I will not be in the gym for five weeks. The layoff is gonna hurt. Hopefully I can motivate myself to do at least some situps, pushups, and HIIT. And eat a lot.
Hasegawa-Perez showed me just how lost I am without an announcer. The pair looked to be fairly evenly matched for the first two rounds, until Hasegawa started catching Perez late in the round with his counters. Perez crumpled and was ruled a TKO loss, as with many of Hasegawa's opponents, even though he could probably have stood up. Apparently Hasegawa has gotten complaints that he finishes his fights too fast. What awesome fans.
There were a few Mexican bouts on last night that honestly didn't intrigue me that much. I was of course more interested in The Ring Magazine's middleweight champion's title defense. Kelly Pavlik, surrounded by bad rumors and bad press, took on challenger and caretaker of his blind mother Miguel Espino. Espino, vastly outsized and outreached and outclassed, was very game, keeping an inside and exchanging blows with Pavlik. Espino ripped a lot of good body shots and a few short right crosses to the head. Pavlik, lanky, allowed Espino to fight inside and stayed there. It was my first time seeing Pavlik fight, so I had to rely on the announcers (and my interpretation of his body type) to determine that he's usually more of an outside guy.
Espino showed a lot of heart. He wasn't afraid to get a little rough, hitting a bit low and hitting after the bell. In every sense, he fought like the challenger. Came at a time right after I'd been watching and reading some Ippo, so that's always really touching to me. In the end, he just couldn't hurt Pavlik the same way Pavlik could hurt him. He came back from three knockdowns, but his corner saved him in the end. I look forward to seeing a lot more of Pavlik.
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