By now I am sure that you know the results of the both the Kovalev and Dulorme fights, whether you watched them on HBO or read them here. But fights are more than just results, and boxing is more than just a simple sport of winners and losers. So what are the real results of the fight?
First, Kovalev is the real deal. While Agnew was a relative unknown in this fight, he was not chosen as an opponent to give Kovalev an easy win. Agnew came not only to fight but also to win. In the first round, he showed off his incredible hand speed. He fought smart. His hands were kept up, creating an almost impenetrable defense. He even managed to put Kovalev down on the canvas in the first round. Alright, that was a low blow, so that doesn’t really count even if Max Kellerman finds it important to mention in the post-fight interview.
Agnew forced Kovalev to box. Kovalev, unlike many Eastern European fighters, has quite developed boxing skills. He started to cut the ring on Agnew. Kovalev started to go more to the body in the second round, while still attempting to slip through Agnew’s defenses. It would be this move to focusing on the body that would give Kovalev the fight.
Agnew still had his moments throughout the fight. He was landing combinations. However, Kovalev was always quick to move. At times, Agnew seemed to be running forward to land those punches. While Kovalev was bruised by the end of the fight, he clearly controlled the fight from the beginning. In the sixth, Kovalev buckled Agnew’s knees, which was counted as a knock down. In the seventh, Kovalev went right back to the same spot, landing a left on the body. Agnew buckled again, but this time did not get up before the count ended.
Kovalev fought hard and smart. At the moment, he seems undefeatable. Time will tell.
In stark contrast to the Kovalev fight, we were treated, or should that be subjected, to the Dulorme, Mayfield fight. The first two rounds were nothing remarkable. Dulorme was able to knock Mayfield off balance in the first, but that was about it. In the second, both fighters were throwing a lot of punches, but neither fighter was landing those shots. In fact, it felt like watching the filming of a boxing movie. Dulorme was making a lot of noise as though he was landing, but the shots were clearly missing.
In some ways, those first two rounds were a treat compared to rounds three through seven. Dulorme seemed more interested in holding than in fighting. Anytime that Mayfield started to have any success, and by success I mean landing a single shot, Dulorme would tie him up. While this can be smart strategy, this should not be the only strategy.
In the eighth round, Dulorme landed a low blow. Mayfield took quite a bit of time to recover. Dulorme seeing his opponent in a weakened state, took advantage, and unleashed. With that, he landed another low shot. Was this accidental? I am sure that Dulorme would say it was. Interestingly, this was the first round that Dulorme didn’t spend holding Mayfield. Rounds nine and ten, Dulorme was right back to tying up Mayfield.
Throughout the fight, I just kept asking myself is he dull or is it just me. Maybe it was me, but the punch stats at least justify my boredom with the fight. In the ten rounds of the fight Dulorme threw 308 punches and landed 83. Mayfield threw 284, landing 61. Whoever compiled the stats for the press added a note at the bottom. Average punches per round: Mayfield 28, Dulorme 30. The average number of punches per round in the Light Welterweight division: 60.3.
Dulorme won on the scorecards. Sure, he probably did win it. But to be honest, my time would have been spent better if I had been balancing my checkbook than watching that fight. If Dulorme wants to hold someone close to him, let him be a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.
On the undercard, we once again saw that judges do not always see the same things. Radivoje Kalajdzic won by split decision against Lionelle Thompson. To be fair, it was a hard fought fight, with neither fighter dominating the action. Likewise, Khurshid Abdullaev also won by split decision over Wilky Campfort. It was first reported as a draw but then corrected.
Other undercard results:
Adam Kownacki won by TKO over Excell Holmes. The fight was stopped in the second. Kownacki dominated the fight.
Michael Mitchell also won by TKO over Rafael Jastrzebski. This fight was also stopped in the second.
Wellington Romero won by unanimous decision against Gerald Smith in a four round fight. Romero won all four rounds on all three judges’ scorecards.
Ismael Garcia also won by unanimous decision over Dushane Crooks in a six round fight.
One more random thought. For those who are quite convinced that boxing is dead, Kovalev and Agnew fought before a full house. While this is not a rare thing for some of the small fights in small venues, especially if they are local fighters, this has been rare for some of the bigger fights in Atlantic City. I think this is in part because of the matchmaking. Many of the large promoters are too interested in making sure their fighters win, rather than giving the spectators a good fight. This does not seem to be the way Main Events or Russell Peltz work. For the most part, these were exciting fights. It also didn’t hurt that Kovalev seems to have a large fan base.
Written by Tim Donaldson – www.pound4pound.com
