Zappavigna Dominates St. Clair, Geale Stops MacKillop

By Boxing News - 03/12/2009 - Comments

lenny43435By Nate Anderson: In an impressive punching performance, unbeaten light welterweight prospect Leonardo Zappavigna (18-0, 13 KOs) pounded out a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision over former IBF super featherweight champion Gairy St. Clair (41-9-2, 18 KOs) last night at The Cube, Campbelltown, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Zappavigna, 21, the IBF Pan Pacific light welterweight champion, dominated the entire fight and hurt St. Clair on a number of occasions with big clubbing right hands to the head. The final judges’ scores were 120-107, 119-109 and 120-108.

Zappavigna, one of the best light welterweight prospects in boxing, made it appear easy in beating the veteran St. Clair. In fact, Zappavigna looked much better in beating St. Clair than lightweight Amir Khan did back in February 2008, a bout in which Khan won by a 12-round unanimous decision.

Against Zappavigna last night, St. Clair looked like he was mainly interested in survival above all else, as he did little for the first six rounds of the fight other than move around the ring trying to pick off punches from Zappavigna. In that, he did only a so-so job, because Zappavigna was able to land quite a bit of shots to both the head and body. In the 7th round, St. Clair finally started letting his hands go a little, throwing a few harmless combinations that did little. Zappavigna immediately fired back with harder shots and effectively shut down St. Clair’s feeble attempt at starting up his offense. In the 8th round, St. Clair’s eagerness to make a fight of it led to him getting nailed by a big right uppercut and another huge overhand right. He took both shots well, just as he did all the other countless bombs he was hit with during the fight, but it showed that he was going to have to pay for anything that he wanted to get in this fight.

By the 10th, St. Clair was showing signs of swelling on both cheekbones, no doubt a product of Zappavigna’s many hooks and uppercuts in the fight. In rounds 11 and 12, St. Clair sporadically attacked with quick combinations, but in each case he was met with heavy return fire from the bigger, more powerful Zappavigna. In the 12th, Zappavigna transformed from a slugger to a boxer as he moved around the ring, jabbing and occasionally landing big shots. With a huge lead, he could afford to take his time and avoid exchanges with St. Clair.

Overall, the win was a very impressive one for Zappavigna, because not only did he dominate a former world champion, but he also looked much better than Khan in doing the same work. Though he clearly wasn’t as fast as Khan, Zappavigna showed much better power and seemed more powerful.

In other action on the card, undefeated middleweight contender Daniel Geale (21-0, 13 KOs) stopped Ian MacKillop in the 1st round of a scheduled 10-round bout. Geale, 28, staggered MacKillop early in the 1st with a big looping right hand to the head. A short time later, Geale finished him off with a left hook to the head. MacKillop, his nose bleeding badly, was counted out at 1:58 of the round by referee Gary Deane.

Geale, ranked #5 in the WBO, #12 in the WBC and #14 in the IBF middleweight division, started the fight slowly throwing jabs and combinations. However, after backing MacKillop up to the ropes, Geale landed a big looping right hand that slightly staggered MacKillop. Geale then went after him, throwing more right hands as MacKillop backed up across the ring.

After hitting him with another looping right hand shot, the two fighters clashed heads hard, causing MacKillop to suffer a bloody nose. MacKillop then clinched several times trying to buy some time. However, Geale went after him and landed a nice combination to back him up against the ropes. Geale then let loose with a big left hook to the head that dropped MacKillop to the canvas. Referee Gary Deane then stepped in and stopped the fight at that point.

As good as the win was, Geale didn’t impress me all that much. His hand speed was poor, very poor, and the punches that he hurt MacKillop with didn’t appear to be all that hard. It seemed like the head butt took all the fight out of MacKillop, who probably suffered a broken nose at the time.