Saturday 15 September 2012

Yoan Pablo Hernandez v Troy Ross

German based Cuba Yoan Pablo Hernandez (27-1, 13) successfully defended his IBF Cruiserweight title despite being given a really torrid time by Canadian challenger Troy Ross (25-3, 16) in a thoroughly entertaining bout that really left more questions than answers about Hernandez.

The bout started well for Hernandez who managed to keep Ross at range in the opening round but the challenger swiftly grew into the bout and after a competitive second round seemed to steal the third. Despite being the much taller, and longer man Hernandez was stupidly fighting Ross' fight and getting involved in a tear up.

Ross found his best success in round 5 a round that he completely dominated not only dropping Hernandez but having the Cuban holding on for dear life. Hernandez seemed almost ready to be finished but showed incredible heart to survive the round and despite not looking great in round 6 he did manage to regain his legs by the end of it.



After regaining his legs Hernandez managed to start to actually show his ability and easily out boxed Ross in rounds 7 and 8 by controlling the distance, using his legs and jab to keep Ross at a safety distance. It appeared that Hernandez was going to manage to do what he was expected to do and actually control the bout with his excellent boxing ability.

Sadly for Hernandez, Ross had different ideas and by the end of round 9 both men were wildly flinging leather at each other looking for the knockout. Whilst both guys were rocked and Hernandez arguably took the round it appeared as if the fight was turning back in the way of Ross who was much more suited to the all action style of a brawl. Luckily for Hernandez the follow up round was a much slower paced one with both guys catching their breath as very little of note was landed.

In the final two rounds a very tired looking Hernandez did very, very little and almost gave the rounds away to the busier Ross. Despite giving away the final 2 rounds it was a close fight overall. Sadly for Ross he was fighting and Germany and this was probably the telling factor with Hernandez taking a close unanimous decision (114-113, 115-112, 116-112).

Whilst the fight was genuinely excellent and ebbed wonderfully, despite a number of quiet rounds, their will be numerous complaints aimed at British broadcaster Boxnation who managed to missed a sizable chunk of the 12th round as their broadcast randomly cut to adverts. Despite this we didn't miss anything too important to the result.

For Hernandez this bout really did leave a lot of question marks. Just how physically tough is Hernandez? He seemed to be wobbled repeatedly by Ross, and it's hard to imagine that Marco Huck wouldn't have gone after a hurt Huck at the start of round 12. We know he's been stopped before, and down numerous times, but is Hernandez killing himself to make 200lbs? He's a giant at 6'4" and may do better at Heavyweight with his punch resistance hopefully shored up. A mooted bout with Huck, as Boxnation were talking about, would be a seriously painful night for the Cuban.

For Troy Ross he may be able to talk himself into a rematch, claiming he was robbed, though in all honesty it was a close bout, if he doesn't manage to bag a rematch however he'll likely be questioning his future in the sport. With his age (37) he may struggle to get another big fight like this. If he can get a fight with Huck (instead of Hernandez getting the bout) then that will be one that the fans would love, however if that doesn't happen Ross may well end up bowing out with his head held high.

No comments:

Post a Comment