By Jim Dower: WIBF Women’s International Boxing Federation featherweight champion Jeannine Garside (10-3-1, 4 KO’s) easily beat German based WBC/WBO female featherweight champion Ina Menzer (26-1, 10 KO’s), handing Ina her first loss of her six-year pro career and taking her two titles away on Saturday night at the Porsche Arena, in Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttenmberg, Germany.

The final judges’ scores were 98-92, 96-94 and 96-94. I had Garside, who comes from Canada, winning all 10 rounds of the fight. Menzer, 29, looked to be in the survival mode after the 1st round, and spent much of the time trying to clinch and prevent the more powerful Garside from landing.

In the 10th round, Garside dropped Menzer with a straight left hand in the last seconds of the fight to seal the victory. She didn’t need the knockdown to win in my scoring of the fight, but given that Menzer fights out of Germany and was the champion, it was probably needed for Garside to win.

Menzer, who usually is the stronger fighter in most of her bouts, looked weaker and not able to match-up to the big power shots from Garside. It was pretty early on that Menzer didn’t have the power to compete with the southpaw Garside.

As a result, Menzer resorted to clinching at every opportunity to prevent Garside from teeing off on her in close. It worked somewhat, but it also prevented Menzer from landing her own shots, so it was more of a survival tool rather than something that she could use to win the fight.

Garside was able to land straight left hands and raking rights before Menzer would dive on her and loop an arm her neck for a clinch. Oftentimes Menzer would pull Garside by the neck and push down as if she were trying to pull her to the canvas. The referee just let Menzer do this time and time again without any warnings.

Rounds one through five were one-sided, with Garside punishing Menzer with straight left hands and pressuring her constantly. Menzer would try to fight back, but she didn’t have the power to do much against the much stronger Garside. Menzer would try to land some shots, but when Garside would return fire and land some of her own, Menzer would either grab her in a clinch or turn tail and run.

Late in the 6th round, Garside opened up with a flurry of shots, tagging Menzer with both hands Menzer’s head was bouncing one way and then other with each crashing punch and it looked like Garside was working a speed bag. Rather than fight her or clinch her way out of it, Menzer actually turned her back on Garside and ran across the ring.

It was one of the most amateurish moves I’ve seen in a professional fight before. It looked like something you would see on YouTube in a backyard fight, but not in a professional fight. Menzer was clearly out of her element here and taking a pounding.

In rounds seven through ten, Menzer began to clinch for all she was worth. No longer even trying to win the fight, Menzer was just clinching at every opportunity. When she wasn’t clinching, Menzer was running. Finally, Garside caught up to Menzer in the 10th and dropped her with a hard left hand in the last seconds of the bout. Menzer got to her feet, blood pouring out of her swollen nose, and lasted the final seconds of the fight.

Like I said, the scores were not indicative of the actual fight that took place in the ring. Even if I wanted to give some mercy rounds to Menzer, I could only give her one round, and that would be much too kind because she deserved none the way she fought.