By Jake Donovan

Youth and justice was served in the boxing world, with a pair of crossroads bouts at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida resulting in the fresher fighters not just winning, but doing so in emphatic fashion.

Junior welterweight titlist Juan Urango recovered from a knockdown midway through his main event with Randall Bailey to stop the former titlist in the 11th round of their scheduled twelve. The bout was preceded by the coming out party for undefeated Tavoris Cloud, who earned a vacant light heavyweight belt with a dominant decision win over former champ Clinton Woods.

Both bouts aired live in the season finale of ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights series.

The scouting report for the main event was as basic as it gets – Urango’s pressure versus Bailey’s right hand, It’s no secret that Bailey would attempt to establish his greatest – if not only remaining – weapon as early as possible. The shot would occasionally land, but didn’t cause any immediate damage on the iron-chinned Urango, who largely fought behind the right jab in the early going.

Neither fighter was particularly effective in a sloppy first round that saw their feet repeatedly tangled up, as is often the case when a southpaw faces a conventional fighter.

Though six years his opponent’s senior, Bailey was the busier fighter of the two, offering movement while Urango, traditionally a pressure fighter, was wild and ineffective in his efforts to work his way inside. Bailey controlled the distance and pace with his jab, though failing to create the necessary openings to follow with a right hand.

Urango managed to close the gap in the third, picking up the pace and pressuring his way inside. Bailey was willing to trade, landing uppercuts and straight rights on the inside, though you wouldn’t realize it the way Urango kept coming forward.

As the bout went on, Bailey’s power proved to be less and less of an equalizer. Urango was relentless in the fourth, tucking in his head and charging forward as Bailey began to look every bit of his 34 years of age.

However, with age comes wisdom. Bailey was less mobile in the fifth, instead showing a greater appreciation for the art of holding, which was effective in neutralizing Urango’s inside attack. Even better was what the old veteran had to offer in the sixth, cracking the stocky Colombian with a right hand to produce the bout’s first knockdown.

It was a beauty of a sequence, with Bailey first landing a jab before following up with a right hand that sent Urango to the canvas. An accidental headbutt also caught Urango on the way down, opening a cut outside of his right eyelid.

To his credit, the champ shook it off and roared back like a champion, arguably scoring a knockdown of his own when a left hand to the body caused Bailey to touch the canvas with his glove. The event went unnoticed by the referee, which worked to Bailey’s advantage as he escaped the sixth with a10-8 round on the scorecards and perceived to have a slight lead midway through.

Further proving he wasn’t affected by the knockdown, Urango continued to apply the pressure in the seventh, while Bailey was wise to remain reserved. He offered just enough to produce further damage to Urango’s right eye, which was cut and rapidly beginning to swell shut.

Bailey looked to reestablish his right hand in the eighth, throwing a straight right early in the round. Urango shook it off and remained dialed in on Bailey’s body, hurting the veteran with a right hook late, as well as a heavy jab upstairs that caused his elder foe to pitch forward and initiate a clinch.

He would be forced to hang on for dear life during the moments in the ninth that weren’t spent on the canvas. A counter left hand caused Bailey to lean back, barely beating the count as he was on wobbly legs at “9 ½.”

Urango quickly jumped on his still hazy foe, scoring his second knockdown of the round, this time courtesy of an overhand left. Still trying to find his legs upon rising from the canvas, Bailey repeatedly clinched for much of the second half of the round. Urango looked for any opening to end the fight, but his punches were smothered enough for Bailey to survive the disastrous round.

The one-minute rest between rounds didn’t appear to help revive Bailey, nor did the tongue-lashing from red-hot head trainer John David Jackson. Urango struggled to take advantage in the first half of the round, spending far too much time headhunting before getting close enough to land a bone-crunching right hook to the body, sending Bailey to the canvas for the third time in the fight.

Though with the fight seemingly in the bank, Urango still had knockout in mind as the fight entered the championship rounds. He would eventually get his wish, though in somewhat anti-climactic fashion. Bailey offered nothing in the round, either moving backwards or clinching on the inside for as long as the round lasted.

His corner recognized the pattern that was developing, and saw no need to allow it to continue, climbing onto the ring apron with white flag in tow.

The official time was 1:51 of the 11th round.

For Urango, it was a serious gut check and an impressive bounce back from his lethargic points loss three months ago. He improves to 22-2-1 (17KO) overall with the win, making the first defense of the alphabet title he regained earlier this year.

Bailey falls to 39-7 (34KO) with the loss, just his second since 2004. Despite his advanced age and shaky chin, it was just the third stoppage loss of his career, having previously suffered inside-the-distance defeats against Miguel Cotto and Diosbelys Hurtado.

The televised co-feature wasn’t quite as spirited or competitive, but that was due to 27-year young Tavoris Cloud letting it all hang out in the biggest fight of his young career.

At age 37 and with 15 years in service, it was clear that the bout would be Clinton Woods’ last chance to remain in the mix at light heavyweight, a division that seems to finally paying homage to “out with the old, in with the new.”

The old phrase held true in the televised co-feature. Cloud was out of the ring for more than a year in awaiting a title shot, but showed no signs of ring rust. The muscular Tallahassee native established his power game from the opening bell, and hardly let up over the course of their 12-round affair.

Woods seemed disinterested in two-way exchange, which meant much of the night spent riding out the Cloud storms before offering any offense of his own. He had his moments, snapping back Cloud’s head late in the second round, but often found himself under siege the moment he attempted to open up or even counter.

Cloud appeared well on his way to adding to his lofty knockout-to-win ratio when he had Woods on rubber legs in the seventh, but was unable to close the deal. His most effective weapon early on was his left hook, but it was right hands that once again had Woods in trouble late in the fight, though he would absorb well enough to last the distance.

The bout marked just the second time in his five-year career that Cloud would see a fight go to the scorecards or even past the sixth round. The last time he went rounds came in his last fight, a 10th round stoppage of former lineal champion Julio Gonzalez more than a year ago.

He was just as convincing against yet another former titlist in Woods, winning by scores of 116-112 across the board to improve to 20-0 (18KO). The win nets Cloud his first major title, picking up the belt vacated by Chad Dawson, who passed on a fight with the 27-year old Floridian in favor of a more lucrative bout with another Florida resident, as he will rematch 40-year old Glen Johnson later this year on HBO.

Cloud could’ve appeared in the televised co-feature on that card, with a guarantee of a shot at the winner sometime in 2010. But that would’ve meant being out of the ring for 15 months come fight night, to which his handlers instead decided it’d be wiser to fight for a vacant title.

Time will tell if the right decision was made, though at the very least, Cloud establishes himself as a major player in a light heavyweight division desperate for fresh faces.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .