[kenyan_cheena]

THE FREMONT TRIBUNE

FRIDAY 9 JUNE 2006

ELWOOD FANTASTIC IN OKC

Story by Richard Lee

He's been spoken of as a future world champion and last night local junior-heavyweight boxer Mark Elwood justified the hype, making a breathtaking start to his time in the International Boxing League with a 4th round knockout of Pennsylvania's Julian Letterlough in Oklahoma City. Competing in the league's Americas Championship tournament 7th-seeded Elwood sent Letterlough to the canvas four times, the final knockdown coming moments before the bell and leading to a count out after the round had ended. The destructive punching power that has marked Elwood's career to date was in devastating evidence as Letterlough was pummeled and floored at the end of round one. He returned to his corner wearing a stunned expression and after a less eventful 2nd round the Reading native found himself on his backside again thirty seconds from the end of the 3rd, a single jolting right cross doing the damage. It came perhaps ten seconds after Elwood had actually looked in trouble from a stinging body shot and was a stunning retort that had the crowd on their feet.

Letterlough was up at eight and survived the round but it only allowed Elwood to inflict more punishment upon him in the 4th. Elwood sustained a cut from a hard straight right early in the frame but it did nothing to slow him down. After connecting with a booming right hand of his own, Elwood then banged a left hook off his opponent's ribcage and snapped his head back with an uppercut. Letterlough was down for the third time in the fight two minutes into the round, a flurry of flush shots sending him to the canvas. Perhaps foolishly he was back on his feet at the count of three, referee Kenny Bayless perhaps even moreso as he allowed the onslaught to continue. Elwood was merciless, blasting away with an uppercut, a left-right-left salvo and then the icing on the cake, a flush left hook that dropped Letterlough for the fourth and final time. There was no coming back from this one and Elwood was the winner by KO at the end of the 4th round.

Originally from Bella Vista, Arkansas, Elwood's family moved to Nebraska when he was in junior high. On the first day at his new school he was bestowed with the nickname "Vistaman" by a fellow student, who is now one of the 22 year-old's closest friends. The nickname has stayed with him, but some of his supporters have taken to calling him "The Blues Brother" in honor of Dan Aykroyd's character from the iconic motion picture. Elwood has had aspirations for a career in journalism since his mid-teens and it's something he plans to pursue once his boxing career is over. But for now the squared circle is his domain and after last night's win his record stands at a perfect 11-0(8). The former amateur standout will face Guyana's 2nd seed Wayne Braithwaite in the quarter-finals. Braithwaite was unimpressive and in the opinion of some lucky to score a majority decision win over Reno's Kelvin Davis in last night's co-feature. It was an unremarkable fight through the first three rounds but it heated up somewhat in the bottom half with Davis tasting the canvas in the 4th and 6th and Braithwaite finding himself on one knee after absorbing a painful ribshot early in the 5th.

In the evening's main event #1 seed and Oklahoma native Eric Fields improved his mark to 20-3-1(12) with a 3rd round stoppage of the overmatched Brazilian Laudelino Jose Barros. After dominating the opening two rounds Fields floored Barros twice in round three, the Brazilian showing some major swelling around his left eye in the aftermath of the contest. It was a great start to the tournament for Fields, who confirmed that the IBL had made the right choice when they made him the top seed. There was controversy earlier in the evening when Athens bronze medallist Elmer Ray was eliminated from the event when his bout against Pennsylvania's Dan Harvison was ruled a draw. Despite being the 12th seed and this being only his sixth pro fight most of the experts expected the Florida native to progress to the quarter-finals. After a competitive six rounds it looked like that would be the case. Ray outlanded Harvison 170-119 and was the aggressor throughout the fight. But one judge favoured Harvison 58-56 and the other two had it even at 57-57.

A temperamental young man, Ray vented his frustrations after the verdict was revealed. He may still be undefeated at 5-0-1(5) but he's now out of the tournament and the reality of that was too much for the 19 year-old to handle. At one point he had to be restrained by his trainer Roy Jones and fellow stable mates Terone Haynes and Romy Alvarez, who had accompanied him to the ring. Despite the disappointing result it must be said that Ray is a young fighter with tremendous promise. He had Harvison in trouble on a number of occasions and it should only be a matter of time until he is ranked amongst the top junior-heavyweights in the league. However, his elimination from the tournament will lengthen that amount of time and Ray was only too aware of that during his emotional outburst.

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RESULTS

Cooper D6 Flores
Elwood KO4 Letterlough
Norris MD6 Brown
Harvison D6 Ray
Del Valle KO2 Banks
Gomez D6 Pineda
Braithwaite MD6 Davis
Fields KO3 Barros

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