By George Goddiess: Tonight on the undercard of DAZN’s Miami Thursday night card boxing fans were treated to another early year upset. Twelve days ago unified Junior Middleweight champion Julian Williams was stopped by underdog challenger Jeison Rosario and tonight we saw an undefeated Anthony Sims Jr. lose his undefeated record. The twenty-four year old Sims Jr fighting out of Los Angeles entered the ring undefeated in twenty bouts with eighteen knockouts. Opposing Sims Jr. was an experienced Roamer Alexis Angulo who entered with a record of twenty-five victories against one defeat and twenty-two knockout victories. His loan loss was to Gilberto Ramirez in a World Boxing Organization championship fight and he carried a two fight winning streak coming in. Angulo entered as the WBO Latino Super Middleweight Champion but was oddly announced first.
The first round two rounds of the bout were marked with very few highlights as Sims Jr opened the match on his toes looking to jab. Angulo early on struggled to get his feet set and find the right range to land his punches. There were not many clean scoring blows by either fighter in the opening two rounds. Sims Jr. was using every inch of the ring to avoid a close quarter’s fight and Angulo struggled as he followed Sims Jr. around. The third round began with an uptick in the action as Angulo came out charging and managed to trap Sims Jr on the ropes.
Sims Jr. up against the ropes bent at the waist and put his head down as Angulo slapped in right and left hooks to wherever he could land on the head and body of Sims Jr. The two fighter’s heads came together as Sims Jr. complained of a clash of heads but there was only a brief reprieve in the action. Sims Jr. immediately backed out to the range he preferred and tried to get his jab going again. Angulo continued to work his way inside and would use his left hand to push Sims Jr.’s head down while he cocked his right hand. This was a pattern that would come to follow as Sims Jr. would lower his head in close and Angulo would get physical leaning on him trying to wear him down and trap his head in one place to land chopping right hands. Angulo threw a left hook in the round landing on the forearm of Sims Jr. but was getting closer as the round continued and he snuck in a straight right hand right near the bell.
The fourth round started similar to the third with Angulo charging hard out of the corner and trying to pin Sims Jr. along ropes. There was a brief break by referee Chris Young and Anthony seemed to hobble for a moment. Angulo got back to work getting in close and holding the back of Sims Jr.’s head and slapping rights in reminiscent of a hockey fight. Again Sims Jr. bent at the waist and Angulo was content to land what he could despite the effectiveness of the shots he
was throwing and Sims Jr. was holding. Angulo put a stamp on the round with a lunging left hook that landed cleanly. Angulo was not getting full torque on his power shots and was not landing perfectly flush but it appeared at this stage he had the right idea on how to get to his elusive opponent. The fifth round became dramatic for the wrong reasons.
The fifth round was more of the same with Angulo struggling to pin down Sims Jr and Sims Jr. trying to stay at range and jab. Anthony threw in a few shuffles with his feet trying to create fakes and at times it appeared he was trying to mask a right hand but he never released that punch. As the round came near a close the referee Young separated the fighters after a brief exchange along the ropes and sent Sims Jr. to a neutral corner and walked Angulo to the center. A point was deducted from Angulo with less than thirty seconds in the round of what was a pretty non-descript round. Angulo was visibly upset as Young exclaimed that he already had warned Angulo three times. The fight was closely contested and the point deduction was an important moment in the fight as the half way point was reached. At this point the first, second and third rounds were very quiet rounds especially the first two. Round four was very much an Angulo round and round five was clearly for Sims Jr. after the point deduction and most likely scored 10-8.
Despite the deduction the sixth round did not open with an energized Angulo looking to rally back after losing a point. At the conclusion of the sixth round James Doolin, the trainer of Sims Jr in a calm but stern manner urged his fighter that he was behind by two rounds and needed to knock Angulo out. Sims Jr. seemed to argue with this observation but Doolin would turn out to be right. Despite this attempt to motivate his fighter Angulo was the one to come out determined in round seven to make a move. He opened the round with a right uppercut and then threw a left hook with Sims Jr. and scored. Sims Jr. got space and tried to use combinations to slow down the attack of Angulo who would throw in close as Sims Jr. seemed to languish on the inside. Sims Jr. created space and rather than jab as he had most of the fight he stuck out a right cross. Angulo not trying to lose the momentum followed with his own chopping right and even threw one right at the bell which caused Young to jump in and break them up.
