By Mark Vester
On the undercard to Kelly Pavlik-Bernard Hopkins at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, a battle of counter-punchers saw WBO featherweight champion Steven Luevano (36-1-1, 15KOs) win a unanimous twelve-round decision over previously unbeaten Billy Dib (21-1, 11KOs). The scores were 116-112, 115-113, 117-111.
The fight started slow, very slow. Both of the fighters were waiting for counters, some that never happened. Dib, a big fan of Naseem Hamed, tried to fight like Hamed - but without the power. Dib used a lot of movement and more movement and showboating, but no activity in his punches.
Luevano began to get frustrated in the eight, with all of the Dib's movement and showboating, and began to get aggressive. Dib tried to stand his ground more in the ninth, with Luevano landing good counters. A few hards shots from Luevano began to shake Dib up in the tenth. In the final two rounds, Luevano pressed forward and continued to land the better punches.
There was talk by the HBO broadcast crew that Luevano might fight Rocky Juarez in his next fight. A surprising move by Juarez if it happens, since he recently showed no interest in moving down from super featherweight to face WBA champion Chris John.
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