By Cliff Rold
In a fast paced battle that saw both with their moments, 23-year old Lightweight Ji-Hoon Kim (20-5, 17 KO) of South Korea kept his winning momentum with a fifth round stoppage of 28-year old Tyrone Harris (24-6, 16 KO) of Lansing, Michigan on Friday night at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California.
Both men came in below the Lightweight limit of 135 lbs., Kim at 133 ¾ and Harris at 132 ½.
Harris came out with fury at the opening bell, snapping Kim’s head back with his southpaw right jab and hooking hard as he trapped the Korean in the corner. At a minute in, Kim got his legs beneath him back at mid-ring and slowed the assault, working his left jab and firing long right hands. Blocking a Kim right, Harris landed a sharp counter left and whipped in a right hook over the top of a Kim left. They traded straight shots in the closing seconds to a lively first round.
It was Harris striking first again in the second, a quick right jab followed by a left to the belly. A sharp counter left landed as Kim stepped in with some hooks to the body and, with a minute left, appeared to stun Kim with a left to the chin. Kim fought back and out of the corner but Harris was using his aggression against him, measuring with quick landing blows to keep him wary and snapping shots when Kim got close.
Kim’s response in round three was to increase the tempo of the pressure he was applying but Harris’s tightly held guard gave Kim only flanks to land on cleanly. Harris matched body work with Kim, both men digging to the gut, and showed some fatigue as the round wore one and Kim’s looping rights started to come around the gloves.
As both men met in the middle of the ring to kick off the fourth it was Harris who got the better of the exchange, shooting Kim’s head back with a flush left. An uppercut to the body and to the head followed as Kim rushed back into the fray. Sensing a pause in the output of Harris, Kim released a two handed attack, forcing Harris into a defensive shell for most of the second half of the round.
The right hands Kim needed were finding their mark in the fifth, jumping on Harris at the opening bell and never letting up from there. Cut over the right eye in the previous round, Harris absorbed a right uppercut, then a short right hand before another of the same sent him to his back in the corner. Beating the count by rising between referee Wayne Hedgepent’s ticks of eight and nine, Harris gave a hard nod to say he could continue. Kim immediately landed a right thought the guard but Harris blocked the next two and he went to the ropes. A left and right snuck through as Harris covered up and the referee stepped in to stop the action, perhaps a tad prematurely, at 1:52 of round number five to the protests of Harris.
The defeat was Harris’s second loss, and second stoppage loss, in his last three fights. Kim wins his twelfth in a row and can hope to improve on his current standing as the number 12 contender in the IBF. The IBF Lightweight title is currently vacant.
In the broadcast opener, 26-year old Russian Jr. Welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov (15-0, 10 KO) scored his third straight stoppage, and his most impressive win to date, stopping 36-year old former IBF Lightweight titlist Javier Jauregui (53-17-2, 36 KO) of Mexico. It was Jauregui’s first bout since September 2008 and his fifth defeat in his last eight contests.
Provodnikov, 141 ½, stepped calmly to mid-ring while the older man, Jauregui, 142, came forward anxiously. It didn’t take long for Jauregui to go backwards, Provodnikov bulling him towards the ropes and ripping home some hard rights to the ribs. The action moved back to mid-ring and Jauregui returned the favor, a left to the ribs bringing hesitation to the face of Provodnikov. In the final minute of the first, Provodnikov was composed in his offense, using the jab to open up echoing rights to the head and body.
A looping left hook from Jauregui was blocked in the early seconds of round two and Provodnikov was again raining right hands. Holding his guard tight, chin tucked, Provodnikov blocked a pair of shots inside and countered with a short left hook to the face. A big uppercut at the midway point of the round snapped the head of Jauregui back and he used the blow again as part of a calculated series of blows while he had his man on the ropes. Jauregui bounced back briefly, hooking his way off the ropes.
Jauregui connected with a winging right in the first minute of the third and landed a sneaky right uppercut half way through the round while Provodnikov patiently mounted a steady assault. A lobbed right hand, and booming left hook, landed with about a minute to go for Provodnikov but the veteran was taking his best stuff.
It would continue to be the case in rounds four through seven, Jauregui landing the occasional hard shot, Provodnikov chipping away consistently and with bad intention. With the great Joe Frazier in the audience to view his steady body work, Provodnikov’s attack finally paid off in round eight.
Beginning the round coming forward with a jab, Provodnikov laced Jauregui with a hard right and then, moments later, a thudding left to the head. With one minute passed, Jauregui was again with his back to the ropes. He swung his way off but Provodnikov wasted little time sending him back. A major right hand began a stream of blows, Jauregui not responding with punches in return though he appeared within his senses. Referee Jack Reese chose not to take chances with the health of Jauregui and waved the bout closed at 2:10 of round eight.
Also televised, 23-year old Russian Super Middleweight Maxim Vlasov (16-0, 7 KO), 166 ½, kept his undefeated record intact with an easy first round stoppage of 38-year old Julius Fogle (15-2, 10 KO), 168 ¼, at 2:42 of the first. It was Fogle’s second stoppage loss in his last three fights and Vlasov’s second stoppage win in a row. The referee was Wayne Hedgepent.
Also Televised
Heavyweights: Garret Simon (2-0, 2 KO) TKO1 Francisco Mireles (5-5)
The card was broadcast on U.S. basic cable outlet ESPN2 as part of its Friday Night Fights series.
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