By John Dower: Making his first appearance since losing by a controversial 11th round stoppage in a title match against World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Ricardo Torres last September 1st, Kendall Holt (23-2, 12 KOs) won a dull 10-round majority decision over journeyman fighter Ben Tackie (29-9-1, 17 KOs) on Friday night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Holt, 25, ranked #2 in the WBO light welterweight division, was hoping to look impressive, and make a case for himself for a potential rematch with Torres.
However, it didn’t end up that way, for Holt, like usual, fought mostly cautious during most of the action, fighting off his back foot, constantly clinching and fighting economically. The final judges’ scores were 98-92, 98-92 and 95-95. The last score, 95-95, seemed way off base as far as I’m concerned, because Holt, as boring a fighter as he is, seemed to have won virtually every round except for one, the 7th, when Tackie uncharacteristically let his hands go a bit more than in the other rounds of the fight. Nevertheless, Holt did little to make a case for himself in terms of redeeming his name since his last fight, as he mostly stood back, posing and pot-shotting the slow, plodding Tackie.