JAMES TONEY W12 (split) FRES OQUENDO

Fres Oquendo has done it again, backing his way into a decision defeat. He did it against Chris Byrd and Evander Holyfield, and history repeated itself when Oquendo lost a split decision to James Toney in the 12-round main event on Versus on Saturday night.

This was a fight that Oquendo could have won. I thought he did win. I had it in Oquendo’s favour, but narrowly, 114-113. Fighting a popular, locally promoted fighter in southern California, Oquendo needed to have been much more authoritative to have made sure of the decision.

As it happened, Oquendo was very unlucky not to have come away with a draw. A harsh deduction of a point for hitting Toney on the back of the head saw Oquendo go down by scores of 115-112 and 114-113, with the third judge making him the winner by 116-111.

Toney’s style, leaning forward and bending low, makes it almost inevitable that he’s going to get caught on the back of the head once in a while. Oquendo got a couple of cautions and then referee Lou Moret not only took a point but actually threatened him with disqualification. This can be very unsettling for a fighter — these did not look like flagrant fouls to me and Samuel Peter has got away with far worse.

Oquendo did finish strongly, seeming to dominate the last two rounds, but it wasn’t enough to make up the leeway on the judges’ cards.

So, the 40-year-old Toney got the win, but I think he eliminated himself from consideration as a heavyweight title contender. He can still make the cute moves, and he can punch, but he has the look of an old, off-balance fighter struggling to get his timing right. When it’s gone, it’s gone.

On Saturday, Toney definitely seemed to get the breaks. The big problem with Oquendo, though, is that the way he fights makes it easy for judges to score against him. He backs up, flicks out a defensive jab, falls into clinches. In the bouts against Byrd, Holyfield and in the one on Saturday night, it was his opponent who gave the impression of wanting to fight, and when rounds are close, this can make the difference.

Saturday’s fight reminded me very much of Oquendo’s loss to Holyfield a couple of years ago.

In that fight, Oquendo was bowled over by a right hand in the first round and then went into very much a safety first, sneak-out-the-rounds sort of style.

On Saturday night, it was deja vu, with Oquendo wobbled by a right hand in the first round and then boxing in a wary fashion for a number of rounds.

In the Holyfield fight, the ageing ex-champ wasn’t really hitting much after the first round, but he was going forward and trying to fight. As he did in the Toney fight, Oquendo had a dominant last round against Holyfield. After the very close decision went Holyfield’s way, I found myself asking: Why didn’t Oquendo fight the earlier rounds the way he fought the 12th? I was asking myself the same question on Saturday night.

I thought Oquendo eked out the win over Holyfield, I thought he was a close but deserving winner over Toney. He is his own worst enemy, though, being far too concerned with self preservation. It may be a harsh assessment, but Oquendo gives the impression of “fighting scared”, as they say in the game, and once again it has cost him on the scorecards.