I am so far behind. It?s been a busy couple of weeks in my other responsibilities for NewsOK, but I?ma try to get caught back up here this week.
I have not seen one minute of the UFC PPV last night, featuring Georges St. Pierre. I saw bits and pieces of Amir Khan?s victory over Marcos Maidana. It was a good decision. Had the feeling that Maidana needed one or two more rounds, but Khan earned the win. Khan was brilliant early and banked those rounds that Maidana needed a knockout to win. Maidana, for his part, never gave up but fell just short.
I was actually more intrigued by the Showtime Bantamweight Tournament from Tacoma, Wash. A couple of really good bouts with Yonnhy Perez vs. Joseph Agbeko and Vic Darchinyan and Abner Mares.
Kinda confused by the order of the bouts as I thought Darchinyan-Mares was THE bout people wanted to watch. As it was, that fight was first. And on Showtime?s replay late at night, I saw that one and fell asleep well before the main event, sorry.
That was an entertaining scrap between Darchinyan and Mares, two fighters I wouldn?t necessarily call my favorites. I?ve always thought Darchinyan is a little too cocky for my liking and Mares wasn?t quite ?there? yet when it came to deserving these moments.
Mares is ?there.? He?s shown in his last two bouts, and he showed it with his composure against the highly skilled Darchinyan.
Mares earned a split decision victory. Though I strongly feel like Mares won the bout, I actually only had it 114-113 for Mares so a split call works for me.
Thought this bout wasn?t going to get a chance to get going when a clash of heads caused a bad cut on the forehead of Mares. But the young Mexican was never bothered by it and never looked for an easy way out.
He was, however, dropped with a left hand in the second round. It was a nice shot by Darchinyan. Mares was up and fine but definitely a two-point round.
Mares started to take some control with good body shots in the middle of the fight. He slowed Darchinyan down and started to bully the bully (something we have seen a lot of here in recent big fights). Nobody wants to fight going backward so make ?em do it.
Mares lost a point for low blows that I didn?t exactly agree with. He was warned, but I didn?t feel like it was that big momentum swing in the bout. Darchinyan was moving Mares? head down and Mares hit him low. Glad that point didn?t mean anything in the long run.
One flash knockdown deserves another as Mares barely got Darchinyan with a jab that dropped Vic in round 7. Clearly a balance thing, but a crucial two-point round.
The championship rounds were kind of sloppy as both men were going for it and were tired. Mares won the bout in the final three rounds in my opinion and that?s why he got the nod.
Mares takes on Agbeko in the tournament final. I hope to see the Agbeko fight later this week as well as the UFC card.
