Peter Manfredo is the MAN!!!!

[RozzySean]

Peter got rocked in rd1, but anybody would get rocked if Spina caught them with a lucky one. I was impressed by the way he shook it off, made adjustments, and proceded to absolutely humiliate Spina. I'm not convinced that Manfredo is top 10, but I gotta root for him. He's got skills, and as people pointed out already, it seems like he as more pop at 168. I thought he won both Mora fights anyway. Let Mora come to Providence and see what happens.

How can you possibly think Manfredo won the first fight with Mora, he lost damn near every round, it was practically a clinic.

The rematch was much closer but again I felt Mora just about deserved to hold onto his belt, although it could have gone either way to be fair.

The point is Manfredo got all the chances in the world to get where he was. Lost in the first round, to a complete unknown in the first episode of the Contender, no problem, just bring him back a couple episodes later and give him another chance.

The fight with Espino was really close, even the allowing for the biased editing it looked like Miguel had beaten Peter but the judges gave him the fight anyway.

Then he scrapes past Joey gilbert a complete amatuer with around 8 pro fights at the time.

Then he gets his second chance at Alfonso, which he wins......just!

Then he gets beat down by Mora in the final so the Contender people decide,

'You know what Peter, that first fight with Mora, it wasn't even competative but we are going to give you a rematch anyway because we are in the habit of giving you extra chances. We also like your family, your little daughter is adorable and besides you are quite goofy looking and strike a kind of sympathetic resonance with our target audience, especially housewives and grandma's who just go 'Ahhh isn't he a little sweety', whenever you fight. So you can fight Mora again. To hell with Gomez, he may be more deserving of a fight with Mora having already beaten you and finished in third place. But it's the fight fans who appreciate him, he hasn't got a daughter and he's good looking and confident so grandma's don't go 'Ahhh' when they see him so he can fight Jesse Feliciano in the rubber match and you can have another go at Sergio.'

I really wouldn't mind any of this is Peter didn't go around running his mouth off how he is the real Contender champion.

Nope Mora rates above you, Ishe Smith rates above you, Alfonso Gomez, Joey Gilbert and Miguel Espino are on a par with you.

Juan De La Rosa will be better than you within a couple years too.

That's a just bull...you obvously don't like him and you are blinded by that fact. I guess you score rounds based on aggression as opposed to actual punches landed. OK. Let's say Mora one the first fight...he did not win every round. I would need to rewatch and rescore it, but you are cleary being incediary and overly dramatic to say Stevie Wonder would score it for Mora.

As for the second fight, I just flat out disagree. I wasn't a big Manfredo fan until that fight. In fact, I watched the second fight BEFORE I saw the first the first. I caught that one later. I was completely shocked by the decision, until I remembered it was in LA. I just don't see how anyone can't see it as a hometown decision. Mora was certainly more aggressive, but he didn't land. Manfredo waited for his spots and scored. Mora was bouncing punching off his elbows and arms. I guess if you credit him for those points, it's Mora's fight.

Actually I completely agree with you regarding effective aggression but it was Manfredo who just stumbled blindly forward in the first fight whilst Sergio tore him up on the inside.

The second fight was much closer, but only due to the fact that Sergio suffered an horrific cut over his eye caused by a headbutt. The butt was completely accidental but if you watch the the slow motion you can see exactly when it happens. Mora immediately paws at it and blood starts poring.

Given those circumstances Sergio struggled for a couple of rounds to regain his composure. I believe it was the third round where he slips and Manfredo lifts up his arms thinking he's hurt Mora only for Mora to smile and come right back at him.

I know it's easy for inexperienced fans to judge the blood and Manfredo's reaction to Mora slipping but neither of these factors score points. From about the 4th or 5th round on Sergio was back in the fight, landing the more effective shots and throwing some lovely combinations.

Manfredo, despite having such a dream start proved again unable to capitalise and couldn't take Sergio when he was at his weakest.

The two probably won't meet again but if they ever do, even if it's in Providence at 168 lb I still see Sergio getting the win.

Manfredo is a decent fighter, but who is completely unable to adapt to changing circumstances in the ring, Sergio is a far better boxer, faster, throws more, and most importantly of all is a smart fighter. He doesn't have much of a punch but he makes up for it in other areas.

Mark my words, you may think Manfredo is doing great now, but once he goes in with another great boxer, someone who takes away his gameplan he will lose, coming out round after round trying the exact same tactics each round getting nowhere before being broken down and dismantled.

He's a good fighter, probably fringe top 10 but he's not winning any world titles whilst Calzaghe and Kessler are around.

I agree that he's not in the same class as Kessler or Calzaghe. Absolutely.

I rewatched and rescored the first fight. Here's the problem scoring fights at times. Peter is a local guy, and I was pulling for him. This time I was trying to give rounds to Mora. I give Peter 2 rounds definately. There were two other rounds which were borderline. I'll give this to Mora - He has very good handspeed and he knows how to be flashy and steal rounds. He's a pretty smart fighter like that. He dominated round 7. So he wins that fight. He didn't dominate. He didn't win every round, but he won. Since it was pretty entertaining, it made perfect sense to make a rematch from a business point of view.

OK, as for the second fight. You can't blame a thing on the cut or imply that I'm an inexperienced judge. Just because I have under 1000 posts doesn't mean I'm not an experienced boxing fan. I'm just an inexperienced poster. I'm not a big fan of boxers that "steal the round." He's a much flashier fighter than Manfredo. His speed and awkward style can make make him looked better than he really is at times. I wasn't STUNNED when he took the second decision, but that was only because the fight was in LA. In Manfredo's home town, it would have been a UD for Manfredo.

So how would Mora fair against Taylor or Wright? I suspect not much better than Manfredo would fair against Calzaghe or Kessler. Could Manfredo be Beyer? I think so. Could Sergio beat Quartey, Sturm, or Abraham? That might be a good topic for another thread.