[kenyan_cheena]

TORONTO STAR

SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2007

Gorecky keeps on rolling

Story by Geoff Neill

Scarborough middleweight boxer Greg Gorecky made a second successful defense of his International Boxing League Americas title last night, knocking out compatriot Frank Battaglia in the 7th round of their clash at the Maple Leaf Gardens. Battaglia came close to springing an upset when he dropped the champion with a flurry of blows midway through the 4th and then had him in terrible trouble for the rest of the frame. But that one round aside Gorecky was always in command and he showed that he is a class above Battaglia in what was a dominant effort. Gorecky established control in the opening three stanzas, sweeping them on each scorecard and actually coming close to putting Battaglia away in the opening round.

After the round four hiccup Gorecky went right back to work, having the better of the 5th before punishing Battaglia in round six and then putting him away with a highlight-reel left hook just over a minute into the 7th. It caught the Winnipeg native flush on the jaw and he was counted out at the 1:18 mark. The win improved Gorecky's record to 11-0(6) while Battaglia fell to 8-3(3), the loss his third in four outings. Gorecky connected with an impressive 248 of 510 punches (48.6%), Battaglia 108 of 536 (20.1%). Those numbers give a clear indication of Gorecky's offensive and defensive superiority.

It was a fight the Canadian public had been anticipating, one that could have occured in December as the tournament final and then again in February as Gorecky's first defense. In the end it didn't quite live up to the expectation of being an even tussle, Gorecky's brilliance simply too much for Battaglia to handle despite the knockdown he scored. Other winners on last night's card included Gene Armstrong, Eric Bengtson and the Jamaican Robert Brown. Armstrong took a comfortable unanimous decision verdict over Denmark's Tom Bogs to secure a shot at a place in the 160-pound division's top ranking tier, featherweight Robert Brown doing the same with a hard-earned split decision victory against Bruno Alves of Portugal.

Wisconsin welterweight Bengtson provided one of the highlights of the night when he knocked out the Nigerian Seyi Olofinjana in the opening round of their clash. Olofinjana tasted the canvas twice, once from a left hook at the two-minute mark and then after a brutal left-right salvo thirty seconds later. He was counted out at the 2:47 mark, Bengtson improving to 10-1-3(5) with his second consecutive win. He'll jump into the 4th ranking tier as a consequence and will be competing for a spot in the 3rd tier when he next steps back in the ring. As for the night's big star, Gorecky's third defense could be against the New Yorker Steve Belloise (10-1-2(5)) who defeated Ted Wright by a convincing 5th round TKO in Los Angeles on Thursday night.