By Allan Fox: 43-year-old Amir Mansour (22-2-1, 16 KOs) reportedly suffered a jaw injury last Saturday night in his 5th round stoppage loss to 2012 U.S Olympian heavyweight Dominic “Trouble” Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs) on the undercard of the Danny Garcia vs. Robert Guerrero fight on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Mansour was fighting with mouth open the entire fight, and he finally paid for it in the 5th, when he took a right hand to the left side of his jaw that caused the injury. Mansour reportedly bit through his tongue as well.
It was a disappointing way for the 30-year-old Breazeale to get a way, because he had been knocked down in the 3rd round, and shock up in the 2nd and 4th rounds as well by big shots from Mansour.
It’s anyone’s guess who would have won the fight had Mansour not suffered the injury. He was starting to fade by the 4th round, and it’s possible that Breazeale would have eventually wore him down to get a stoppage anyway. Mansour looked slightly hurt from a shot in the 5th after getting nailed by an uppercut.
At the time of the stoppage, Mansour led on the scorecards by the scores of 48-46, 48-46 and 49-45.
Mansour was throwing huge leather in the first three rounds with him winding up and nailing the 6’7” Breazeale with tremendous shots over and over again. It’s a credit to Breazeale for being able to take those big shots and continue to fight.
Breazeale’s management is going to need to teach him how to use his jab so that he can stay on the outside more and not get hit so much. Breazeale has been fighting shorter fighters lately, and they’ve had no problems whatsoever landing their big shots on him.
Breazeale might as well be 5’11” rather than 6’7”, because he doesn’t seem to know how to use his height to his benefit. He gets walked incredibly easy, and he has nothing to keep the shorter fighters off of him. Breazeale arguably lost his fight against Kassi but was given a controversial win.
If Breazeale can’t even beat the shorter, older fighters like Kassi and Mansour, then how is he going to do when he gets inside the ring with the bigger heavyweights like Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. I’m sure that Breazeale’s handlers would just be happy if he could get a title shot, period. But it’s no good if Breazeale is put into situations that he doesn’t have the skills to succeed in.
He’s 30-years-old, but he’s fighting more like a fighter much younger than that. He definitely doesn’t fight like someone with Olympic experience. Breazeale needs a jab, punching power and defense if he wants to be able to get to the next level and succeed. The way that Breazeale is fighting, he’s going to need to be spoon fed for a long time until he can a No.1 ranking. I don’t think he’s going to be matched against anyone good that could potentially beat him.
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