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(continuation of post #540)
PRELIMINARY 2
Baltimore's Larry Middleton sported a sour countenance after his bout against Spain's Jose Urtain. The source of his irritation was a single judge who, despite a dominant showing by Middleton, had somehow managed to score the fight in Urtain's favour, 59-55. The 48th seed in the World Championship tournament didn't resort to abusing the judge, as others have in similar situations, but he let his feelings be known in the minutes after the verdict.
"Something like this can ruin a guy's career," he said. "The fact that the other two judges gave me all but one round just makes it worse. I've been in some close fights before this and I think the verdicts in those were pretty fair, but this one ... it's just ridiculous."
The final verdict was 59-55, 55-59, 60-54, perhaps one of the most bizarre-looking scorecards seen in the HBF.
"Guess I shouldn't get too steamed about it," said Middleton. "I got the win, which is all I was concerned about."
With his record now 2-2, Middleton will now have to prepare himself for the ultimate challenge: #1 seed Gene Tunney.
SUPPORT BOUT
Earnie Shavers vs. Boone Kirkman (see post # 539)
CO-FEATURE
The HBF's new policy of scheduling the eight #1 seeds in the 1st Defense tournament to fight in the Co-Feature continued tonight, with hard-hitting Englishman Herbie Hide making the most of the added exposure by putting on the best showing of the night.
Hide scored a 6th round TKO victory over the durable South African Kallie Knoetze, decimating him with some thunderous blows, in particular during the 1st, 4th and 5th rounds. It was one of those bouts which really could have been stopped earlier, as despite his ability to absorb so much punishment, Knoetze never really showed a willingness to fight back.
The contest was halted 1:15 into the final stanza with Knoetze on the ropes and on the brink of collapsing to the canvas for the first time in the bout as Hide pounded him with sledgehammer lefts and rights.
Following his surprising draw against Lee Savold in his last bout, Hide is now 3-0-1(3), maintaining his lead in Group Eight of the 1st Defense tournament. He's one of a number of English fighters who have a good chance for success in the HBF's two major tournaments, something he spoke of after the bout.
"Yeah, we got some real talent, for sure," said the Nigerian-born slugger. "You know, there's Donny (Cockell) and Jack Gardner and that Woodcock fella. Also Gary Mason, Alex (Stewart) and Joey B. (Bugner), so I think at least one of us's got a good chance to make a show of it."
(to be continued)
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