By Dan Ambrose: Welterweight contender Antonin Decarie (21-0, 6 KOs) defeated journeyman Dorin Spivey (35-6, 28 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision on Friday night at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada. The final judges’ scores were 119-105, 118-105, and 118-108.
Decarie, 26, dominated most of the fight, throwing nice body shots and mixing in some good combinations to the head. However, his lack of power and stamina prevented him from taking out a tired Spivey, who looked to be worn out by the 6th and there for the taking if Decarie, 26, had any power.
Unfortunately, he didn’t. Ranked #6 in the World Boxing Organization welterweight division, Decarie, 5’9”, used his three inch height advantage to land from a distance against Spivey, who was a last minute replacement opponent. Spivey tired out in the late rounds and was twice penalized a point for excessive holding.
Spivey, 35, controlled the action in the 1st round, landing double jabs to the head of Decarie and keeping the Canadian from setting up his offense. Decarie came on late in the round to land a couple of nice right hands but it wasn’t enough to overcome all the good early work by Spivey in the round.
In the 2nd and 3rd rounds, Decarie opened up with power shots – if you want to call it that – to the head and body of Spivey, winning both rounds with his more meaningful punches. Spivey seemed content to just throw jabs, looking as if he was trying to pace himself.
In the 3rd, Decarie landed a hard right hand in the first minute of the round that seemed to hurt Spivey for a few seconds. Spivey immediately clinched and kept Decarie from adding anything else in the round.
In the 4th round, Decarie landed some nice right hands to the head of Spivey, but for the most part, the round was a jab contest between the two fighters.
Spivey began slowing down by the 5th, looking exhausted and holding often to try and slow the fight down. Decarie followed him around the ring, nailing him with combinations and jabs to the head.
In the 6th round, the referee now tired of watching Spivey clinch continuously, took away a point from him for his constant holding. This seemed to momentarily cause Spivey to throw a few more punches, but he continued to periodically clinch for the remainder of the round.
In the 7th and 8th round, Decarie continued to dominate the action, following Spivey around and hitting him with combinations to the head. Spivey was now throwing very few punches, only able to throw jabs. He looked ragged and totally tired out.
In the 8th, Spivey was once again deducted a point after clinching frequently in the opening minute of the round. This time, Spivey was warned that he would be disqualified if he continued to hold often. However, he continued to hold about as much as he did before the penalization for the remainder of the round.
In the 9th round, Decarie landed a hard right hand late in the round that seemed to hurt Spivey, causing him to clinch. However, Spivey was already clinching like no tomorrow, so it was hard to tell if he was clinching out of custom or because he was hurt. Late in the round, Spivey was cut over his left eye after getting hit with a hard right from Decarie.
In rounds 10 through 12, Spivey seemed to catch his second wind, and now was fighting much harder than he had in many rounds. It still wasn’t enough to win any of the rounds, but he did succeed in making the remaining rounds close. Decarie now looked to be tiring, and was red-faced and blowing hard.
In the end, Decarie had too much youth and size for Spivey to compete against. That said, Decarie looked very mediocre and not the kind of fighter that I can see ever winning a title in the welterweight division. I can see him hanging around for a number of years as a gate keeper, but he doesn’t have thye power to ever win a title in my estimation. He’s probably better off holding onto his little known WBO NABO welterweight title and defending that for as long as he can.