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Earlier in the evening the two men who most experts believed would contest the Americas Championship tournament final recorded victories in world ranking bouts. Former 1st seed Steve Finley scored his third consecutive KO win since being surprisingly eliminated from the tournament in stage one. The Virginia native followed up stoppages of Victor Cordoba in July (KO2) and Allen Thompson in September (KO6) with a 2nd round knockout of the New Yorker Tony Anthony.
Coincidentally Anthony was born in the same Virginia town as Finley, Roanoke. Anthony made a promising start, getting the better of an uneventful opening round. But sixteen seconds into round two Finley's power was on fierce display when he connected flush with an overhand right. Anthony collapsed to the canvas and after trying to push himself up at six was counted out at the 0:27 mark. Finley's record improved to 11-1(10) and one can only wonder what he could have achieved in the Americas tournament if not for that uncharacteristic performance in his stage one defeat. Kansas native Scot Long has not made the greatest start to his time in the IBL. He was the tournament's #2 seed and after defeating Yvon Durelle in stage one was bundled out by the eventual champion Bettina in the quarters. He then struggled against Clarence Hinnant in a September world ranking bout, the result of which was a draw.
Long was not terribly convincing last night, either. He may have defeated Buffalo's George Nichols by unanimous decision but the fight was much closer than the scorecards of 58-55, 59-54 and 58-55 indicated. Nichols outlanded Long 152-132 and was the busier, more aggressive fighter for much of the contest. Long scored a knockdown two minutes into the opening round and from that moment on the judges seemed to be on his side. Each of the following five rounds were close and competitive but Long was able to do just enough to take the 2nd, 4th and 6th (rounds that could have gone either way) on all three cards. The win sees Long at 9-1-2(4). The 22 year-old former amateur standout would freely admit that he has a lot of improvement in him for 2007. Indeed, it will be interesting to follow the progress of both Finley and Long through the coming year.
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Well, Mr. Long managed to beat the fighter that eliminated me, but not very convincingly. Nichols is a tough bistard and I'd like to get another shot at him.