By Jeff Aranow: Undefeated welterweight prospect Jamontay Clark (11-0, 7 KOs) had a harder time than expected in stopping Gaku Takahashi (15-7-1, 7 KOs) by a 7th round TKO on Tuesday night on Premier Boxing Champions on FS1 at the Fitz Tunica Casino & Hotel in Tunica, Mississippi. Takahashi’s corner halted the fight following the 7th round due to him having taken too much punishment.
The 22-year-old Clark had hurt Takahashi late in the 7th round with some big shots. Clark unloaded on the 29-year-old Takahashi with a series of big shots in that round. The Japanese fighter took the blows, but he looks in bad shape at the end.
Despite Clark winning, it wasn’t an altogether impressive performance from him. The lanky Clark was almost dropped in round 1 by Takahashi after getting hit by a left hand that caused him to stumble across the ring. It was fortunate for Clark that Takahashi didn’t have a lot of power, because he would have been a problem for him.
The southpaw Clark landed unloaded on Takahashi with a blizzard of punches in round 2. Takahashi showed a strong chin in taking Clark’s best punches in the round without going down.
In round 3, Takahashi weathered a storm of big shots from Clark in the first half of the round, and then came back to land a lot of nice shots in the second half. Takahashi’s lack of punching power enabled him to take a lot of punches without being troubled by them. Nevertheless, Clark did not look good getting hammered by Takahashi in the last minute and half of the round. Clark had clearly gassed and had nothing left in the last part of the round. It was not good to see a prospect getting worked over by a fighter that was supposed to be an easy mark for him. By the end of the round, the right side of Takahashi’s face was looking red.
Takahashi increased his work rate in round 4 through 7 in nailing Clark with a lot of hard body shots. Clark took the shots alright, but he wasn’t throwing as many punches as he had in the first three rounds. Takahashi tended to take shots in the first half of the rounds, and then come on in the second half with his jabs and hooks.
Clark looked annoyed at Takahashi, as if he was wondering why the guy was still there fighting.
All in all, it was a decent but far from great performance from Clark. He’s going to need to improve dramatically for him to be a factor in the welterweight division in the future.