By Jake Donovan

It sorely lacked any of the drama that came with either of his two fights with Ricardo Torres. But after a week that saw a change in opponents and major in-camp drama, Kendall “Rated R” Holt still managed to win and look good doing so.

The final scorecards suggested otherwise, but Holt dominated for most of the night, only to ultimately be forced to settle for a split decision win over Demetrius Hopkins, Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The bout aired live as a special Saturday night presentation of Showtime’s ShoBox series.

Holt was originally slated to face Ricardo Torres in a rubber match that was hoped to bring closure to their wild rivalry, with both fighters scoring knockout wins in controversial fashion. Efforts to break the tie will have to come another day, as Torres pulled out of the fight on Sunday, leaving promoter Top Rank to scramble for a last-minute opponent before Hopkins agreed to step in.

With neither fighter having been able to train for the other, the two kept it strictly boxing in the early going, in sharp contrast to the lively smack talk that extended all the way to the pre-fight instructions. Holt was intent on playing defense, remaining on the outside of Hopkins’ combinations, fired from long range but often falling short. Holt’s most effective weapon was a jab and right hand behind it, with the right hand landing more often than the stick.

Not much occurred in round two, with a headbutt standing out among the frame’s brief moments. Holt was attempting to set up a right hand, but was overzealous charging in, resulting in the two fighter clanging foreheads. It served as a wakeup call for Hopkins, who began to let his hands go in the third, repeatedly scoring with jabs and left hooks upstairs.

The confidence spilled over into the fourth for Hopkins, who danced around on the outside, as if to dare Holt to charge in. Holt was reluctant to bite, but momentarily pinned him on the ropes. Hopkins came back moments later with a straight right hand, though Holt was able to respond with a flurry upstairs.

A double left hook by Hopkins punctuated a solid round, though not enough to impress his corner. Instructions of “stop laughing,” “throw your right hand more” came about rather than the obligatory praise that would be heard in most corners, particularly for a fighter who accepted assignment on less than a week’s notice.

The advice didn’t quite take – Hopkins was still effective in playing keep-away, but remained a one-handed fighter, overly dependent on a jab that hardly found its target. It changed for a moment in the sixth, when Hopkins came through with a right uppercut. Holt took it well, immediately coming back with a flurry upstairs. Plenty of two-way exchanges ensued in the final minute, easily the best stretch of the fight.

Hopkins tried to get a head start in the seventh, jumping on Holt the moment the bell rang to begin the round. The plan miserably backfired, as Holt cracked him with a left hand that briefly had the Philly boxer doing the Judah shuffle.

Plenty of movement was offered in the eighth, though it took a while for the punches to start flowing. Holt put an end to that midway through the round, throwing a left hook and right hand. The former was blocked, the latter getting through. Hopkins tried to respond, but failed to show the same level of commitment behind his punches as Holt.

Such sentiments were echoed by Holt’s corner in between rounds. They believed Hopkins would continue to keep it strictly boxing, thus requesting Holt to remain the aggressor. Their wishes weren’t granted in either regard; Holt spent a considerable amount of the ninth fighting on the defensive or in retreat, primarily because Hopkins began punching in combination, throwing a more purposeful right hand than at any other point in the fight.

As the fight reached double digit rounds, Hopkins fought like a man who needed a rally to pull out a win. The jab was flowing, and right hands were following. Missing was an active pace, with the only times he’d truly let his hands go was when countering Holt on the inside. Holt tried to take advantage, landing a right to the body and coming back upstairs, though Hopkins did a good job of getting out of harm’s way.

The championship rounds were marred by excessive clinching. Neither fighter delivered the type of stretch performance indicative of wanting to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

With such little action occurring in the eleventh, a late Hopkins uppercut might have been enough to pull out the round, though for whatever reason refused to let his hands go in the twelfth and final round. Holt took advantage, throwing furiously to the body and head down the stretch in his best efforts to preserve what appeared to be a surefire victory.

Someone forgot to tell that to Julie Lederman, who wound up with a 115-113 verdict in favor of Hopkins. Her tally was overturned by scores of 116-112 and 117-111 for Holt, who ends a rough week on a high note.

