Selby defeats Munroe; Joshua stops Darch in 2nd round

By Boxing News - 02/01/2014 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: In a controversial stoppage, British featherweight champion Lee Selby (18-1, 7 KO’s) stopped Rendall Munroe (27-4-1, 11 KO’s) in the 6th round on Saturday night to capture the vacant EBU (European) featherweight title at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.

Selby hurt Munroe with a right to the head in the 6th, causing Munroe to back up to the corner and just cover up. Selby the unloaded a flurry of shots that pretty much mostly missed, but referee Ian John Lewis halted the fight anyway. I wasn’t surprised at Lewis halting the fight when he did, because I’ve seen him stop other fights prematurely, so I was predicting a controversial stoppage.

In the big scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter that the fight was halted early because Munroe clearly wasn’t going to win, as he was just taking tremendous punishment without landing much in return. Every now and then, Munroe would land something, but it wasn’t enough.

“I’m looking at the ref, I’m throwing shots back, so why did he stop the fight,” Munroe said after the fight. “He was gassing out. Do I look like I’m finished?”

Selby doesn’t look good enough to compete for a world title against WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez. He’s so much quicker and stronger than Selby. Gonzalez would likely obliterate him.

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A heavy looking 2012 Olympic super heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (4-0, 4 KO’s) defeated an over-matched Dorian Darch (7-3, 1 KO’s) in the 2nd round. Joshua hit Darch with a left hook to the head that staggered him and backed him up to the ropes. The referee then immediately halted the fight while Darch hung on the ropes like a short spider.

Joshua hurt Darch late in the 1st round after hitting him with a hard right hand that knocked him back up against the ropes. Joshua the flurries with a storm of arm punches that Darch easily took and was able to return fire and make it out of the round.

In the 2nd, Joshua missed some big shots that had knockout written all over it. Finally, Joshua hit Darch with a hard left that sent him backwards up against the ropes. The referee didn’t waste any time in halting it, even though Darch probably could have taken a few more punches for good measure.

Overall, Joshua looked heavy, slow, robotic on his feet, and easy to hit. If he was in the ring with someone good tonight like Deontay Wilder, Chris Arreola or Bermane Stiverne, I think Joshua would have been knocked out in the 1st round. He reminds me a lot of a slightly taller version of Frank Bruno, but maybe a little slower and less athletic compared to him. Joshua is over-muscled and he needs to lose weight.

Joshua looks like he put on muscle weight from his last fight, and if he keeps up at this pace I can see him being another Larry Olubamiwo very soon. All that useless muscle is going to turn Joshua into a robotic tank, and I can’t see him being more than a 4 round fighter soon.

I see Hughie Fury as a better prospect with more of a top end than Joshua, because Hughie’s lighter on his feet and more athletic.

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We may have seen the end of the career for lightweight Gavin Rees (37-5-1, 18 KO’s) in him losing by a 12 round split decision to Gary Buckland (28-3, 9 KO’s). The final judges scores were 115-114 and 116-113 for Buckland, and 116-113 for Rees. Before the fight, Rees had talked about wanting to retire if he loses. Well, he lost the fight so it’s going to be interesting to see what Rees does now in terms of his career.

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Other action on the card:

Erick Ochieng pts 8 Dale Evans



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