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kenyan_cheena · 01-08-2005, 05:51 AM

MISMATCH!
#1 SEED TUNNEY WINS
EASY UNANIMOUS DECISION!

Saturday 12 January 2002

The Heavyweight Boxing Federation's #1 seed for their World Championship tournament Gene Tunney easily won his professional debut tonight at the Aladdin Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

However, the HBF has come under fire for the handling of the bout by referee Richard Steele. It was painfully obvious from midway though the 3rd round that Jose Urtain was no match for Gene Tunney, yet Steele allowed the fight to continue until the final bell.

The final punch counts for the six round fight were:

GENE TUNNEY punches thrown: 489, punches landed: 214
JOSE URTAIN punches thrown: 83, punches landed: 23

During rounds three through six, Urtain only threw 45 punches, and did not land a single one. On three separate occasions during this period, Tunney motioned to Steele to stop the fight.

Some HBF ringside officals have jumped to Steele's defense, sighting that Urtain held his own during the first round (two of the judges scored the round 10-10) and that he simply ran out of gas as the fight progressed.

HBF President Michael Vincennes, who was sitting at ringside for the fight, was not in complete agreement.

"Refereeing a fight can be a difficult task," he said. "Sometimes, it's hard to tell if one fighter has had enough. I'm sure that in Richard's mind, Jose Urtain could continue, even though he was failing to land punches during the second half of the bout. Personally, I would have stopped the fight after the knockdown in round four, but I must say that Urtain is an incredibly gutsy fighter. He took a lot of punishment and kept on coming at Tunney."

Tunney himself was very concise in his summation of the fight.

"The fight should have been stopped in the third round," he said. "I think it was pretty obvious by then that it was a mismatch. That's what I told Mister Steele, but he allowed the fight to continue. I guess we are just lucky that Jose wasn't hurt. Part of that is because he is so tough and seems to be able to absorb a lot of punishment. But, part of it is because, I'll admit, I'm not the strongest guy in the tournament. Far from it. That would have to be Sonny Liston. If this was Liston fighting tonight, and the same thing happened, Jose could have been seriously injured."

Urtain came out aggressively in the first round, forcing the action. He appeared to be running high on adrenalin, his body caked in sweat. He gave quite a good account of himself in the first round, but from the moment he hit the canvas in round two, he had nothing left except the will to survive the fight.

Tunney scored a single knockdown in each of the 2nd, 4th and 5th rounds. In the third round, he did not knock Urtain down, but two of the judges gave the round to him 10-8, so dominant he was during it.

The final scorecards were 60-52, 60-50 and 60-51, easily the most one-sided result so far in the tournament.

Tunney's mood was bittersweet when spoken to on Sunday morning.

"I'm really happy that I won the fight," he said. "But I can't deny that I'm disappointed with the way it was handled. It should have been stopped. I don't want to seriously hurt anyone if I don't have to. Jose took a lot of shots that he didn't have to take, but at least he's okay. I really hope that the determination to stay in there doesn't hurt him in the future."

Some boxing experts were unsure what to make of the number one seed's debut.

"It's obvious that he is a technically-superb boxer," said sports journalist James Reynolds, who had conducted an interview with Tunney earlier in the day. "He was always in control of the fight. But, it's also obvious that his opponent tonight was a very limited fighter, save for his determination and ability to absorb punishment. Tunney was not able to knock him out. Yes, he knocked Urtain down three times, but he could not finish him off. Maybe he was going easy on him, because he felt that the fight should have been stopped. I don't know, but it might show what was suspected during the auditions. That is that Gene Tunney is not an especially strong fighter. He does not appear to have knockout power. Now, that might not matter as his career goes on, but I can really see him fighting a lot of bouts that go the distance and I don't think that can be good if he wants to have a long career."

ON THE UNDERCARD

OPENING BOUT

19 year-old Embrell Davidson of Detroit, Michigan scored a unanimous decision victory over 28 year-old Keene Simmons of Bayonne, New Jersey in a 1st Defense tournament bout. Davidson made the fight harder than it should have been. Simmons found himself on the canvas just twenty seconds into the fight, courtesy of a wicked body shot. The Detroit native continued to pressure his older opponent for the rest of the round and also won the second, although not as convincingly. He seemed to be on track for an easy night, but Simmons had other plans. He came storming back into the fight in the third round, rocking Davidson with a series of hard right hands and punishing left hooks. The fourth round was close, but a devastating four punch combination moments before the bell tipped it in Davidson's favour. Simmons hit the canvas again one minute into the fifth. A flush right cross sent him staggering backwards, falling onto his backside. He only just managed to beat the count. Davidson should have been able to finish the fight there and then, but his execution was all over the place, missing wildly as he kept on trying for a one punch knockout. Simmons was able to compose himself and finish the fight strongly, dominating the final round. However, it was not enough. The two knockdowns proved to be the difference, with Davidson taking the decision 58-54 and 57-55 twice.

