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Clash of the Titans June 30 2004 Event was held at Union Station in Kansas City. Review by Mark Graves
Another fantastic night of boxing in Kansas City. Things have begun to pick up in the area and I am very thankful for it. Union Station was setup wonderfully for the event. The early fights saw skill and strategy while the late fights saw one later knockout and the other two fights had spectacular knockouts. High quality action throughout. Donnie McCrary (5-1,5 KO) vs. Jesse Sanders (5-0-1,4 KO) The first round was close. Donnie landed a good Left Hook to start the round then a feeling out period began. Jesse ended the round with a good Left Hook. McCrary controlled most of the second round and ended the round with two nice Upper Cuts. Jesse did land a good Right Hand to the body in the second but Donnie gets the round. Tough round to score in the third because both fighters showed signs of tiredness. Jesse landed more shots early but Donnie landed heavier shots at the end of the round with two Upper Cuts and a nice Over Hand Right to close out the round. Donnie bloodied Jesse's nose in the third round. A battle in the fourth round despite both being tired. I felt Sanders did more effective work to get the fourth round. It was a nice fight. Now to the score cards: 39-37 McCrary, 38-38, and 39-37 Sanders for a split draw. A fair decision I guess but a draw sure is a letdown.
Michi Munoz (0-0) vs. Lance Moody (1-0-1,1 KO) Munoz controlled the first round with quick hard punches. His Left Hook is his best punch but will throw Left/Right combinations. Michi staggered Moody in the second with a Left Hook. He later knocked Lance down with a Left/Right combo but Munoz continued to hit Lance while he was down and before the ref got in the start the eight count. When the ref saw this, he deducted a point from Munoz instead of enforcing the eight count. Lance was not too effected by the late hits and continued. It did not take too much longer in the second round before Munoz got an eight count with good shots landed. I noticed this time that when Moody got up his Right Eye was closed from all of the Left Hooks he was taking. Despite the Eye injury and the heavy shots by Munoz, Moody continued to fight. The third round was all Munoz but still Lance battled. Lance began to employ movement as his main attack/defense. He continue this movement in the fourth round and mixed in Left/Right combos to control the round. I actually gave the fourth round to Moody. A high quality match-up. Both fighters showed skill in the execution of their punches which was nice to see from such young fighters. Now to the score cards: all judges saw the fight 39-34 for Munoz.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is what I picked up from Munoz's first fight. He can throw all the punches with speed and accuracy. He was able to adapt well to how his opponent was approaching him. Early in the fight we used Left Hooks and Left/Right combinations to attack. Then when Moody began to duck those punches, Munoz used Upper Cuts to break through his defense. I talked to Munoz after the fight and he said he hurt his Right Hand on an Upper Cut in the third round. He showed me his knuckle and it was swollen which helps explain Moody's success in the fourth round. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MWBA Heavyweight Title Byron Polley (14-4,6 KO) vs. Andy Sample (31-7-2,22 KO) Give the first round to Andy because he used his reach advantage to jab in order to keep Polley at a distance. When Byron did get inside the jabs, he pinned Sample against the ropes and threw Left/Right combinations to the head and body. The problem is that almost all of the were blocked. A toss up second round as Byron was able to pin Andy to the ropes more but again most punches were blocked. The trend of Sample from the outside then Polley on the inside continued in the third round. Very tough for me to score - another toss up. Byron decided to press the issue in the fourth and start the round pinning Andy on the ropes. This was enough to give him the round. The fifth round Andy again used space to his advantage by landing a good Upper Cut. The sixth round was another toss up. Byron controlled the first two minutes of the seventh round but Sample landed a nice Upper Cut followed by a good Over Hand Right late in the round. Give Polley the overall round. The eighth round saw Andy use space and movement to get the round. This fight was a battle of styles. Sample needed to work from the outside in order to use his reach advantage while Byron was only effective on the inside. Now to the score cards: 80-72, 77-75, and 80-72 for Andy Sample. This did not make the hometown crowd very happy. All I can say is I had it two rounds for Polley, three rounds for Sample, and three toss up rounds. A fair enough decision but I would question the two 80-72 scores giving every round to Sample.
Alvin Brown (23-6,11 KO) vs. Mark Thompson (9-0,? KO) A lot of posing in the first round with Alvin at lease throwing punches. Despite not many landing I gave the first round to Brown. A couple of flurries by Brown in the second earns him the round. Alvin got an eight count from a Left Hook in the third round. Two eight counts for Brown in the fourth round. The first from a Left Hook and the second by a Left/Right combination. Another Left Hook to the body earns Brown yet another eight count in the fifth round. Another Left Hook by Brown but this time it was low. While the ref was giving Mark time to recover, Mark's corner threw in the towel giving Alvin a TKO victory at 1:25 of the fifth round.
NABC Midwest Middleweight Title Francisco Diaz (11-1,6 KO) vs. Mike Stone (10-1,8 KO) The fight started out with both fighters throwing punches then Diaz landed a thunderous Left Hook to the head. Stone did manage to return to his feet but his equilibrium did not return with him. That ended this promising fight with a TKO victory at 1:16 of the first round. One thing is for sure - Diaz has a powerful Left Hook.
NABC Light Heavyweight Title Galen Brown (12-2-1,7 KO) vs. Nate Zeikle (11-3,6 KO) This was a battle between St. Joseph, MO (Brown) and Cameron, MO (Zeikle) titled "The Brawl to End it All". The crowd was split relatively evenly between the two sides. The atmosphere was electric and the configuration of Union Station helped as well. Limited action in the first with Galen landing more punches. The second round was close with both fighters landing simultaneously two or three times. Unfortunately for Nate, the last duel punch resulted in Nate missing and Galen landing a punch that sent Zeikle spinning to the canvas. The punch was so hard that Nate continued to spin on his rear while on the mat. Somehow, Zeikle managed to get up by the eight count, put his hands up in the air, and convince the ref that he was ok to continue. The ref allowed it to continue and to the luck of Nate, the bell rang to end the second round. It was obvious that Nate was still feeling the knockdown at the start of the third round but Galen was cautious and it appeared Nate was going to have time to recover. Well that ended when Galen landed an incredible Over Hand Right clean and flush for a big time KO at 1:22 of the third round. These two knockdowns rank at the top of any I have seen in Kansas City since I have been following fights the last two years.
©2003 K C Boxing News All Rights Reserved. |
