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CO-FEATURE

Cuban-born South Florida resident Nino Valdes enjoyed a near-faultless start to his professional boxing career, winning each of his first four bouts in convincing fashion and being spoken of as having a good chance to go as far as the 1st Defense tournament semi-finals. But some of those opinions changed after the 17 year-old suffered a surprising majority decision defeat at the hands of Argentina's Cesar Brion last month. Valdes fought well but just couldn't match Brion's determination, aggression
and will to win. Valdes had watched the Argentinian improve his record to 4-1-1 in tonight's opener with a victory against Gus Ruhlin, meaning that the loser of his own fight against Pasadena's Carl Morris would fall to 3rd place in Group Five of the 1st Defense tournament. 12th-seeded Morris (4-1(1)) had defeated Ruhlin in an absolute stinker of a fight on the same night that Brion defeated Valdes and knew he'd have to show a vast improvement to have any chance of overcoming the Cuban.

So what transpired when Valdes and Morris faced off? Only one of the fights of the year...

ROUND 1

Morris comes out like a house on fire, making his intentions plain to see as he catches Valdes with a big left hook and a jolting right cross within the first thirty seconds. Valdes is on the back foot, concern showing on his face. It's clear that he's failed to anticipate this kind of strategy from the Californian.

Working his way inside, Morris finds the mark with a nice uppercut and brings the crowd to their feet when he plants Valdes on the seat of his pants with a perfect left hook! We're not even halfway through the round yet and Valdes is up quickly, eager to show he can continue.

Morris looks absolutely fantastic, picking his man off with precision jabs, keeping him on the defensive. Valdes is simply being outworked here and although he lands a handful of shots late in the piece, Morris wins the round in a big way. The punch totals show that he landed 59 shots in that round!

ROUND 2

The Californian slugger shows more caution here, content to consolidate on his work from the opener. But it's Valdes employing a busier disposition in round two, finding his range nicely with the jab and controlling the round until Morris blasts away with a pair of powerful body shots late in the piece.

ROUND 3

Valdes brings a howl of approval from the crowd when he wobbles Morris with a flush left hook a minute into the round, but the 12th seed responds strongly, working the body before putting the Cuban back on his heels with a big uppercut.

It's Morris that looks in control as the round enters its later stages but Valdes turns that around, catching his opponent with an uppercut that snaps Morris's head back and prompts him to put some distance between the two. A brief flurry before the bell has the excited Big Top Arena crowd applauding wildly.

ROUND 4

This war enters its bottom half and the action shows no sign of abating. Morris starts the round well, working the jab and scoring from in close before Valdes backs him off with a hard right cross. But the respite is only brief and Morris is back at it in quick time, scoring with a succession of jabs before unleashing a big left hook into the Cuban's ribcage.

Just as it looks like he's let the round slip away, Valdes rallies strongly in the final thirty seconds, hurting Morris with a punishing three punch combo! Morris looks unsteady and Valdes finds the target with a nice uppercut as the round ends.

ROUND 5

One would think that they'll have to slow down eventually, but it doesn't happen in the fifth. These two warriors just continue to unload on each other and while it's an even affair through two minutes, Valdes finishes with a flurry, an aggressive final sixty seconds swinging the round in his favour.

Something that those in the crowd might not quite realise is that Valdes has been missing with many of his shots. Morris has shown a great ability to roll with the Cuban's punches, evading them with skill and assuredness. A look at the punch stats to this point of the bout shows that Valdes has landed just 29.2% of his punches.

ROUND 6

What has been a spectacular contest enters its final round, the crowd on their feet as the bell sounds. Valdes has a look of resoluteness in his eyes. He couldn't turn back Brion in his last bout but he looks determined to win this one. He pumps that jab out, keeping Morris at a distance and scoring effectively.

Morris looks to be tiring and when Valdes catches him with a crunching uppercut midway through the round, the Californian almost hits the canvas. His left knee buckles but he backpedals, moving out of danger. Amazingly, the tide turns in his favour as he catches Valdes with a scorching left hook as the Cuban hunts him down recklessly.

Valdes misses wildly and Morris counters in devastating fashion, a winging right sending his man reeling across the ring into the ropes. It's now Valdes that looks spent and when Morris unloads the right hand he's holding on for dear life, hoping and praying that final bell will ring.
The 12th seed is the one doing all the work, firing away at a retreating Valdes, the crowd applauding as the final seconds tick away.

***

When the verdict is announced, it's the Californian who is jubilant: Morris takes a split decision, 57-56, 56-57, 57-56. Valdes congratulates him but then retreats to his corner, head covered by a towel.

What had looked to be a simple path to stage two of the 1st Defense tournament has now turned seriously tenuous for the 17 year-old Cuban. His record now 4-2(1), Valdes must win his series seven bout against Gus Ruhlin. Anything less than that will see him competing for the Continental Americas Championship in a few months time, something he certainly would not have been considering back in May.

As for Morris, his excellent effort has seen him move into 1st place at 5-1(1). He landed 201 of 376 punches (53.5%) while Valdes connected with 115 of 448 (25.7%).

Standings in Group Five of the 1st Defense tournament:

1. 2(12) CARL MORRIS (USA), 5-1-0(1)
2. 3(20) CESAR BRION (ARGENTINA), 4-1-1(1)

3. 1(5) NINO VALDES (CUBA), 4-2-0(1)

Morris and Brion will clash for 1st place on August 14 while, as already mentioned, Valdes will have to defeat Gus Ruhlin in order to finish in 2nd place. However, the situation is not as simple as that. Morris's win here tonight has guaranteed that he'll proceed to stage two even if he loses to Brion. Valdes needs the Californian to defeat Brion to have any chance of joining him there.

***

Once these two courageous warriors had departed the arena, the excitement level amongst the crowd intensified further with the Main Event between George Chuvalo and Ray Mercer only minutes away...

(to be continued)