by Joe Kulyeshie
Friday, January 12 – ESPN2 takes Friday Night Fights to the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, WA where surprise Contender bronze medalist Cornelius “K9” Bundrage is in action along with fellow Contender rival Walter Wright. Brian Kenny is alone in the studio and Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas are ringside to call the action.
Bring on the ex-Contenders!
Fight 1
Light Middleweights – Walter Wright (12-2, 6 KO) vs. Dan Wallace (8-0, 3 KO) – 8 rounds
Set-up: Walter Wright is the hometown prospect who lost in the Contender to Cornelius Bundrage. Wright is a natural lefty who fights orthodox. His nickname is “2 Guns” partially because he has power in both arms. Dan Wallace has never fought outside Michigan, has never stepped up in competition and took the fight on less than two weeks notice. Will Wallace be able to put up any resistance?
Round 1
Wallace comes out very active, throwing a ton of jabs that miss the mark followed by wide, slapping rights. Wright is able to economically land on the inexperienced Wallace. Wright’s punches are crisper and more powerful and definitely do more damage. Round easily to Wright (10-9). Hard to see this fight going to the cards.
Round 2
Wallace slows down his output some, though he continues to throw much more than Wright. Wright is able to pick his spots and land strong punches with regularity. Another easy round to Wright (20-18).
Round 3
After feeding Wallace a diet of straight rights in the first two rounds, Wright unleashes his left hand to good effect in this round. Both powerful jabs and left hooks combine to hurt Wallace. Wallace can’t hurt Wright and Wright knows it. Wright begins to toy with Wallace. Wallace clearly takes the round (30-27). Teddy Atlas also scores the fight 30-27.
Round 4
The boxers wrestle around with each other for the first 30 seconds. Wallace continues to work throughout the round, but is not very effective. Wright lands all the best punches and takes the round (40-36). Teddy also scores the round to Wright.
Round 5
Teddy Atlas says if Wright were a quarterback in the NFL he would be Jets quarterback Chad Pennington–a cerebral player who throws short, high percentage passes. In the ring, the action slows down, but the results are the same. Wright is clearly the superior boxer and wins the round again (50-45).
Round 6
The fight continues in exactly the same manner as it has the last few rounds. Wallace throws more punches, but isn’t accurate enough to land them. After landing an average of 18 punches in the first two rounds, Wallace has only been able to connect on 6 per round since. Wright has been landing about 24 per round throughout the fight. Wright wins the round but should put Wallace out (60-54).
Round 7
Wallace goes past the 6th round for the first time. Wright lands a nice combination over a minute into the round. His best output since early in the fight. A low blow by Wright stop the action at the 2 minute mark. Wallace quickly comes back but eats a big right once the fight resumes. Wright has his best round of the fight, landing several multi-punch combinations and a string of rights (70-63).
Round 8
Wallace comes out firing until Wright feeds him a left hook 20 seconds into the round. Wright lands a flurry of rights and left hooks and gets a standing eight count as he knocks Wallace nearly through the ropes! Wallace comes back but is out on his feet. He takes another 10 seconds of punishment until the ref steps in and properly stops the fight.
Wright TKO over Wallace
Wright was clearly the better boxer. His strong left jab and left hook are definite assets. After coasting for the middle rounds, Wright was able to bring a killer instinct to the final two rounds. Wallace took a lot of punishment and did very well to last as long as he did.
In the Studio
After a review of his taking apart James Toney, Nigerian heavyweight Sam Peter is interviewed by Brian Kenny. Highlights include:
On James Toney: “It’s time for him to quit.”
On Wladimir Klitschko: “I see he’s coming.” Peter expects to fight Klitschko after Peter beats Maskaev.
On Valuev-McCline: “The best win.”
On how he would fight Valuev: “I will bring him down.”
Fight 2
Super Middleweights – Marcus Pernell (12-1, 6 KO) vs. Roger Cantrell (8-0, 5 KO) – 4 rounds
Set-up: Roger Cantrell is the Seattle prospect who is taller and longer. Marcus Pernell is a prospect from Portland who has padded his record by beating 3 men twice each. Pernell dropped 18 pounds from his last fight three weeks ago. Both guys have good people in their corners. This could be an amazing four round bout. Which of the prospects is better?
Round 1
Pernell comes out and lands the stronger punches in the first half of the round. Cantrell gets his jab going and is able to keep Pernell away for the second half of the round. Cantrell lands more, but Pernell’s punches were stronger. I think Pernell did more in his good half than Cantrell did in his. Close round to Pernell (10-9).
Round 2
Cantrell is taller and takes advantage of his size by throwing and landing many jabs. However, Pernell is able to get past the jab and land the more effective punches. Another very close round I give to Pernell (20-18). Teddy has the fight scored 20-19, Cantrell. He gave the first round to Cantrell and had the 2nd round even.
Round 3
Cantrell continues to land his jabs. In the first two rounds, Pernell was able to get through them and land his own power punches. However, Pernell looks fatigued, off-balance and is not able to get to Cantrell. Round to Cantrell (29-28, Pernell). Teddy Atlas also scores the round for Cantrell and has the fight 30-28, Cantrell.