PRELIMINARY 1

Nigerian-born Englishman Herbie Hide, the number eight seed in the 1st Defense tournament, made an impressive debut when he scored a second round knockout of Joe Erskine of Wales. A single smashing body shot dropped Erskine to his knees, and he was not able to recover in time to beat the count.

PRELIMINARY 2

Germany's Karl Mildenberger and Tyrell Biggs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania clashed in an entertaining fight in which the judges were each of different opinions as to who was the victor. As a result, the fight was declared a draw.
One judge scored it 57-57, another had it 58-56 to Mildenberger and the third felt that Biggs had won the fight, scoring it 59-56.

SUPPORT BOUT

Larry Middleton of Baltimore, Maryland took a hard-fought split decision victory over Boone Kirkman of Renton, Washington. The first four rounds were highly entertaining, with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds featuring some spirited exchanges. But Middleton was able to dominate the 5th and 6th rounds, winning the fight by split decision 59-55, 56-58, 58-56.

CO-FEATURE

Ohio's Earnie Shavers, the man who has the best chance of defeating Gene Tunney in the tournaments 1st stage, won his pro debut via 6th round knockout. Shavers was never troubled by his smaller opponent, Pennsylvanian Garvin Sawyer. Shaver dropped Sawyer to the canvas once in the third round, twice in the fifth and for a fourth and final time 1:07 into the sixth round. Most observers who attended the HBF's October auditions were of the opinion that Sonny Liston was the most powerful boxer on show. After Shavers performance against Sawyer, they might be changing their minds. Shavers inflicted some terrible harm on Sawyer, and will surely prove to be a difficult opponent for #1 seed Gene Tunney when they eventually meet.

