The official CompuStrike numbers for the fight between Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic (22-8, 12 KO’s) and Remy Bonjasky (99-12, 36 KO’s) at GLORY 14 ZAGREB are in, and they make interesting reading.
The judges returned a Majority Decision for Bonjasky at the end of a hard-fought and pleasingly dynamic fight. ‘CroCop’ had pushed forward for most of the fight; clearly he thought the decision was going to go his way.
However, his thoughts on the decision will never be known because he left the ring immediately then exited the arena without saying a word to anyone.
Opinion was sharply divided but those who maintained that Bonjasky actually landed more clean blows than ‘CroCop’ have been proved correct - according to the official numbers, he landed exactly one more clean blow than the Croatian.
‘CroCop’ landed 36 clean strikes out of 81 thrown in the fight for a total landed percentage of 44%. Bonjasky landed 42% of his 89 strikes for a total of 37 clean blows.
Six of ‘CroCop’s were power-strikes, versus four of Bonjasky’s, while ‘CroCop’ had 30 non-power strikes to Bonjasky’s 33.
In the fight the punch advantage clearly went to ‘CroCop’, who landed 28 out of 64 thrown. Bonjasky landed just four from 27.
However, Bonjasky has always been a kick- and knee-fighter and the numbers bear this out. ‘CroCop’ scored eight kicks from 17 thrown while Bonjasky landed 33 out of 62 thrown, a very high number by the standards of heavyweight kickboxing.
Bonjasky outstruck ’CroCop’ in Round One, scoring nine strikes of 22 thrown versus ’CroCop’s five from 18. Bonjasky also had the power-strike advantage, scoring two to ‘CroCop’s three.
Round Two went ‘CroCop’s way, scoring 13 from 24 as against Bonjasky’s ten from 31. This round saw ‘CroCop’ land two power-strikes while Bonjasky didn’t score one, though he did land nine kicks to ‘CroCop’s three.
It was Round Three that proved most controversial, as ‘CroCop’ had pushed Bonjasky backwards round the ring and physically bullied him by way of initiating clinches. But pushes and clinching don’t score, so there is a difference between what does count and what it seems is going on.
‘CroCop’ and Bonjasky actually tied for strikes landed in this round - ‘CroCop’ landed 18 from 39 while Bonjasky landed 18 from 36. The power-strike advantage did lie with ‘CroCop’, landing two against one, but he was out-struck in non-power strikes by 17 to 16.
Again it was ‘CroCop’ who landed the most punches (14 from 30) and Bonjasky who landed the most kicks (15 from 19).
These numbers can be debated endlessly - do kicks or punches count more, for example - but what they do prove is that the fight was an incredibly close affair which really, either man could have won.
The judges picked Bonjasky by two to one and while the crowd booed that result heavily, at least part of that may have been that their hometown hero had suffered a loss, period.
Bonjasky left the ring saddened - in tears, in fact - after being booed following what was his retirement fight. Today’s numbers can at least offer him the consolation that the judges’ decision has been borne out by statistics.
Next event: GLORY 15 ISTANBUL on Saturday, April 12
