Terry Flanagan and Petr Petrov engaged in a bit of an ugly fight today in Manchester. There was a lot of holding and roughhousing as their styles didn’t seem to mesh, but it wasn’t a horrible fight and the right winner was awarded even if the scores were kind of nuts on two of the cards. The undercard was a bit of a different story.
I scored the fight 115-113 for Flanagan, and 116-112 from the British judge was perfectly fine too. The 118-110 and the 120-108 cards were a bit confounding, but it is easier to swallow cards like that when the guy who should have won anyway gets them. Flanagan was able to catch Petrov coming in often with his lunges, but he for whatever reason employed very, very little lateral movement. Petrov did not have a difficult time closing the gap, but Flanagan countered that ability with holding at times. At other times Petrov was able to rip the body for extended periods of time, work that he got little credit for on the judges cards. He also snuck in a right hand once or twice a round that Flanagan never really figured out. In the end Flanagan’s work from the outside did rightfully carry the day and won it on my card thanks to a very strong twelfth and final round.
In Liambowl, things went a little different. The fight was competitive, but I and most felt that Liam Williams was largely carrying the action and winning the fight. After the ninth, however, the fight was stopped on a Williams cut that was ruled to be initially caused by a punch. It was definitely made worse with a fierce headbutt, however. Apparently that didn’t matter as controversially the fight was awarded by TKO to Liam Smith who had already missed weight and was therefore ineligible for the interim belt that was on the line. It was an extremely anticlimactic finish and a rematch is in order.
Olympic star Nicola Adams also made her debut in a four round decision win in between the main two fights. She pressed hard for the finish, but couldn’t find it. It remains to be seen if the new wave of young debuting female fighters makes any waves for the female side for the sport, but there is no denying their recent Olympic presence is changing the game for them.
