Klitschko, Bowe, Holt, Toney Win
Klitschko is an impressive fighting machine but his fights are boring. He's won ten straight but nine of those were one-sided affairs with no drama whatsoever (his win over Samuel Peter being the sole exception). Klitschko fights to win every round of every fight and can't be faulted for being a dominant champion ... but his machine-like performances make it no surprise that his fights don't generate much interest from anyone but hardcore fight fans.
On the undercard, former heavyweight champ Riddick Bowe outpointed Gene Pukall over eight rounds in his first action since April 2005. Pukall, 14-13-2, had been knocked out in three of his previous four bouts (twice in the first round!) ... yet was able to go the distance with the 41-year-old Bowe.
Elsewhere, Kendall Holt retained his WBO junior welterweight title with a twelve round split decision over previously unbeaten Demetrius Hopkins, a late sub for former champ Ricardo Torres. Holt was the aggressor throughout against the slick but light-hitting Hopkins. Scores were 117-111 and 116-112 for Holt and 115-113 for Hopkins. Next up for Holt should be a unification bout with WBC champ Timothy Bradley.
Finally, heavyweight James Toney was handed a gift twelve round split decision over Fres Oquendo despite looking sluggish and running out of gas down the stretch. Punch stats (Oquendo landed 222 punches to just 154 for Toney), both announcers, the live audience, fans scoring the fight online, this viewer and one judge (116-111) all thought Oquendo did enough to earn a victory. None of that mattered as long as two judges (115-112, 114-113) were apparently impressed by Toney's lethargic performance. The bout would have been a draw had Oquendo not lost a point in round eight for hitting behind the head. Toney has bounced back after being written off in the past. This, however, may be the beginning of the end because - despite a still-impressive ability to slip punches - Toney couldn't pull the trigger on his own punches and his unsteady legs looked like those of a high-mileage 40-year-old carrying way too much weight on his 5-10 frame.
Comments
what a silly article.
“Boring fights” , no drama, is that so ? Apparently you need blood from the bitten-off ear or maybe brains on the canvas to make you “excited”? How old are you?
Andrew, you should write about UFC, not about box. Or , better, keep your views to yourself – they are boring.
I am an ex fighter from the 70’s, fighting in the 1976 olympic trials and have watched thousands of fights. I am a friend in the past of Fres Oquenda and although Fres could have looked better, he was definitely robbed, he was ahead going into the 12th and the 12th had to be one of his strongest rounds. But deja vu he like many before him fell into the politics of boxing. Fres is a gifted boxer, but my buddy lacks spark and excitement lacks the hwt 1 punch finish I am in nw indiana and will venture to his camp and motivate a rematch with Mr Toney get Fres in fantastic ‘ready for war’ shape and he shall proclaim ‘Toney is all mine in 2009!!!