Coming in at a career high of a plump 257 lbs, heavyweight contender Sinan Samil Sam (30-4, 16 KOs) destroyed 42 year-old Ratko Draskovic (28-7-2, 16 KOs) in the 2nd round of a scheduled 12-round bout for the WBC Mediterranean heavyweight title last night at the Zenith – Die Kulturhalle, in Munich, Bayern, Germany. After a rather uneventful first round, Draskovic was knocked down three times by Sam, 33, in the second round before referee Daniel Van de Wiele moved in and halted the one-sided slaughter. At the same time that the referee was stopping the bout, Draskovic’s corner was throwing in the towel in an effort to spare their fighter any more punishment from Sam.
Sam, who lost to Oliver McCall by decision last year in a WBC eliminator bout, looked to be in terrible shape last night, sporting a a huge pendulous belly, and looking as if he had trained little for the bout. As it turns out, Sam wouldn’t need much training to beat the 42 year-old Draskovic, who was out of he element against the power-punching Sam. Draskovic looked good in the opening moments of the first round as he used his jab to fend off Sam’s bull-like attacks. However, Sam soon began walking through Draskovic’s jabs and nailing him with uppercuts and chopping right hands to the head.
Sam may be looked to be in poor shape, but there was nothing wrong with his power or his handspeed for that matter. In point of fact, Sam despite looking badly out of shape, seemed to be more impressive than Cuban prospect Odlanier Solis, whom also fought on the same card.
Early in the second round, Sam nailed Draskovic with a perfect left hook to the head that staggered him. Sam quickly followed with a left-right combination followed by a right hand that dropped Draskovic to the canvas. After getting back to his feet, the referee looked him over and allowed the fighting to continue, whereby Sam nailed Draskovic with a right hand, right uppercut to the head and then straight right.
Draskovic backed up and slipped to the canvas. The referee was partially blocked from seeing the action, and mistakenly ruled it another knockdown. Draskovic wasn’t complaining by this point, looking relieved that he had been able to stop the punishment for a few seconds, enabling him to try and clear his head from the previous knockdown. Once again, Draskovic dragged himself off the canvas and the action was allowed to resume. Sam immediately came pouring in on Draskovic, nailing him with a right hand, right uppercut and then a right to the back of his head which dropped Draskovic to the canvas for the third and final time in the round. At this point, the referee Daniel Van de Wiele stepped in and stopped the fight, at the same instance that Draskovic’s corner was throwing in the white towel to signal surrender.
It was a good win for Sam, who badly needs to stay busy if he wants to get a shot at one of the titles. One thing is for sure, he needs to focus on his training a little more, for there’s no excuse for coming into a fight as badly out of shape as he was last night.