Fenech Decisions Nelson

fenech43322.jpgBy Chris Williams: If you can’t beat someone during your youth, bring them back in their old age and make it happen. This indeed is what a middle aged 44 year-old featherweight/super featherweight champion Jeff Fenech (29-3-1, 21 KOs) did with former WBC super featherweight champion Azumah Nelson (39-6-2, 28 KOs) on Tuesday night, beating him by a controversial 10-round majority decision. Forget for a second about Nelson’s age, 49 years-old, Fenech at least accomplished what he couldn’t do in his prime, even if it meant pulling Nelson out of his 10 year retirement, put him in front of a hostile Australian audience, and then rough him up by pushing him against the ropes for the entire fight, to make it happen. The final judges’ scores were 96-94, 96-94 and 95-95.

Even with all that going for Fenech, he still didn’t appear to win the fight, even though he got what appeared to be a home town decision. The two fighters had fought previously, with the first bout being a 12-round draw in 1991 and the second fight seeing Nelson stop Fenech in the 8th round a year later in 1992. I saw both fights, and there was no way the first fight was a draw, as Nelson appeared to win that fight by a comfortable margin of at least two to three rounds. I’m not precisely sure why Fenech suddenly decided after 16 years to try and avenge his one defeat to Nelson.

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Kickett Defeats St. Clair

kickett4464.jpgBy Chris Williams: In a battle of age vs. youth, up and coming undefeated Australian lightweight prospect William Kickett (11-0, 5 KOs) defeated former IBF super featherweight champion Gairy St. Clair (40-7-2, 17 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision at the Vodafone Arena, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on Tuesday night. Kickett, only 21, was making a huge step up in class, going from C level fighters to a good B class fighter in facing the 33 year-old former champion St. Clair. After a rough start in which St. Clair appeared to cause Kickett a lot of problems, winning two of the first three rounds, Kickett took over the fight in the 4th and controlled the bout the rest of the way with a combination of movement, a good jab and big power. The final judges’ scores were 97-93, 98-92 and 98-92, all for Kickett.

Kickett, who slightly resembles fellow Australian Anthony Mundine in looks and a little in fighting style, was moved up in a big way in having to face St. Clair on Tuesday night. Perhaps Kickett’s Management felt that due to the fact that St. Clair had lost three out of his last five fights, including a 12-round unanimous decision loss to Amir Khan in February, it meant that he was soft enough for Kickett to beat him. If that was their thinking, then yes, St. Clair wasn’t in the same class as Kickett, for after the 3rd round, the fight belonged totally to Kickett.

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Marquez Defeats Lorenzo

marquez442324.jpgBy Manuel Perez: 36 year-old middleweight Raul Marquez defied time on Saturday night with an impressive 12-round over unanimous decision over Giovanni Lorenzo (26-1, 18 KOs) in an IBF Middleweight Title Eliminator at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Hollywood, Florida. The final judges’ scores were 114-113, 114-113 and 114-113. Never mind the close scores, the fight wasn’t close at all as Marquez completely took over the fight in round four and never looked back. Lorenzo, 27, ranked #4 in the IBF, fought in a timid manner for most of the bout, fighting on the outside and treating Marquez as if he were some dangerous knockout threat to be avoided.

Lorenzo fought well in the first three rounds, hitting Marquez with powerful fight hands and left hooks to the body. At the same time, Lorenzo showed good athletic ability, moving around the ring well and keeping Marquez from catching up to him with his own shots. When Marquez would occasionally cut off the ring on him, Lorenzo would catch him with some big shots as he was coming. Lorenzo especially fought well going backwards, which as it turns out, was something that he was forced to do for most of the fight due to the heavy pressure that Marquez was putting on him all fight long. Again and again, Lorenzo would tag Marquez with big right hands as he would plod after him, catching him square in the face, causing it to redden and swell as early as the 3rd round.

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Bendall Decisions Paul Smith

smith43622.jpgBy Nate Anderson: In a fight that I feel was poorly scored, middleweight Steven Bendall (23-4, 13 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten Paul Smith (23-1, 13 KOs) by a 10-round decision on Saturday night to win the BBBofC English middleweight title at the National Indoor Arena, in Birmingham, West Midlands. Using a punch and an immediate clinch technique, Bendall, 34, slowed the action to a crawl from the opening moments of the fight and turning the fight into a boring stalemate. The referee, however, never penalized Bendall for his constant clinching, although he should because it made the fight all but unwatchable and prevented Smith, 25, from really ever establishing his offense in the fight. Still, even with all the clenching after every punch, I had Smith winning the fight by six rounds to five, although it could have been a little worse than that because he was landing by far the harder shots in every round of the fight.

Bendall, 34, a tall 6’0″ middleweight known more for his losses to Wayne Elcock, Darren Barker, Sebastian Sylvester and Scott Dann, than for anything else he’d achieved in his career, appeared to have studied Smith well. He appeared to know that he was susceptible to a constant punch and grab technique, which is exactly what Bendall set forth doing from the early moments of the fight. Smith, 25, looked totally frustrated and unable to come up with a strategy to counteract all of Bendall’s clinching.

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Ahunanya Defeats Butler

butler54453.jpgBy Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight prospect Alonzo Butler (26-1, 19 KOs) lost a 10-round unanimous decision to veteran Friday Ahunanya (24-5-3, 13 KOs) on Friday night at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. After dominating the first three rounds of the fight, Butler, 28, got careless and was nailed by a big right hand from the Nigerian Ahunanya, who quickly followed up with a flurry of big shots, knocking Butler to the canvas.

