Heavyweight Brandon Moore (14-0, 8 KOs) won a hard-fought eight-round unanimous decision over Helaman Olguin (9-7-1, 4 KOs) in the opening bout of Saturday’s undercard at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
The bout was strange. Moore was busier and landed the cleaner shots, but his lack of an active jab and awkward technique made the fight appear close. Olguin, despite weighing in at over 280 pounds (and seemingly too much of it unnecessary), gave Moore trouble – especially when Olguin leaned on him.
Moore showed frustration at certain points. In the fourth round, he punched Olguin off the break when referee Benjy Esteves called for a stop in the action. Moore is a late-comer to boxing – and it showed in the latter rounds of the fight.
He looped his shots as Olguin gained confidence walking him down. Punches were too often secondary to clinches. Moore, firing off combinations, finished the last two rounds extremely well. He just couldn’t land a sequence of clean shots to earn the stoppage. Both fighters were exhausted at the final bell.
All three judges scored the bout 80-72.
