about Carl Froch. He's a warrior. Because of this fight he's displaced Zab Judah in the number 10 spot of JD's Current Pound-For-Pound List. He takes on my number 7 P4P fighter Andre Ward in the final round of the Super Six.
Zbik vs. Chavez Jr.
The Froch-Johnson fight on Showtime ended just as ring announcer Michael Buffer was introducing Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. on HBO, just before the fight started. Perfect timing.
Zbik was relentless early on. He was landing power punches flush to the head of Chavez Jr., all of which Chavez Jr. took pretty well. Chavez fired back harder punches, but fewer in number.
The early rounds reminded me of a watered-down Mancini vs. Kim, in which both guys equally gave out and took tremendous punishment.
The pace was excruciating. By the ninth round both guys were panting. They both showed tremendous guts.
Chavez worked harder later on, though. He began showing a true commitment to body shots, which took a lot out of Zbik. That made the difference in the fight. Zbik ran out of gas. Chavez did too, but instead of sitting in the driver's seat waiting for help to arrive, Chavez got out of the car and pushed it.
Chavez won a majority decision. I felt it was a genuine draw.
Frankly, I did not gain much respect for Chavez in this fight. He took tons of power punches from Zbik, who is not known to have great punching power. A harder puncher could have knocked him out if given the same opportunities.
I don't think either fighter is in the same class as Sergio Martinez, the big star of the middleweight division, based on the fight last night. They were well-matched, but were not at the championship level.
So all in all last night was a great fight night. Two terrific title fights in one night--what more can you ask for?
-JD
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