[BigBoyBrackey]

Bob Martin TKO9 Floyd Johnson: In the tournament curtain-raiser, Johnson came on strong in the second half of the fight by mauling and infighting his way to a draw. This time, though, Fighting Bob took the wind out of Johnson with a hook to the belly midway through the first round and stayed on the offensive throughout. More savage body work, capped by a disabling left hook to the ribs, nearly finished Johnson in the fourth.

Johnson threatened to stage another late rally, winning the seventh easily and out-slugging Martin during a torrid eighth. Floyd punched himself out in the process, though, and Martin landed a staggering right to the chin early in the following round. He followed up with a combination that dropped Johnson for the first time in their nearly 19 rounds of fisticuffs. Up at seven, Johnson fell again after eating a right cross. He rose at five, only to walk into an uppercut that put him down and all but out.

Johnson somehow made it up at eight, but another uppercut left him sagging over the top rope and left referee Bill Clancy with no choice but to jump in at 2:54 of the ninth. Martin led 79-73, 78-74, 78-75 at the time.

Billy Miske W10 Willie Meehan: Less than a week out of the hospital, Miske faded slightly in the final two rounds, but had built an insurmountable lead well before that with precision punching and solid defense, despite suffering a broken nose in the third round.

Meehan, whose slapping and wrestling works best against brawlers like Jack Dempsey, had little to work with when dealing with the efficient Miske. After getting treated like a speed bag in the first two rounds, Meehan had his best round in the third. As the two were milling away inside, Meehan connected to Miske’s nose with either a left hook or the sharp elbow that followed, causing an audible cracking sound and an immediate torrent of blood from both nostrils.

Miske clearly felt the injury was caused by a foul, and responded with a vicious left hook to Meehan’s protective cup. After Meehan clowned for the crowd for several moments, referee Genaro Rodriguez issued a warning to Miske and ordered the fight to continue. Meehan won the third and slugged it out in the fourth, but Miske came on strong with several combos at the end of the round, forcing the underdog’s left eye to swell.

Miske was in control for the next four rather dull rounds. Fighting to protect his lead, he allowed Meehan to take the ninth before spending the final three minutes in safety-first mode. The judges made the tournament’s No. 7 seed a 98-92, 99-91, 96-94 winner.