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Gatti Stops Leija, Ouma Decisions Jantuah
Photos by Bill Emes
1/30 - Last night from Atlantic City, NJ, WBC jr. welterweight champion
Arturo Gatti, 39-6, disposed of former champion "Jesse"
James Leija, 47-7-2, scoring a 5th round knockout victory in front of 12,599 crazed fans.
The 32-year old Gatti was the antagonist from the opening bell, using his jab often to keep the smaller Leija at bay.
"I stayed on the outside because of his experience. I wanted to stay on the outside," said Gatti, who is improving under the tutelage of trainer Buddy McGirt.
The crafty Leija did manage to get inside a few times in the opening rounds to land overhand rights, but Gatti made him pay dearly with great combo work and his quick jab.
The new and improved Gatti wouldn't have needed his long-time cut man Joe Souza, as he boxed beautifully, barely getting hit.
In the 5th, Gatti landed a right that sent Leija down, which Gatti said afterwards, "I never thought he'd get up after the right hand." Leija beat the count and went out throwing, but Gatti finally dropped Leija for good with a solid left ending the bout at 1:48 of the 5th frame.
With the win, Gatti sets up a potential showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr., to which Gatti responded after the fight, "I want to fight him and I hope he solves his legal problems."
In the co-feature, the stock of rising super-star and IBF junior middleweight champion
Kassim Ouma, 21-1-1, continues to soar as he picked up a rather easy 12-round unanimous decision over IBF #12 ranked
Kofi Jantuah, 28-2.
After giving away the first, Ouma set the pace around his jab and a huge punch output as his stamina and speed was too much for a game Jantuah. The rounds continue to pile on in favor of Ouma as he seemingly walked through power shots and Jantuah's energy decreased with each continuing round.
Jantuah succumbed to throwing single shots in hope of scoring the knockout he came into the fight looking for, while Ouma, who opened a small cut over the right eye of Jantuah in the 2nd, landed 502 of 1088 punches thrown to take wide scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 117-111.
Undercard Results:
Heavyweight Malik Scott defeated David Bostice by 8-round unanimous decision by scores of 79-73 [twice] and 78-74. Middleweight Giovanni Lorenzo stopped Dennis Sharpe at 2:45 of the first. Sharp was down twice before his corner throws in the towel. Cruiserweight Gino Ranquillo lost a majority decision to "Next Great Champ" contestant David Pareja by scores of 37-39, 38-38 and 36-40. Lightweight Danny McDermott won a 4-round decision over Jason Chacon by 40-36 all. Welterweight Henry Crawford bested Philip McCants over 4-rounds by scores of 38-37 [twice] and 39-36. • Discuss at the FORUM
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