15.03.04 – By Kent Appel @ ringside: After a tough battle, junior lightweight contender Robbie Peden of Brisbane, Australia weathered some brutal punishment from his opponent, fellow junior lightweight contender Nate Campbell, of Jacksonville, Florida, to come from almost out of nowhere in round number five, to connect with a tremendous left hook that knocked Campbell out.. With the win Peden improves his record to 23-2, 13 by KO while Campbell falls to 24-2-1, 21 by KO. Peden weighed 129 ¼ pounds while Campbell tipped the scales at 130 pounds.
In the ten round junior middleweight CO feature bout, former WBC middleweight champion Keith Holmes of Washington, D.C. won a very close decision over Kuvanych Toygonbayev of Uzbekistan with the help of two one point deductions, for a total of two points, in the eighth round by the referee to Toygonbayev for holding behind the head. Holmes won by a majority decision by the judges’ scores of 94-94, 95-93, and 95-93 respectively. With the point deductions, I scored the fight 95 to 94 for the winner Holmes. Holmes, 154 pounds, takes a step up to 38-3, 24 by KO while Toygonbayev, 155 ¼ pounds, slips to 23-2, 15 by KO.
The main event and the CO feature bouts were recorded for later broadcast on FOX Sports Network television and they were part of a fine six bout card at The Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, Ca. The promotion was presented by Goossen Tutor Promotions in association with CMX Sports and Pechanga.
The main event, an IBF title eliminator scheduled for twelve rounds between Peden and Campbell started out with Peden controlling the first two rounds with a fine example of counter punching and ring generalship. Peden didn’t let Campbell work from as in close as Campbell would have liked to and Peden scored with enough hard two handed combinations to the head and body to keep Campbell honest.
The momentum in the fight shifted in round number three to Campbell, who set up his combinations with the fine use of the left jab as well as landing hard shots to the body that slowed Peden down. Campbell continued to force the action in close with a strong body attack and the strong use of right leads and uppercuts in round number four and throughout most of round number five when the unexpected happened.
For some reason apparently Campbell thought he had taken the best punches Peden had to offer as Peden had landed some hard shots to the head of Campbell up to that point. Campbell then put his hands down in a mocking gesture to Peden to hit him and Peden did just that, first with a left jab, followed by a devastating left hook that knocked Campbell down and out for the count at the 2:27 mark of the round.
In the ten round CO feature fight between Holmes and Toygonbayev, Toygonbayev started strong by scoring well with right hand leads, left hands and a strong body attack and he won the first two rounds. Holmes got his punches off better in round number three but he didn’t do enough to offset Toygonbayev’s continued use of the right lead and body attack. I saw this round as being even. The action shifted to Holmes in round number four and five as Holmes, a southpaw, worked well behind a fine right jab, good use of the straight left, and right/left combinations to the head.
Toygonbayev scored with a hard left hook early in round six and he reestablished his strong body attack to momentarily regain the advantage. But in round seven, Holmes landed a very hard left/right combination early in the round that shook Toygonbayev up and again in the later stages of the round that appeared to stun Toygonbayev, Holmes’ best punches of the fight.
Both fighters fought evenly in round number eight but Holmes benefited by the two point deductions. In rounds nine and ten, Toygonbayev did his best work in the fight by pressing the action with strong right lead/left combinations to the head as well as strong body attacks from in close. I thought he would have narrowly pulled out the victory if it wasn’t for the point deductions.
Also on the card: Former national Golden Gloves heavyweight champion Malcolm Tann of San Antonio, Texas returned to the win column by knocking out Wesley Martin of Killion, Texas at 2:50 of the first round. Tann, 228 pounds, improves his record to 9-1, 5 by KO while Martin, 221 pounds is now 15-44-8, 8 by KO.
Tann seemed more focused than he was this past November, when he suffered his first professional loss to Willie Chapman in Phoenix, Arizona. Tann used his left jab to set up his two handed power shots, which spelled the end for Martin in this fight. The jab, by the way, was almost absent in his previous fight, the loss against Chapman.
Tann said he was better prepared for his bout against Martin because he has been sparring with the likes of Wladimir Klitchsko, James Toney, Kirk Johnson, and Sergei Lyakhovich. Out of these fighters, Tann said James Toney was the roughest on him in sparring and that Kirk Johnson seemed to hit the hardest.
The scheduled eight round featherweight bout between Robert Guerrero of Gilroy, California, and Julian Rodriguez of Casa Grandes, Mexico was declared a technical draw at 1:17 of the first round when Rodriguez was unable to continue due to a couple of illegal punches thrown by Guerrero. The punches, which were likely unintentional, landed on the back of Rodriguez’s head and in his kidney area, respectively. Guerrero is now 11-0-1, 4 by KO while Rodriguez is now 13-9-2, 7 by KO
In a six round women’s bout, Stephanie Dobbs, 103 pounds, of Norman, Oklahoma defeated Nina Ahlin, 103 ½ pounds, of Painesville, Ohio by a majority decision. The judges’ scores were as follows, 57-57, 58-56, 59-55.. Dobbs improves her record to 10-13-2, 5 by KO while Ahlin slips to 10-5-1, 3 by KO.
Finally, in a bantamweight fight scheduled for four rounds, Francisco Urrabaza of Lancaster, Ca, making his professional debut, knocked out Guillermo Valdez of Mexico City, Mexico at 46 seconds of the second round. Urrabaza is now 1-0, 1 by KO while Valdez falls to 1-1, 1 by KO. Urrabaza weighed in at 118 pounds and Valdez weighed in at 117 ½ pounds.
I met Max Kellerman, formally a commentator for ESPN 2, who is now working for FOX Sports Network, at the weigh in on Saturday. Kellerman said he comes to our Eastside Boxing site and he on occasion has read the message section. To those of you who rake Kellerman over the coals, remember he may actually read what you say. He actually wasn’t very concerned about negative comments though as he said they are part of the journalism game.
I asked Kellerman if he thought James Toney could beat either of the Klistchko brothers. He said he didn’t think Toney could beat Wladimir as Toney would not be able to get off his punches and get inside of Wladimir’s reach. Kellerman did say he would have a better shot at beating Vitali as Vitali doesn’t move as well as Wladimir does.