We got a no contest and a close decision on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, with Emmanuel Taylor taking away the unanimous win over Karim Mayfield in the main event. If you missed FNF this week, you didn’t miss much; it was fine on paper, it just didn’t materialize as “fine” in reality.
The two junior welterweights in the main event fought a close bout, with the 97-92 verdict for Taylor too wide. The two scores of 95-94 were just fine. Taylor (above left) landed the harder punches while Mayfield (right) boxed intelligently, although too conservatively. Just like last weekend, either man could’ve done more. Taylor could’ve jabbed more, and Mayfield, showing he could hurt Taylor with an 8th round right hand knockdown, could’ve thrown more overall. There were a ton of close rounds that were scored all over the place by fans.
Both men were fringe contenders coming in. Both shall remain so.
On the undercard, the no contest occurred between Bayan Jargal and Cletus “Hebrew Hammer” Seldin, after a head butt closed Jargal’s eye in the 2nd and led to the welterweight fight being stopped at the end of three. Seldin would’ve won it, outworking Jargal, who was working harder than usual and still not doing enough, which has been par for the course in his career. Seldin didn’t make a strong impression against the prospect-turned-gatekeeper along the way.
The card was held in Huntington, N.Y., the turf of junior welterweight Chris Algieri, who just got a bout with Manny Pacquiao in the fall and beat Taylor one fight before. Algieri showed what he brought to the Pacquiao promotion with the interview and fight plan segments he did with ESPN’s Teddy Atlas, namely likability and composure. That will make it harder to diss what is a poor competitive match-up, but it remains to be seen whether it’ll be enough to cloak that key element.
(photo via Star Boxing)
