By Jake Donovan (photo by Tom Casino)
The modus operandi for the evening was supposed to be, “If you can’t join the best, then beat up on the rest.” Super middleweight contender Allan Green was expected to back up his claim that he was wrongly excluded from Showtime’s Super Six super middleweight tournament.
It would’ve been a much easier task had super middleweight contender Allan Green been afforded the opportunity to face originally scheduled free swinging Victor Oganov.
Instead, he picked the wrong night to pay homage to the old mantra, “Win today, look good the next time.” The Tulsa, OK native was forced to play the hand he was dealt, settling for a unanimous decision win over late replacement Tarvis Simms in a largely uninspiring main event, aired live on Showtime from the First Council Casino in Newkirk, Oklahoma.
Things went nowhere fast in the early going, with neither fighter really accomplishing much of anything in the opening rounds. Green, Tulsa, OK, 167 ¾, controlled the pace, but took a while to get uncorked, while Simms, Norwalk, CT, 168 ¾, looked like a fighter who accepted a prominent fight on six days notice.
Green came out fully charged at the start of the third, throwing a flurry of punches the moment he left his stool. The fight returned to its moderate pace soon thereafter, but with Green well in charge, though you wouldn’t know it if you listened long enough in Simms’ corner, who believed the fight to be even to that point.
Whether or not they were serious proved to be moot, as Simms rarely threw more than one punch at a time at any point in the fight. Green attempted to force a fight and prevent a boxing match from breaking out. Simms attempted to mount an attack at rounds end, but fell short with most of his attempts while Green slipped and countered to close out the fourth.
Round five seemed to follow the same pattern as most of the rest of the fight, featuring far too little action. The monotony was temporarily disrupted in the sixth when Simms, who normally fights out of the southpaw stance, switched out of a conventional stance for the first time in the bout. It didn’t benefit him offensively, though it toyed with Green’s rhythm, who struggled to mount a sustained attack, resulting in the only round Simms would win on any of the official scorecards.
Simms remained on the left side for the remainder of the bout, but it was successful only in producing even less action than had been the case in an already disinteresting bout. The eighth threatened to become more of the same until Simms connected with left hands late in the round. Green was sent back to the ropes, but immediately countered with head shots of his own, providing a rare two-way exchange at rounds end.
The crowd came alive, as did Green, who came out humming in the ninth. Simms attempted to stand his ground, but for whatever reason decided to once again fight out of the conventional stance, which proved largely ineffective. He switched back to southpaw for the 10th and final round, one in which Green was content to jab and bounce on his feet while coasting to the finish line.
There was little drama on the scorecards, with Green earning a well-deserved lopsided decision with scores of 98-92, 99-91 and 97-93. He advances to 29-1 (20KO) with the win.
Simms loses for the first time as a pro, falling to 25-1-1 (11KO) in losing a fight he accepted on six days notice after Oganov pulled out due to suffering an injury late in camp.
Where Green goes from here is anybody’s guess. Most of the world’s best super middleweights are tied up for the rest of the year, some well beyond that. Out of the running for the next 18 months or so are Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell, Arthur Abraham and Jermain Taylor, the six entrants of Showtime’s highly anticipated Super Six tournament, which begins in two weeks.
Green’s best bet at a big fight would be to land the winner of next month’s super middleweight title fight rematch between Lucian Bute and Librado Andrade. Of course, that means sitting out the rest of the year, although it might play to his benefit if he is in fact tabbed to replace anyone in Showtime’s tournament due to injury.
Whatever the case, his one true mission of the evening – to make a statement that he belongs with the super middleweight elite – fell just as short as his chances of inclusion in the Super Six tournament.
Win today, look good the next time. Only it doesn’t work so well when future options are thin and “the next time” is anything but guaranteed to roll around anytime soon.
SMITH DROPS AND STOPS CRAWFORD IN WELTERWEIGHT SHOOTOUT
Many boxing experts and fans regarded the evening’s co-feature as the most competitive match of the show, on paper. Antwone Smith and Henry Crawford turned perception in reality, with Smith ultimately prevailing, scoring two knockdowns en route to a ninth round stoppage in their fast-paced welterweight crossroads bout.
The official time was 3:00 of round nine.
The modest knockout-to-win ratio attached with both fighters’ records suggested a boxing match, but the two welterweight prospects were more than willing to engage. Surprisingly, it was Crawford forcing a brisk pace in the early going, throwing combinations and positioning himself to remain just out of Smith’s punching range.
Smith fell behind early in the fight, but woke up in the third, ironically after getting clipped with an unintentional headbutt that left him with a welt over his left eye. The Floridian turned things around, closing the gap in the third and assuming the role of aggressor in the fourth.
