Funeka-Guzman: I agree with the fight being scored a draw
November 29th, 2009
By Scott Gilfoid: I don’t know what everyone is getting upset about, I totally agree with the Ali Funeka (30-2-3, 25 KO’s) vs. Joan Guzman (29-0-1, 17 KO’s) bout being scored a 12 round draw. In fact, that’s exactly the way I scored it on Saturday night. Funeka’s co-promoter said “Let me put it to you this way, Ali got screwed and he didn’t even get kissed.” But if they want to blame anyone, they should look at Funeka. He’s the one that decided to only jab the first six rounds of the fight. The vacant International Boxing Federation lightweight title was on the line for the fight, which took place on the undercard of the Lucian Bute vs. Librado Andrade bout at the Pepsi Coliseum, in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
I do think that Funeka started battering Guzman at that point and appeared to dominate the next six rounds. However, with the fight on the line in the 12th and final round, Funeka didn’t fight as hard as Guzman and looked to have given the round away. In the last round, it was Guzman who was the one throwing power shots, pressuring and trying to make a fight of it.
Funeka could have easily stood his ground and fired back, but he mostly circled the ring and flicked out his jab and doing little. You got to give it up for Guzman. He fought with a lot of heart, even though he had a bad cut over his right eye and a bloody nose from the 4th round on. The cut, incidentally, was caused by a clash of heads in the 4th round. The blood, which turned Guzman’s white trunks a bright red. The blood slowed Guzman down in the second part of the fight because he often had to squint with his right eye to see out of it. Guzman looked slightly hurt in the 8th round when he was hit by a right hand from Funeka while trapped on the ropes. Still, Funeka failed to follow up with anything big enough to cause Guzman any more troubles.
But with the fight on the line in the 12th, Funeka was missing in action and didn’t meet Guzman’s charge. He basically blew it. The final judges’ score for the fight was 114-114, 116-112 for Funeka and 114-114, making it a majority draw. All Funeka had to do was fight his heart out in the 12th and he would have won it, but he didn’t. He had his chance and threw it away by letting Guzman control the final round. If it was me, they would have had to pull me off of Guzman because I would have been raining shots on him through every second of the 12th. After all, the vacant IBF lightweight title was at stake for the fight. Funeka should have gone all out in the final round.
Tags: 17 Responses to “Funeka-Guzman: I agree with the fight being scored a draw”
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I posted something similar to frank nitti and it got deleted….wonder if scott gilfoid had anything to do with it.
How b out u watch the fight instead of reading about in because a blind person knows guzman lost that fight! Guzman won the first 2 rounds than he started 2 fade!his nose was broken and than he ended up getting a cut!that was the worst outcome of a fight I’ve ever witnessed!!!that was worst than larry homes vs spink!!!!!!!
Just feel bad for the young man… he was crushed after he lost to Nate Campbell (understandable decision with the 2 knockdowns)… but to beat Guzman pillar to post, and not walk away with a belt. It’s a crime.
When it took like 15 minutes to tally the scores I knew something fishy was going on. I want to know what happened between the final bell and the reading of the cards.
No rematch should be ordered, Funeka should just be made champion or at worst fight the next-ranked contender for the belt.
If you scored this fight a draw, you should seriously reconsider whether writing for a boxing website is a productive way to spend your time.
You don’t like jabs, that’s fine, but there are guidelines for judging a fight and they don’t say “emphasis on clean, effective punching, except for jabs.” Jabs count. Jabs can win a fight
I’ll take Funeka’s strong, effective, landed jabs over Guzman’s wide, winging, soft “power” shots that landed on Funeka’s arms and gloves.
It’s ok for a guy on the internet (like the writer of the article) to ignore the rules for judging a fight… not ok when the judges determining a world championship ignore the rules.
bad judging…bad article…
WHAT FIGHT WERE YOU WATCHING? ANOTHER CORRUPT JUDGES PAID BY GBP. GOLDEN BOY HAS NOT LEARNED FROM THE DIAZ-MALIGNAGGI. SHAME ON GOLDEN BOY!
I applaud you scott you have written an article other than a brit! well done sir!
