By Dan Ambrose: Australian heavyweight prospect Kali Meehan (34-3, 28 KOs) was too much for journeyman Jeremy Bates (22-16-1, 18 KOs), stopping him in the 3rd round on Saturday night on the undercard of Nikolay Valuev vs. Serguei Lyakhovich at the Nuernberg Arena, in Nuremberg, Bayern, Germany. Bates, 34, was hurt and taking punishment on the ropes in the 3rd round, causing referee Ingo Barrabas to step in and halt the fight at 1:16 of the round. Bates, who had lost six of his last seven fights going into the fight, looked remarkably good early in the 1st round, as he tagged Meehan with a number of powerful right hands.
However, by midpoint of the round, Bates appeared to have punch himself out, not only for the round, but for the entire fight. From then on, Meehan was able to freely tee-off on Bates with right uppercuts, left hooks and jabs to the head. All that the red-faced and badly fatigued Bates could do was try and cover up and block some of the shots with his gloves. Meehan, 37, looked good, throwing chopping right hands, and especially powerful uppercuts.
In the 2nd round, Meehan landed two powerful left uppercuts that snapped Bates’ head back. It seemed only a matter of time before Bates would either go down or the referee would step in and halt the fight, because the fight, never close, had become ridiculously one-sided as Meehan pounded away at Bates using him as a heavy bag. ates’ nose began to bleed near the end of the round, and he looked tired and very hurt. He half-heartedly attempted a couple of weak jabs near the end of the round, but he looked exhausted, and they missed badly.
In the third round, the 6’5″ Meehan began to tattoo Bates with wide left hooks to the head, and equally wide right hands. One particularly nasty left-right combination by Meehan drove Bates to the ropes where he was a sitting duck for Meehan’s punches. Meehan calmly followed after him and landed a right hand, followed by a left, and then two more rights, causing the referee to jump in between the two fighters and call a halt to the bout at 1:16 of the 3rd round.
It was a good win for Meehan, who most recently stopped DaVarryl Williamson in the sixth round in his last bout in October 2007. Ranked # 4 in the World Boxing Association and #11 in the World Boxing Council heavyweight rankings, Meehan needs perhaps one or two more good showings before he sets himself up for another title shot. Previously, Meehan lost a 12-round split decision to then WBO heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster in September 2004.
It appeared that Meehan had done more than enough to win the fight, however. Following that fight, Meehan would lose by a 4th round TKO to Hasim Rahman in a IBF, WBA & WBC Heavyweight Title Eliminator. That lost seemed to have effected Meehan, for it slowed down the forward progress in his career. Up until his fight with Williamson last year, Meehan had done little since his lost to Rahman, fighting several nondescript opponents that did little to further Meehan’s career.