SportsRatings: Boxing/MMA

#6 Joe Joyce vs. #7 Joseph Parker round-by-round scoring: Winner gets top 5

Joe Joyce, Olympic Silver Medalist, takes on #7 Joseph Parker in Manchester, England. The winner will break into the top 5 for the first time. Joyce is 14-0-0 and Parker is 30-2-0 with losses only to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.

Bout is set to begin in minutes.

Round-by-round scoring:

1. Jabs and dipping for body shots from both right away. Joyce as usual is working the jab, getting some in, gentle jabs. More jabs from Joyce and Parker hooking to the body in return. Parker leaps forward and scores to the head. Parker moves forward again but Joyce returns with a big 1-2. Big right by Parker is blocked. Close but maybe a little bit more by Joyce. Joyce 10-9
2. Joyce walking Parker down but Parker lunges out of it punching himself. Joyce chases Parker down and scores. Good comeback from Parker. Big shots from both, interesting back and forth, decent punches but neither is hurt. Parker gets against the ropes and circles out. Both had their moments. 10-10; Joyce 20-19
3. Joyce remains busy, coming forward, Parker waiting more on his strikes. Good left by Joyce backs Parker up. Joyce eats everything Parker has and returns fire and he has Parker leaning over and scrambling. Still 1:30 left in the round. Good uppercut by Parker, Joyce doesn't flinch. Parker catches Joyce coming in, has a much better last 30 seconds but it's still Joyce's round. 10-9; Joyce 30-28
4. Joyce looks a bit more tentative now, not walking down as much. Parker with lunging big punch to get out of the corner again, Joyce with dozens of smaller punches. Good stiff right from Parker. Joyce staying farther away this round, trying to time Parker's counters, gets hit by another one. Two big rights by Parker, one misses completely, the other slightly connects. Parker connected with the harder shots Parker 10-9; Joyce 39-38
5. Joyce peppering away flustering Parker over the first minute. Parker hasn't had his power shots this round, isn't trying as many or connecting, except for one low blow. Parker lunges out and they trade in the center of the ring. Joyce's volume wins this one. Joyce 10-9; Joyce 49-47
6. Joyce really coming after Parker this round right off the bell. Unloading the big shots for a full minute, lots of damage. Parker looked bad for a bit but looks like he's holding up well, Joyce slowing down a bit. Parker gets in a few counters as Joyce slows down.  But Joyce doesn't stop. Joyce 10-9; Joyce 59-56
7. Parker connects early with burst of energy, Joyce is undaunted. Parker whiffs with big uppercut. Joyce peppering him with volume of small punches. Joyce clinches him against ropes for a small rest, but he's right back to the volume, has Parker against the ropes again. Parker hanging on. Parker is cut bad, now both are winging punches. Joyce 10-9; 69-65
8. Joyce pressing the action, Parker fighting back with desperation. Trading big shots. Joyce very systematic with his approach, Parker more unpredictable. Both slow down after the minute mark. Good shots from Parker but Joyce comes back strong. Parker comes back too. Parker fighting to survive with the cut, Joyce pushing for the stoppage but neither fighter has been wobbled all fight. Parker clearly falling farther behind. Joyce 10-9; 79-74.
9. Parker's occasional counters just aren't fazing Joyce, who keeps moving forward. Huge uppercut from Parker is completely ignored by Joyce who goes on the attack immediately. Both load up for huge shots and both miss. Parker walking in circles to get away from Joyce. Better round from Parker but did he really win it? not really. 10-10; Joyce 89-84
10. Fighting in the pocket a minute in, head to head trading uppercut attempts. Joyce keeping up the volume once they separate. Big lunging shot from Parker is blocked. Parker times Joyce's entry well and gets some good work in. Funny end with both clowning. Another close one, if Parker gets these with the judges he has a chance 10-10; Joyce 99-94
11. Joyce going for it big like he did in round six. He slows down after a minute. Then a HUGE left from Joyce puts Parker down, and he's not getting up, even if he had he was totally out. JOYCE BY KO

Incredible last round by Joyce, the first 30 seconds of round 11 tired Parker out, setting him up for the huge KO punch. He hadn't been hurt by Parker all day, and his corner decided it was time to just go for broke, knowing he would hurt Parker much more than he would get hurt.

Through 10 round we had Joyce up 5 rounds, but with 3 10-10 rounds it could have been close, and with 2 rounds left it could have been a very close affair. But Joyce decided to go for the sprint finish.

Joyce was ahead by 2, 3, and 5 rounds, pretty close to mine, which would be 2, 5, and 8 giving the 10-10 rounds to either fighter.

This is the finish I expected—a Joyce win, not necessarily by KO—because the winner was set to jump ahead of Anthony Joshua in our ratings, and it wouldn't make good sense to have Parker ahead of Joshua. Joyce, on the other hand, is undefeated and this win—the first stoppage of Joseph Parker—shows he deserves a high ranking. He'll move up to #4, his highest ranking yet.

