Boxing Results – Jo Jo Dan Defeats Gomez; Dinu Stops Marinov

By Boxing News - 06/06/2009 - Comments

dan45By Erik Schmidt: Undefeated light welterweight contender Ionut “Jo Jo Dan” Ion (25-0, 13 KOs) easily defeated Argentinean Walter Sergio Gomez (19-8-1, 8 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision on Friday night at the Sala Rapid, in Bucharest, Romania. The final judges’ scores were 120-108, 120-101 and 120-108.

There were two knockdowns in the fight with Jo Jo Dan going down once in the 2nd after slipping while being hit with a right to the body and Gomez going down after being cuffed by a right hand from Jo Jo Dan in the 12th. Neither knockdowns should have counted, but it had no effect on the fight because Jo Jo Dan dominated the entire fight with his better skills and higher work rate.

Gomez, 31, went into Friday’s fight having lost five of his last night bouts and he looked like he didn’t belong in the same ring with the skillful Jo Jo Dan. Gomez rarely attempted to throw more than 10 punches per round and generally just hung around taking punishment from the light-hitting Jo Jo Dan for 12 rounds.

Jo Jo Dan, the NABA light and WBC Continental Americas light welterweight champion, used his jab and straight left hand to control the action through many of the rounds. Dan fought cautiously in the early going, but as the fight wore on he threw more flurries and did well punishing the slower Gomez.

In the 1st round, Jo Jo Dan, ranked #5 in the World Boxing Council, #7 WBA, and #11 in the IBF, stalked Gomez around the ring hitting him with jabs and straight left hands to the head. Gomez moved in slow circles around the ring trying to avoid being a stationary target for Dan’s jabs and left hands.

In the first minute of the 2nd round, Gomez landed a right hand to the midsection of Jo Jo Dan, causing Dan to slip and fall to the canvas. The referee must have been unable to see the slip and subsequently ruled it as a knockdown. Gomez briefly went after Dan and landed several shots but nothing big. In the final minute of the round, Dan attacked Gomez and hit him with a flurry of shots.

In rounds three though six, Jo Jo Dan, from Romania and now loving and fighting out of Canada, jabbed Gomez and landed straight left hands to the head. At any sign of attack, Dan would immediately retreat backwards to avoid the attacks. At the end of each round, Dan would attack Gomez and land flurries as Gomez would cover up on the ropes.

In rounds seven through ten, Dan continued to stalk the over-matched Gomez around the ring and land straight left hands. Dan kept his hands down by his sides much of the time and looked like a carbon copy of fellow countryman super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, albeit without the power that Bute possesses.

By this time in the fight, Gomez was only rarely trying to answer Dan’s punches. When Gomez would attempt anything remotely resembling a punch, Dan would retreat backwards instantly much in the same way that Bute does when under fire.

In the 11th and 12th rounds, the southpaw Jo Jo Dan caught Gomez up against the ropes and punished him with a prolonged series of straight left hands. In the 12th, Dan landed a cuffing right hand to the head of Gomez, knocking him to the canvas. The knockdown shouldn’t have counted but it didn’t really matter. Gomez had no chance and was going to lose anyway.

In other action on the card, Romanian heavyweight Bogdan Dinu (4-0, 2 KOs) stopped Nikolay Marinov (2-11, 1 KOs) in the 1st round of a scheduled four round bout. Dinu, 22, jabbed the 38-year-old Marinov in the first minute of the round, but then suddenly connected with a five punch combination to put Marinov down for the count.

Marinov rolled around on the canvas after the knockdown, his left eye bleeding badly. The fight was immediately stopped at this point. Dinu connected with two left hooks, a right uppercut and a left-right combination to put Marinov down. It looked very impressive.