By Cliff Rold
In a scintillating display of naked aggression and ceaseless combination punching, 26-year old Featherweight Monte Meza-Clay (26-1, 18 KO) of Rankin, Pennsylvania stopped 27-year old Eric Aiken (16-7-1, 12 KO) of Washington, DC, a former IBF titlist, in seven rounds at the Expo Mart in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. The bout was the main event on the ESPN2 Friday Night Fights.
After a first round that saw each man try to establish their preferred tempo and ring geography, Meza-Clay exploded in the second with a torrent of body shots and particularly effective straight right hands to the head. Meza-Clay, who stands 5’2, gave away five inches of height to Aiken but used that to his advantage by getting underneath Aiken’s best shots and firing through the gaps created when Aiken would miss.
As Meza-Clay continued in throwing some 100 punches per round in what might be described as an imitation of a windmill, Aiken refused to be overwhelmed. He fired back with jabs, right hands and uppercuts whenever he could create room to do so. It didn’t seem to pay off with winning rounds until the fifth.
In that round, Meza-Clay continued to come forward but seemed to slow just slightly, allowing Aiken greater punching room. Aiken used it to great effect, landing some of his best right hands of the night and creating a glimmer of hope that the night would not be lost.
In the sixth, it became clear that Meza-Clay was merely reloading. Meza-Clay, on more than one occasion, trapped Aiken against the ropes and the former titlist survived only by the smallest of centimeters as he was forced to focus on slipping shots. He didn’t even have those narrow gaps left in the seventh. Trapped against the ropes, Meza-Clay unleashed a closing fusillade that had Aiken’s head snapping backwards before the referee intervened to end the assault.
It was Meza-Clay’s seventh consecutive victory, fifth by knockout, since being stopped by Lightweight power puncher Edner Cherry in May 2006. He is clearly better off at Featherweight and may soon begin to make noise as a serious contender in the division.
For Aiken, this marks a devastating loss in his career. After upsetting former bantamweight titlist Tim Austin and then-Featherweight titlist Valdemir Pereira in consecutive 2006 bouts, Aiken has gone 0-3-1 and been stopped in each of those losses.
Meza-Clay weighed in three pounds over the division limit at 129 lbs.; Aiken weighed in at 126 ¾.
The main event wasn’t the only impressive display. Friday Night Fights got off to a bang with a spirited eight-round Welterweight battle between Brian Camechis (17-0, 8 KO) of Glouster, Ohio and 34-year old Puerto Rican journeyman Doel Carrasquillo (11-7-1, 9 KO). In a bout where it seemed at times that neither man could miss the target, or bother with a jab, Camechis was forced to the wall to protect his “0.”
After an opening three rounds of mayhem, Camechis was dropped and seriously hurt. Rising on unsteady legs, he weathered the storm and proceeded to storm back in the fifth to reassert himself in the battle. Fighting on fairly even terms throughout the last three rounds, Camechis managed to maintain the edge in effective punches landed down the stretch, earning the unanimous decision by scores of 76-75, 77-75 and 78-73. Both men weighed in one pound over the division limit at 148 lbs.
In other televised action, Welterweight Jesse Lubash moved to 3-0 with one stoppage in a unanimous decision victory over Shawn Detamore (2-6, 2 KO).
Friday Night Fights returns next week with an intriguing Cruiserweight battle between Ring Magazine #9 contender Darnell Wilson (22-5-3, 19 KO) and 2005 U.S. Olympian B.J. Flores (20-0-1, 13 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