Klitschko, Toney, Holt & Foreman were all victorious.
By: Christopher Roche
One of the busiest televised boxing days of the year served up mostly duds, but the sweet-science still managed a little controversy.
Wladimir Klitschko systematically destroyed Hasim Rahman at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany. The bout was televised on HBO at 4:45PM Eastern USA Time, and the bout turned out worse than it looked on paper.
Late replacement Rahman fired his trainer a week before the fight, and his abbreviated training camp proved very ineffective. He used his face for defense, as Klitschko pumped his jab at will and broke Rahman down until the Baltimore fighter finally shattered in the seventh round. Klitschko, who was supposed to face Alexander Povetkin, retained his plethora of alphabet titles, (IBF, WBO, IBO) and improved to 52-3, (46 KO’s). Rahman dropped to 45-7-2, (37 KO’s).
Over on the Versus Network, James Toney looked sluggish and slow against journeyman Fres Oquendo. Toney took cleaner shots than we are used to seeing him absorb, and Oquendo appeared to have him hurt on at least two occasions. Oquendo is not a great finisher, and he left the bout in the judges’ hands, which is never a good idea for an underdog.
The bout was close, and the scores came back 116-111 for Oquendo and 115-112 and 114-113 for Toney. While I did not personally score the fight, it appeared that the punchstat numbers gave Oquendo an edge, and the television announcers, Barry Tompkins and Wally Matthews both had Oquendo winning 116-111.
Later in the evening, on Showtime, Kendall “Rated R” Holt escaped late replacement Demtrius Hopkins via split-decision. Holt, who was scheduled to fight Ricardo Torres for the third time, settled on the Philadelphia contender after Torres bailed out due to the flu.
Holt strafed Hopkins in the early going with an effective left hook, and he pressed the action. Hopkins stood in tough and used an effective defense to go the distance. The scores came back 116-112 and 117-111 for Holt and 115-113 for Hopkins. Holt, 27, retains the WBO title at 140 lbs.
In the opener on Showtime, local favorite James Moore squared off against Brooklynite Yuri Foreman. Both men came to New York in search of boxing glory, Moore from Ireland and Foreman from Belarus, via Israel, but only one man struck gold last night.
When this match was announced, I privately cringed for Moore, because this style matchup was very unfavorable for the Wicklowman, and the results proved that my fear was valid. Foreman dominated Moore with an in and out style that featured great movement and a surpisingly powerful right hand.
Moore hung tough, despite being battered over ten hard rounds, but he was pretty much swept on the judges’ cards. The scores came back 99-91, 100-90 and 99-90 all for Foreman. With the victory, the 28 year-old Foreman moved to 28-0, (8 KO’s), while Moore, 30, dropped to 16-2, (10 KO’s). Foreman retained the NABF light-middleweight title.