By Cliff Rold

In a mild upset and the best win of his career, 29-year old Light Heavyweight Yusaf Mack (27-2-2, 16 KO) of New York City scored early and often with heavy right hands to capture a split decision from 27-year old top-ten Light Heavyweight contender Chris Henry (23-2, 18 KO).  It was Mack’s fourth straight after suffering a knockout loss to Super Middleweight contender Librado Andrade in October 2007.  The Friday night card played out before a lively crowd at the Wicomico Civic Center in Salisbury, Maryland.

Henry came in at the Light Heavyweight limit of 175 lbs., Mack one pound below at 174.

Henry came out with a fast jab but Mack landed first with his stiff left stick.  Mack shot short lead left hooks to the head and body as he circled away from Henry but Henry was undeterred.  Both men landed hard rights in the final minute and Mack added a second along with a sharp right uppercut to steal the opening frame.

Wild right hands from each missed to start the second and neither seemed able to find range early, the best blow coming in a Henry right behind the head of Mack.  Henry slammed two to the body and a right over the top in working Mack towards the ropes but Mack worked off in an exchange of rights.  A timed right hand landed flush for Mack at the minute mark but a following left uppercut was blocked.  Henry returned to the body, straying just below the belt to no affect and Mack returned to his jab and right in the closing seconds.

Henry loaded up with two right hand bombs early in the third but Mack rolled with both before connecting cleanly with one of his own.  Henry fired the left to the gut and at a minute in found the head of Mack, rocking him back.  Mack’s right uppercut connected at the halfway mark and Henry replied by going hard to the body and again finishing with the right up top.  Henry pinned Mack to the ropes with body work in the final minute but received a stern warning from referee Kenny Chevalier for straying low.

Tangled legs ended with Henry on the floor but no knockdown was scored to start the fourth.  As the round wore on it was again a tale of Mack’s accurate right hand.  While both men scored in close, Mack’s shots were cleaner and easier to score.  A lopping Henry right hook scored in the closing seconds. 

Henry rolled away from a Mack right hand to open the fifth and chased Mack down with a thudding right of his own just seconds later.  Mack landed a series of long rights and lefts over a thirty second stretch and both men slowed a bit towards the halfway mark.  The action stayed inside and against the ropes for a stretch before moving to ring center.  Mack continued to score almost at will with haymaking power shots and the possibility of a steep scoring deficit for Henry began to loom.

The deficit got worse in the sixth but Henry showed great heart in staying off the floor.  Heading towards the final minute, Mack began lasering in with rights to the temple of Henry.  Over and over the shot landed, and Henry lost his balance falling towards the ropes.  He would not fall to the floor.  Mack, winded, saw his shots lose steam in the waning moments and Henry planted his feet and threw if to little avail.

In the seventh, it was Henry bouncing on his toes to start but the impression of freshness was short lived as a Mack right crashed home and Henry returned to flat feet.  The round was perhaps the slowest of the bout and it benefited Henry who worked for more consistently for the full three minutes, adding nice rib work along the way. 

A short left hook inside imbalanced Mack at the beginning of the eighth but he failed to follow it up and the pace remained slower than it had been earlier on.  Mack continued to land more accurately but Henry showed signs of a rally as his work rate presented a judging quandary.  In round nine, Mack made it easier for the pencil and pad crew, cranking up his right hands again even as Henry continued to press.

The electricity was all but gone in round ten.  Even as both men continued to load up heavy blows, the action was sporadic until a steady exchange at the end of the round.  The chances Henry was catching up in the scoring continued as neither man could demand advantage and Mack gave the appearance of a flagging battler.  Both landed hard body blows in the first half of the eleventh and again it was Henry who looked like he wanted it more, pressing the action and throwing more if not showier shots.

The quick, obligatory hand tap of respect to start the final round was rudely forgotten with a Mack right hand seconds later to spring the bout back to life.  Henry staggered forward but again refused to fall.  Mack had little energy to follow up and was worked to the ropes by Henry, his mouth wide open for air.  Both men, exhausted, leaned into each other between occasionally intended bombs.  Henry stayed downstairs but never gave up on the right hand upstairs while Mack landed a few short hooks down the stretch.  Both men were standing at the final bell of a long, grueling affair.

The late rally would not be enough for Henry as the split decision scores were announced at 116-112 and 115-112 Mack with the dissenting score going to Henry at 115-113.  It was a nice way to end the night but not necessarily what the fans came to see.

The chief support bout may well have been the real main event for the fans.  Showing off again a powerful local following of paying ticket buyers, 22-year old undefeated Middleweight Fernando Guerrero (13-0, 11 KO) of Salisbury, Maryland stayed that way but it wasn’t easy.  23-year old Gabriel Rosado (10-3, 6 KO) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, made sure of that, scoring a knockdown and hanging in every step of the way in a fast-paced, crowd pleasing eight round affair.  Guerrero left the ring with deserved victory but both men earned the noisy respect of the fans. 

