Walters v Sosa

[zorndeslammes]

I watched it without commentary and thought it was a lot closer than 99-91 or 100-90 Walters as has been suggested. Wouldn't give it to Sosa still, but I thought he probably landed more than what the punch stats claimed. Bigger issue to me was seeing Walters struggle with him. Those big KOs came against ex-flyweights, and there's none of those that he'll find in the title picture at 130. Without one punch power, Walters is simply a standard boxer-puncher with middle of the road defense and unexceptional hand speed.

[iamasadlittleboy]

I'd worry for him against Miura, Vargas, Uchiyama...

[Tanzio]

I watched it without commentary and thought it was a lot closer than 99-91 or 100-90 Walters as has been suggested. Wouldn't give it to Sosa still, but I thought he probably landed more than what the punch stats claimed. Bigger issue to me was seeing Walters struggle with him. Those big KOs came against ex-flyweights, and there's none of those that he'll find in the title picture at 130. Without one punch power, Walters is simply a standard boxer-puncher with middle of the road defense and unexceptional hand speed.

+1

Lederman etc. were way off too. It was a very competitive fight but Walters won clearly. I like Sosa a lot.

[zorndeslammes]

I'd worry for him against Miura, Vargas, Uchiyama...

As soon as you said this, I thought, "Wow, imagine Miura hitting this dude like Sosa was..." It wouldn't be pretty. It would also probably happen.

[diddy]

Walters damn sure won that fight but it's obvious the power doesn't carry as well above 126. He should go back down if he can. Would be prudent.

[klitoris]

Tom Schreck mush be on crack. Idk how you can score that fight 94-96 for Sosa.
He also scored Gonzalez - Shabranskyy 95-95.

Can this guy get thrown out of boxing asap please?

[crusader]

I watched it without commentary and thought it was a lot closer than 99-91 or 100-90 Walters as has been suggested. Wouldn't give it to Sosa still, but I thought he probably landed more than what the punch stats claimed. Bigger issue to me was seeing Walters struggle with him. Those big KOs came against ex-flyweights, and there's none of those that he'll find in the title picture at 130. Without one punch power, Walters is simply a standard boxer-puncher with middle of the road defense and unexceptional hand speed.

This

[lowlefthand]

I watched it without commentary and thought it was a lot closer than 99-91 or 100-90 Walters as has been suggested. Wouldn't give it to Sosa still, but I thought he probably landed more than what the punch stats claimed. Bigger issue to me was seeing Walters struggle with him. Those big KOs came against ex-flyweights, and there's none of those that he'll find in the title picture at 130. Without one punch power, Walters is simply a standard boxer-puncher with middle of the road defense and unexceptional hand speed.

This

I watched without commentary as well, and agree with some of the above points, except I saw Walters make Sosa miss constantly.
his "middle of the road defense" had more than enough excellent head and body movement to win this fight by AT LEAST 3 rounds. I thought it was more. His counter-punching was also far superior. No way that was a draw.

[Freedom2013]

Tom Schreck mush be on crack. Idk how you can score that fight 94-96 for Sosa.
He also scored Gonzalez - Shabranskyy 95-95.

Can this guy get thrown out of boxing asap please?

Tom Schreck has no idea of how to score a fight. He should be prevented from working as a judge in the future.

I just watched Gonzalez-Shabranskyy, and it could have been scored a shutout for Slava. Schreck's draw is a ridiculous scorecard. Harold Lederman had a sensible card of 98-92. Gonzalez was missing a lot, he wasn't landing much clean in most of the rounds (he did show a solid chin and strong resolve after being often hit flush, although he was staggering and nearly out on his feet in the final ten seconds of the last round).

[Jack 1000]

I agreed with HBO,

One of the worst cards of judging for many years. I only gave Sosa one round, the 9th. He really tried, but Walters did more by about 4:1 to 5:1 in punch ratio in each round. I could maybe accept a round or two more for Sosa, but no closer than 97-93, and that's a Christmas gift for Jason.

Jack

[zorndeslammes]

I watched it without commentary and thought it was a lot closer than 99-91 or 100-90 Walters as has been suggested. Wouldn't give it to Sosa still, but I thought he probably landed more than what the punch stats claimed. Bigger issue to me was seeing Walters struggle with him. Those big KOs came against ex-flyweights, and there's none of those that he'll find in the title picture at 130. Without one punch power, Walters is simply a standard boxer-puncher with middle of the road defense and unexceptional hand speed.

This

I watched without commentary as well, and agree with some of the above points, except I saw Walters make Sosa miss constantly.
his "middle of the road defense" had more than enough excellent head and body movement to win this fight by AT LEAST 3 rounds. I thought it was more. His counter-punching was also far superior. No way that was a draw.

Even if you say it was 97-93 Walters (I wouldn't have been angry about that), Sosa not only took the punches well but finished (IMO) pretty strong. Considering how many body shots he took, either he is in phenomenal, elite shape or Walters' power is deeply overrated. Blowing out Jerry Belmontes is the only thing that suggested Sosa is anything better than mediocre in a not-that-great division. It was supposed to be a showcase and clearly didn't end up that way.

