By Todd Creel – Last Saturday, April 9th 2016, “Young General” Ian Green made a successful return to the ring in the Jeter Promotions card “Bulldog Brawl.” Green suffered a disappointing majority decision loss, the only of his career, in his first ring appearance of 2016. He and his team were determined not to let that happen again and wanted to keep the judges out of the equation.
Green’s opponent was the game veteran Gundrick King (18-16 11KO) from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He made the long trip to Virginia with the intentions of completely derailing Green’s plan of a knockout win. Round one saw Green using evasive ring movement and a disciplined jab to negate King’s come-forward offense. By round two, the feeling out process was over. Green stiffened his jab and often followed it with heavy body shots that seemed to sap the energy from his opponent. By round three, King’s offense was nonexistent. The body shots had obviously taken their toll, and the Young General’s jab prevented King from closing the distance. By this point, Green was throwing more hooks to the head and body, but King’s chin held. Round four was almost a mirror of the third, and it only seemed like a matter of time before King’s conditioning would give out. During round five, King attempted a last ditch effort, throwing heavy shots to try and turn the tide, but was met with a superior offense from Green. Green backed his opponent into the corner and unloaded heavy shots until the ref stopped the contest, scoring a TKO victory at 2:49 in round five.
I was able to ask Green and his team a few post fight questions before they left to travel back to New Jersey.
Did your preparation for this fight differ as a result of your last match?
Green: We viewed the last bout as a learning experience. I didn’t rehydrate properly after the weigh in, and it cost me a lot of energy as the fight went on. This time around, I ate and drank properly and felt fine in the ring.
King entered the ring with more knockouts than you had matches. Did you find his experience intimidating?
Green: He had more professional experience, but my amateur background made up the difference. I went in there with the plan to slowly and steadily break him down.
How do you feel about your performance tonight? Do you feel like you could have improved any?
Green: Everything went as planned, except for the weather changes have me very congested. I feel like I could have got him out of there sooner with more body shots, but he was definitely heavy handed, and I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.
There were few open seats tonight. Did the packed venue distract you any?
Green: I definitely notice the crowd before and after the fight, but once I get in the ring, I block the crowds out. I’m only listening for my corner during the fight.
Green and his team (trainers Dwyke Flemmings and Muhammad Salaam, along with his management team at Kran Sports), look to stay active and work their way up the rankings. Green looked impressive in being able to minimize his opponent’s offense while simultaneously breaking him down. With the win, the “Young General’s” record improves to 9-1 (7KO).
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