Marcos Ramirez: Return of the King June 22, 2006

Marcos Ramirez: Return of the King, June 22, 2006

Event was held at Harrah's Voodoo Lounge in Harrah's North Kansas City Casino in North Kansas City, Missouri.
Results by Mark Graves

This was a sold-out event and there was more media coverage of this fight then I have seen in my three years of covering fights in Kansas City. For a perspective of the main event read this article printed in the Kansas City Star on Friday June 23, 2006.

Jose Castaneda (1-1 207 lbs) vs. Joe Stofle (10-4-1 265 lbs)

Castaneda used a consistent body attach to chop away at Stofle. Stofle attempted to reply in kind but his punches ended up a little low. Twice Castaneda went down from the low blows but was awarded time only once because the second time the punch obviously landed on the hip and not in a location that would require time to rest. Other than the low blows this was a nice fight. Castaneda won with scores of 39-36, 39-36, and 38-37. I had it scored two rounds for Castaneda and two rounds for Stofle with a one-point loss due to a point taken away for low blows.

Aaron Daugherty (1-1 162 lbs.) vs. Robert Epson (0-0 162 lbs)

Aaron Daugherty wins a unanimous 39-37 decision as both fighters tired as the match moved into the third and fourth rounds.

Kevin Finley (4-0 152 lbs) vs. Steve Vincent (8-5 156 lbs)

Despite all the anticipation and drama of Marcos returning to the ring, this turned out to be the fight of the night. The first round was hard fought by both fighters and I felt it was leaning towards Finley when in the last few seconds; Kevin landed a pin-point short right hand that sent Vincent to the canvas. Steve was in obvious difficulty when he returned to his feet but made it to the bell. After the one minute rest between rounds, Vincent was able to regain his wits and came out the aggressor to start the second round. Finley withstood the early attack and gained control of the round from about thirty seconds in until ten seconds to go in the round when Vincent landed a clean punch that sent Finley to the mat. Kevin made it to his feet and out of the round. Kevin was not as fortunate as Steve was in terms of recovery between rounds. Vincent poured on the attack at the start of round three nailing Finley again and again until a vicious upper-cut flung Finley to the floor. Finley willed himself off the canvas and somehow was able to make it the rest of the round which was still in its first half at the knockdown. The corner took a different approach to Finley's recovery between round three and four than they did between round two and three because Kevin was able to come out with the cobwebs cleared and a plan he could be successful with because I felt he won the fourth and fifth round largely because Vincent's activity slowed after the effort he put into round three to get the stoppage that Finley would not allow. Kevin was able to carry his plan on into the sixth round and was winning the round until the final ten seconds when Vincent landed a thunderous punch that sent Finley one again to the canvas. I really felt that this was it for Finley. He had survived an incredible attack in round three and was able to regain control of the fight from the fourth round on only to get knocked out with less than fifteen seconds to go in the fight. However, Finley rolled onto his side and then his knees, got up and "moseyed" over to the ropes, fixed himself in the correct fighters stance, looked referee Kevin Champion in the eye, and proceeded to calmly walk towards Champion when asked to such that the referee could in good conscious allow the fight to continue. Just as he did, the bell rang for the end of the fight. Now to the dismay of the crowd the following result was presented by ring announcer Steven St. John: 56-54 Vincent, 56-56, and 57-57 for a majority draw.

The crowd simply could not understand how a guy who was knocked down three times to one of his opponent could possibly end up with a draw. Well, having just completed the Association of Boxing Commissions' judges training, I will give you how I came up with a 56-56 draw.
Round 1 - The round is even or very close when the knockdown of Vincent occurs prior to the bell sounding. You can award a 10-8 round to Finley based on the knockdown. (10-8 Finley)
Round 2 - Finley is now winning the round handily when Vincent knocks down Finley in the final ten seconds. Since I had Finley winning the round 10-9 at the time of the knockdown and I can only award two points for a knockdown, the score flips from a 10-9 for Finley to a 10-9 for Vincent. There cannot be a three point swing in a round based on one punch. If there was more time left in the round for Vincent to back-up the knockdown, I could have awarded a 10-8 round but that was not the case. (19-18 Finley)
Round 3 - Vincent dominates the round and has an early knockdown. This is an easy 10-8 round with a very and I mean very slight chance of a 10-7 but that almost never happens. (27-28 Vincent)
Round 4 - Finley regains strength and Vincent reduces work such that Finley wins the round 10-9. (37-37 even)
Round 5 - Once again, Finley does more work to get a 10-9 round.
I now have a 47-46 lead for Finley going into the final round. (47-46 Finley)
Round 6 - Finley continues to control the fight going into the final fifteen seconds of the fight when Vincent lands a haymaker that sends Finley to the canvas. Again we have a situation where Finley is leading the round 10-9 with a knockdown at the end of the round so I can only flip the score to 10-9 for Vincent. (56-56 even)

This is how a guy that is knocked down three times and his opponent is only knocked down once can end up with a draw.

DeAndre Latimore (7-0 158 lbs) vs. Charles Walker (0-1 163 lbs)

The records can tell you every thing you need to know about this fight except the time of 0:58 of the first TKO victory for Latimore.

Marcos Ramirez (21-0 172 lbs) vs. Armando Cordoba (21-23-1 131 lbs)

This was a tactical eight round fight with Marcos using hand speed and Cordoba using his head. Marcos has cuts on both eyes and a bloody nose all of which to occur due to head-butts. Marcos won 78-74, 78-74, and 79-73 while I had it 77-75. All in all it was a close fight and I hope it does not hinder Marcos in his ESPN 2 fight set for July 14, 2006 against Jason Litzau.