When he got up, his left eye, the eye that had been previously operated on for a detached retinue, began to swell up and would eventually close completely. From that point on, the fight mostly belonged to Ahunanya, as he landed the far bigger shots and would cause Butler problems in the subsequent rounds. The final judges scores – 95-94, 96-93 and 95-94 – were much closer than what the actual fight looked to be because Ahunanya appeared to win by a significant margin, much more so than the close scores that were eventually given by the judges.

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Abraham Destroys Miranda, Is Pavlik Next?

abe54355.jpgBy Michael Lieberman: I hate to say I told you so, because it pains me to gloat when I’m right but I predicted this outcome, although I was off by two rounds in my prediction. Instead of Edison Miranda (30-3, 26 KOs) being knocked out in the 6th round, as I previously predicted, he only lasted four rounds against Arthur Abraham (27-0, 22 KOs), in a fight that was mostly going Miranda’s way up until the 4th round, when Abraham suddenly dropped Miranda with a right hand. Abraham would later drop Miranda two more times, at which point referee Telis Assimenios stopped the bout at 1:13 of the 4th round.

It’s hard to say what happened to the 27 year-old Miranda. He was fighting well in the first three rounds, keeping Abraham, 28, under constant pressure, hitting him with big shots and mostly not getting hit with anything significant. In a way, it was a like the first three rounds of their first fight in September 2006, in which Abraham covered up continuously on along the ropes, and fighting a kind of primitive rope-a-dope. In this case, however, Abraham was blocking little and getting hit with a lot of shots from Miranda full force to the head and body. In the first round, Miranda was warned for throwing a low blow, and thankfully the referee didn’t penalize Miranda. In the second round, Miranda landed another low blow, a hard right hand that landed well low, causing Abraham to crouch down and wince in pain.

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Elcock Stops McDermott

elcock46211.jpgBy Nate Anderson: BBBofC British middleweight champion Wayne Elcock (19-3, 9 KOs) defeated challenger Darren McDermott (14-1-1, 9 KOs) in the 2nd round of a scheduled 12-round bout at the Civic Centre, Wolverhampton, in West Midlands on Friday night. Elcock, 34, was mostly having his way with McDermott in the 1st round, hitting him with big shots and giving him problems with his power. However, early in the 2nd round, Elcock came rushing forward to get in punching range when he clashed heads with MdDermott, opening a nasty cut on his left cheek.

The cut, a particular nasty one, bled badly and McDermott’s cheek swelled up fast in the seconds after the clash. Referee Howard John Foster then stopped the action and had McDermott’s cut examined by the ringside doctor, who immediately had the fight stopped, giving Elcock the victory. Needless to say, the fight was disappointing for everyone – boxing fans, Elcock and most of all for McDermott, who had trained hard for the bout and was unable to prove himself before the fight quickly ended.

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Escobedo Defeats Favela

By Aaron Klein: Showing as much promise as he did flaws, once-beaten lightweight prospect Vicente Escobedo (18-1, 11 KOs) defeated 10-year veteran Cristian Favela (15-16-4, 9 KOs) by an eight-round unanimous decision on Wednesday night at the Arco Arena, in Sacramento, California. The final judges’ scores were 78-74, 80-72 and 80-72. Escobedo, a former amateur boxer on the 2004 United States Olympic Team, used his superior hand speed, work rate and movement to control much of the fight without too much trouble. However, Escobedo’s defense left a lot to be desired as he was periodically tagged with some really big shots from Favela.

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Lock Stops Gonzalez

gonzo44.jpgBy Aaron Klein: In an exceptional fight on Wednesday night, super featherweight fringe contender Cornelius Lock (18-3-1, 11 KOs) stopping Roger Gonzalez (27-2, 18 KOs) in the 10th round at the Arco Arena, in Sacramento, California. Both fighters were hurt in the bout, with Gonzalez going down once in the 1st round, and twice in the 10th, while Lock getting hurt with a big left hook in the 7th round. After dominating the first five rounds, Lock had problems in rounds six through eight as Gonzalez, perhaps motivated by the angry crowd that had begun booing loudly during those rounds, began to fight incredibly hard taking the fight to Lock and punishing him with hooks to the head and body.

Lock, however, came back in round nine and landed well, outnumbering Gonzalez’s shots by a significant number. In the 10th round, Lock landed a short right hook a minute into the round, which knocked Gonzalez to the canvas. He got up, badly hurt and received a standing eight count from the referee. As soon as the action resumed, Lock charged after Gonzalez and hit him with a big left hand to the body that toppled him backwards onto the canvas, at which point referee Jon Schorle moved in and called a halt to the bout at 1:27 of the 10th round.

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Webb Defeats Dyer

webb545364.jpgBy Nate Anderson: In an extremely exciting and action packed bout, once-beaten middleweight prospect Sam Webb (11-1, 3 KOs) defeated 37 year-old Paul Dyer (18-9, 1 KOs) by a six-round decision on Saturday night at the Mountbatten Centre, Portsmouth, in Hampshire. Webb, 27, dropped Dyer in two times in the fight -once each in the 2nd and 3rd rounds – but then tired out after the 4th round and had to fight hard as Dyer took control in the 5th and 6th rounds.

Webb fought well in the first round, immediately attacking Dyer with hard hooks to the body and head. Dyer, a tall rangy fighter with excellent boxing skills, used his height (or at least he tried to) and jab to try and keep Webb at bay. However, Webb wouldn’t be denied and kept coming forward pressing the action and looking like a bigger, slightly less powerful version of Ricky Hatton as he landed some terrific hooks in the round. Like Hatton, Webb thought little of his own defense and was caught often as he came diving in to deliver his huge left hooks.

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