By James Slater: Tonight in his native Kent in England, unbeaten heavyweight hope Tom Dallas advanced to 15-0(11) with a most disappointing, controversial points win over tough, cagey American Zack Page. Dallas, the younger man by 12 years at age 26, looked ordinary and predictable as he was consistently unable to pin down the 58-fight veteran, and the younger man was also hit by plenty of shots to the head.
In the end, though, referee and sole scoring judge Ian John-Lewis felt Dallas had done enough to win, giving him a 78-76 margin of victory. Personally, I had the man from Ohio winning by two points. Page, who drew cheers from the crowd when the verdict was announced, is now 21-35-2(7).
If Dallas’ aim was to go one better than fellow British hope Tyson Fury and get a stoppage win over Page (Fury won a shut-out UD over Page last December), he failed badly. Despite having noticeable advantages in height and weight, Dallas looked a confused, one-dimensional fighter for long periods. Page, showing all his tricks, switched stance, fired in classy-looking bursts of shots and, basically, took his young opponent to school.
Proving a most elusive target despite holding both hands low all night, Page would not allow Dallas to get set. Some of the rounds were admittedly close and hard to score, but it sure looked as though Page was doing more and controlling the action. Clipping Dallas after making him miss wildly, especially in the 6th – Pages’ best round of the night in my opinion – the wise old veteran was the ring general.
Dallas forced out work in the 2nd, 4th and 5th-rounds, at times catching Page with a jab followed by a right hand, but for me the visiting fighter won the other five sessions. John-Lewis didn’t agree, however, and a disappointed Page picked up yet another points loss; his 32nd in total.
But if Page went home disappointed, so too did fans of Tom Dallas. Not even looking like he felt he was a winner at the completion of the 8th and final round, a slightly marked-up Dallas looked down and depressed. In the post-fight interview, he said (not very convincingly) that he knew he’d won. His promoter Frank Maloney deserves much credit for speaking the truth and admitting his fighter was lucky to have gotten the win.
On tonight’s evidence, the 6’6,” approx 230-pound Dallas has a whole lot of work to do if he’s to advance to even domestic title level.