The seventh round was the best of the fight and was followed with another slow round in the eighth. Following that round Doolin again expressed concern telling his fighter to put something behind his right hand and that he needed to knock Angulo down. The ninth round was highlighted by skirmishes from Angulo who continued to control Sims Jr.’s head and sneak in his right hand however possible. Sims Jr. seemed content to hold on the inside and Angulo continued to let his hands go up close. The mauling work appeared to carry the round and the fight was very close going into the final round. Sims Jr. was met by more of the same in corner as he was urged on to score a knockdown.
Sims Jr. stood his ground a little bit more this round and made use of combinations as Angulo fell in looking to try and get in some final blows. Despite the closeness of the fight neither man sold out and the round was close much like many of the preceding nine. David Diamante came to the center of the ring to announce the decision. Judge Richard Green scored it 95-94 Sims Jr, Rocky Young scored 96-93 for Angulo and Gloria Martinez Rizzo solidified the split decision with 96-93 Angulo. Anthony Sims Jr. quickly vacated the ring in disappointment following his first career defeat.
Ultimately the judges appeared to favor the forward marching Angulo and his rough inside fighting as opposed to the mobile point scoring style of Sims Jr. This was a very close contest with two very contrasting styles marked by many quiet rounds with not much distinction in clean landed punches. The fifth round was a clear win for Sims Jr. while the fourth, seventh, and ninth appeared to be solid rounds for Angulo. At age thirty-five Angulo will be looking to propel himself into a larger bout. He was ranked number nine by the WBO who he holds a minor title for and fought in a world championship bout for. Billy Joe Saunders the WBO titlist also fights on DAZN so a fight between the two could definitely be made however Saunders has much larger options like Saul Alavrez, Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, and Callum Smith available.
For Sims Jr. this can serve as a learning experience or a sign of things to come. Sims Jr. is a young and physically gifted boxer but tonight lacked the urgency to take his performance to another level to win. He certainly was the faster boxer, the sharper puncher, the better jabber etcetera but he failed to use these advantages in a meaningful way. His jab was effective but he did not put together the power punches to open up the offense and create a deterrent for Angulo who continued to press the fight. I come away with a lot of respect for James Doolin who gave his fighter an unfiltered and honest appraisal of the bout even when Sims Jr. felt comfortable in there. He saw the lack of fire in his fighter and pushed to get him to step it up down the stretch and despite what he was demanding he kept a calm demeanor in the corner.
Also on the card we had a chance to see a young middleweight prospect in Austin “Ammo” Williams from Houston, Texas score an early technical knockout victory. The twenty-three year old began boxing at nineteen and entered the ring undefeated in his four fights with three ending by stoppage. Throughout the bout Williams displayed a calm poise in the ring and worked behind a solid jab and defense from the southpaw stance. His opponent, Donald Sanchez from Albuquerque, New Mexico entered with a record of five wins and two losses and had never been knocked out in the ring. He also came in with fifty professional mixed martial arts bouts with over thirty victories inside the cage.
What was most impressive about Williams was his ability to vary his punches and his patient finishing. The variation showed in the second round when he dropped Sanchez with a looping left hand around the guard. The first round and the beginning of the second were marked by the straight left hand down the middle by Williams. Rather than fall in love with the punch and keeping attacking the same way he used the success up the middle to hook the punch when Sanchez defended for the straight. When Sanchez rose to his feet Williams struck the body with
his straight left rather than go head hunting and used the left to the body to come in with a right hook to the head. This was an outstanding variation in punching for a young fighter.
The third round saw Williams not overdue it and force a stoppage on a resilient fighter still looking for counters. Williams continued to mix his punches and land cleanly with effective power punches but near the end of the round Sanchez managed to fire off a hard right hand that just missed the target showing that he was still game despite the one sided nature of the contest. Williams ended the bout in the fourth round opening up with a left down the middle early in the round. Sanchez seemed to get caught at the end of the punch and he got up right away from a left that didn’t seem as damaging as some of the previous connects. Toward the end of the round Williams found a hard left to the body and he pressed. A bent over Sanchez took a right hook to the head and fell to a knee as referee Telis Assimenios immediately waved off the contest. It is still early to tell what heights Austin Williams is destined to reach but he impressed tonight in Miami.