By: Shane Willoughby
Richard Commey retains his IBF lightweight title against Raymundo Beltran with an impressive stoppage.
Commey came to show off his skills and he put on a fantastic exhibition. Beltran, like expected, came for a war and tried to make the fight messy but Commey’ s movement was way too much for him.
It’s not that the Champion was running but his footwork was very smart, whilst keeping his jab in the Mexicans face. But Beltran did get a little bit of success, swelling Commey’ s left eye.
Other than that, it was a one-horse race and Commey was really punishing the former champion with quick combinations. It was only a matter of time before he ended the fight.
Funny enough the 8th round was one of Beltran’s best rounds – he was able to get in range to land his shots. Unfortunately for him, he was also in range to get knocked down.
Commey landed a terrific check left hook, dropping Beltran to the canvas. He was able to return to his feet but was in no state to continue and the referee pulled the plug on Beltran’s hopes of becoming a world champion again.
Richard Commey put on a punch-perfect display and is definitely in line for a massive fight this year and possibly an undisputed fight with Lomachencko.
Another fight on the card was between Carlos Adames and Patrick Day. From the 1st round, it was clear to see that Day had much better boxing fundamentals.
Round after round he was landing punches and making Adames miss with his jab but what was also clear, was he couldn’t hurt the Adames. It could be because Adames has great punch resistance but you get the impression Day has limited punching power
6 knockouts in 20 fights is a fair indication that you can’t really punch. He was landing great combinations on the inside but Adames with the high guard was just soaking it up.
Adames makes a similar mistake to Golovkin and Spence Jr. When his opponent throws combinations he puts up the high guard, lets them punch and tries to catch them on the way out. That is a very tricky skill to perfect because if you don’t land that single shot, you lose the exchange.
The Dominican does have power and he was looking to land power shots all night long. But his ability to set up punches was more than questionable. At times he couldn’t land a jab on a stationary target.
His punch power is real but his boxing intelligence is below par. Yes, Patrick Day was moving quite a bit but his footwork is far from a Pernell Whittaker and Adames was falling short quite a lot, especially in the early rounds.
If only Day knew how to throw punches on the move he would have caused Adames some problems. But the fight went as most expected. Adames eased his was to a points victory.
But there were a great number of holes exposed in Adames performance. Any fighter with decent power but good lateral movement will school this kid. It’s a good thing Andrade made that jump to 160 because Adames wouldn’t win a round against him.
When you match two Mexicans against each other it’s always a war. Saul Rodriguez vs Miguel Gonzalez was no exception. The bell rang and they swung.
Within 10 seconds Saul Rodriguez was floored with a beautiful left hook. The pre-fight favourite definitely was hurt by that shot but was able to return to his feet.
It was clear to see what was going on. Gonzalez was way more experienced in those situations. Whilst Rodriguez is older, Gonzalez has clearly been battle hardened. Fighting tougher opponents may have resulted in him losing 4 times, but he knows exactly what not to do in exchanges.
Rodriguez was way to green. Making schoolboy mistakes like trading with his chin in the sky. Big mistake! He was getting hit way too easily.
Whilst Neno was showing good effort coming forward, Gonzalez was making veteran moves; just waiting to catch and counter with that left.
He didn’t have to wait long; in the 3rd round, he caught Rodriguez with a fantastic short left hook and had Gonzalez out for the counter. Knock out of the year candidate?
If you watch that exchange it is identical to how Dillian Whyte knocked Dereck Chisora out last year. Both trading left hooks but, when one hook is wider than the other, the shorter shot lands. One fighter with his chin in the air and bang! One punch Knockout.
Very strong performance from Miguel Gonzalez, fighting “Mexican style” whilst displaying very good ring intelligence.
