By Eric Schmidt: Super bantamweight contender Bernabe Concepcion (24-1-1, 13 KOs) overcame a poor first half start of the bout to come on in later half of the fight to win a grueling 12-round unanimous decision over Juan Ruiz (21-5, 6 KOs) on Saturday night at the Domo De La Feria, Leon, in Guanajuato, Mexico. The final judges’ scores were 114-111, 114-112 and 114-112. Conception, only 20 years-old, appeared uncomfortable in the early rounds of the fight due to a tremendous amount of pressure that was being applied by his opponent Ruiz.
Accustomed to fighting from the outside, Conception was out of his element as Ruiz forced the fight on the inside, bulling Conception to the ropes for prolonged periods in the early going. Though Ruiz wasn’t much of a puncher, he kept a steady flow of hooks pouring in on Conception, keeping him from starting up his own offense.
In the first round, Conception, looking overly muscular (perhaps too muscular for his own good, for it didn’t seem to help with his power) fought the entire round with his back against the ropes, smiling while taking shots from Ruiz. He did little, but due to the power of his shots, I had Conception winning the round. He had his nose bloodied, however, from one of Ruiz’s many right hand shots landed during the round.
In the second and third round, Ruiz applied heavy pressure, forcing Conception to the ropes where the action was mostly done by Ruiz, the more skilled inside fighter. Ruiz applied every trick in the book while inside, throwing his shoulder, forearms, elbows, and particularly his head, which he used almost a third arm. The referee, however, didn’t step in to stop any of the rough stuff during this point in the fight.
In the fourth round, Ruiz was finally deducted a point for yet another headbutt. However, Ruiz appeared to win the round with his effective pressure, making the round even. Conception continued to do very little, looking almost musclebound.
Conception came back strong in the 5th round, using an effective technique of giving Ruiz a hard shove to keep him on the outside, and then nailing him. Conception wasn’t warned for the pushing, which was quite frequent during the round.
Ruiz did well in the sixth round, getting inside once again and not letting Conception’s constant shoving to keep him from landing shots. Ruiz, however, appeared to be tiring a little, losing power on his already weak shots.
In the seventh and eighth rounds, Conception controlled the action, landing some hard right hands and left hooks to the head. He was finally able to keep some of the action in the center of the ring, where he was able to use his speed and power to land effectively on the slower Ruiz.
In the ninth round, Conception was deducted a point for holding by the referee. The deduction seemed a little extreme, because Conception really wasn’t holding all that much in the round. However, it appeared that the referee had had enough of the way the fight had been fought so sloppily by both fighters, and wanted to exert some kind of control over the bout. By this time, though, it was a little late for that.
Conception staggered Ruiz at the end of the 10th round, after hitting him with a big right hand. However, the round ended before he could follow up with more shots. By this time, Ruiz was badly tired and was punching little.
In the eleventh round, Conception dominated the round, landing powerful right hands to the head. Once again, he began pushing Ruiz off of him, and then turning slightly and tagging him with right hands. Very effective, even if it was a little dirty.
The fight turned into a mess in the 12th round, as both fighters constantly wrestled with one another, landing few good shots. Ruiz charged forward at one point and clashed heads with Conception, prompting for the referee to deduct a point from Ruiz. It hardly mattered, because he was behind on the cards and was in no position to have it effect the overall outcome.
Moments later, as if the even the score, the referee then deducted a point from Conception for shoving Ruiz through the ropes. A good move, but it came perhaps six rounds too late for Ruiz. Aside from that, there were few punches thrown in the round, and pretty much even.
Conception, ranked # 11 in the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization super bantamweight division, needs to consider trimming down a little and moving down to bantamweight. He looks and fights like a bodybuilder, and all the useless muscles he has seem to slow him down, and make him an average fighter. Once he steps it up against better fighters than Ruiz, he’s going to get to get a badly beaten.