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The Boardwalk Hall Undercard
OPENING BOUT
Pensacola's Holman Williams was one of the standout fighters at the IBL's Miami selection trials, a slick boxer and intensely hard worker who had many talking about him as a definite chance to progress to the World Championship tournament. In the time since those June trials the 21 year-old had continued his preparations in his hometown, assisted by his uncle James Williams and younger cousin Roy Jones.
"Roy is like my little brother, y'all," said a smiling Williams back on Tuesday. "He been livin' with my family since he was eight so we may as well be brothers, see? He jus' thirteen but he so enthusiastic 'bout boxin'. Jus' loves helpin' me train."
Williams was up against Jersey Pride member Rubin Carter in his debut. Carter had trialed at the Boardwalk Hall back in June and although the Paterson native had shown promise he was facing an uphill battle against Williams. Unsurprisingly Carter was greeted enthusiastically by the parochial audience, Joe Jeannette and Ike Williams making the walk to the ring with him. The Pensacola native looked loose and confident when he stepped between the ropes, Williams wearing a robe of navy blue with white trim, trunks of a similar design and black boots. He was in fantastic shape, his physique rock hard and ripped. Williams pounded fists with his little cousin, the youngster looking up at him with reverence.
The crowd were hoping for a great start to the evening with a win for Carter but Holman Williams was only too happy to spoil the party. After dominating the contest he was only awarded a majority decision victory (59-55, 57-57, 59-55), judge Kim Dai-Won of Korea clearly influenced by the audience. To say that Williams lived up to the pre-fight hype surrounding him would be an entirely suitable description of what transpired in the fight. He showed that, without a doubt, he'll be contending for a World Championship tournament berth. Williams simply outclassed Carter, his quick hands and defensive prowess delivering an easy victory. After establishing command of the bout through the first three rounds Williams picked up his aggression in the 4th and 5th, pummeling Carter throughout and outlanding him 90-14 in those two stanzas alone.
Carter dug deep in the final round and produced his best work of the fight but it was only good enough to make him merely competitive. It was too little coming far too late and even the Atlantic City crowd acknowledged that Williams had been a class above. He looked like he could have gone another six rounds, despite having thrown 453 punches and landing 205 of them (the most in the regional qualifiers to date). Carter connected with 76 of 386 shots.
"Jus' show what happen when you prepared," said Williams matter-of-factly. "I did everythan' poss'ble to be ready fo' this fight, y'all. Everythan'. We be representin' Pen-sa-cola and the F.L.A. every time we steppin' in this ring, man. We proud of where we come from and we be presen'in' that to the world, y'all."
Williams was asked if any of the members of the Florida Alliance had approached him about joining their group.
"They ask me 'bout it couple o' weeks ago," he replied, smiling. "Elmer Ray, he call me up. Told 'em I be fine doin' what I'm doin' fo' now. But I wish those brothers all the bes', you know? That Jimmy Ray brother goin' up agains' Ray Leonard first off. That jus' gonna be a helluva fight, y'all."
Williams and his support team departed the ring soon after, the Pensacola native showing a smile from ear-to-ear, his cousin by his side as they walked up the aisle.
PRELIMINARY 1
In a matchup of two lightning-quick boxers New York's Joey Archer won an absolute barnburner against Cuba's Kid Tunero. Neither of these young men are going to score too many knockout victories during their careers but if they continue to produce the kind of effort they did tonight it won't matter. For six rounds they traded blinding flurries of punches and, truth be told, after such a fantastic fight a draw would have been a fair enough result. But Archer was victorious by a split decision verdict: 58-57, 57-58, 58-56.
It was during the middle rounds that the New Yorker won the contest as after Tunero took the 1st Archer swept the next three on two scorecards. It had been great entertainment through three rounds but from the 4th onwards the fight went to another level as the two combatants somehow accelerated their workrate. The final two rounds were very close affairs that had the crowd on their feet but it must be said that Tunero was dreadfully unlucky not to be awarded round six. He outlanded Archer 43-26 and had the New Yorker staggered late in the piece but all three judges scored it 10-10. It turned out to be the difference between defeat and a draw for the Cuban.
Punch totals
JOEY ARCHER: 144/436 (33.0%)
KID TUNERO: 164/422 (38.9%)
"I can't tell you how fortunate I feel," said a relieved Archer. "Tunero is gonna give some of these other guys fits as the tournament progresses. I'm a bit amazed that I've escaped with a victory, being totally honest. I'll have to capitalise on this in my upcoming fights, I guess."
(to be continued)
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