By: Sean Crose
Jamal James, 27-2, took on the 18-1 Alberto Palmetta in front of a hometown crowd at the Armory in Minneapolis on Saturday night. The bout was the second of three fights broadcast live by Showtime and was scheduled for 10 rounds in the welterweight division.
The first three rounds were relatively fast paced and interesting. James, who was considerably taller than Palmetta, employed his height by keeping his distance and landing on his man from range. Palmetta, however, was a fighter in hot pursuit. It would be interesting to see if Palmetta could drain his opponent both physically and mentally as the fight wore on.
Palmetta continued to apply intense pressure throughout the next few rounds. James, however, was able hang in there and bang away at his opponent from an effective distance. He also wasn’t afraid to battle Palmetta in the middle of the ring. After the sixth, however, the Showtime camera caught James in his corner stating that Covid, which he had suffered from, had had a bad impact on him.
The seventh was a thriller. James took it to his man hard in the first portion of the chapter, but then Palmetta began his own ferocious assault in the later portion. The eight was a high octane affair, though nothing definitive occurred. The ninth, on the other hand, saw James land on his man well. Indeed, it looked like he might actually hurt his opponent, though the gritty Palmetta continued his assault.
James thudded away in the final round, yet Palmetta simply would not stop fighting. The man had come to win. The seconds were ticking away, but he kept moving forward. Still, the evening belonged to James, who got the judges’ nod via unanimous decision.