TalkingBoxing News
Tua wins split decision over Salif
SUN October 23 - Sports Network - David Tua won a 10-round split decision over Cisse Salif Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.
The 32-year-old Tua (44-3-1), who once fought Lennox Lewis for the WBC, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles in 2000, is currently ranked 12th on the WBC list.
Tua, a resident of South Auckland, New Zealand, was making just his second fight of the year and it showed in the first half of the match. Salif, who stands nearly six inches taller, controlled much of the first five rounds as he repeatedly kept Tua at a distance by using his jab to the head.
"He was a lot better opponent than what we gave him credit for. We did what we had to do...I did what I had to do and tried to make an adjustment," said Tua.
However, Tua was finally able to get inside beginning in the seventh round. "The Terminator" used many body punches and overhand rights to start to wear down Salif. Then, in the 10th round, Tua closed the fight with a flurry of lefts and rights in the final minute.
The 34-year-old Salif (17-5-2, 16 KOs) had won each of his last three fights by knockouts.
Tua won by scores of 98-92 and 96-94, while Salif recorded a 96-94 decision on the final judge's card.
"I was able to break him down in the body as the fight went on...It was a good performance and I look forward to the next fight," said Tua.
Also Friday in the heavyweight decision, Zuri Lawrence stunned Jameel "Big Time" McCline, who is ranked ninth by the IBF. Lawrence (20-10-4) earned a unanimous 10-round decision after he dominated the entire fight by consistently being the aggressor. Lawrence, who was outweighed by 30 pounds, kept the fight in the middle of the ring and was able to land a series of jabs throughout the fight that had McCline constantly looking back to his corner in disbelief.
McCline fell to 38-6-3.
There were five other bouts on the card, which included Edison Miranda's third- round knockout of Sherwin Davis. Miranda (25-0, 22 KOs), who is the WBO Latino middleweight champion, knocked his opponent out 37 seconds into the round after connecting with two rights and a left to the body.
However, the fight was not without controversy as Miranda was credited with a knockdown just before the first round ended, but replays showed that Davis actually went down because of a headbutt. Davis (18-2) complained about the headbutt that opened up a cut, but it was not changed.
In the lightweight division, Jesus Pabon earned a first-round knockout over Jean Petit-Homme, Danny Jimenez posted a fourth-round majority decision over Tom Mills and Jorge Teron recorded a fifth-round TKO over Jeff Hinds.
Yuri Foreman also won by a unanimous 10-round decision over Troy Lowry in the middleweight division.
sportsnetwork.com
Forrest Finishes Garcia in 10th
SUN October 23 - Sports Network - Vernon Forrest earned a knockout victory over underdog Elco Garcia in the 10th round in a junior middleweight bout on Friday at the Pechanga Resort and Casino.
Forrest (37-2, 28 KOs), a former welterweight champion, was heavily favored and few expected the fight to go the full 10 rounds.
In the final round, Garcia (18-4) connected with two hard rights that pushed Forrest back against the ropes. With both fighters standing toe-to-toe, Forrest and Garcia nearly both went down after Garcia caught Forrest with a right hook.
But the referee ruled that Forrest had slipped and he came right back at Garcia. Forrest pushed Garcia against the ropes and nailed him with a left hook that dropped Garcia with 1:02 left in the last round.
After an uneventful opening round, Forrest picked up the pace in the second, methodically catching Garcia with three overhand rights.
Forrest began to find success with the uppercut in the fourth, hitting Garcia with four of them throughout the round.
After getting tagged with a stiff right in the fifth, Garcia awoke to finally get the better of Forrest. Garcia landed a left-right combination that seemed to put Forrest on the defensive.
Forrest began to assert himself in the ninth round, landing several crushing blows. A left hook caused swelling under Garcia's right eye. Undaunted, Garcia ended the round with a flurry of shots ending with an uppercut that caused Forrest to step back.
On the undercard, Hector Camacho Jr. (39-1-1) got up from first-round and third-round knock downs to post a unanimous decision victory over Nelson Estupinan.
Estupinan (18-4) took it to Camacho early in the fight but got caught with a big left hook in the fifth round that changed the tide for Camacho and opened a cut over Estupinan's left eye.
Camacho caught Estupinan with several hard shots in both the sixth and seventh rounds before taking complete control in the eighth and final stanza.
sportsnetwork.com
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