By: Hans Themistode
It was an uneventful night of boxing at the Cosmopolitan, in Las Vegas Nevada, on April 27th.
Both Robert Easter Jr (21-1-1, 14 KOs) and Rances Barthelemy (27-1-1, 14 KOs) battled it out for the vacant WBA Super Lightweight title. The word battled might be a phrase to strong for what actually occurred.
Barely any punches were thrown or landed throughout the contest. Easter connected on a mere 54 of his 415 shots while Barthelemy wasn’t much better, landing 52 of 328.
It was a flat out awful fight. There’s no sugarcoating or denying it. All three judges gave the appropriate scores as they ruled the match a draw. Neither man did anything to claim victory.
The real loser was the fans. Not only was the main event a complete dud but the co main event did not produce much fireworks either.
Former WBC Jr Welterweight champion Viktor Postol (31-2, 12 KOs) easily dismantled Mohamed Mimoune (21-3, 2 KOs).
Since knocking out Lucas Matthysse in 2016, Postol had gone just 2-2 in his past four contests. Those losses weren’t against just anybody as he lost to undefeated contender Josh Taylor and arguably the best fighter on the planet in Terence Crawford. This fight against Mimoune was one that he desperately needed.
Postol dictated the pace of the fight early. He repeatedly tagged his man and managed to keep his distance throughout. It wasn’t until the later rounds where Mimoune began to experience a bit of success as he began to find a home for his right hand.
It was clear that Mimoune was trailing big time going in to the 10th and final round. When the period began, he did his best to let his hands go. Unfortunately for Mimoune, in 24 professional fights, he has only been able to stop two of his opponents. In short, he lacked the power to turn the fight around.
When the final bell rang all three judges scored the contest widely in favor of Postol. 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93. With the victory Postol now becomes the WBC mandatory and has officially placed himself back in the championship mix.
With such little action taking place in either bout, most notably the main event, let’s all hope that we’ll see a bit more action whenever these fighters back inside the ring.