The cut pumped blood constantly throughout the bout after Wallin landed a looping left that ripped open the face of Fury in the fifth round and several times Fury's eye was checked and the bout was in danger of potentially given to Wallin via TKO.
Fury managed to continue and eventually would wear down Wallin with his superior size and strength to win most of the second half of the fight other than Wallin's desperate attempt to knock Fury out in the final round.
I agreed with the closest of the three cards scored for Fury at 116-112 on my personal card.
Some notes on this fight.
First, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the ESPN crew telling the Fury corner that the cut had been ruled (rightfully so) from a punch and not from a headbutt as Fury's team believed at the time.
ESPN is walking a very dangerous line between making news and reporting news as it felt to me that the network was making sure that the fighter that they have the investment with had every possible edge.
It's not illegal, mind you, and no rules were broken, but I'm not sure that I like the look and especially with how it occurred.
From my perspective, it appeared that blow-by-blow commentator Joe Tessitore was coaching reporter Bernardo Osuna (who I really like) to give Fury's corner information which could have swung the fight result.
Here's how- Fury's cut was severe, and the doctor checked the cut several times to observe Fury's vision.
Almost on every occasion, if the fighter says I'm having trouble seeing- the doctor will stop the fight then and there.
If Fury's corner thinks that it was caused by a headbutt, the fight would then be decided with the scorecards, on which Fury would have been well ahead and could have conceivably said "I can't see" knowing they would win.
By giving them that information, they knew they couldn't play that card and knew that their fighter needed to say he could see, even if he couldn't.
I would not have had a problem telling the corner the truth had they asked, but it felt to me that ESPN was trying to protect their guy.
Second- it showed the dangers of fighting squash matches instead of "marinating" fights.
This isn't on Fury, it's on Deontay Wilder, who insisted on fighting a Luis Ortiz rematch before the agreed-to Fury rematch (BTW, I still haven't seen a date for Wilder-Ortiz II), but no matter the blame, it shows just how quickly a big check can go away no matter the opponent.
It should have been Deontay Wilder in the ring with Tyson Fury this fall, not Otto Wallin.
Third- It'll be interesting to see just how the career of Otto Wallin develops.
Will he be this generation's Axel Schulz, who was equally as unknown as Wallin when he was robbed of a decision that he won against George Foreman and other than losing to Michael Moorer for a title vacated by Foreman was rarely seen on the world stage again?
Or will this be a jumping-on point for the Swede, who will build off his first fight against world-class competition and stick around as a viable contender?
In the co-feature, Emanuel Navarrete stopped Juan Miguel Elorde after Elorde's corner refused to allow their man out of the corner for the fifth round.
Navarrete knocked Elorde into the ropes in the fourth for a technical knockdown as only the ropes allowed him to stand and the corner's decision was the right one as it seemed their fighter had nothing left with a hard-punching champion waiting for him.
Navarrete retained his WBO junior featherweight title with the victory and with the other three titles at DAZN with WBA/IBF champion Daniel Roman (Matchroom) and WBC beltholder Rey Vargas (Golden Boy) building towards a fight with each other, would appear to be on the outside looking in.
However, a recent shoulder injury could sideline Roman for a while, and Top Rank and Golden Boy recently agreed to a deal for the vacant WBO featherweight crown between Shakur Stevenson and Joet Gonzalez, so could it be possible that a Navarrete-Vargas all-Mexican unification bout could be agreed on?
Steve Kim reports that Vargas was seen at the fight rather than the Golden Boy card on DAZN, so that does make me think something is possible in the future
The opener saw Jose Zepeda win a unanimous decision over Jose Pedraza in a junior welterweight fight.
Zepeda won the first six rounds on my card before allowing Pedraza to get back into the fight a little bit but never hurt Zepeda enough to challenge seriously for the duke.
I scored Zepeda a 97-93 winner and he could receive a rematch next year with WBC/WBO champion Jose Ramirez.
Zepeda gave Ramirez all he wanted in losing a majority decision in February and I wouldn't mind seeing the pair against each other again.
As for Pedraza, who has won titles briefly in two divisions, I'm not sure where he goes from here.
I don't think he seems strong enough at 140 and if making 135 is not an issue for him, he might be best served to drop back and hope that Vasyl Lomachenko gives up his titles sometime next year to be in the mix.
Update: Jaime Munguia stopped Patrick Allotey in the fourth round after knocking Allotey down twice in the third round and again in the fourth when referee Jack Reiss, nearing ten in his count, saw the Allotey corner signaling for the fight to end.
Considering the opposition (Allotey is a natural welterweight and had lost in two rounds in his only fight against notable opposition in Patrick Teixeira), Munguia looked strong in his first fight after his controversial majority decision win over Dennis Hogan but considering the quality of his challenger, I'm not going to give him too much credit, other than ending the fight early as he should against such an overwhelmed opponent.
After the Hogan debacle and it is Mexican Independence Day weekend, this was a showcase for Munguia and he took advantage of being showcased, which isn't a bad thing. but it didn't prove anything either.
Having apparently reached a dead end in the 154-pound division with the other three champions (WBA/IBF champion Julian Williams and WBC titleholder Tony Harrison) fighting with the PBC, unification is very unlikely, so Munguia is expected to vacate his title and move to the middleweight division, a division that is more friendly at this to the Golden Boy promoted boxer.
In the boxing challenge- I scored four points to Ramon Malpica's two to move my lead to 224-193.
The point difference between us was caused by Navarrete's KO win and the win by Jose Zepeda.
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