By Jake Donovan
It was a main event that featured a little bit of everything – knockdowns, body punching, excessive clinching, and perhaps the longest uninterrupted round in boxing history. It also produced a surprise twist, with Juan Urango coming up big on the road, taking an absurdly lopsided decision in his 12-round junior welterweight scrap with Herman Ngoudjo.
The bout aired live on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, live from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
Ngoudjo began the fight working behind the jab, while Urango kept his head and chin tucked in a turtle shell-like defense. It took Urango a couple of minutes to solve the mobile style of his opponent, but finally came through with right hooks from the outside later in the round.
The second round was every bit as tightly contested as its predecessor. Ngoudjo was first to the draw on many of the exchanges due his being the straighter puncher, but Urango’s wide hooks appeared to cause more damage. A few of Urango’s punches sailed a tad low, drawing a verbal warning from controversial referee Marlon Wright.
However close the fight was through two rounds dramatically changed in the third. Ngoudjo got a little too cute for his own good while boxing on the inside, and wound up getting caught with a wicked left uppercut while pulling straight back. It was no flash knockdown, as Ngoudjo was clearly buzzed as he struggled to climb off the deck before beating the count.
Urango remained on the grind, catching his still buzzed foe with a left and a right later in the round for the bout’s second knockdown. Ngoudjo was able to survive the round, and clear his head enough to use his legs more in a fourth round spent largely in recovery mode. Urango kept stalking, but was once again warned for low blows.
Taking off the fourth from an action standpoint paid off for Ngoudjo in the middle rounds, as he regained his senses and legs enough to stand his ground and trade with his Colombian foe. Urango was still landing the more telling blows, but Ngoudjo smartly used every inch of the ring to give the impression that he was controlling the tempo.
The strategy left Urango looking like a mindless plodder, no longer cutting off the ring as effectively as was the case in the earlier rounds. It momentarily changed in the seventh, when Urango rattled off several power shots, limiting Ngoudjo’s offense to reactionary jabbing in efforts to reestablish distance. Urango closed the gap late in the round, whacking away at Ngoudjo’s body to the tune of 24 shots landed downstairs for a 77% clip.
Tired of serving as a human whack-a-mole, Ngoudjo went back to basics in the eighth. The jab resurfaced, as did his ability to dart in and out without getting caught by the incoming. Urango tried to counter the approach by charging off of his stool at the start of the ninth, but resulted in wasted aggression as Ngoudjo wisely tied him. The pattern repeated itself throughout the round, resulting in the least amount of action to that point in the fight. Urango’s looping shots were able to once again find Ngoudjo’s midsection toward’s round end, perhaps stealing the frame on the judges’ scorecards.
There was more clinching than punching in the tenth, forcing referee Marlon Wright to earn his paycheck as he was forced to constantly intervene. Ngoudjo initiated many of the clinches, but the only warning that came of the action was in Urango’s direction for yet another low blow. Before Wright’s officiating could be questioned, the ringside officials trumped him by a wide margin. Perhaps the timekeeper fell asleep on the job, as the round lasted 5:11 – unofficially the longest round in modern boxing history without any timeouts.
With both fighters each putting in two minutes of overtime in the preceding round, action slowed in the eleventh. Ngoudjo received a brief timeout to repair loose tape on his glove. The brief rest appeared to rejuvenate the Cameroon-born boxer, while Urango struggled to find his second wind.
The final round of an exhausting battle began with both fighters embracing in center ring. Urango found a burst of energy, unloading a windmill of punches in the opening 20 seconds. Ngoudjo was only interested in boxing from the outside, tying up whenever Urango worked his way in. The tactic all but gave Urango the round, and possibly the fight according to the naked eye.
The judges agreed, but by a surprisingly wide margin. Scores of 118-108, 120-106 and 116-110 completely removed the fear of home cooking, with Urango taking the fight going away. He improves to 21-1-1 (16KO), picking up his fourth straight win and second tour as an alphabet titlist.
Urango’s first reign began in controversial fashion, taking a disputed decision over Naoufel Ben Rabah in June 2006. He conceded the crown to its rightful owner, Ricky Hatton, just seven months later in his lone defense, and had since won three straight – all by knockout – heading into this bout.
Ngoudjo dips to 17-3 (9KO). The loss was his first in his adopted homeland of Canada, and he is now 2-3 in his last five fights. It was his second straight failed bid for an alphabet title, and the second straight time his in-ring facial expression suggested he took issue with the decision. He came up short in a spirited effort against Paul Malignaggi a year ago, but was on the proper end of the call this time around, even if he deserved to win a few more rounds than he was granted on the final cards.
Hometown favorite Antonin Decarie was thorough, if not particularly exciting, in taking a wide decision win over 35-year old American journeyman Dorin Spivey in their 12-round televised co-feature.
Spivey came out strong, outworking Decarie by a margin of nearly 3-1 in the opening round. Decarie righted the ship in the second, still selective with his shots, but clearly landing the more telling blows.
The fans in attendance were finally given something to cheer about – other than blindly rooting for the hometown guy – in round three, when Decarie landed his best combination of the night. A right hand and left hook stunned Spivey, not enough to suggest a stoppage was on the way, but enough to satisfy the partisan crowd on hand.
After a slow fourth, Decaire picked up the pace in the fifth. The undefeated Canadian was particularly effective to the body, which helped down Spivey’s attack to a crawl. Round six was fought at just that, with the only notable action occurring was Spivey losing a point for pushing Decarie and hitting him in the back.
The deduction put Spivey at the point of no return as far as the scorecards were concerned, to which he fought accordingly in the second half of the fight. Decarie grew increasingly active in rounds seven and eight, landing several head shots. Spivey’s most effective weapon was his ability to clinch. It cost him another point on the scorecards, as well as a final warning from referee Gerry Bolen that the next occurrence would result in his being shown the exit.
Bolen’s patience was severely tested in the ninth. Spivey did his best to refrain from holding. It lasted all of two minutes, at which point he made up for lost time, clutching Decarie’s shoulders and literally dragging him to the canvas. No point was deducted, but Decarie did his best to exact revenge, cracking the career opponent with left hooks upstairs.
Both fighters had their moments in the tenth, a positive sign that Spivey at least hadn’t completely given up. He wasn’t winning rounds, but was punching more than he was clinching in the final three rounds. Decarie was dancing as hard as he could to close the show, but there’s a reason why he only has six knockouts in 21 fights. The Canadian still managed to make his punches count; Spivey threw more, but Decarie enjoyed a much higher connect percentage.
The 12-round fight felt like a marathon and couldn’t end soon enough. The lone upside to the bout was that it was well officiated, as the referee exuded patience and the judges were on the same page. Scores of 119-105, 118-106 and 118-108 extend Decarie’s record to 21-0 (6KO), while Spivey falls to 35-6 (28KO) in continuing his pattern of win one/lose one.
Undefeated cruiserweight Lukasz Janik opened up the show with a fourth round stoppage of overmatched and fleshy Martin Hudon of Canada.
Janik, a 23-year old Polish prospect fighting in North America for the first time in his young career, controlled every round and closed the show as a good prospect should. A hail of punches had Hudon trapped and forced to throw up the earmuffs in hopes of weathering the storm. It never happened, as referee Michael Griffin believed Hudon could no longer defend himself, promptly stopping the contest.
The official time was 0:40 of the fourth and final round.
Janik cruises to 12-0 (6KO); Hudon falls to 2-2-1 (2KO), and is now winless in his last three bouts.
The show was presented by GYM Promotions (Group Yvon Michel), in association with Warriors Promotion.
Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .
