Round of the Midyear Consensus: Arreola vs. Harper Rd. 4
Round 12 of the Danny Garcia vs. Lamont Peterson bout.
Victory seemed to be on the table for either opponent in the final round and the two went toe-to-toe, landing shots to the body and the head to finish the fight in very dramatic fashion.
Pick: Danny Garcia vs. Lamont Peterson – Round 12
Lou Catalano, Senior Writer
As aesthetically displeasing as these two tugboats were to the eye, they were all sexy time in the ring. Wasting no time, they fired bombs at each other until Curtis Harper swallowed a rocket of a right hand from Chris Arreola.
From there, he basically spent a couple of minutes being bounced around the ring like the worlds largest pinball. Somehow, the dude never went down.
It may have been the Homer Simpson diet that kept him upright, or sheer will. Either way, he showed serious guts (pun intended) by not only surviving, but winging bombs of his own.
Pick: Chris Arreola vs. Curtis Harper – Round 1
Tony Calcara, Staff Writer
Round 10 of Keith Thurman vs. Robert Guerrero (any of the later rounds proved to be exciting). Would like to see these guys give it another go. That was exciting stuff.
Pick: Robert Guerrero vs. Keith Thurman – Round 10
Leann Perez, Staff Writer
The Battle of Ohio was at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Adrien Broner was on the run and constantly holding whenever Shawn Porter applied the pressure, which was ALL the time.
It was pretty obvious that Porter was the busier and more aggressive fighter than Broner. For the 12th round, both men came out the corner swinging, Broner finally exchanging and catching Porter with a left hook.
Porter planted his butt on the canvas and the MGM Grand erupted. The shock of seeing Porter’s first knockdown of his career, and especially after winning most of the rounds against Broner, made all fight fans go crazy.
Porter went on to win by decision, though he said that knockdown definitely caught him off guard, but didn’t affect him.
Pick: Shawn Porter vs. Adrien Broner – Round 12
Brandon Glass, Contributing Writer
After getting floored in the first round, severe underdog Curtis Harper traded and rocked the imposing Chris Arreola in a diamond-in-the rough style Heavyweight matchup.
Arreola pressed the issue in the first three rounds only to slow in the fourth, where Harper recognized the playing field was level.
Harper began to make his case as a legitimate threat, hitting Arreola with right hands, particularly a vicious uppercut, that had Arreola holding on for dear life as his footing left him mid-step. Arreola also had moments, thudding Harper with his own right hand behind the jab, the same way he caused the first-round knockdown.
Also a candidate for FOTY, but I believe this round encapsulated the intensity of a banger if a heavyweight fight that somehow went the distance.
Pick: Chris Arreola vs. Curtis Harper – Round 4
Mike Burnell, Staff Writer
It wasn’t pretty, but this round is why fight fans love to watch the heavyweights. Both guys let it all hang out, literally and figuratively, and launched missiles at each other for the entire three minutes.
What they lacked in speed they made up for with impact and the round could have easily ended with one shot.
Pick: Chris Arreola vs. Curtis Harper – Round 4
Alex Burgos, Editor-in-Chief
Chris Arreola vs. Curtis Harper has been the unexpected slugfest of the midyear and there were a few rounds you could argue should be round of the midyear.
Seeing Harper jump on top of Arreola in Round 1 made me fully concentrate on the bout and when Arreola put down Harper with a blistering right hand I thought it was all over.
But, Harper got up and showed that cojones don’t have to come with a six pack. He fired back with everything he could muster and somehow survived the first stanza. By Round 4, Arreola was rethinking his taco and horchata diet.
Round 4 provided some of the best back-and-forth action, starting with Harper rocking Arreola with left and right hooks to start the round. By the middle of the round, Arreola took control and pushed Harper against the ropes, landing his own hooks.
Pick: Chris Arreola vs. Curtis Harper – Round 4
Other Nominees