Andy Ruiz Jr vs. Luis Ortiz

Round by round scoring:

• Round One: Southpaw Ortiz vs. Ruiz leads to usual pawing. Jabs from Ortiz. Combo from Ruiz. Body shot from Ruiz. Big combo from Kong near the end, probably wins the round for Ortiz. 10-9.
• Round Two: Less feeling out in round two, rumbling right away with shots from Ruiz. Jab from Ruiz, jabs back from Ortiz. Body shots from Ortiz. Ruiz knocks Ortiz down with a quick combo, Ortiz takes the 9 count. Ruiz puts him down again quickly. This might be over. Ortiz is grappling him to stay alive. Ortiz fires back. Crazy last minute as Ruiz tries to finish him but Ortiz is fighting back. Big shots from both at the end, and Ortiz survives. 10-7 Ruiz. 19-17 Ruiz
• Round Three: Ruiz is a bit tired after last round and Ortiz a bit recovered. Ortiz is trying to dance now and jab. Body shot from Ruiz. Big body shot from Ruiz again. Jab from Ortiz. Big whiffs from Ruiz. Not much connected but probably still from Ruiz. 10-9; Ruiz 29-26
• Round Four: Ortis is playing matador with Ruiz, lunging in for jabs. Ruiz waiting to unload a big shot. Head shot from Ruiz connects. Ruiz is looking surprisingly defensive. Ortiz did little but Ruiz less. 10-9 Ortiz; 38-36 Ruiz
• Round Five: Snapping jab from Ortiz. Not much action until mid-round. Jabs from Ortiz, return from Ruiz later in the round. Lots of stalking by both guys and feigns. Not enough to go on there. 10-10; 48-46 Ruiz
• Round Six: Neither fighter scores in the first minute; finally some clashing in middle of round, Ruiz gets a good shot in. Almost clash of heads again. Very little action. Jabs from Ortiz but most don't land. Solid shot at the end by Ortiz. Makes the round another 10-10; 58-56 Ruiz
• Round Seven: 1-2 from Ortiz to start, Ruiz fires back, blocked. Ruiz looks like he's more serious this round. Firing more shots but Ortiz's defense is good. Good exchange mid-round from both. Ruiz gets a good left in. Ruiz ducks way under a jab and spins out of the corner. Big body shot from Ruiz backs Ortiz up, flurry of punches on top of head puts Ortiz down again. Ruiz 10-8; 68-64 
• Round Eight: Ortiz is looking a big gunshy obviously but looks ok. Jabs from Ortiz leads to flurry where Ortiz does some good damage. Ortiz puts Ruiz in the corner but lets him out, still jabbing. Hard body shot by Ruiz, Ortiz ducks away from more, still jabbing late in the round. Ruiz misses with left. Ortiz much more active this round. Ortiz 10-9; Ruiz 77-74
• Round Nine: Big Exchange to start, Ruiz goes down but ruled a slip. Both fighters got hit hard. Another wild exchange, like fighting cats, then back to distance stalking. Lunging jab by Ortiz connects. Ortiz 10-9; Ruiz 86-84
• Round Ten: Ruiz comes inside and gets hit with a hook, in addition to dozens of jabs from Ortiz in the first half of the round. Ortiz opening up a bit more, connecting with the jab down the middle consistently. Ruiz's only 2nd attempt of the round is blocked. Ortiz 10-9; Ruiz 95-94
• Round Eleven: Ruiz sneaks in right hand, now a jab. Rest of first half of round is quiet. Huge shot from Ruiz who jumps on Ortiz. More shots from Ruiz. Ortiz trying to go back to jabs but he's weak. Ruiz has slowed down again, maybe looking for KO moment. Ruiz 10-9; 105-103
• Round Twelve: Ortiz moving in, going for it, KO or get KOed. He's mixing it pretty well with Ruiz too. Can he avoid the KO is the question. Good first minute, good uppercut from Ortiz. Ruiz backing up now, Ortiz slows down. Three lefts in a row from Ortiz. Ruiz fires back now in last minute. Ortiz is outboxing Ruiz, huge shot against the ropes. Ruiz fires back. Ortiz 10-9; Ruiz 114-113

Actually turned into a very close fight that could be scored for Ortiz despite the 3 knockdowns. We have it 114-113 with two 10-10 rounds; split those and Ruiz wins a split decision, 114-111, 113-112, and 112-113.

Scored as a whole fight there's no question, but round by round it might be surprising.

But it's unanimous: 113-112, 114-111 all for Andy Ruiz.

So in the end, our cards were very, very close to the actuals, 114-111, 113-112 for Ruiz; our one Ortiz card was flipped one round for Ruiz. Giving 10-10 rounds really does give a better impression of how close a fight is going to be scored.

Ruiz will retain his #3 spot in our rankings, while Ortiz, in the top ten a few years back, will tumble into the 2nd half of the top 100, as he hasn't had many good wins the last several years, and has 3 losses now.