Powell, 30, opened the first round by placing effective shots and avoided slugging it out with Latimore, 24, who was applying steady pressure. In round two, Latimore continued pressuring Powell, but he used his right jab more efficiently. Powell landed a solid, counter right hook, although Latimore landed the cleaner punches in the round.
In round three, Latimore successfully connected with his overhand left. Then, Latimore pushed Powell back into the ropes, but Powell countered and quickly moved to the center of the ring. After that, Powell got the better of Latimore during the exchanges. Powell let Latimore get close to him, and then he unleashed overhand lefts and right hooks.
Powell started round four by shooting his right jab and showing lots of angles. Then, he nailed Latimore with a straight left that sent Latimore's mouthpiece flying out. After seeing he hurt Latimore, Powell pressed forward and fired a barrage of punches. Latimore fought back and landed an overhand left to Powell's head. However, Powell retreated and started to use his jab again.
Early in round five, Powell attacked Latimore's body. Latimore started to experience tremendous swelling under his right eye. Latimore had a great deal of trouble hitting Powell this round. Powell continued to get his punches off first and use angles.
Latimore sustained a cut above his right eye in the sixth round. Powell continued to shoot his right jab and slip punches prolifically the remainder of the round, as well as in round seven.
Latimore looked immensely discouraged in the eighth round, landing fewer punches and not utilizing the jab as often as he did earlier in the fight. When they were battling in the corner, Powell connected with crisp shots to Latimore's body.
Powell closed Latimore's right eye further by repeatedly popping him with right jabs and straight lefts in round ten. In round eleven, however, Latimore momentarily stunned Powell when he connected with an overhand left. Later in the round, Latimore hurt Powell again after landing a straight left followed by a sharp right hook.
In round twelve, Powell went back to jabbing and using angles. When Latimore came toward him, Powell simply stepped to the right and let his hands go. Latimore, who was tired and frustrated, could not get close because he abandoned his jab.
Powell deserved to win a close decision. Latimore landed his share of clean punches, but not enough of them. At times, Powell made Latimore look one-dimensional. Throughout most of the fight, Powell got his punches off first, established the jab, used angles and landed more combinations. Both fighters seemed very evenly matched, although Powell had a better fight plan and executed it to near perfection.
UNDERCARD BOUTS
In other action, super middleweight prospect Edwin Rodriguez (14-0, 10 KO's) knocked out George Armenta (13-6, 11 KO's) 47 seconds into the 1st round. Rodriguez, 24, delivered a hard overhand right and followed it with a crushing left hook to the body that left Armenta down for the count. Rodriguez's next bout is scheduled against Kevin Engel (17-2, 14 KO's) on April 30th at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.
22-year-old light welterweight Prenice Brewer (15-0-1, 6 KO's) defeated Christopher Fernandez (18-9-1, 11 KO's) by a 6 round unanimous decision. Official scores were 58-56 and 59-55 twice. Fernandez was tough, but he did not possess the overall skills of Brewer, who used lateral movement and superior hand speed to come out victorious.
No comments:
Post a Comment