By Jim Dower: Lightweight Jason Litzau (25-2, 21 KO’s) looked very impressive in stopping Verquan Kimbrough (21-2-2, 7 KO’s) in the 3rd round on Saturday night on the undercard of the Roy Jones Jr. vs. Jeff Lacy bout at the Coast Coliseum, in Biloxi, Mississippi. Litzau, 26, moving up in weight from featherweight, looked much stronger than he had been while fighting 126.
Litzau was like a tall bean pole at featherweight and the added nine pounds seems to have made the tall 5’10” Litzau much stronger than he was in the past. That strength showed it self in Litzau knocking Kimbrough to the canvas once in the 2nd and another time in the 3rd.
Kimbrough was in deep trouble throughout the 2nd round and into the 3rd, taking vicious shots from the powerful Litzau the whole time. Kimbrough didn’t make it easy on himself by standing against the ropes and allowing himself to be a stationary target for Litzau’s big right hands and hooks.
Kimbrough was like a sitting duck and just taking bad punishment. Kimbrough was cut on the side of the right eye in the 2nd round, and by the end of the fight in the 3rd, his face was a bloody mess. However, the blood wasn’t really why Kimbrough was getting punished so much.
The reason is he didn’t have the movement or defense to get out of the way of Litzau’s big power shots. Nor did Kimbrough have the power of Robert Guerrero, who stopped Litzau in a one-sided fight last year in February.
In opening round, Litzau made no bones about what he was out to do as he attacked Kimbrough with big power shots, firing off tremendous right hands to the head and big body shots. Having seen Litzau fight on many occasions in the past, I was surprised at him much more solid and powerful he was at lightweight compared to when he was fighting as a featherweight.
Litzau’s punches seemed to be much harder and his ability to take shots seemed to have improved as well. What helped Litzau even more was that he had a five inch height advantage over the 5’5” Kimbrough, which allowed Litzau to bomb Kimbrough from the relative safety of the outside – not that Litzau was shy about getting hit, mind you.
He didn’t really seem to care whether he was hit or not. In the last minute of the round, Litzau landed a huge right hand that sent Kimbrough stumbling several feet backwards almost knocking him down. Kimbrough was clearly hurt and tried holding onto Litzau’s left arm to prevent him from fighting.
This was the wrong move, because Litzau then nailed Kimbrough with two big right hands while still being held. In the 2nd round, Litzau started off well throwing a lot of jabs and left hands. The round looked to be going pretty smoothly for him when suddenly Kimbrough opened up with a flurry of shots, catching Litzau in the head with each of them.
Instead of folding, Litzau fired back with a huge right hand that hurt Kimbrough sending him to the ropes where he covered up while Litzau blasted away at him with power shots to the head. Kimbrough them grabbed Litzau’s left arm again, but Litzau again nailed him with right hands over and over again, forcing Kimbrough to release his left hand.
As soon as Kimbrough left his left arm go, Litzau tagged him with a big right hand that sent Kimbrough down on the canvas. The round ended shortly after Kimbrough made it to his feet. In the 3rd round. Kimbrough, blood dripping badly from his cut left eye, retreated to the ropes and attempted to cover up.
Litzau then wailed away at him with power shots. Like in the previous round, Kimbrough grabbed Litzau’s left arm and was nailed with right hand until he was forced to let the arm go. Litzau then landed a right that dropped Kimbrough to the canvas.
After Kimbrough got to his feet, Litzau teed off on him with big power shots as Kimbrough stood trying to cover up on the ropes. Twice more in the round, Kimbrough slipped to the canvas after getting tagged, but the referee ruled them as slips. After the round ended, Kimbrough’s corner stopped the fight.
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