01-08-2005, 05:51 AM	#36 (permalink)
kenyan_cheena Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia Posts: 7,600 Thanks: 83 Thanked 143x in 125 posts	MISMATCH! #1 SEED TUNNEY WINS EASY UNANIMOUS DECISION! Saturday 12 January 2002 The Heavyweight Boxing Federation's #1 seed for their World Championship tournament Gene Tunney easily won his professional debut tonight at the Aladdin Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. However, the HBF has come under fire for the handling of the bout by referee Richard Steele. It was painfully obvious from midway though the 3rd round that Jose Urtain was no match for Gene Tunney, yet Steele allowed the fight to continue until the final bell. The final punch counts for the six round fight were: GENE TUNNEY punches thrown: 489, punches landed: 214 JOSE URTAIN punches thrown: 83, punches landed: 23 During rounds three through six, Urtain only threw 45 punches, and did not land a single one. On three separate occasions during this period, Tunney motioned to Steele to stop the fight. Some HBF ringside officals have jumped to Steele's defense, sighting that Urtain held his own during the first round (two of the judges scored the round 10-10) and that he simply ran out of gas as the fight progressed. HBF President Michael Vincennes, who was sitting at ringside for the fight, was not in complete agreement. "Refereeing a fight can be a difficult task," he said. "Sometimes, it's hard to tell if one fighter has had enough. I'm sure that in Richard's mind, Jose Urtain could continue, even though he was failing to land punches during the second half of the bout. Personally, I would have stopped the fight after the knockdown in round four, but I must say that Urtain is an incredibly gutsy fighter. He took a lot of punishment and kept on coming at Tunney." Tunney himself was very concise in his summation of the fight. "The fight should have been stopped in the third round," he said. "I think it was pretty obvious by then that it was a mismatch. That's what I told Mister Steele, but he allowed the fight to continue. I guess we are just lucky that Jose wasn't hurt. Part of that is because he is so tough and seems to be able to absorb a lot of punishment. But, part of it is because, I'll admit, I'm not the strongest guy in the tournament. Far from it. That would have to be Sonny Liston. If this was Liston fighting tonight, and the same thing happened, Jose could have been seriously injured." Urtain came out aggressively in the first round, forcing the action. He appeared to be running high on adrenalin, his body caked in sweat. He gave quite a good account of himself in the first round, but from the moment he hit the canvas in round two, he had nothing left except the will to survive the fight. Tunney scored a single knockdown in each of the 2nd, 4th and 5th rounds. In the third round, he did not knock Urtain down, but two of the judges gave the round to him 10-8, so dominant he was during it. The final scorecards were 60-52, 60-50 and 60-51, easily the most one-sided result so far in the tournament. Tunney's mood was bittersweet when spoken to on Sunday morning. "I'm really happy that I won the fight," he said. "But I can't deny that I'm disappointed with the way it was handled. It should have been stopped. I don't want to seriously hurt anyone if I don't have to. Jose took a lot of shots that he didn't have to take, but at least he's okay. I really hope that the determination to stay in there doesn't hurt him in the future." Some boxing experts were unsure what to make of the number one seed's debut. "It's obvious that he is a technically-superb boxer," said sports journalist James Reynolds, who had conducted an interview with Tunney earlier in the day. "He was always in control of the fight. But, it's also obvious that his opponent tonight was a very limited fighter, save for his determination and ability to absorb punishment. Tunney was not able to knock him out. Yes, he knocked Urtain down three times, but he could not finish him off. Maybe he was going easy on him, because he felt that the fight should have been stopped. I don't know, but it might show what was suspected during the auditions. That is that Gene Tunney is not an especially strong fighter. He does not appear to have knockout power. Now, that might not matter as his career goes on, but I can really see him fighting a lot of bouts that go the distance and I don't think that can be good if he wants to have a long career." ON THE UNDERCARD OPENING BOUT 19 year-old Embrell Davidson of Detroit, Michigan scored a unanimous decision victory over 28 year-old Keene Simmons of Bayonne, New Jersey in a 1st Defense tournament bout. Davidson made the fight harder than it should have been. Simmons found himself on the canvas just twenty seconds into the fight, courtesy of a wicked body shot. The Detroit native continued to pressure his older opponent for the rest of the round and also won the second, although not as convincingly. He seemed to be on track for an easy night, but Simmons had other plans. He came storming back into the fight in the third round, rocking Davidson with a series of hard right hands and punishing left hooks. The fourth round was close, but a devastating four punch combination moments before the bell tipped it in Davidson's favour. Simmons hit the canvas again one minute into the fifth. A flush right cross sent him staggering backwards, falling onto his backside. He only just managed to beat the count. Davidson should have been able to finish the fight there and then, but his execution was all over the place, missing wildly as he kept on trying for a one punch knockout. Simmons was able to compose himself and finish the fight strongly, dominating the final round. However, it was not enough. The two knockdowns proved to be the difference, with Davidson taking the decision 58-54 and 57-55 twice. PRELIMINARY 1 Nigerian-born Englishman Herbie Hide, the number eight seed in the 1st Defense tournament, made an impressive debut when he scored a second round knockout of Joe Erskine of Wales. A single smashing body shot dropped Erskine to his knees, and he was not able to recover in time to beat the count. PRELIMINARY 2 Germany's Karl Mildenberger and Tyrell Biggs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania clashed in an entertaining fight in which the judges were each of different opinions as to who was the victor. As a result, the fight was declared a draw. One judge scored it 57-57, another had it 58-56 to Mildenberger and the third felt that Biggs had won the fight, scoring it 59-56. SUPPORT BOUT Larry Middleton of Baltimore, Maryland took a hard-fought split decision victory over Boone Kirkman of Renton, Washington. The first four rounds were highly entertaining, with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds featuring some spirited exchanges. But Middleton was able to dominate the 5th and 6th rounds, winning the fight by split decision 59-55, 56-58, 58-56. CO-FEATURE Ohio's Earnie Shavers, the man who has the best chance of defeating Gene Tunney in the tournaments 1st stage, won his pro debut via 6th round knockout. Shavers was never troubled by his smaller opponent, Pennsylvanian Garvin Sawyer. Shaver dropped Sawyer to the canvas once in the third round, twice in the fifth and for a fourth and final time 1:07 into the sixth round. Most observers who attended the HBF's October auditions were of the opinion that Sonny Liston was the most powerful boxer on show. After Shavers performance against Sawyer, they might be changing their minds. Shavers inflicted some terrible harm on Sawyer, and will surely prove to be a difficult opponent for #1 seed Gene Tunney when they eventually meet. Last edited by kenyan_cheena; 04-28-2005 at 11:19 PM.