By Mark Vester
In a war from the opening bell, Jean Marc Mormeck (33-3, 22 KOs) regained the WBC/WBA cruiserweight titles from O'Neil Bell (26-2-1, 24 KOs) by way of unanimous decision at the Palais des Sports Marcel Cerdan in Paris, France.
The fight was a rematch of their January 06 fight-of-year battle, which Bell won by knockout to unify the cruiserweght division.
Mormeck promised a slower pace to save his energy for the late rounds, but the fight began like the first as both fighters were throwing big power punches with few clinches or breaks. By the end of the fourth round, both fighters appeared to be exhausted but the battle continued with Mormeck gaining the advantage with his power punches landing more often and pushing Bell back.
Just when you thought one fighter was on the verge of being stopped, he would come back with hard combinations. As both men entered the ninth round, Mormeck was so tired that he could barely stand straight and began to box Bell from a distance. The WBC used open scoring in the fight and after 8-rounds, Bell knew he was behind on the cards and had to either score a knockout or knock Mormeck down a few times.
The final three rounds saw Bell chasing Mormeck around the ring while going for a knockout. Mormeck was able to fight him off with small spurts of punches on the inside and hang on to his early lead by making it to the final bell.
The scores were 115-113, 116-112 and 115-113 - all for Mormeck. The rematch has to be considered as another contender for the fight of the year sweepstakes.
