By Jim Dower: Cruiserweight contender Troy Ross (22-1, 15 KO’s) easily defeated journeyman Michael Simms (20-11-1, 13 KO’s) by a 10-round unanimous decision on Friday night at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada. Ross, 33, a former winner of ‘The Contender’ season four championships, used his superior inside fighting skills to defeat Simms by the scores of 99-91, 99-90 and 99-90.
Ross, only 5’11”, had problems with the height of Simms in the 1st round, as Simms was able to bomb Ross from long right hand with right hands. However, after the first round, Ross seemed to relax a little and took the fight to the inside where he was able to get his shorter punches in with great regularity against the taller Simms.
It was made much easier because the 6’2” Simms seemed to give up his height easily without trying to back up and make adjustments to Ross’s attacks. Ranked number #8 in the WBO, #12 in the IBF, and #14 in the WBC, Ross was able to corner Simms in the first three rounds and hit him with a lot of hard shots against the ropes. Ross’ power wasn’t close to being extraordinary, but he hit hard enough to command Simms’ respect.
In the 5th, the action became more of a wrestling between both fighters as Simms tried to get in position to land his shots while on the inside. However, the action mostly favored Ross. In rounds six through nine, Ross continued to press the attack and keep the fight on the inside. His right eye began to swell up during this time, but it wasn’t anything major.
Simms began to come on in the early part of the 9th, trying to score a knockout no doubt. It wasn’t happening, though, as Ross stayed close to him and was able to negate what little power that Simms had.
In the 10th, Ross caught Simms against the ropes and unloaded on him with a storm of shots that had Simms hurt. The referee stopped the action and gave Simms a standing eight count. As soon as the action resumed, the time ran out on the fight.
Ross looked good, although I doubt he has enough power to beat any of the current champions in the cruiserweight division at this time, but he’d be problems for any of them.
In other action on the card, undefeated middleweight prospect David Lemieux (16-0, 16 kO’s) kept up his perfect knockout record with a 2nd round knockout of Martin Avila (9-6, 3 KO’s). Lemieux, 20, knocked Avila down four times in the right, twice in the 1st and another two times in the 2nd before the bout was stopped by referee Alain Villeneuve at 1:17 of the 2nd round.
Lemieux knocked Alvila down with a right-left combination early in the 1st round. And then later in the round, Lemieux knocked Avila down with a left to the body. In the 2nd round, Lemieux dropped Avila with a right to the head early in the round. And then late in the round Lemieux finished Avila off with a left hook.
Lemieux looks good for a young prospect. His lack of height (he’s only 5’10”) will likely limit how far he can go as a middleweight, but he should be a good local fighter for awhile.
Comments are closed.