Greene Stops Okine

By Boxing News - 04/24/2008 - Comments

green46322.jpgBy Dan Ambrose: Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Joe Greene (19-0, 14 KOs) had a harder than expected fight on Wednesday night, stopping last minute replacement Joshua Okine (18-4-1, 12 KOs) in the 9th round of a scheduled 10-round bout at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Hollywood, Florida. Greene, the 2004 National Golden Gloves Middleweight champion, struggled early on with his accuracy, ultimately costing him a point in the 2nd round after the referee penalized him after his 2nd low blow in the round. This had the effect of changing Green’s offensive fighting strategy, which usually includes a lot of body punches, causing him to throw next to zero body shots in the remainder of the fight.

Greene also took a lot more shots in the fight than he normally does, as he seemed unable to prevent the southpaw Okine from landing an occasional powerful left hand. In the later rounds of the fight, Greene, 22, seemed distracted, often looking out into the audience as he fought. As a consequence, Greene was hit on a number of occasions with shots that he probably wouldn’t have if he had stayed focused exclusively on his opponent in from of him.

Finally, in the 9th round, with his family members urging him to get it over with and stop Okine, Greene over-powered Okine with straight left hands, dropping him twice causing the referee to stop the fight shortly after that with Okine taking punishment along the ropes.

Greene, a former middleweight, fighting with his right hand low in the 1st round, landed well with his jab and lead left hands. However, Okine, who took the fight on only four days notice, was able to find it remarkably easy to land his own shots, hitting Greene with left hands and brief flurries. Having seen many of Greene’s other fights, which were mostly one-sided affairs, it was unusual to see him taking shots. His defense, normally quite good, seemed erratic as he fought wild at times, thinking offense while forgetting about his defense. His hand speed also didn’t look that good against Okine, though definitely better than his.

In the 2nd round, Greene found it difficult to land his body shots without straying low. After hitting Okine with a big right hand south of the border, the referee warned Greene that he had better keep them up. However, seconds later, Greene landed another fight hook that went low, this time causing Greene to be docked a point by the referee. Following this, Greene focused almost entirely on throwing head shots, and he didn’t look entirely comfortable fighting without using his body attack. Greene easily did enough to win the 2nd round, but due to the point deduction to Greene, the round was an even round.

In the 3rd round, Greene mostly used his jab, staying on the outside and firing it off repeatedly at Okine. For his part, Okine only landed six punches in the round, and his punch output had dropped off significantly.

Greene looked much better in rounds four and five, as he looked much more comfortable choosing to box rather than slug it out with Okine. It wasn’t that Greene couldn’t slug with Okine, but without his body work, Greene, not a particularly devastating puncher, wasn’t able to use one of his most important weapons – his right hand to the body – to set up his straight left to the head.

Greene continued to look good in rounds six and seven, firing off jabs and a large amount of lead left hands to the head. With the fight no longer fought at close quarters, Okine wasn’t able to get his own punches off, as he was formed to follow after Greene, taking shots as he would come forward. Greene began to look distracted in the 7th round as he seemed to be listening to advice given to him from friends and family in the audience.

In the 8th round, Okine was able to land some excellent left hand right hand shots against Greene, who was caught looking at the audience on a number of occasions. Greene still won the round, but it wasn’t impressive given the way he fought in a distracted manner.

In the 9th round, Greene came out looking intent on ending matters, as he repeatedly nailed Okine with straight lefts to the head. A short time later, Greene staggered Okine with a big left hand. Two left hands later from Greene, Okine was dropped to the canvas, badly hurt. Showing great courage, Okine got up and continued fight, getting hit with some monstrous left hands from Greene almost immediately. Seconds later, Greene dropped Okine again, this time with a right hook. After Okine made it up, looking bad, Greene tore into him with a flurry of punches as Okine lay helpless against the ropes. The referee quickly moved in and called a halt to the fight before Okine could be dropped yet again.