The bout began at an intense but measured pace as each battler sized up the other.  Both found success with the jab, Guerrero from the southpaw right side.  It was an even three minutes where a right hand off the jab for Rosado with about a minute left may have been the round’s best blow.

Guerrero began to step up his offense in the second, stepping into the jab and landing a number of hard left hands.  Rosado continued to look for his right down the pipe but found limited success as Guerrero used his left glove to smother the blows.  In the closing seconds, Guerrero’s vocal fans rose to their feet as he began to utilize multi-punch flurries but Rosado responded with leather.

Seconds into round number three, Guerrero found the tables turned a bit as a right hand from Rosado, perfectly timed, caught Guerrero off balance and resulted in Guerrero being deposited to the floor for an official knockdown.  He took referee (?) standing eight-count and returned to his established game plan, jabbing and firing the left.  Rosado maintained the faith in his right and scored single, heavy shots in the bouts final minute, countering as Guerrero backed straight away after throwing his left.

The intense battle of hard jabs turned into sustained trench warfare in the fourth.  A minute in, Guerrero landed a stiff left and whipped Rosado’s head back with another at the halfway point.  Smelling blood, Guerrero followed with a left to the chest and began slinging in short right hooks.  Refusing to be overwhelmed, Rosado stood his ground and shot back, eating more than he could serve but matching the fire of the hometown favorite.

Guerrero's ceaseless offense and superior accuracy forced finally a backward step from the gutsy Rosado.  The variation of right hook and lead left from Guerrero threatened to overwhelm but Rosado again would not give.  In the closing seconds, he landed a hard right and lead left to keep Guerrero honest and the fans on their feet. 

Streams of blows flowed from both young warriors to start the sixth as Rosado pulled his hands high and tight and marched forward.  Sneaking the left uppercut through the guard of Rosado, and later the left uppercut as well, Guerrero continued to pile up points.  At the 1:20 mark, a Guerrero left brought a buckle to Rosado’s knees but the Philly product wisely leaned into the body of Guerrero to smother his follow-up offense.  Stepping back to his range, Guerrero gave himself room for the jab and returned to the straight left down the stretch to seal another frame.

Rosado hooked Guerrero around the neck early in the seventh and let off a series of echoing right hands to the body, bulling his man towards the ropes.  Guerrero stayed near the ropes for almost a full minute before using his right hook to create space to spin Rosado’s back to the strands.  Shoulder to shoulder they stayed, Guerrero using the opportunity to leverage uppercuts.  Rosado used the close proximity to turn right hands over, two particularly nasty ones crashing through in the closing seconds.  A purple, closing left eye seemed little distraction for Rosado.

Both men touched gloves for the eighth and final round, Guerrero looking for a knockout finish and Rosado looking for a needed knockout save.  With two minutes to go, both men raised their arms, baiting their man and brining a roar from the crowd.  Guerrero wisely moved between flurries, limiting Rosado’s chances for a miracle.  Rosado never got it and Guerrero even tossed in a Roy Jones like hands behind his back pose in the closing seconds to signal his awareness of the pending outcome.  Scores of 76-75 and 77-74 twice awarded Guerrero and hard earned unanimous decision.

While Guerrero took more shots than one would like to see in such a promising prospect, he certainly guaranteed that any who witnessed this bout will want to see him again.  To his credit, so too did Rosado.  It was a splendid effort from both young warriors and a reminder of the value of youth in the squared circle.

21-year old former U.S. Amateur standout and promising prospect Shawn Porter (5-0, 4 KO) of Akron, Ohio, kept his undefeated record intact in the televised opener, scoring a fairly easy decision over 31-year old Cory Jones (4-4, 1 KO) of Brooklyn, New York.  It was the young Middleweight’s first trip to the scorecards.

Porter got off to a quick start, a straight right hand dropping Jones to his back less than a minute in.  The quick handed Porter wasn’t able to deck him again…for about a minute.  A left hook and overhand right inside the final minute sent Jones to the floor again.  The opponent rose and survived to the bell.

Moments into the second round, each man landed power shots in an exchange but it was the left hook of Porter pushing Jones back.  Unlike the first, Jones would keep his feet for the full three minutes, and as the time wore on, begin to find some success against the aggressive novice, forcing notice with his own left hand.  The bulk of the offense remained with Porter but he had to work for it.

There would be less success for Jones in the third as the volume attack of Porter was complimented by more disciplined defense then he had shown in the previous three minutes.  His aggression returned to a hint of recklessness in the fourth and final frame but victory was never in doubt as unanimous scores of 39-35 and 40-33 twice confirmed.

The card was televised in the United States on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, promoted by Prize Fight Boxing.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com