By Dan Ambrose: Exciting super middleweight power puncher Jaidon Codrington (19-2, 15 KOs) stopped journeyman William Gill (8-21, 7 KOs) with three seconds remaining in the 8th round on Thursday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center, in Providence, Rhode Island. Codrington, 24, a former star from reality television program The Contender, staggered Gill late in the 8th round with a monstrous left hand.
Codrington then followed up with a horde of combinations, driving Gill across the ring where he collapsed against the ropes causing referee Ricky Gonzalez to step in and halt the fight at 2:57 of the 8th.
Codrington, a fighter known for his incredible punching power but also for his defensive flaws, struggled in the first round against Gill, absorbing a lot of right hands from the New Jersey fighter. Codrington, however, came back to win rounds two through three with hard left hands to the head. Codrington looked to be in the process of winning the 4th round, but because of his tendency to grab the ropes and punch with his free hand at Gill, he was penalized a point late in the round by the referee for the rope grabbing.
Codrington had been grabbing the ropes in the previous rounds but was finally docked a point. Early in the 4th, he grabbed the ropes with his right hand and then nailed Gill with four huge left hooks to the head. It was quite impressive, except that he was grabbing the ropes at the time. In the 5th round, Codrington nailed Gill with a beautiful left hook to the groin.
Gill went down in pain and needed several minutes to recover from the low blow. After the action resumed, Codrington dominated the rest of the round with his powerful left hands. In rounds six and seven, both fighters went back and forth, trading power shots. Gill, mostly a right hand puncher, on occasion would land big shots to the head of Codrington, causing him to back off.
However, in this case, Codington showed a good chin and would almost immediately come back with hard combinations. Codrington, who hadn’t fought in over a year, seemed to be unable to sustain his attacks without backing off and taking a breather. In the meantime, his footwork was quite sloppy, and be was often knocked off balance by glancing blows from Gill.
In the 8th round, both fighters went at it with huge shots. Codrington missed off with wild homerun shots, swinging for a knockout on every punch. Finally, he hit pay dirt late in the round when he connected with a hard left-right combination to the head of Gill, causing him to stagger slightly.
Codrington then poured in a flurry of his shots, and driving Gill across the ring where he collapsed against the ropes, out on his feet. After hitting the ropes, Gill lay bent over them sideways for several moments, as if paralyzed. Seeing this, referee Ricky Gonzalez then trotted over and stopped the bout at 2:57 of the 8th round.
For Codrington, like always, his punches power was extraordinary. However, his foot work, offensive consistency and stamina were quite sloppy. He’s going to have to do much better if he wants to compete against better super middleweights than this. Indeed, this was an opponent that Codrington should have been able to stop easily, yet he struggled with him for most of the fight before putting him away in the 8th round.