By Paul Strauss: FNF’s Brian Kenny voiced a strong opinion that super middleweight Francisco Sierra should have been DQ’d in his fight tonight against Don “Da Bomb” George for throwing and landing a big right hand after the bell rang. However, the referee, Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas all thought the right thing to do was penalize Sierra two points for the blow and then go to the score cards for a TD, which was done at the Buffalo Run Casino, Miami, Oklahoma.
As a result, Sierra won a lopsided TD even though he was penalized two points. His dominance began right away in the first round when he rocked George. Teddy thought the damage might have been caused by an elbow, but it appeared to be a left shovel hook that traveled under George’s extended right arm. The punch landed right on the point of the chin and Da Bomb was defused. All he could do from that point on was grab and try to hold on.
George survived the round, but never recovered. His legs remained wobbly, and his timing was shot. He was forced to fight a fight that he’s not accustomed to, and that is a defensive one. His primary method of defense is normally his offense. He doesn’t normally move his head much, because he’s usually landing a big right hand and occasionally putting on the earmuffs When hurt tonight, he became stationary, and Sierra was able to come up in between the gloves, or go around them. He also was able to shoot some shots right up the middle, as he did in the second round.
Specifically, in the second round, Sierra landed a hard right hand shot to the nose of George, which undoubtedly broke it. The claret started gushing out, and immediately affected the breathing of George. Later in the round, Sierra landed a good combination. George was sent stumbling backwards across the ring into the ropes. Teddy thought the referee should have awarded a technical knockdown, but the referee apparently disagreed..
The pummeling continued right up to the end. Sierra was having an easy time of it. He waded in, hands down, without any fear of a counter. Sierra took his time when stepping off to his left, only to come crashing back with a hard left hook or upper cut. Even if the punches didn’t land clean, they still were bouncing Da Bomb’s head around like the proverbial rag doll. If George’s corner had decided to have the fight stopped, there wouldn’t have been much of a protest, because George was smeared with his own blood, and so vulnerable it was disturbing to watch. But, it took the somewhat controversial blow in the 7th round to make believers out of everyone. It was obvious George was not capable of continuing. He just collapsed at the end of the round.
There was a little discussion between the referee and a commissioner. The question the commissioner wanted answered was whether or not the late punch caused an end to the fight? The referee said no. Consequently, it was decided to penalize Sierra two points, and then go to the score cards for a technical decision. The scoring was as follows: one judge had it 68-63, and the other two scored it 69-62. It’s back to the drawing board for the now once defeated George. Sierra took the fight on nine days notice. As a result came in two and one pounds overweight. Unfortunately for him, coming in over the super middleweight limit of 168 deprives him of capturing the vacant WBO and NABO titles. Consequently, it is somewhat of a hollow victory for him, but a good one none the less.