The second world title fight in the US this weekend Demetrius Andrade (20-0, 13) claiming the WBO Light Middle weight title as he defeated the previously unbeaten Vanes Martirosyan (33-1-1, 21).
This fight, the first world title fight for either man, and it showed the difference between a "world title holder" and genuine bona-fide world champion. In fact it probably showed the huge difference between what it means to win a world title and to be recognised as a world champion.
For the first 2 minutes of the fight Andrade did look world class with fantastic speed, good ring control and some lovely punches. Unfortunately much of his was undone as he was caught by a crisp shot that put Andrade down. Whilst a case could have been made for a 10-9 to Vanes it's fair to say that most would have scored it 10-8 to Vanes.
Andrade came back well and made rounds 2 and 3 very close, arguably taking both of them to undo the momentum of the knockdown and it was surprising that Vanes refused to press home his advantage. By round 4 Andrade was beginning to mark up the eye of Vanes and was really starting to look crisp once again using his jab to take control of the action and by now it was easy to forget about the knockdown that Vanes genuinely refused to build on.
It wasn't until round 5 that Vanes found any major success following the opening round. It was in the fifth that Vanes started pressing the action and clearly took the final minute of the round, if not the whole round. Unfortunately his success didn't last long with Andrade coming back very well with his best round in a long time.
Andrade built on his good sixth round by taking the seventh with activity though in round 8 started to look spent as he gave the round away. Fortunately for Andrade he managed to turn things around in round 9, the last competitive round of the fight.
Going in to the championship rounds it was close though unfortunately for Vanes he was unable to keep things close in the final 3 rounds as Andrade boxed within himself but still widely out worked an exhausted looking Martirosyan who did even less than he had done in a number of earlier rounds.
Although Colonel Bob Sheridan had some how viewed the contest as a win for Martirosyan it appeared that Andrade had out worked Vanes in almost every rounds. Barring the knockdown it was difficult to gave Vanes a great deal as he simply didn't do a lot. Sure Andrade wasn't unloading either but he was doing more round after round. This was shared in one of the scorecards which saw Andrade as a 117-110 winner. The other two judges had it closer with scores of 114-113 to Andrade and 115-112 to Vanes, though thankfully we did get the right winner.
Showing posts with label WBO Light Middleweight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WBO Light Middleweight. Show all posts
Saturday, 9 November 2013
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Zaurbek Baysangurov v Lukas Konecny
Russian Zaurbek Baysangurov (28-1, 20) successfully defended the WBO Light Middleweight title as he defeated Czech Lukas Konecny (48-4, 23) in a thoroughly enjoy and hard fought bout.
The bout started excellently for the challenger who applied constant pressure and appeared to win the first two rounds with a high work rate and some excellent movement as Baysangurov tried to trade with him. In these early rounds it appeared as if Konecny just had too much experience, skill and toughness, sadly for the challenger however it didn't take long before the champion changed his tactics.
In round 3 Baysangurov started to utilise his significant reach and height advantage and used his jab to keep Konecny at a safe distance. Although many of Baysangurov's shots were taken on the guard he was starting to stay away from Konecny's relentless attack and whilst also beginning to control the distance. By the end of the 3rd Konecny's nose was starting to trickle blood, though it was nothing too noticeable it still seemed noteworthy.
Through the middle rounds Baysangurov started to take control of the bout and although Konecny kept the rounds close and competitive it just appeared as if Baysangurov had a bit too much movement, energy and reach. As Baysangurov started to take the rounds he was also upping his own work rate whilst Konecny was becoming less active as well as less successful.
Having fallen well behind, Konecny tried to turn the fight around in the championship rounds but unfortunately had left himself too much to do and had suffered a number of cuts, including a nasty one on his nose an usual one on top of his head and, in round 12, a very nasty one around his eye. The eye cut forced the referee to take Konecny over to the Dr but with less than 2 minutes left the Dr let the fight continue as Konecny attempted to turn the fight around but failed.
Despite being an excellent and high tempo bout with a lot of competitiveness it was fought with a lot of mutual respect by both men who both seemed to respect not only each other but the actual fight it's self. There was only 1 notable foul (a low blow by Baysangurov in round 11) and nothing deliberately dirty by either man, sadly however it seemed like Konecny, at 34 years old, was a fighter who was starting to genuinely look like a man on the slide. Hopefully it won't be the last we see of him.
The bout started excellently for the challenger who applied constant pressure and appeared to win the first two rounds with a high work rate and some excellent movement as Baysangurov tried to trade with him. In these early rounds it appeared as if Konecny just had too much experience, skill and toughness, sadly for the challenger however it didn't take long before the champion changed his tactics.
In round 3 Baysangurov started to utilise his significant reach and height advantage and used his jab to keep Konecny at a safe distance. Although many of Baysangurov's shots were taken on the guard he was starting to stay away from Konecny's relentless attack and whilst also beginning to control the distance. By the end of the 3rd Konecny's nose was starting to trickle blood, though it was nothing too noticeable it still seemed noteworthy.
Through the middle rounds Baysangurov started to take control of the bout and although Konecny kept the rounds close and competitive it just appeared as if Baysangurov had a bit too much movement, energy and reach. As Baysangurov started to take the rounds he was also upping his own work rate whilst Konecny was becoming less active as well as less successful.
Having fallen well behind, Konecny tried to turn the fight around in the championship rounds but unfortunately had left himself too much to do and had suffered a number of cuts, including a nasty one on his nose an usual one on top of his head and, in round 12, a very nasty one around his eye. The eye cut forced the referee to take Konecny over to the Dr but with less than 2 minutes left the Dr let the fight continue as Konecny attempted to turn the fight around but failed.
Despite being an excellent and high tempo bout with a lot of competitiveness it was fought with a lot of mutual respect by both men who both seemed to respect not only each other but the actual fight it's self. There was only 1 notable foul (a low blow by Baysangurov in round 11) and nothing deliberately dirty by either man, sadly however it seemed like Konecny, at 34 years old, was a fighter who was starting to genuinely look like a man on the slide. Hopefully it won't be the last we see of him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)