[TimoneilDSanchez]

This

I watched without commentary as well, and agree with some of the above points, except I saw Walters make Sosa miss constantly.
his "middle of the road defense" had more than enough excellent head and body movement to win this fight by AT LEAST 3 rounds. I thought it was more. His counter-punching was also far superior. No way that was a draw.

Even if you say it was 97-93 Walters (I wouldn't have been angry about that), Sosa not only took the punches well but finished (IMO) pretty strong. Considering how many body shots he took, either he is in phenomenal, elite shape or Walters' power is deeply overrated. Blowing out Jerry Belmontes is the only thing that suggested Sosa is anything better than mediocre in a not-that-great division. It was supposed to be a showcase and clearly didn't end up that way.

I can answer that one for you. We were in the first row on the floor (still about 20 feet from the ring) and Walters threw some of the hardest rights of the night. The sound of Walters landing a straight right hand sounded like Ortiz landing a power left. Sosa took some tremendous shots and showed a great chin, but Walters really did dominate that fight.

Sosa was busy, no question, but I can't even begin to understand how he managed a draw there. I don't know if the judges just missed all that activity from Walters inside, but it was not a close fight. Walters landed more, landed harder, and walked through everything Sosa had to offer; he didn't lose his swagger at any point.

One thing I will say for Walters, he's gotta be busier. He again withheld that right hand for most of the early-going, loading up when he did throw it, but keeping it locked away for most of the fight. I absolutely expected Walters to end Sosa's night on one of those exchanges in the middle of the ring where Sosa just kept missing with everything he threw. There must've been 30 opportunities in that fight for Walters to throw a solid counter right and he just didn't.

That said, Walters ran away with the fight.

Max was funny afterwards, he was signaling to someone in the crowd, holding up two hands of five fingers and then making a circle with his thumb and forefinger afterwards, clearly indicating he had it 10-0. I didn't agree with 10-0, I thought Sosa had a good if not exactly great first round and a terrific ninth round where he showed tremendous heart and next-level conditioning.

We ran into Walters in the casino afterwards and congratulated him on a great fight, he was tremendously disappointed but very humble in defeat. Gamboa was also having a great time hamming it up with members of the crowd and was clearly pleased to see a big Cuban contingent in the seats.

[ikorolev]

Clearly, PR people have strong influence in NY. Cotto would get a win against Canelo in NY.

[Undefeated49-0]

Walters by 3 points but Sosa gave a damn good account of himself, can't wait to see him in other fights.

[hbg]

I went out of the living room to make myself something to eat for Ortiz/Jennings, because the 100-90 (or at the very least a clear Walters victory) was quite obvious.

Took me almost 24 hours and a visit to boxrec to find out they scored it a draw.

Some of the most ridiculous scorecards I've ever seen.

[Jack 1000]

Request for mod staff,

Please change the information in the database that this was a close fight. Only in the blind eyes of the judges was this the case. Most gave Sosa no more than two rounds, and many respected scribes had it a shutout for Walters. Should say something like horrible decision. This is one of the worst decisions in boxing.

Jack

[crusader]

Request for mod staff,

Please change the information in the database that this was a close fight. Only in the blind eyes of the judges was this the case. Most gave Sosa no more than two rounds, and many respected scribes had it a shutout for Walters. Should say something like horrible decision. This is one of the worst decisions in boxing.

Jack

The person who added that ('Rocky Jones') regularly fills those pages with highly subjective and questionable bits and I've deleted a bunch of stuff from him over the years.

You don't have to be a moderator to makes changes to the BoxRec encyclopedia and I think that you can just log in with your forum info.

[Jack 1000]

Theries for the terrible Walters-Sosa draw:

1.) Nicholas Walters was set to fight Takashi Uchiyama for the WBA Super Featherweight Title. Uschiyama is one of the world's top fighters today. Walters and he would have been the makings of a classic! But it is possible that Walters people wanted to get out of the fight, feeling Nicholas was not ready, so they hired some "bag man" to pay off the judges f to give Sosa rounds where he was to walk away with a close win. All Sosa had to do was give a game effort. Tom Schreck (normally a great judge) took the bait, but Don Ackerman and Winn Kintz (also good going into the fight.) may have second thought about doing it and went with a draw. ("Make it a draw, we can afford one bad card.") The win would be too horrible. The draw tarnishes Winn's and Kintz's reputation as strong judges, but not as bad as a loss. Someone or several someone's wanted to keep Walters away from Uchiyama.

2.) Another rumor was the Nicholas Walters was set to leave Top Rank. Word got to the judges to favor Sosa in the fight for this reason. Get the draw, force a rematch.

3.) Racial prejudice- Sosa gets favored as the East-coast White Boy that Top Rank can market into a name contender and turns in this gritty, New York, New Jersey gallant effort against Walters, but the powers that be hate Walters because he is not a fighter that they can make into a house hold name. Is there hatred because he is Jamaican boxer? And doesn't fit the East Coast Rocky mold? What an outrage if this is true! Walters did everything right in that fight and I was very excited to see his dominant performance. I can't really buy into the racial prejudice too much, but I don't think it can be left out either. It is really sad for Walters, if this third theory plays a role. What do you all think?

Jack