In the 10-round main event, the UK’s Darren Barker (26-1, 16 KOs) defeated Australia’s Daniel Geale (29-1, 15 KOs) by means of a twelve round split decision to capture the IBF middleweight championship. Both fighters had their moments throughout the fight. Barker seemed to be more accurate with his punches. Geale was in every round and dropped Barker in round six with a left to the body that almost had the British fighter down for good. Barker showed tremendous resilience and fought hard to end the round. Going into the later rounds it was anyone’s fight. Barker was throwing more punches, but Geale was landing the harder blows. After the final bell rang the scorecards read 114-113 for Geale, as the other two judge had it 116-111 and 114-113 for Barker. Barker wins by spit decision.
“I started loading up and got carless and I started getting hit too much,” said Barker. “The occasion kind of got to me. If I would had stuck to my game plan and boxed more, I would have won easier. During the knockdown it all went through my head…my wife my family and my daughter. I knew I was up against it going in. He was a tough man.”
“I felt I won the fight, said Geale. “I was never hurt. It wasn’t my best performance and I’m very disappointed I lost the belt. I definitely want a rematch.”
In the 12-round co-main event, Kiko Martinez (28-4, 20 KOs) captured the IBF Jr. Featherweight with a six round TKO victory over, Jhonatan Romero (23-0, 12 KOs). Martinez took the fight to Romero applying a tremendous amount of presser from the opening round. Romero made somewhat of an adjustment in round two and landed some nice counter punches, but Martinez was the one landed the harder blows. Martinez’s pressure was too much for Romero as he was getting hit with a massive amount of punches and the referee stopped the bout at the 2:40 mark of round six.
“I felt very strong tonight,” said Martinez. “I’m very happy. Today is a marvelous day and I all I want to do is go home and give my daughter a kiss. I had to keep the attack going because I knew the referee was eventually was going to stop the fight because I had him hurt.”
Undercard Results
(10-round Featherweight bout) -WBO No. 4 ranked contender, Joel Brunker (26-0, 15 KOs) outworked a game Mike Oliver (25-4, 8 KOs) over ten hard rounds. It was evident the Brunker’s game plan was to go to the body as he was throwing hard shots downstairs the entire fight. Oliver had his moments counter punching, but his punches didn’t seem to slow Brunker down. A cut from a head butt emerged from the left eye of Brunker in round six, but it had no effect on his punch output. When it was all said and done, Brunker as victorious by way of unanimous decision. Scorecards read 78-74 across the board in favor of Brunker.
(10-round Welterweight bout) – Cuban born Yordenys Ugas (14-1, 7 KOs) dominated John Williams (11-2-1, 5 KOs) over ten rounds. Ugas applied pressure from the opening round and was relentless throughout the fight, landing hard shots to the body and head. Williams was backing up the entire fight while is survive mode. Ugas landed a hard left hook that wobbled Williams in the later rounds. A point was deducted from Ugas in the final round. Scorecards read 98-91 twice, and 99-90 all in favor of Ugas. With the win, Ugas becomes the WBC Latin Junior Interim Champion.
(10-round Welterweight bout) – Puerto Rican standout, Thomas Dulorme (19-1, 14 KOs) marched forward in his career with an eighth round TKO over Frankie Figueroa (20-5-1, 15 KOs). Dulorme came out strong throwing hard body shots and hooks. A right hand to the head dropped Figueroa in round three. Figueroa rebounded quickly, but wasn’t thrown many punches as he was in retreat mode. Figueroa’s punches didn’t seem to have any effect on Dulorme as he continued to stalk Figueroa throughout the bout. Figueroa hit the canvas again in round five, but Dulorme was deducted a point for hitting below the waist. Dulorme continued to apply pressure and eventually stopped Figueroa with a barrage of punches in round eight. The referee halted the bout at the 47 mark of round 8.
(10-round Lightweight bout) – Peruvian born Jonathan Maicelo (20-1, 12 KOs) started off slow, but came on strong to score a tenth round knockout over an elusive Jose Alejandro Rodriguez (19-12, 11 KOs). Both fighters were doing their best to land hard shots, but had limited success. Maicelo was landing the cleaner blows throughout the fight. It was twenty two seconds into round ten when Maicelo landed a powerful right hook to the head of Rodriguez in which he didn’t get up.
