By: William Holmes
The DC Armory in Washington, D.C. was the host site for Bernard Hopkins’ attempt to unify the IBF and WBA Light Heavyweight Titles. Two other title fights were on tonight’s bill, as Shown Porter defended his IBF Welterweight title against Paulie Malignaggi, and Peter Quillin defended his WBO Middleweight title against Lukas Konecny.
The first bout of the night was between Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (30-0) and Lucas Konecny (50-4) for the WBO Middleweight title.
This fight was considered by many to be a mismatch. Consider this, at the start of the third round the announcer’s state Konecny has just achieved his American dream of owning a Harley Davidson.
He’s now fighting for a world title.
Konecny looked significantly smaller than Peter Quillin inside the ring. Quillin started the fight off by sticking and moving, and landing looping right hands behind the guard of Konecny. Quillin was landing solid right uppercuts and hooks to the body and bloodied the mouth of Konecny in the first.
Quillin continued to control the bout in the second round and easily countered Konecny whenever he came forward. Konecny attacked the body of Quillin in the third round, but has often unsuccessful. Konecny was able to land two lunging jabs in the fourth round, but Quillin answered with a solid double left hook. Quillin continued to easily out land Konecny for the remainder of the fourth.
Quillin continued to outbox the lumbering Konecny for the remainder of the fight, with a lot of rounds looking similar in nature. Konecny was stumbling at the end of the sixth round and was cut in the eighth round.
Konecny was able to land a few shots in the eleventh round, but his power did not give him the knockout that he badly needed.
The final scores were 120-108, 119-109, and 119-109 for Peter Quillin.
The next bout of the night was between Shawn Porter (23-0-1) and Paulie Malignaggi (33-5) for the IBF Welterweight title.
Malignaggi is not known for his knockout power, but he I known for having a durable chin and for having one of the best jabs in the business.
Porter, however, established his jab early and cut Malignaggi underneath his left eye in the first round. Porter was getting tagged by Malignaggi’s right hand, but Porter’s shots were visibly more powerful. Replay showed that the cut was caused either by a jab or from the tape on his gloves.
Porter began to connect with strong left hand shots in the second round and did excellent body work on Paulie Malignaggi. Malignaggi was getting tagged with a lot of hard shots, but was able to manage to slip a few of them.
Porter began to hurt Malignaggi in the fourth round and forced Malignaggi to hold on several times. Malignaggi continued to get overpowered by Porter in the sixth round and was knocked down early on in the sixth with a right cross. Porter attacked Malignaggi when he rose to his feet and continued to land huge left hands and right crosses. Malignaggi went down for a second time in the fourth round and was hurt badly. The punishment by Shawn Porter had taken it’s toll and Malignaggi was not able to get back up.
Shawn Porter wins by TKO at 1:14 of the fourth round. It appeared that Paulie Malignaggi was considering retirement in the post fight interview.
The main event was between Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins and Beibut Shumenov for the IBF and WBA Light Heavyweight Titles.
Going into the fight many felt that Shumenov was the least talented boxer of all the light heavyweight titlists. He did nothing to prove his critics wrong.
Shumenov may have won the first two rounds, but only because he was more active than Hopkins. The pace of the fight started off slow, and was slow the entire fight, exactly the type of fight that favors Hopkins.
Hopkins began to turn the fight in his favor in the third round, when he began to land his lead straight right hand. His right hand began to land with more frequency in the fourth round, and he was effective in countering Shumenov with his back against the ropes.
The viciousness of Hopkins shots increased as the fight went on, and Hopkins was landing crisp combinations in the sixth round. Shumenov, unexplainably, was throwing one punch at a time and got countered by Hopkins constantly and consistently.
Shumenov’s desperation was readily apparent by the eleventh round, but Hopkins was spurred on by his corner to go for the knockout. Hopkins landed a vicious right hand in the eleventh round that sent Shumenov to the canvas. Hopkins lands two hard left hooks when Shumenov gets back to his feet, and the crowd was loudly chanting for B-Hop and he looked close to scoring the stoppage.
Shumenov, somehow, was able to survive the eleventh round.
In the final round Hopkins toyed with Shumenov and landed nearly every power shot he threw. Shumenov had blood dripping out of his mouth as the fight came to an end. Hopkins completely dominated Shumenov.
The final scores were 116-111 Hopkins, 114-113 Shumenov, and 116-111 for Hopkins.
The judge who scored it for Shumenov should be never judge another fight ever again.