Echols, Walker Provide Unexpected Fireworks

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Top ten Super Middleweight contender Allan Green pulling out of his proposed bout with the 36-year old Antwun Echols (31-7-4, 27 KO) may have been the best thing that ever happened to the old veteran. Yes, he lost, but he did so in a way that reminded fans why he has once been so much fun to watch.

That’s the best way to view the action that unfolded Friday night from the Paragon Casino in Marksville, Louisiana. Green was heavily favored to defeat Echols and likely would have done the trick early. Instead, the 29-year old undefeated but lighter punching and inexperienced Michael Walker (18-0-2, 12 KO) stepped in and ten rounds of competitive action ensued en route to a draw. The bout was televised live on ESPN2 as the main event of Friday Night Fights.

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Echols came out strong in the first, connecting almost at will with hard right hands. Walker failed to move his head much during the frame, electing instead to keep his gloves firmly about his ears, and eating the hooks that sailed around them. Walker’s fortunes would change in the second as he began to assert himself behind raw aggression and an assortment of wild hooks. He maintained that aggression in the third and fourth as he piled on with his best stuff. He never really hurt Echols but, connecting often and flush to the head of Echols, it made for an almost uncomfortable viewing experience. Echols age and past wars appeared to be weighing heavily on his shaky legs.

Those viewing reservations turned out unwarranted as Echols legs became more solid in the fifth and he surged back onto even terms through the seventh. Walker’s high punch output early appeared to sap him for a stretch and Echols began using more lateral movement, jabbing and looking to draw Walker into counters.

The eighth was fought on close terms leading to a ninth where Walker came hard out of the blocks at an Echols whose legs reverted back to earlier form. Echols slipped to the canvas late in the round and the look of a race against the clock developed. Late in the round, Walker appeared to stun the former challenger to Bernard Hopkins’s Middleweight championship but a referee’s intervention prevented significant follow up.

In the tenth, Walker continued his assault, still with his hands held high, pumping the jab and looking for a finishing right hand. Echols battled gamely and that chance never came for his younger foe. The draw verdict that met both men after the final bell was a fair result, complimenting the efforts of both men.

Allan who?

In the televised opener, 28-year old Jr. Middleweight Sechew Powell (23-1, 14 KO) of Brooklyn, New York scored a first-round stoppage over the previously undefeated Kevin Finley (12-1-1, 9 KO) of Kansas City, Missouri. The separation of class between the two fighters was evident from the opening bell, with Finley there primarily as a target for Powell’s right hand. Powell would score two knockdowns in this mis-match.

Powell, who holds a win over Contender Season One participant Ishe Smith and who has a competitive loss to former titlist Kasim Ouma, is currently the leading contender for the IBF 154 lb. belt held by former World Welterweight champion Cory Spinks.

Other televised action

Jr. Welterweights: Jesus Pabon (12-1, 8 KO) W UD8 Daniel Garcia (9-5-1, 7 KO)

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

Comments

RAESAADSun Mar 2, 2008, 11:12 PM UTC

I have to admit.....I only watched the first round of this fight and figured Walker had no chance. His punches looked slow and weak and Echols looked fairly sharp for his age and crisp. I changed the channel.....Only to find out it bacame a very close fight. Oh well.....neither guy is going anywhere fast, oh except Echols, he has to be near the end of the road.

edgargSun Mar 2, 2008, 11:10 PM UTC

To be fair it was Echols who turned his back on Hopkins so it wasn't an intentional foul. The punch didn't seem to hit Echols that hard. Echols slamming Hopkins on the canvas was definitely intentional but he wasn't DQ'd either. It was just a rough fight and the referee let it go on. Briggs KO'd Ray Mercer with a similar punch. He may have turned his back, but was being manoeuvred into it by Hopkins all through the fight, and THIS time Hopkins deliberately measured him up, and smashed him., plain for all to see. Enough to drop him flat. He should have been DQ'd.That was a bad habit Echols had of letting himself go with a missed punch, so that he could be almost imperceptibly spun. And since there was bad blood between them, Hopkins wanted to take advantage of the turned back and kill him, couldn't, because of the ref. The ref spoke to Echols about it too, for leaving himself undefended and interrupting the fight flow. I've seen Echols doesn't do it any more, maybe since then?? As for the body slam, this was Echols answer to repeated fouls and grabbing, they just happened to come into body contact allowing Echols the hold this time. It wasn't serious. The ring is very well padded. HEADS smash down on the canvas, all the time, with no after-problem. AND, there was nothing wrong with Hopkins' shoulder,Remember?? He didn't use it for a couple of rounds, going with the ref's and commentators not-so-subtle- suggestions which he could plainly hear. He moved it pretty well, even though not punching with it, all a scam, then since Echols wasn't "falling", threw it as usual, expecting to take Echols by surprise. Playing "the old soldier" is what that's called. Refusing the ref's "time-out" etc and showing his bravery and iron-man calibre. He knew he had Echols "going". Hopkins is a clever guy. If the ref thought that his shoulder was dislocated, as the "analysts" tried so hard to suggest, he'd have stopped the fight, and DQ'd Echols, since it was due to Echols action, not from a punch or his own doing. There's NO WAY anyone can use a dislocated shoulder, nevermind KO someone, and it's quite painful for a while after being "snapped back in", which certainly wasn't done here.

TheGreatASat Mar 1, 2008, 9:44 PM UTC

Hopkins should have been DQ'd. If you have watched the fight, there was lots of stuff like this that went unpenalized. Echols hit Hopkins after the bell intentionally, hit him after a break intentionally, Hopkins hit & hold several times, Hopkins rabbit punched Echols, Echols then slammed Hopkins right on his shoulder which dislocated. Hopkins chose to fight on and knocked Echols down with the injured arm. Great fight but it was a foulfest

deuce_dropSat Mar 1, 2008, 9:23 PM UTC

it was a decent scrap but you could see that echols is a shell of his former self, there is something wrong with the way he responds to punches now and it took a slapping around for him get his wits together. walker really surprised me, i think that he will make a bit of noise, i'm not saying that he's champion quality but i think he could make a decent run at it. he can take a punch and give a few too. more fights on this level and higher and who knows, he might make some fighters very uncomfortable. echols should hang them up, his legs looked bad, his response to punches, and his focus coupled with his defense didn't seem to be there, not that he was a defensive fighter, but there were some moments in the fight that it looked like he wish he was at the bar having a couple of banana cognacs.....

TheGreatASat Mar 1, 2008, 8:44 PM UTC

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