By Cliff Rold (photo © Javiel Centeno/Fightwireimages.com)
The increasingly interesting Jr. Welterweight division was delivered a lightning bolt on Friday night as 34-year old veteran Randall Bailey (39-6, 35 KO) of Miami, Florida, reminded the world why no one should ever let his right hand land. The tough but ultimately outgunned 30-year old Frankie Figueroa (20-3, 13 KO) of the Bronx, New York, won’t forget, at least not after he remembers what hit him in the fourth round at the Pepsi Pavilion in Memphis, Tennessee.
Both men weighed in for what was an IBF Jr. Welterweight title eliminator just below the division limit, both at 139 ½.
The power of Bailey was evident right away. Bailey scored seconds in with a left jab against the southpaw, jarring his head backwards. With less than a minute gone, Bailey slipped a Figueroa right jab and countered with a lead right of his own on the button, dropping Figueroa towards the ropes where Figueroa used his left glove for balance to keep from going all the way down. Figueroa rose quickly signaling he was okay to referee Bill Clancy and the action resumed. At the midway point, another Bailey counter right just missed, smothered by the guard of Figueroa but again unbalancing him. Down the stretch of the first, both men landed hard to the body.
The second began with the same mentality of the first, Bailey coming forward while Figueroa looked for chances to jab over the low left of Bailey. Chance arose just past a minute into the round as Figueroa used a right to open up a left hook inside which sent Bailey scurrying across the ring. Figueroa chased wildly, missing with a right and left but Bailey could not keep off the floor, still unbalanced by the big blow. The referee began the mandatory eight and now it was Bailey who rose and stepped forward. The more experienced man wisely tied up as he cleared his head. Another left from Figueroa stunned Bailey in the closing seconds but he kept his feet.
Both men came out firing to start the third, missing and banging heads at mid-ring. Neither man so much as blinked. A Figueroa left just missed the mark at about a minute in while Bailey took small steps backwards looking for the counter right. With a minute to go, a lunging Figueroa left spurred a clinch from Bailey, a tactic he kept returning to whenever the Bronx native got close. Figueroa would sneak in another left jest shy of the bell.
A headbutt seconds into the fourth brought a blink from both men but only a temporary respite in the action. Growing in confidence, Figueroa was throwing the jab more often but living dangerously as he regularly moved to his left. It would be his undoing. A right jab led to a lunging straight left aimed at Bailey’s body and Figueroa was off balance as he attempted to cover up and step out. Still resetting, a Bailey left jab popped into his face and the right behind it was all she wrote. Figueroa’s body went limp as it collapsed straight backwards, his head bouncing off the floor twice on arrival there.
Clancy began his count right away and Figueroa showed stirring of life at three, his right arm left arm rising from its resting place behind his head. It was but a reaction of the nervous system. At seven, the left arm collapsed and Figueroa lay across the floor as if crucified, the fight halted at 1:46 of round number four.
With victory, Bailey now steps into a presumed mandatory contender spot for a shot at the IBF belt. It’s been a long road back for the veteran who last contended for a title in a losing effort against Miguel Cotto in 2004. Bailey briefly held the WBO title from 1999-2000 and an interim WBA Jr. Welterweight titlist designation in 2002.
The current IBF titlist at 140 lbs. is Juan Urango (21-1-1, 16 KO).
Following Bailey’s short and exciting work against Figueroa, fans got a look at something unusual on the current boxing scene: an American Heavyweight who doesn’t look like he trains at McDonald’s or Taco Bell. Highlighted in the most recent issue of Ring Magazine as one of the sport’s “New Faces,” 26-year old Tor Hamer (5-0, 4 KO), 224 ½, of New York City didn’t fight like he trains there either though he did fade a bit down the stretch of his first distance encounter. How he’ll do against an opponent who comes to seriously fight back remains to be seen. Such a fighter was not in front of him on Friday though 25-year old Kelsey Arnold (1-2-2), 234 ¾, of Hurron, Tennessee did stay afoot.
Hamer came out wild, shooting the jab but almost running forward with wild rights. Settling as the round wore on, Hamer ripped with rights and lefts to the body and landed a hard lead right to the head at the midway mark of the first. With a minute to go, Hamer took a solid right hook but stayed coming forward before landing a left hook counter off an uppercut, followed quickly by a right hook and another left to drive Arnold to the ropes. Hamer opened up with a right uppercut and more body shots but Arnold survived and lasted to the bell.
The marked commitment to the body stood out again for Hamer in the second and remained there through the remainder of the fight even as Hamer’s punch output and defense flagged down the stretch. In the fourth, Arnold opened up just enough to make some work of it and even raised a slight swelling around the right eye of Hamer. It didn’t do anything to deny Hamer victory at unanimous scores of 40-36.
The televised undercard gave a look at three promising prospects, one of whom has taken on the heavy burden of a storied nickname.
It might not have the same ring as “Sugar,” but in the lower weight classes “Too Sharp” might have been the closest thing in the last generation. The nickname of former Flyweight and Jr. Flyweight champion Mark Johnson is fastened to the developing career of 22-year old Lightweight Mark Davis (12-0, 4 KO), 133 ¾, of Columbus, Ohio and he’s done nothing to sully it. He did though get a solid workout against a game Steve Gonzalez (7-3-1, 4 KO), 133 ¼, 24, of Tucson, Arizona.
A former two-time U.S. Amateur champion, Davis operated behind a left jab and displayed world class speed and steady work to the body throughout. Gonzalez though did not come to play heavy bag. He looked for chances to land and snuck in his share of left hooks. Davis showed off left hooks of his own, often two and three at a time. By the end of eight rounds, Davis had notched the twelfth win of his 19-month old career at scores of 78-74 and 80-72 twice.
In the opener, 21-year old Middleweight Shawn Porter (7-0, 6 KO), 156 ½, of Akron, Ohio wasted little time in securing his latest victory. Pressuring from the opening bell, Porter showed off his exceptional hand speed and a consistent left jab before trapping 35-year old Eloy Suarez (10-5, 5 KO), 156 ½, of San Antonio, Texas, in the corner with just seconds to go in the opening frame. A wildly missed right did Porter no harm as he followed with a trilogy of successively harder left hooks, the last of which left Suarez hanging over the middle rope face down towards the floor. Suarez rose on wobbly legs by the time the referee reached eight but when asked to step forward, Suarez looked away and leaned into the turnbuckle. Referee Bill Clancy called a halt to the action at 2:59 of the first.
The card was televised as part of ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights series, jointly promoted by Prize Fight Boxing, Square Ring, and DiBella Entertainment.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com