Kennedy, Martin Battle To Draw In Vegas

By: Mike Sloan at ringside; The first Friday Night Fights card from ESPN of the year in Las Vegas was headlined by a spirited duel between junior featherweights Teon Kennedy and Chris Martin. Both of the two young contenders gave as good as they got, but neither man surged ahead enough to nab the victory; the fight ended up being a majority draw.

Kennedy (17-1-2, 7 KOs), from Philadelphia, was the busier of the two, but his higher punch output was trumped by the deft countering and arguable cleaner punches of Martin. Virtually every round in the contest was about as close as they come with each boxer doing just enough to win (and lose). Kennedy pressed the issue for much of the fight’s duration, but the vast majority of his punches were either blocked are dodged. Martin (23-1-3, 6 KOs), from Chula Vista, CA, settled for simply setting traps and countering, but his much lower punch output is probably what did him in.

The action was intense throughout the ten allotted rounds, but neither fighter was ever in serious peril of being taken off his feet, though Kennedy did appear to be rocked by a counter left hook in the final round. Kennedy was also warned twice by referee Jay Nady for repeated low blows, but a point deduction never occurred.

Each man felt he did enough to win in the aftermath of the matchup, but in reality the fight easily could have gone to either fighter. A draw was justified; SecondsOut.com had it 95-95, as did two of the three ringside judges. Kennedy’s higher volume of punches awarded him a victory on one card (97-93), however.

In the co-feature, junior welterweight prospect Yordenis Urgas remained unbeaten as a pro with a one-sided shellacking of the game, but heavily out-classed Esteban Almarez (10-5, 4 KOs). Urgas (11-0, 5 KOs), a  former Cuban world champion and bronze medalist in the 2008 Olympics, floored his foe in the first but couldn’t put him away; he settled for a lopsided unanimous decision win via tallies of 79-72 (twice) and 80-71.

Also on the card:

Popular local super bantamweight Jesse Magdaleno improved to 8-0 with a unanimous victory over Shawn Nichol (5-8). Scores were 60-54 by all three judges. Magdaleno was far too superior in all areas of the game and won virtually every minute of every round.

Lightweight Anthony Lenk, also of Vegas, blew away previously undefeated Wendel Henley in the first round. He hurt his foe late and then swarmed him until Joe Cortez stepped in and stopped it. The official time was 2:53.

You can also contact Mike Sloan at www.facebook.com/mikesloan19 or follow him on Twitter @mikesloan19

January 13, 2012