By Michael Collins: In a fight that was surprisingly competitive until the last part of the 6th, unbeaten heavyweight contender Mariusz Wach (27-0, 15 KO’s) stopped big 6’8″ Tye Fields (49-5, 44 KO’s) in the 6th round on Saturday night at the Resorts Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Wach, 32, hit Fields with two solid left hooks that hurt him causing him to back up near the ropes.
Wach then opened up with a storm of big windmilling shots ending with a right hand that put the 37-year-old Fields on the canvas. Fields tried to get up but stumbled and couldn’t make it to his feet in time. The fight was then halted by referee Benjy Esteves Jr.
The southpaw Fields was able to back up the 6’7 1/2″ Wach all around the ring for most of the fight keeping pressure on him and landing a lot of punches. Wach had the power advantage but each time he would stop, Fields would be all over him tagging him with shot after shot. Wach couldn’t handle getting hit with all of Field’s shot, even though they weren’t exactly crushing blows. They were hard enough to scatter Wach like the wind. It looked odd the huge Wach dashing around the ring trying not to get hit by Field, given that Fields had already been blown out in one round by Monte Barrett, three rounds by Michael Grant and one round by Mike Perez in the past four years. Those guys didn’t run from Fields and it just looked strange as anything to see Wach constantly moving to try and avoid Fields.
I thought Fields looked like the better fighter until getting clipped by the two big left hands. It seemed pretty obvious that Field’s fragile chin would betray him sooner or later but he fought really well up until then. I can’t say much for Wach. He didn’t look good and was painfully slow with his shots. He’s ranked #8 by the WBC, but that’s a very kind ranking in my estimation. I see Wach as no better than #15 at best. He’s a knockout waiting to happen when he finally faces a live body with a pulse.