Cornelius Bundrage v Ishe Smith

In the biggest win of his career so far, the talented but yet under-rated Ishe Smith (25-5, 11) claimed the IBF Light Middleweight title as he claimed a split decision over former champion Cornelius "K9" Bundrage (32-5-0-1, 19).

The fight, which started slowly as the styles  really clashed, wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination though it was often engaging, even if it was in hope of seeing a clean, solid punch land from either man. Despite the slow pace of much of the fight, the better, classier work came from Smith when the challenger decided to open up against the defending champion.

Despite the slow start the fight finally came alive late on as a tired Bundrage started to come under real pressure from Smith, who wasn't going to be denied in his big chance. Although Smith couldn't put away the champion he appeared to clearly dominate vast swathes of the fight, notably the final 6 rounds after the 6 messy opening rounds.

Whilst many viewers felt that Smith was the clear winner, one judge, Dave Hess, seemed to feel that Bundrage had done just enough to retain his title, an opinion not even shared by Bundrage who admitted that he lost fair and square. Whilst Bundrage admitted he made a tactical mistake not following the game plan, an emotional Smith cried in relief at his crowning glory to a 13 year career.

For Bundrage, who had been champion since dethroning Cory Spinks back in 2010, this is likely the end of the line. Aged 39 (and turning 40 in just a few weeks) there is little to really achieve, in fact in all honesty Bundrage was an over-achiever scoring wins over Walter Wright, Michael Clark, Kassim Ouma, Zaurbek Baysangurov and Cory Spinks (twice) and can hold his head up high after having had an excellent career.

Smith on the other hand may well look to cash in on his title and try to look for fights with either the winner of the upcoming Saul "Canelo" Alvarez v Austin Trout bout or even try to lure Miguel Cotto into a bout. Though it's unlikely Smith would do enough to defend against any of those men.

Cornelius K9 Bundrage v Cory Spinks II

When these two men met the first time back in 2010 Cory Spinks was the IBF Light Middleweight champion, the division looked pretty average and it was fairly difficult to get too excited about anything at 154lbs. Fast forward to 2012 and you have one of the most interesting divisions in boxing with the likes of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, Floyd "Money" Mayweather, Miguel Angel Cotto, James Kirkland, Erislandy Lara, Javier Maciel, Acelino "Popo" Freitas and Vanes Martirosyan. What this meant is that a world title today at 154lbs is worth a lot more than it was 2 years ago, in fact it's worth a lot more than it was worth just 18 months ago. With that in mind this was a really major bout for one of boxing's key divisions at the moment.

When the men first met Bundrage had little difficulty in beating down Spinks who looked to be a fighter on his last legs, he was slow and there for Bundrage to tag...repeatedly. Sadly for Spinks he had aged 2 years since that fight and it took little time for Bundrage to score a knock down in their rematch with Spinks' key asset, his speed, no longer what is once was.

Whilst Spinks tried to wrestle himself back into the bout, quite literally at times, he was unable to to keep Bundrage, who was wild but determined, off him. Due to the fact Spinks never really recovered his legs from the first knockdown he was unable to move as he'd have liked and this forced him to fight fire with fire, something that was never going to suit him. By the middle rounds Spinks, who had been able to claim some rounds, was starting to look damaged and was taking some major shots that he wouldn't have taken in his prime. Those shots were taking their toll.

As we got to round 7 the bout had actually become relatively close, Spinks, whilst looking a shadow of his former self, was able to take advantage of the sloppy offense of Bundrage who seemed to be there for the beating if he'd have been in with someone with some power. Bundrage however realised that he needed to step it up and from the start of round 7 he was on a charge, dropping Spinks heavily early in the round. Whilst Spinks recovered to his feet he never actually recovered enough and Bundrage raced in for the kill dropping Spinks again. Once more Spinks picked himself up from the canvas and showed amazing heart though it was only a matter of time before the referee stopped the bout. Spinks would be dropped once more, after a serious of low blows, before the referee eventually stopped what had become a one sided beat down.

Bundrage TKO7 Spinks
2nd IBF Light Middleweight title defence for Bundrage

On the undercard super prospect Gary Russell Jr scored an impressive 3rd TKO over Christopher Perez.