By Michael Norby: WBO junior welterweight champion Kendall Holt overcame a tricky test on Saturday night as he narrowly defeated the previously unbeaten Demetrius Hopkins by split decision at The Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.
The mental chips were slightly stacked against Holt 25-2 (13) even before he entered the famous Boardwalk Hall ring this evening. The 27-year-old New Jersey native was originally supposed to fight his nemesis Ricardo Torres in what was forecast as an explosive rubber match. At short notice, however, the Colombian pulled out after suffering from a bout of influenza, leaving a fully trained champion with no-one to fight.
In stepped Hopkins 28-1 (11) a largely inactive but relatively skilled eight year professional who boasted a win over Holt in the amateurs and represented a challenge that couldn’t have been more different to that posed by Torres. After twelve rounds of closely fought boxing action, however, Holt showed enough aggression to sway two of the three judges to retain his title and set up a unification bout with WBC champion Timothy Bradley.
Hopkins was originally scheduled to fight on the undercard of the ShoBox broadcast and his readiness to compete showed early. He shot out a decent left jab and thumped Holt with a two punch sequence in the first minute, although the champion fought back with a right uppercut not long after and a hard straight right hand in the final stages of an otherwise close frame.
The challenger’s promise to inflict pressure on his opponent was not playing out, however, and he waited for Holt to attack early in the second. The champion obliged and tagged Hopkins to the body throughout the three minutes and narrowly missed with a haymaker right hand later in the round. Holt was relaxed and, although he ate a slew of jabs in the round, his aggression and speed was troubling the challenger who could not set a rhythm in the face of constant pressure.
Hopkins woke up in the third and responded to Holt’s hooks to the body with a series of straight right hands to the head thrown behind his jab. That success buoyed Hopkins and he controlled most of the fourth by stuffing more jabs and right hands into the face of the champion as Holt barreled towards him. Holt was forcing the action but, when he did get inside, much of his output was either smothered or blocked which allowed Hopkins to pocket, arguably, his cleanest round of the contest.
The middle rounds continued to be fought in a close manner. Holt played the aggressor and Hopkins the technical and cautious boxer. Neither guy played their roles especially effectively as Holt missed with a lot of his thrown punches whilst Hopkins didn’t unleash enough to ensure clear success. There were a handful of tasty exchanges, especially in the sixth, when both guys clubbed each other to the body at short distance but, by-and-large, this was a hard to score and relatively messy contest.
In the first real concrete moment of the fight, Holt rattled the challenger with a big left hand in the seventh as both guys traded in the first ten seconds. Hopkins held on and quickly composed himself before shooting back with an effective three punch combination of his own shortly thereafter. In the final minute of the frame Holt blasted the Philadelphia native to the body with a right hook but immediately digested a counter left hand as he tried to follow up. This was yet another close round, separated only by the earlier power shot by Holt that briefly jellied the challenger.
Holt was much more effective in the eighth as Hopkins elected against underlining his lengthy jab with a supporting right hand. The champion, therefore, found success with both hands to the body and head without facing a stern test from Hopkins as he punched his way inside.
It was the champion’s turn to be largely ineffective a round later as Hopkins rallied in the ninth and landed combinations in spurts. Both guys then shared success in the tenth as the pace slowed and allowed more time for the contestants to set and fire in the center of the ring. Holt took advantage of this moderate pace to target the challenger’s body whilst Hopkins connected with single right hands upstairs in another even round.
Due to the fact that most of the action was close enough to allow differing interpretations of how the action should be scored, the final two frames were surely of paramount importance to both men. Hopkins seemed to realize this slightly more than his title holding adversary and he scored with the more impressive punches in the eleventh – most notably when a right uppercut snapped back Holt’s head close to the end of the frame.
Holt displayed the urgency in the final round, however, and he raked Hopkins in flurries throughout the three minutes as the challenger’s already modest output dropped markedly. This was a fight that could have been scored heavily in Holt’s favor, slightly in Hopkins’ favor or a draw; such was the nature of the contest.
In the end, it was Holt’s aggression that seemed to have swayed two of the judges as he was awarded the contest on a split decision.
Scores: 113-115; 116-112; 117-111
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Undercard Report
In a battle of promising New York based 154lbers, unbeaten technician Yuri Foreman dominated fellow European and former sparring partner James Moore over ten rounds to capture the NABF junior middleweight title.
From the opening bell, Irishman Moore 16-2 (10) was completely bemused by his opponent’s speed, movement and timing and found himself eating frequent chopping right hands and left jabs in the first round. He tried to walk his man down in the second but Foreman 27-0 (8) moved superbly and further frustrated Moore with his hand speed – connecting with zipping combinations to the head and body throughout the round.
Moore endured another horrendous experience in the third and his attempts at corralling his foe proved to be as effective as trying to spear a housefly with a toothpick. Foreman ruled the fourth round with accurate punching and superior footwork and continued his dominance in the fifth – a round that he began with a string of hard right hands that backed Moore up and set the tone for three more one-sided minutes.
Foreman was clearly enjoying his outing and, only for his lack of power, the fight probably should have been over as the fight entered the stretch. He was hitting Moore at will and wobbled his opponent in the seventh when a right hand landed behind the Irishman’s ear.
Nevertheless, such was his accuracy and supremely skillful ring generalship; it was hard to envision a scenario that would allow Moore to gain control. The Wicklow native had a look of total dejection on his face in the eighth and was rattled again in the final twenty after another slew of Foreman punches found their target. Moore’s reaction said it all when he shot his trainer an easier said than done look in between rounds as the cornerman implored his charge to shoot “a jab, left hand; a jab and then another left hand.”
This was as complete a performance as any lightly fisted technician could have hoped to enjoy and Foreman continued to be assertive in the final two rounds. The Belarusian was as brisk as he’d been at the opening bell and, after cutting Moore in the ninth with a laser like right hand, he boxed his way to the final bell in the tenth to cap off a commanding exhibition.
Scores: 99-90; 100-90; 99-91
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