By Dan Ambrose: Former BBBofC British welterweight champion David Barnes (23-1-1, 11 KOs) defeated EBU (European) light welterweight champion Ted Bami (23-3, 11 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision on Friday night to win the vacanat BBBofC British light welterweight title at the George Carnall Leisure Centre, Davyhulme, in Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom. Barnes, 27, controlled the fight from the outset, using constant movement, a slow pawing jab and a straight left hand to get the victory. It wasn’t a pretty bout, however, due to the constant movement and clinches from Barnes, who would wrap Bami up with a clinch after every 1-2 punches thrown by either fighter. The final judges’ scores were 119-110, 117-111 and 117-111, all for Barnes.
As ugly as it was, the strategy was more than effective to beat the likes of Bami, a limited fighter from the Congo. Barnes, perhaps, didn’t really need to clinch and run as much as he did, for Bami rarely threw any meaningful punches, and even those that he did throw, were wild shots that missed by a mile. Surprisingly, the British crowd didn’t boo Barnes for all of his running and clinching, because I have expected them to. In most countries, the audience would have booed him out of the ring for the boring, safety first performance he put on display against Bami. However, I suppose the crowd were being loyal to him because of him being a local fighter.
The first two rounds were mostly dull, with Barnes circling constantly, shooting out a slow jab at the air (used to keep Bami at a distance but not to hit him), and clinching him constantly whenever he came within range. Other than that, Barnes landed a handful of left hands, but had little power on them. In the clinches, Barnes used a fair amount of holding and hitting, which he received no warnings from the referee for doing.
In the third and fourth rounds, Barnes increased the pace of his clinching, initiating them after 1-2 punches. It was like clockwork after – jab, jab, clinch, jab, jab, clinch – and terrible to watch. I’ve seen fighter that clinch a lot, for example, Wladimir Klitschko and Henry Akinwande, but Barnes was perhaps the worst I’ve seen in all the years I’ve been watching boxing. It was excruciatingly boring and seemed to have degraded the sport, turning it into a stall tactic. If the bout had taken place in any other location than England, I have no doubts that Barnes would have first been warned and then penalized by the referee working the fight. Eventually, I could see him being disqualified because he was doing nothing other than clinching and running.
By the 5th round, Bami appeared to be agitated from all the holding, and began to use his head during the numerous clinches. It wasn’t that he was trying to use it for practical purposes, but rather he was attempting, it seemed, to get Barnes to stop clinching him as much. It didn’t work, for the referee merely stepped in and warned Bami for using his head, whereas Barnes received no warnings about his constant clinching. This, in a sense, doomed Bami, almost guaranteeing that he’d lose the fight, because he couldn’t get his offense started with Barnes constantly grabbing him to keep him from punching.
Bami would continue to occasionally clash heads with Barnes in the 6th though 8th rounds, and received additional warnings. Nothing much changed in the fight, as Barnes continued to move constantly, throw jabs and straight left hands. I guess you could say that he was giving Bami a boxing lesson, but the manner of the lesson was quite ugly to watch. It was like seeing the worse of Hector “Macho” Camacho in his later years, after he had lost his handspeed. I guess I shouldn’t have expected much from Barnes, being that he’s only a British fighter and not considered a world class talent, but I did expect a little more in the way action from a British fighter, most of whom are known for slugging it out. Barnes, however, appears to be in the minority for that country.
The 8th round was filled with wrestling, holding and other assorted inside fighting rough stuff. Barnes did land a number of short, range finding left hands that helped him win the round easily. He wasn’t loading up on the shots, mostly just using it to connect to the head of Bami. Even if he wanted to, Barnes, a light puncher, wouldn’t have been able to make a dent against Bami, who is known for having a good chin.
In the 9th round, Bami resorted to landing punches while being clinches, working one hand free and using it to pound Barnes from close range. He was warned for throwing an elbow by the referee. The combination of these led to Barnes finally slowing down on his clinches, which Bami took advantage of by landing a small number of big left hands in the round. Barnes, though, counteracted this by moving around the ring and jabbing constantly.
In the 10th through 12th rounds, Barnes finally began to attack Bami with left and right hands, as he could see that Bami was badly fatigued by this time in the fight, and was for the most part harmless and defanged. Barnes almost looked like a completely different fighter, for he was slightly interesting to watch now that he wasn’t running and holding constantly. He still had next to no power in his left hand, but at least he was finally letting it go for once.