Crawford regained control in the fifth, largely on the strength of his jab. The pace slowed down considerably, but Crawford used it to his advantage, getting his punches off, then immediately tying up whenever Smith inched towards him.
Smith was vocal in demanding the referee break them up whenever clinches were initiated, but gone was the swagger that allowed him to punch himself back into the fight in the previous two rounds.
He was reminded of this fact by his corner in between rounds, and immediately responded in the sixth. The speech proved to be just what the doctor ordered, with Smith forcing a shootout and scoring a knockdown in what proved to be by far his best round of the fight to that point.
Crawford got caught up in a shootout that didn’t benefit him at all, paying a price when he was rocked by a right and forced to touch the canvas by a follow up right and left. The New Jersey native beat the count, but spent the rest of the round on rubber legs, absorbing a tremendous amount of punishment when he wasn’t holding on for dear life.
The one-minute rest between rounds miraculously revived Crawford, who caught his second wind and aggressively boxed his way back into the fight in the seventh and eighth rounds.
Smith let his hands go at the start of the ninth, attempting to draw Crawford into a brawl. Unlike what resulted in the sixth, Crawford declined to take the bait, sticking to his game plan of boxing and moving, and boxing and holding when he wasn’t able to get out of harm’s way.
At least for the first two minutes and 45 seconds, anyway.
Having overcommitted on a jab, Crawford left himself wide open for a counter right hand that sent him crashing into the ropes for the second knockdown of the fight. He once again beat the count and made it out of the round, but trainer Mikey Red Skowronski recognized a beaten fighter in his corner, promptly alerting referee Gerald Ritter that his charge wouldn’t be coming out for the tenth and final round.
Smith improves to 17-1-1 (9KO) as he enjoys a stellar 2009 campaign. The win was his third straight this year in fights where he was the perceived underdog, coming in on the heels of upset decision wins over Richard Gutierrez and previously unbeaten Norberto Gonzalez.
Crawford falls for the first time as a pro, his record dipping to 21-1-1 (9KO) in the process.
JOHNSON REMAINS UNBEATEN, VILLEREAL VALIANT IN DEFEAT
Houston-based super middleweight prospect Marcus Johnson showed versatility and poise in his unanimous decision win over Victor Villereal in the televised opener.
All three judges scored it a shutout (80-71) in favor of Johnson, a former amateur star who has been on the slow road to prosperity thus far in the pro ranks.
The records and pedigrees of each fighter suggested a mismatch on paper, but the fight revealed that the show’s matchmakers (Holden Promotions’ Bobby Dobbs and Joe Quiambao of DiBella Entertainment) knew what they were doing. The one strength Villereal, 166 ¼, brought to the table was his ability to absorb, having never been stopped going into the fight.
While never competitive, the intention was to force Johnson, 168 ¾, to go some rounds, having only fought 53 total rounds as a pro to date. He went all eight in this fight, but improved with each round. The knockout never came, nor was he overzealous in searching for it, instead offering a variety of punches in a thoroughly dominating performance.
A knockout nearly came about late in the fight. Johnson connected with a series of right hands before following up with consecutive left hooks late in the sixth round to drop Villereal for just the second time in his career. The Colorado journeyman dusted himself off and remained in Johnson’s face the rest of the way through, but never to the point where the threat of an upset ever surfaced.
Johnson improves to 18-0 (14KO) in just his second fight of 2008, but the two coming just six weeks apart. Villereal falls to 8-4-2 (3KO).
BEHIND THE MIC
As the boxing world continues to pray for regular Shobox lead commentator Nick Charles in his valiant battle against bladder cancer, the series continues to rotate announcers. Friday’s broadcast showed the role is in good hands during his absence.
In an interesting choice, veteran sportscaster Curt Menefee was tabbed to provide the blow-by-blow commentary for Friday’s card. Interesting in that Menefee is the in-studio host of FOX NFL Sunday, which goes directly up against NFL Today on CBS, who along with Showtime fall under the CBS Corporation umbrella.
It’s easy for a non-boxing insider to come across as a talking head when asked to call a fight, but Menefee obviously did his homework going into Friday’s broadcast, and did a stellar job in calling the action.
A hint of his capabilities within the squared circle was offered during the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton pay-per-view event earlier this year, for which he provided ringside commentary for the Top Rank/International feed. Tonight’s assignment was a more daunting task, but he passed with flying colors.
Antonio Tarver continues to improve in his role as expert analyst. Steve Farhood continues to be Steve Farhood (and that’s always a good thing).
Note to ring announcer Pat Harker: when all three judges have the bout scored the same, just say, “All three judges scored the bout…”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .