By Eric Thomas: Featherweight Fernando Beltran Jr. (31-3-1, 18 KOs) defeated Takalani Ndlovu (28-5, 18 KOs) by a 12-round split decision on Friday night to win the vacant IBO featherweight title at the Sommet Center, in Nashville, Tennessee. The final judges’ scores were 115-112, 115-112 and 113-114. Beltran, who was coming off a 12-round lopsided decision loss to Steve Molitor in April, fought much better against the South African Ndlovu.
Other than a rough patch in rounds six through eight, Beltran Jr. dominated the fight against the less active Ndlovu, taking the fight to him and out-working him for the most part. Both fighters share the distinction of having been recently defeated by IBF super bantamweight champion Molitor, but in Ndlovu’s case, he was stopped in the 9th round of a one-sided fight versus Beltran Jr’s 12-round shellacking.
Beltran took the fight to Ndlovu for the first five rounds, hitting him often with left hands to the head and body, and pressuring him constantly. Ndlovu attempted to fire back but his punches were thrown much less often, and he didn’t have the power to make up for his inactivity.
In rounds six through eight, Ndlovu finally woke up and began to take the fight to Beltran, hitting him with sharp combinations to the head. Beltran appeared to have tired out somewhat and was looking to slow down the pace. Ndlovu, however, kept a steady supply of punches coming at Beltran. Strangely enough, Beltran pressured constantly during these rounds but was hit with incoming fire as he would plod slowly forward.
In the 9th round, Beltran Jr. began to come back, hitting Ndlovu with some good shots. However, in the 10th round, Beltran was deducted a point for hitting Ndlovu with a beautiful combination that landed well below the border. If Ndlovu was a foot shorter, it would have been nice combination, but as it was it cost Beltran a point. I had him winning the round easily before the point deduction, which made the round even afterwards.
In the 11th and 12th rounds, it was all Beltran as he continued to pressure Ndlovu and hit him with a downpour of punches. Ndlovu fought as if he didn’t have the urgency that he should have had under the circumstances. It was if he was fighting like the thought the bout was in the bag instead of on the line.
In the undercard, undefeated light middleweight prospect Harry Joe Yorgey (21-0-1, 9 KOs) defeated Jason LeHoullier (21-1-1, 8 KOs) by a 12-round majority decision to win the vacant IBF International light middleweight and IBF North American Light middleweight titles. The final judges’ scores were 117-111, 116-112 and 114-114.
LeHoullier, 30, did well in the first three rounds, hitting Yorgey with some nice shots and keeping him under control. However, Yorgey came on in the 4th round and dominated the rest of the way with uppercuts and hooks to the body and head of LeHoullier. Neither fighter looked like world class material, however, and I would have a hard time imagining either of them beating a top 15 opponent any time soon, if ever.