By: William Holmes
Golden Boy Promotions returned to the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City tonight and it featured two Philadelphia fighters on the televised portion of the card which undoubtedly helped fill out the historic arena.
Three bouts were televised tonight, and the opening bout featured the much hyped undefeated American heavyweight Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (29-0) and overmatched veteran Nicolai Firtha (21-10-1).
Wilder looked like he was chiseled from stone while Firtha looked like he just walked out of a bar. Firtha, however, came out aggressive and landed an early jab that caught Wilder off guard. It was the only significant punch he landed all night.
Wilder knocked Firtha down twice in the first round and busted up Firtha’s nose. One of those knockdowns looked to be the result of a push, but it was already clear that Firtha had no business being inside the ring with Wilder.
Wilder cruised through the second round and scored another questionable knockdown in the third round. Wilder pounded on Firtha in the fourth round and finally knocked him down with a hard straight right hand. The referee called the fight off at 1:26 of the fourth round as Firtha was struggling to get back to his feet.
Wilder was screaming inside the ring, “Who’s next?”
Hopefully it’s someone who doesn’t work as a caddy.
“King” Gabriel Rosado (21-6) and Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (29-0) met next for the WBO Middleweight Title. The odds were heavily in favor of Peter Quillin, but Rosado made the fight interesting and was doing much better than expected.
Rosado has spent a large majority of his career fighting in the junior middleweight division, but weighed in heavier than Quillin on the night of the fight and looked like the bigger man inside of the ring.
There were a lot of close and tight rounds, but Quillin was in charge in the first two rounds. His punches looked to be crisper and more accurate. Quillin landed a left hook on Rosado in the second round that resulted in Rosado’s gloves touching the canvas.
Rosado was told by his corner to start walking Quillin down in the third round and he executed his opponent’s game plan. Quillin was able to land a hard left hook in the third round, but Rosado started to do well in the fourth round. Rosado’s best punch of the night, a straight right hand, stunned Quillin in the fourth and gave him confidence for the remainder of the fight.
Rosado did well when he fought on the inside with Quillin, but Quillin was still able to land a his fair share of crisp shots. Rounds five through eight were extremely close, with Quillin doing well rom the outside and Rosado doing well on the inside.-
Quillin landed a stiff jab in the ninth round that opened up a cut on Rosado’s left eyelid that was bleeding badly. The ring side doctor checked the cut in the tenth round and Rosado begged the referee to not stop the fight. But the cut was bad and the doctor correctly decided to stop the fight in the tenth round.
Peter Quillin retains his belt with a tenth round TKO victory in a much closer than expected bout.
Bernard Hopkins (53-6-2) and Karo Murat (25-1-1) met in the main event for the IBF Light Heavyweight Championship. Hopkins came out in an alien mask and was announced as Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins.
Bernard Hopkins looked like an old man early on in the fight, but he appeared to get younger and stronger as the fight progressed.
Murat started off the bout strong and was attacking the body early on. He was swinging wildly in the second, but was missing most of his punches. Hopkins started to look better in the third round as he bounced back from a hard left hook by Murat and opened up with some combinations that were landing with stunning accuracy.
Before the start of the fourth round, Hopkins’ corner could be heard telling him to “put that Joe Louis on him.” If “put that Joe Louis” on him meant fight like a young prime thirty-year-old fighter and go on the offensive, Hopkins listened.
Hopkins’ lead right hand was landing well in the fifth round and both fighters landed punches after the bell rang. Hopkins was landing jabs in the sixth round and the crowd was chanting for “B-Hop”. Hopkins fell to the mat in the sixth round and Murat landed punches on Hopkins when he was down. Murat was warned but was not deduxcted a point.
Both Hopkins and Murat continued to fight dirty as the bout progressed, but Murat was the bigger agitator.
Hopkins hurt Murat with a left hook after a solid three-punch combination. Murat pushes Hopkins while Steve Smoger was calling for a break and he was deducted a point. Hopkins responded by unleashing a fast and hard combination .
The exchanges continued in the eighth round, but Hopkins was getting the better of Murat. The exciting exchanges continued in the ninth round, but Murat was visibly tiring and Hopkins appeared to gain more energy.
Murat was exhausted in the last three rounds and Hopkins was uncharacteristically going for the knockout. He landed a thunderous right hand in the eleventh round that stunned Murat and a brutal double left hook in the last round, but Hopkins was unable to stop Murat.
However, the ageless Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins easily defeated a younger opponent and looked good in doing so. The final scores were 117-110, 119-108, and 119-108 for Bernard Hopkins.
