By: William Holmes
ESPN’s Friday Night Fights was delayed due to the College World Series. Friday Night Fights was broadcast from the Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton, Washington.
The broadcast was picked up by ESPN2 at the end of the light heavyweight bout between Farah Ennis (21-1) and Anthony Hanshaw (23-2-2). According to the broadcast, Hanshaw appeared to control the early rounds but Ennis came on strong late in the fight and scored a knockdown halfway through the tenth round.
Farah Ennis rallied late and the final scores were 95-94, 96-93, and 96-93 for Farah Ennis.
The main event of the night was between John Molina (25-2) and Andrey Klimov (15-0) in the lightweight division.
Molina and Klimov were similar in height and in reach and both were orthodox fighters but Molina held a significant edge in experience and quality of opposition.
Klimov started off extremely light on his feet and appeared to be bouncing inside the ring. The opening round was close and was more of a feel out round and could have been scored either way.
Klimov began to land his overhand right in the second round but there was not much action inside the ring. Andrey Klimov’s jab began to become effective in the third round and he mixed up his punches to the head and body of John Molina. Molina appeared sluggish and did not press the action.
Molina’s best round of the night was the fourth round as he ripped several hard punches to the body and began to press the action. At one point in the round Klimov’s mouthpiece fell out from Molina’s offensive attack.
Klimov went back to his jab in the fifth round and kept the pressing Molina at bay. Molina was unable to land anything of note but was able to land a few decent body punches.
The later rounds were close and difficult to call, but Klimov was the more active fighter and appeared to land more punches. The final scores were 95-95, 97-93, and 96-94 for Klimov.