“I’ve been overcoming adversity since I’m a child; these last two weeks aren’t anything I’m not used to,” claims Holt, who advances to 25-2 (13KO) with his third straight win, all coming in 2008.

The adversity he was forced to endure this week included the last minute switch in opponents as well as drama within his own camp. Hopkins came in as a late replacement for Holt’s old rival Ricardo Torres, who inexplicably pulled out of the rubber match late last week, citing illness though sources closer to the situation claim a poor training camp as the real reason.

Not only was Holt forced to deal with the drastic change in opponents – Torres a straight away banger, Hopkins a lean boxer – but would see manager Henry Cortes arrested earlier in the week, on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Through it all, Holt delivered one of the more complete performances of his improving career.

“The body shots were the game plan,” claimed Holt afterward. “(Hopkins is) a mover, he’s a boxer. For opponents, that’s their game plan for me, so I stole a page out of their playbook.

“Tonight I had to change gears and retain what was mine.”

One particularly interested obverse was impressed by Holt’s performance.

“I thought Kendall looked tremendous tonight,” commented undefeated junior welterweight titlist Tim Bradley shortly after the bout. “He was the aggressor tonight; that was something to see. He was banging to the body, and did what he had to do to win the fight.”

Naturally, Hopkins wasn’t quite in agreement with Holt, Bradley or even the majority of observers on hand and watching at home on Showtime.

“I thought I won the fight,” claims Hopkins, who suffers the first loss of his career in falling to 28-1-1 (11KO). “I was coming off a 13-month layoff, but I did enough to pull it out.”

He didn’t, but gets a taste of action at the world class level, something Hopkins’ career has sorely lacked. He had his chance earlier this year, as he was scheduled to face Junior Witter before pulling out over promotional issues, namely a feud with uncle Bernard, which led to an eventual split from Golden Boy Promotions.

Ironically, Hopkins’ pulling out of the Witter fight led to the opportunity of a lifetime for Bradley, who bumped off the Brit in his home country this past May.

With that win came a title belt of sorts, which he’s now looking to parlay into a lucrative unification match with Holt sometime in 2009.

The winner clearly emerges as the top challenger to the lineal junior welterweight crown. With divisional leader Ricky Hatton on course to defend against the sport’s very best in Manny Pacquiao sometime next year, a Holt-Bradley winner would be in position for far and away the biggest payday of his career.

Sounds like Holt-Torres III will have to wait for another day.
 
UNDERCARD

The Irish contingency in attendance brought plenty of energy into the co-feature, only the wrong guy was feeling the spirit.

Undefeated Yuri Foreman delivered perhaps the most motivated performance of his career to date, easily handling Jamie Moore in their ten-round junior middleweight contest.

Foreman dominated the first two rounds, landing left hooks and lead rights at will, much to the dismay of Moore’s rabid supporters. It was a much better round three for Moore, though clear how inferior in skill level he was to Foreman, pushing most of his punches and never able to land anything to keep his opponent off of him.
 
Things returned to normal in the fourth, with Foreman resuming the role of aggressor and Moore forced to throw up the earmuffs to fend off the incoming. When Foreman wasn’t punching, he was far enough on the outside to avoid any return fire, while bouncing on his toes ready to leap in the moment counter opportunities would present themselves.

The pattern threatened to hold true for the balance of the fight, until Moore discovered that it was okay to punch back. A right hand late in the sixth round gave the crowd a sense of hope – perhaps false hope – as Foreman found himself in a rare moment of fighting on the defensive.

Drama briefly ensued in the seventh, a round featuring action on both sides of the law, prompting rare intervention from referee Randy Neumann. Both fighters were guilty of hitting on the break during the round, along with two separate breaks for ejected mouthpieces.

Once both fighters resumed to legal punching, it was Yuri Foreman landing the more significant shots in the seventh round and the rest of the fight, including a well-placed right hand that seemed to have caused discomfort to Moore’s eardrum.

Nothing of note changed down the stretch, with Foreman as dominant at the end as he was at fight’s start. Such was reflected on the scorecards, with tallies of 99-90, 100-90, 99-91 all for Foreman easily improved to 27-0 (8KO) with the win.

Moore falls to 16-2 (11KO), with both losses coming in back-to-back performances on Shobox.

The show was presented by Top Rank, Inc.

Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .