ESPN's Friday Night Fights: Gary Wilcox VS Nagy Aguilera

ESPN Broadcast: Friday Night Fights
Date: July 25, 2008
Place: City Center, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA
Division: Heavyweight
Rounds Scheduled: 8

Fighters:

Gary Wilcox:
Record: 21-3-1 with 7 kayos
Hometown: Saratoga Springs, New York, USA
Height: 6'4
Weight: 230.5 lbs
Age: 37

*Fought at Cruiserweight also. Did not fight in 2003, 2004 or 2006 and 2007. Has fought once this year.

Nagy Aguilera:
Record: 8-0-0 with 6 kayos
Hometown: Newburgh, New York, USA (From Dominican Republic)
Age: 22
Weight: 231
Height: 6'3

*Won two New York Golden Gloves Titles. Fought at least 100 times as an amateur but has only been a pro for eleven months. Wilcox is probably Nagy's first accomplished veteran.

BE's round by round scoring and breakdown:

Our Referee: Ricky Gonzalez

Round 1: for Aguilera: Wilcox is clearly out of shape. Teddy says Wilcox is soft around the body and for that matter so is Aguilera. Thanks Teddy, we couldn't see that. A very cautious round with little action. I suppose Aguilera would take the round but it really just looked like they were finding their range.

Round 2: for Wilcox: They keep talking about Wilcox being the smaller man. Of course, he is taller and even looks to have significantly broader shoulders to me but it's all about their natural athletic weight and Aguilera has never been down into cruiserweight territory where Wilcox fought the brunt of his career there. Wilcox wants to box not brawl. Aguilera is visibly hungry to get inside though. A very timid round for Wilcox but I think he kept the young lion off of him just enough to out point him. I don't think he'll do that for long.

Round 3: for Aguilera: The width these guys are keeping there legs apart is ridiculous. I'm surprised Wilcox has the mobility to back out of trouble or Aguilera the mobility to get in and fight. The ref warns Aguilera to keep his punches up. We're getting a lot of holding. Neither man strikes me as athletic. Teddy says although not all certified, Wilcox claims about 200 amateur fights himself. If so, he's overwhelmingly more experienced both as an amateur and a pro. It's not helping him stand out. Aguilera is not impressing but I have to award him the round for being more aggressive though not efficiently aggressive.

Round 4: Even: Teddy has rounds one and two scored like I do but the third as a tie. I'm not sure either man is making any mark of dominance so I can't argue though I have the third for Aguilera. Aguilera has been warned about his punches going behind the head. They are. It's happened several times now though just this last time did look easily preventable as opposed to just an ''in the course of things'' rabbit punch like the others seemed to be. Now the ref warns Wilcox about it. These guys are getting so close that they can't even in-fight properly. It's more hugging range than clinching range. Wilcox and Aguilera land their first meaningful punches on each other in this round but I didn't see either man dominating or hurting. As hard as Aguilera tries to get inside, he's more effective from the outside, surprisingly. Wilcox is still better than Aguilera there though as well. Nagy's in a against a clever fighter who has been very inactive. It's still a challenge though and a step up. Again, neither man is showing much domination.

Round 5: Even: Nagy gets in a good left hook to start the round. Teddy remarks that Nagy is smothering himself on the inside. He couldn't be more correct. He gets Wilcox's back on the ropes and starts pushing his head back. The crowd boos. Hilariously, Teddy has scored the last round for Nagy where I have it even. We come out the same for different rounds. I'll score this round even too. It may look strange but I don't care. Neither man is looking dominant though Aguilera clearly looks like the man trying to be dominant. I won't give it to someone just for looks. He should be dominant of course over a man 15 years his senior here but he just doesn't know how to pick his spots.

Round 6: for Wilcox: Nagy is doing better at scoring from inside but Wilcox is returning well. They stop to fix the tape on Wilcox's glove. Both men finally start trading from a good range and they immediately smother each other. Very frustrating to watch. They just cannot seem to keep their bodies apart. Nagy finally lands a really good punch that starts from close range. A right cross. Neither man has seemed hurt though both have landed some meaningful shots to the head and body. I say Wilcox out pointed Nagy Aguilera but Nagy might fool judges with his forward moving aggression although he is not doing what his movement would suggest and Wilcox is slipping and catching many of the punches Aguilera is throwing. Aggression doesn't mean much when the result doesn't follow.

Round 7: for Wilcox: Gary Wilcox gets in some wonderful counters in the beginning of the round. While Aguilera landed some good hard shots, I don't believe he won that round. Teddy has him winning the last three now. Again, Nagy works harder but gets less out of it.

Round 8: for Wilcox: God, this fight does not look like boxing. It looks like an uneventful tough man competition. They are getting into each other so much and trying to fire while their torsos are stuck together. Aguilera should be warned again about making an obvious punch to the back of the head. There was nowhere that punch was going to land but on the back of the head. He should know that but he's been itching so much to get his punches off and he's not been good at making them hit where they should. After some clownish behavior in the corner, Nagy hits the floor. It's rightly not ruled a knock down. No punch precipitated the fall. Now Wilcox goes down. Rightly, again, not a knock down. It looked more like a deep bend from Wilcox and a little push from Aguilera. I'd say Wilcox took this one too but I know judges. The busier looking man will likely take this one. I think the veteran that looked more out of shape and defensive got more clean punches on Aguilera though nobody ever struck me as hurt.

BE's scorecard: 78-76 for Wilcox: 4 rounds to 2 with 2 even.

Teddy's scorecard: 78-75 for Aguilera: 2 rounds to 5 for Aguilera with 1 even.

The Official Scores:

80-72
78-74
78-74 for the winner by unanimous decision for Nagy Aguilera.

To score the fight 80-72 I feel is what an easily fooled judge would do. This fight was a hell of a lot closer than that. The punch track actually showed that Nagy landed one less punch than Wilcox no matter how much he threw. This probably even counted the door knocking ''punches'' when they were on the inside that I felt can't even be scored as light punches. I do feel slightly vindicated by that but only slightly, considering that I often think punch track and compubox are total BS.

BE's Bottom line: Wilcox didn't give the right impression but I think he won the fight with his experience allowing him to pick and choose his spots better and fight on the inside. It was not a great fight or a great display of the sport of boxing. It was not smooth. Aguilera got a gift from the judges because he is the better looking young gun in town and his opponent ...was an ''opponent'' and it was expected of him to lose. Nagy needs to learn to fight on the inside and slip his jab more. He is offensively inefficient and hurts himself more than he does the other fighter. He was trying but it was ineffective aggression inside the ring which lead to an effectively positive outcome outside the ring with bad judging. Again, that's my opinion. I see one guy who is about out of the sport and another guy who looks like he would struggle to become a fringe contender as game as he is.