Round 4
Both men let their hands go and provide an entertaining final round. While both guys are able to land their share of punches, Cantrell lands a few more and earns the draw on my card (38-38). Teddy Atlas score the final round to Pernell and gives the decision to Cantrell, 39-38.
To the cards:
40-36 Pernell
40-36 Cantrell
39-37 Cantrell
Cantrell SD over Pernell
Joe Tessitore is surprised that two judges could see this fight at 40-36 for different fighters, but I’m not that shocked. Each round was very close and it came down to do you like Cantrell’s more technical jabbing and scoring style versus Pernell’s emphasis on throwing power punches. I’d love to see these guys go at it again long enough for 6 or 8 rounds. Great 4 rounder!
Fight 3 – Main Event
Welterweights – Cornelius “K9” Bundrage (24-2, 14 KO) vs. Chris “The Mechanic” Smith (20-3-1, 13 KO) – 10 rounds
Set-up: K9 is coming off a surprising bronze medal finish in the contender series. He has improved his boxing skills an amazing amount in the last year. K9 will need to use his height to keep the aggressive Chris Smith off him. After being a highly touted prospect himself, Chris Smith has three losses in his last four fights that have tarnished his future. Smith has fought only once in the last 15 months. The winner of this fight will move on to big-time fights while the loser may be relegated to also-ran status. Who will step up in this career making fight?
Round 1
The first half of the round is very cautious. Smith is known a s a slow starter and though he comes forward, he rarely lets his hands go. Bundrage is able to keep Smith at a distance for most of the round. Round to Bundrage (10-9).
Round 2
Bundrage lands some good body shots early in the round. The middle of the round is dead with neither boxer doing much. While Smith finally gets more aggressive later in the round, Bundrage is more active and lands more punches and takes the round (20-18).
Round 3
Smith starts letting his hands go as he comes forward, working both Bundrage’s head and body, and has his best round of the fight. Smith battles to get inside while Bundrage battles to keep him away. We have our first exchanges of the fight. Close entertaining round to Smith (29-28, Bundrage).
Round 4
Another close, entertaining round. Bundrage lands the best flurry of the round halfway through it. That flurry is enough to give him the round (39-37). Teddy Atlas also has it scored 39-37, Bundrage.
Round 5
For the first half of the round, Bundrage is willing to stay inside and trade pretty evenly with Smith. Bundrage goes outside and lands some solid rights for the next 45 seconds. Smith comes alive for the final 45 seconds and regains control of the round. Bundrage is cut over his right eye and is clearly bothered by it. Close round to Smith (48-47, Bundrage). Teddy also scores the round Smith.
Round 6
Smith is able to land lead rights as he works to get inside. After trading for awhile, Bundrage leaves his left hand low and eats a huge jab and right hand, followed by nearly 30 seconds worth of combinations. Bundrage amazingly does not go down. Borderline two point round to Smith. We’ll leave it at 10-9 though (57-57). Teddy also has the fight scored 57-57.
Round 7
Bundrage comes back surprisingly well from a nearly disastrous 6th round. Smith does not follow up on the advantage he gained in the previous round though he does land some solid punches. A very close round to Smith (67-66). Teddy scores the round to Bundrage and gives him the lead 67-66.
Round 8
Bundrage looks completely recovered from the beating he took in the 6th round. He stays to the outside and Smith is unable to find him. Easy round to Bundrage (76-76). Teddy’s card has it 77-75, Bundrage.
Round 9
Smith aggressively attempts to get inside and is able to apply more pressure than the previous round where he did nothing. Still, he is not very active once inside and doesn’t land much. Bundrage is more consistent with his jab and right hand and takes the round (86-85).
Round 10
Bundrage goes to the 10th round for the first time. Smith hurts Bundrage badly with one minute to go! Will we have a last round knockout?!? Bundrage hangs on to take the fight to the cards. Big final round to Smith (95-95). I have my second draw of the evening! Teddy has the final scorecard 96-94, Bundrage. The only difference being the 7th round when Smith didn’t take advantage of the damage he had done in the sixth. Will it cost him the fight?
To the cards:
96-94 Smith
97-93 Bundrage
96-94 Bundrage
Bundrage SD over Smith
We have our second split decision of the night! The fans are not happy with the results. The Seattle crowd solidly backs Walter Wright who lost to Bundrage during the Contender. That combined with the two times Smith had Bundrage clearly hurt put them firmly in Smith’s corner. Bundrage showed great heart coming back from the poor sixth round and staying up in the tenth. Smith may have let this fight slip through his fingers as he didn’t battle much of the fight when he worked his way to the inside. In the end, both guys made it a great fight filled with ebbs and flows that kept the outcome in doubt.
In Summary
Both ex-Contenders come away with victories. Walter Wright looked good rolling over his over-matched opponent. Cornelius Bundrage continued to show growth with a hard-fought win over the talented Chris Smith. Next week Angelo Dundee is in the studio as a guest analyst to celebrate Muhammad Ali’s 65th birthday.