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by Matthew N. Becher
Tonight, from the Windy City, Premiere Boxing Champions put together another show on Spike TV. This time from the Pavilion at the University of Illinois: Chicago, three fights were televised in the Middleweight and Super Middleweight division. Two of the fighters that were showcased, were shown not only for their great fighting ability inside the ring but for their inspirational fights against cancer outside of the ring.
We also saw, the dethroning of a champion, as one week out from next weeks mega fight, The Money Team welcomes home a new titlist
Roberto Garcia( 36-3 23KO) v. James Stevenson( 22-1 15KO) 152lb catch weight
Roberto Garcia entered tonight’s fight trying to redeem himself after not making weight against Shawn porter almost a month ago. He would get his chance on the first televised bout taking on Jeremy Stevenson at a 152 pound catch weight. Stevenson took the fight with only two weeks notice coming in as the underdog, but quickly establishing himself once the bell rang.
Forty five seconds into the fight, Stevenson landed a left cross which set up a short right hand uppercut, dropping Garcia to the canvas in the first round. Stevenson, would show to be the more mobile fighter in the first few rounds, landing a good jab, especially to Garcia’s body, until fatigue began to set in on the part of Stevenson.
Roberto Garcia is not known for his great boxing style, and tonight he showed what he is very well known for, turning a fight into a brawl. After the third round, Garcia began throwing more punches, and landing them at a higher rate. As both fighters began to get tired, Garcia used some dirty tactics such as pushing with his shoulder or elbow on breaks, leading with his head and the occasional low blow. He was never officially warned by the ref, and the resulting moves led to the break down of Stevenson, who by the 6th round was completely exhausted and literally fought to just survive to the final bell.
77-74 78-73 (2x) UD Garcia
Daniel Jacobs (28-1 25KO) vs. Caleb Truax (25-1 15KO) Middleweight
Caleb Truax remarks prior to the fight that he would knock Daniel Jacobs mouthpiece into the stands onto a fans lap did not come true. Truax showed very little in any round to rattle the WBA “regular” middleweight champion, Jacobs.
The early rounds were heavily used as feeling out rounds for both men, with Truax throwing the occasional jab, and hiding behind a tight defense. Jacobs tried to open Truax up with his superior footwork and feinting, but could not get past the guard of Truax until late in the 7th round.
Truax’s lone loss to former Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, was said to have been lost due to a slow start, but Truax did not correct this during tonight’s fight, staying stationary and landing very few big shots, to even get the attention of Jacobs.
The 10th round is when Truax landed his biggest punches, only to be countered by power shots from Jacobs. Jacobs continued his assault into the championship rounds.
At around the minute and a half mark of the final round, Jacobs landed a power combo that sent Truax wobbling into the ropes. The ref scored it a knock down, since the ropes held Truax up. After his mandatory eight count, Jacobs rushed in and the fight was stopped by the ref, as Jacobs retained his title.
Jacobs TKO 12 2:12
Anthony Dirrell(27-0-1 22KO) vs. Badou Jack(18-1-1 12KO) WBC Super Middleweight Championship
Anthony Dirrell let it be known at the previous days weigh in that he personally did not like Badou Jack, when the two fighters met for the pre fight stare down, and Dirrell began pushing Jack across the stage, while his entourage barked in the background. The WBC Super Middleweight champ, Dirrell, stated he would be coming out fast and looking for a knock out. He did neither, instead letting Jack set the early pace of a strong jab with a follow up overhand right.
Dirrell quickly took notice and began throwing power punches of his own. One would jab, the other would hurl, and no love was lost between the two.
Throughout the fight Dirrell began to hold and looked to get tired at around the 7th round. A few rounds later Jack began to catch Dirrell getting lazy against the ropes. In the 9th round, Jacks trainer, Eddie Mustafa Muhamed told his fighter “you’ve won every round, they might try and steal it from us, but you won every round”.
Jack seemingly took that to heart, as he came out and systematically began to out box Dirrell. Jack threw the harder shots, controlled the ring and in his first shot at a world title dethroned the champ.
114-114, 116-112, 115-113 MD Badou Jack
