Pechanga Resort and Casino is really becoming a place people want
to go to watch boxing events. I heard that from the fans, and the boxing sells
out most every time. I don’t think they were disappointed this time, as we
witnessed a super, if not short, main event.
Andre Ward on his way to his 20th victory.
Marlene Marquez photo
An extremely confident Andre Ward extended his win record to
20-0, 13 KOs when he took command of the very out-classed Shelby Pudwill (22-4,
9 KOs), forcing a stoppage at 2:13 of the third round. Ward connected with
almost everything he threw - left, right, jabs, it didn’t seem to matter what
he offered up. His combinations were repeatedly connecting with the face of
Pudwill, who kept wanting to answer back, but Ward was way too good. A left
hook put Shelby down in the third and opened up a cut under his left eye.
Referee Pat Russell checked on him, but allowed the fight to continue. Finally,
after even Andre looked at the Russell as if to ask him to put an end to the
abuse, Pudwill’s corner ran up the steps to get the fight stopped.
“I came here to do what I had to do,” Ward said after the
fight. “It was pretty much done after he got knocked down. I only know how to
do 100%. God blessed me with so much ability and talent; I owe it to him to
maximize my potential in every training camp and every fight. I wanted a great
performance. Just a win isn’t enough for me. I wanted to put on a spectacular
performance, and I think I did that. It’s Championship time!”
Ward, a 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist who is ranked number one
with both the WBC and the WBO, can now look forward to his next challenger;
current WBA Middleweight Champion Mikkel Kessler (42-1, 32 KOs) who was
victorious over Gusmyr Perdomo on this same night in Denmark. Kessler won by a
fourth round TKO giving Perdomo his first KO loss. The Ward/Kessler fight will
take place November 21 in Oakland, California, and is part of the Super Six
World Boxing Classic.
Considered the co-main event, James “Lights Out” Toney
(72-6-3, 44 KOs) faced Matthew Greer (22-4-1, 9 KOs). This match was considered
laughable, until Greer hit Toney with a right early in the first round that
caught him off guard, and then continued with a flurry of punches. Apparently
all that did was awaken the sleeping Toney, who, from that point forward, had
complete control over the fight. He dropped Greer in the second round and
finally the fight was stopped at 2:33.
James was at the lowest weight he has been at in a long
time. He weighed in at 217.5 and joked about losing more and fighting as a
Middleweight.
James Toney and Matthew Greer.
Marlene Marquez photo
But I have to say that the biggest topic of conversation
before, and even during this fight, was the fact that Greer was wearing what
appeared to be blue sweat trunks rather than boxing trunks. Hmm, what does that
tell you?
Francisco Santana (11-1, 5 KOs) went up against Tony Hirsch (9-3-1,
5 KOs) in a Light Middleweight contest that the fans really got into. Hirsch
seemed to be the stronger of the two, but both men continued to exchange
punches throughout this six round fight. We saw a very scrappy Hirsch at the
end of round four, but Santana came back in the fifth. There was a lot of
action in round six, although not a lot of the hits were connecting solidly. At
the end of the fight however, it was the consensus of most that the fight would
go to Hirsch. A split decision read it differently, as Francisco Santana was
awarded the victory. Ok, being a ringside judge is not my thing, but Hirsch won
this fight, IMHO. What is it they say? That’s boxing.
Junior Welterweight Michael Dallas kept his win streak going
after getting a unanimous decision over Vincent Arroyo, 60-54, 59-55, 59-55.
The first round was a close one, and showed how fast both fighters were. Round
two was a great round for Dallas. He started to show some power here. The third
and fourth had both fighters throwing a lot of punches and exhibiting good
efforts. In the fifth, both men slowed down a bit as the pace had been fast up
until then. But it still appeared to be all Dallas. Toward the end of the sixth
however, Arroyo really sent Dallas reeling with some hard punches, but it was
too little too late. Michael is now 10-0-1, 2 KOs, while Arroyo had his win
streak broken and is now 9-1, 6 KOs.
I spoke with Michael later and wondered if there were any
surprises in that fight. “No, I knew he had a lot of knockouts and was going to
come out strong, so I just stuck to my game plan and just boxed him.
“I’m still undefeated. An undefeated prospect coming up, and
I was the bigger man tonight.”
In a Junior Featherweight bout, Victor Martinez (15-6, 11
KOs) was totally overwhelmed by Rico Ramos, who increased his undefeated streak
to 12 –0, 8 KOs. Rico dropped Martinez in the first and stepped it up from
there. His hard body shots were giving Victor a beating, and the fight was
stopped in the third.
Terrel Williams went up against Joshua Zurfluh. Zurfluh was
so outmatched here, as Williams delivered hit, after hit, after hit. Big rights
by Williams all night. Well, alright, maybe not all night, as the fight was
stopped in the second round. This dropped Joshua’s losing streak to seven,
including one win and one draw. Williams increased to 2-0.
With all these fights that were one-sided, it might seem as
if the night was a bit of a bust, but that was not the case. It was a very
entertaining evening of boxing, with the Ward fight delivering what it was
supposed to. Michael Dallas showed that he is one to watch as well. And the
remaining fights, with one probable exception, provided a lot of action.
