Keaton Gomes knew he left something on the table the moment his fight went to the scorecards.
The heavy-handed South African dropped a six-round, split decision to Bosnia’s Ahmed Krnjic in their sensational WBC Boxing Grand Prix heavyweight semifinal Sunday on DAZN from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Gomes won 58-56 on one card, while another judge had the fight even at 57-57. Scores of 59-55, 58-56 and 58-56 ruled in favor of Krnjic, who will advance to the December 20 final in Riyadh.
“Tough fight, very tough fight,” Krnjic told DAZN’s Claudia Trejos. “Every time I punched, he blocked and would go for it.”
The bout was by far the most entertaining of the eight semifinal bouts spanning four weight divisions. Krnjic and Gomes threw heavy leather for 18 straight minutes, with both fighters rocked late in the bout.
Gomes stopped each of his three opponents in the preceding three rounds of the global tournament which began back in April. He had Krnjic badly stunned late in the fifth round and appeared to be on his way to victory. Krnjic returned the favor in the sixth and final round, enough to preserve the victory though the outcome was subject to debate.
“I thought I did enough, I thought I landed the cleaner blows,” suggested a dejected Gomes, 13-4 (11 KOs). “He threw a lot but he mostly hit my hands. I should have thrown more.”
Krnjic, 7-0 (5 KOs) will now move on to face Argentina’s Kevin Ramirez, who edged USA’s Dante Stone via split decision. Stone, 21-2 (13 KOs) won 58-55 and 57-56 on two cards, overruled by scores of 57-56, 57-56 and 58-55 for Ramirez, a full-time cruiserweight who has overcome a size disadvantage in all four tournament bouts thus far.
Ramirez set the tone early, as a right hand floored Stone – against whom the Argentine boxer was outweighed by 56 pounds - barely 30 seconds into the contest. Stone – the last remaining American in the Grand Prix Tournament – was forced to play catchup the rest of the night but struggled to keep pace with the trimmer and fitter Ramirez. The fight was very much on the table headed down the stretch but Ramirez relied on his superior conditioning to seal the victory on three of the five cards.
While the plan is to drop back down to cruiserweight after the tournament, Ramirez, 11-0-2 (4 KOs) now has the chance to run the tables at heavyweight. The 25-year-old boxer is the younger brother of former cruiserweight titlist Victor Ramirez.
The pair of heavyweight fights capped an eight-bout show which also featured Final Four action at middleweight, junior welterweight and featherweight.
Derek Pomerleau, 15-0 (11 KOs) continued his brilliant run against accelerated competition with a six-round, majority decision over Colombia’s Carlos Cinisterra, 13-2 (10 KOs). One judge had the bout even at 57-57. That card was overruled by tallies of 58-56, 58-56, 58-56 and 58-57 for Montreal’s Pomerleau, who will face Australia’s Dylan Biggs in the middleweight final.
Biggs had a comparatively easier time on Sunday as he turned away France’s Lancelot Proton de la Chapelle via unanimous decision. All five judges (60-54, 59-55, 59-55, 58-56, 58-56) scored for Biggs, a 23-year-old Queensland prospect guided by Brendon Smith.
Brandon Mejia and Muhamat Qamili both stormed into the featherweight finale with stoppage victories.
Mexico’s Mejia, 12-0 (10 KOs) body punched his way to a 5th round knockout of South Africa’s Bekizizwe Maitse, 8-1-2 (3 KOs), who faced all unbeaten opposition throughout the tournament. His luck ran out on Sunday, when Mejia twice sent Maitse to the canvas, the latter which produced an immediate ending at 2:52 of the 5th round.
Muhamat Qamili, 17-0-1 (8 KOs) enjoyed his quickest win in more than four years after icing France’s Yoni Valverde Jnr inside of a round. The unbeaten Qamili - – an Albanian boxer based in Italy – floored France’s Valverde, 16-1 (3 KOs) and subsequently applied enough pressure to force the stoppage at just 2:26 of round one.
Mujibillo Tursunov, 9-0 (2 KO) and Carlos Utria traveled different paths to meet in the final round of the 140lbs bracket.
Uzbekistan’s Tursunov went the distance in each of his four tournament bouts to advance, including a six-round, majority decision over Ukraine’s Danylo Lozan, 15-1 (9 KOs). Their terrific outing – which kicked off Sunday’s offering, saw Tursunov prevail on four of the five cards – 59-55, 59-57, 58-56 and 58-56 – to overrule the 57-57 even score.
Colombia’s Utria, 13-0 (11 KOs), missed his quickest career win by just one second. He was nevertheless brief in his dismantling of South Africa’s Ntethelelo Nkosi, 10-3 (5 KOs).
A right hand and left hook had Nkosi trapped on the ropes and badly hurt, as Utria went on the attack. His barrage was enough to force the stoppage at just 1:38 of round one.
All four divisional final bouts will take place on December 20 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Olympic style scoring (five judges) and random drug testing have been implemented throughout the tournament, which began with 64 bouts spread across the four weights back in April.
