07.09.07 – By Jeff Bastasini: Heavyweight boxing prospect Adam “Swamp Donkey” Richards (19-1, 13 KOs) defeated Cuban Rafael Pedro (20-7-1, 14 KOs) by fourth round disqualification on Friday night at the Hard Rock Casino, in Biloxi, Mississippi. Richards, 26, a fighter with over 250 amateur boxing fights under his belt and a fighting style not so much different than John Ruiz, fought four ugly rounds of back and forth wrestling, head butts, rabbit punches, and holding and hitting with his six-foot seven inch two hundred and forty seven pound opponent Pedro..
Most of it was done by Pedro, who had previously been disqualified on two occasions in other bouts for fouling. However, Richards had his own share of fouling (holding and hitting), I noticed, although he wasn’t docked any points by the referee Bill Clancy.
Of the actual fighting, Richards controlled the action with his use of hooks to the body and combinations to the head. In the 3rd round, Pedro, 32, was briefly hurt by a right hand. Richards stormed him at that point and landed a flurry of punches, but was unable to finish him. Richards isn’t particularly fast or powerful of a puncher, but his style of fighting in which he ducks his head and comes forward, throwing either jabs or hooks, was effective against the unschooled Pedro, who had no amateur background in fighting.
However, on many of the occasions that Richard came forward, he would clash heads with Pedro. That happened more than a few times and it seemed to be a product of the manner in which Richards fights, but it really bothered Pedro, perhaps because it wasn’t being warned against by the referee.
Pedro started well in the first round, landing his slow jabs and trying to keep his distance from the 6’1″ 246 lb Richards. However, Richards paid little attention to Pedro’s punches, and came forward steadily, throwing hooks to the head and body. He mixed up his punches well and had Pedro on the defensive. There was a head-butt early in the round when Richards came forward with his head down, as usual, and bumped heads with Pedro.
Richards didn’t seem bothered by the headbutt, however, Pedro didn’t like it at all it seemed to begin fighting angrily, something that would last the entire fight and be his eventual undoing. At the end of the round, Predo landed a good right uppercut and a short right hand. However, despite Pedro’s huge size and statuesque build, the punch had no effect on the slightly portly Richards.
At the beginning of the 2nd round, both fighters immediately clinched, at which time Pedro reached around and threw a powerful right hand rabbit punch to the back of Richards’ head. The referee Bill Clancy immediately stopped the action and deducted a point from Pedro. It was an odd foul, mostly because Pedro seemed intensely angry, as if he was still remembering something from the previous round. After the action restarted, Pedro grabbed Richards and pushed his head down and ran him into the ground, looking similar to a wrestling move.
Again, Pedro received a warning from Clancy, although no points were deducted this time. Richards controlled the rest of the round, throwing one punch at a time as he continuously waded forward with his head down. Near the end of the round, there was another head-butt caused when Richards came in and crashed heads with Pedro while attempting to throw hooks. Pedro responded by grabbing Richards’ head and leaning forward, looking like he was trying to turn him into a pretzel.
Pedro started off well in the 3rd round, landing several jabs a combination. However, while they were clinching, Richards landed a right to the body while at the same time having his left arm around Pedro’s waist. This angered Pedro, who responded by throwing a right hand on the break. The referee then stopped the action and warned both fighters. After the action resumed, Richards took control of the round, landing hooks to the head of Pedro. However, around a minute later, there was another head-butt when Richards again came in with his head down and bumped into the face of Pedro. Noticing that Pedro had lost his coll yet again due the head-butt, Richards used the opportunity to attack him and landed 11 consecutive shots which hurt Pedro and had him holding on to survive the round.
At the start of the fourth round, Pedro walked over to Richards and landed a right hand rabbit punch to the back of his head. At that point, the referee Bill Clancy rushed over to stop the action. However, before he could separate the two, Pedro threw another right hand rabbit punch as Richards was turning to walk away. Seeing this, the referee immediately stopped the fight and disqualified Pedro for the blatant foul. The bout was officially stopped at 0:10 of the fourth round.