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I saw a lot of flaws in Whitfeld on this last WNF. He has a great jab, nice straight right, nice left hook an ok uppercut, and decent footwork. All that being said he couldn't seem to put everything together. I scored that fight 114-114, Vargas played him like a fiddle most of that fight and if he wouldn't have waited so much, I think the fight was his to take. Any other opinions.
I agree though I scored it fairly comfortably for Whitfield I think. I missed rounds 5 and 6 so I stopped taking a strict tally but I definitely had Whitfield winning. I think Whitfield just needs more experience and more tough fights like that. You could see he had the physical tools but you're right, it wasn't all put together.
I liked the jab but I liked the jab when he was moving better, when he stood in front and jabbed or tried to move forward and jab, he didn't have a control of distance and while he's fairly quick from the outside with his hands, on the inside Vargas was able to put together punches much faster then Whitfield. I'm fine with him setting his feet but he didn't do a good job of establishing that distance before he did set his feet. He kept giving Vargas the opportunity to walk in before firing the jab and instead of having his opponent at the end of the jab, he was throwing it when Vargas was halfway inside. That stuff is corrected in time.
Also a bit sloppy on the defensive end, he circled right into a couple right hands and that's just from not being aware, again, stuff that's corrected with time.
He seemed out of rhythm all night. Definitely a struggle but Ronnie Shields is a good trainer and those type of fights are important. Showed he wasn't ready for a title shot but hopefully he can look at the tape, build off that and come out better the next time.
I scored it a draw as wellQuote:
Originally Posted by killersheep
And for what it's worth, Vargas is no slouch, he gave a very good account of himself. Very high energy fighter who punched in combinations and I was taken off guard by how fast he was. Very fast both with the feet and hands, in the first two rounds you could see from the first exchange he was fast, made Whitfield's long punches look slow. Not much power and a bit wild at times but I doubt that's the last we hear of him, he looked pretty good.
The thing to think about here is if the whole 'Eliminator' deal goes through he'll be fighting Nonito Donaire next.
Sorry Rayonta but your hitting the canvas. :-\ Good luck kid.
I hope your management team is smart enough to know your not ready for World Class just yet.
this is what I said in another thread
Whitfield's got some issues IMO
I'll give him this, he's improved a lot over the last time I saw him on ESPN, a lot tighter with his punches.
But he's pretty one dimensional, he really is only effective with his feet planted at range throwing the jab and the right hand. When he moves he moves backwards or to the side and he pretty much just moves, he doesn't stick and move much and when he does its pretty ineffective, he just pushes out weak punches. No inside game either and not much bodywork. I wasn't really scoring it but I thought he just got by, 117-111 was a bit homerish.
He needs to learn how to circle, not moving or "running" (not that I thought he ran) so much as just circling and punching off of that.