I HAD FUNEKA WINNING BY 2 ROUNDS.AND I AGREE WITH THE AUTHOR,FUNEKA THREW THE FIGH AWAY BY GIVING AWAY THE LAST ROUND,HE SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT FOR THE LAST ROUND TO ERASE ALL DOUBTS.I HAD GUZMAN THE FIRST 3 ROUNDS BECUZ HE WAS CONNECTING THE THE HEAVIER EFFECTIVE PUNCHES IN THOSE ROUNDS,AFTER THE HEAD BUT IN THE 4TH,FUNEKA TOOK OVER AND CONTROLLED THE FIGHT.BUT THE ROUND OF THE FIGHT WILL BE THE 8TH,WHICH COULD HAVE GONE EITHER WAY,GUZMAN WAS IN CONTROL OF THAT ROUND,SCORING WITH THE HEAVIER TELLING PUNCHES AND KEEPING IT CLOSE UNTIL THE LAST 15SECS OF THE ROUND WHEN HE WALKED INTO THAT BIG RIGHT HAND THAT WOBBLED HIM.ANY JUDGE THAT GIVES GUZMAN THAT ROUND WILL HAVE THE FIGHT A DRAW.AND TRUST ME,SOME JUDGES WILL GIVE GUZMAN THAT ROUND BECUZ HE WORKED IT FOR 2.45MINS OF THAT ROUND.OVERALL I THINK FUNEKA WON A CLOSE FIGHT,BUT A DRAW SHOULD NOT BE SHOCKING.PLUS I BELIVE GUZMAN WILL WIN A REMATCH,THE BIG CUT ON HIS EYE BROW FROM A HEAD BUTT REALLY BOTHERED HIM AND HIS CORNER DID A BAD JOB STOPPING THE BLEEDING AND THE BLOOD GETTING IN HIS EYE
THANK GOD UR NOT A BOXING JUDGE!
blatent robbery!
I have to agree with the majority, Funeka deserved the win simple as that. It’s a shame as decisions like this do the sport no good I do feel sorry for the guy especially after all the hard training, I can only but imagine how he’s feeling.
i look at a fight as ho lands more power punches and is aggressive in the fight I think Guzman lost….and Juan Diaz won tha Paulie fight it was just a bad scoring….
Funeka fought the perfect fight for a guy with his height advantage. He used the jab to keep Guzman at a distance, as well as to break his nose and his spirit. when a jab is working that well, there’s no reason to stop throwing it.
He picked his power shots very well. Against a short guy who’s looking to counter, you can’t go throwing big shots all the time. He’ll time you, counter, and win. Funeka used his power shots sparingly so that Guzman wouldn’t be able to properly anticipate them.
And Guzman was THROWING the harder shots, but not landing them. Funeka was throwing smaller shots, but they were landing all night and having a tremendous effect on Guzman. Effective aggression is a scoring criteria. Just plain aggression is not. Clean punching is.
There’s absolutely no case for Guzman getting a draw in this fight. He took the first 2 rounds, and I could potentially see him getting the last 2 from an incompetent or biased judge. But other than that, the entire fight belonged to Funeka. And he made it look good, too, when he could easily have spent the entire night running away, like you friend Andre Dirrell.
At the VERY LEAST, this was a 3 point victory for Funeka. This is the kind of decision(and the author is the kind of ingoramous) that give boxing a bad reputation. A complete shame all the way around. Although I consider the bad judging incompetant rather than dishonest, this is what makes many people think boxing is crooked.
Funeka won the fight fair and square. Bad judging in a good fight. Funeka clearly won the fight and he got ROB like Clottey vs. Cotto, Clottey got rob and Juan vs. Paulie, Paulie won the fight and gets rob in Juan hometown. All three of these fight was HIGHWAY Robbery. Fire those bad Judges, The Judges making the game of boxing bad.
You talking nonsence. Funeka won the fight, so why must he risk it by fighting the last round? Only an idiot like u would do that. Lets see if guzman wil travel to South Africa for a rematch. I bet he wont.
I can’t completely disagree. Overall, I think Funeka did enough to win but it was far from a dominant performance and the draw was not that shocking to me. Guzman definitely landed the cleaner power punches and personally, I don’t have much respect for a fighter taking the safe road when he is 7 inches taller than his opponent.