By Rey Anthony: Las Vegas – An action packed main event made up for last week’s ESPN Friday Night Fights’ fight card disappointment. Last night, January 13, 2012 Christopher Martin (23-1-3 6KO) squared off against Teon Kennedy (17-1-2 7KO) in front of a packed audience in a scheduled 10-round contest at the Hard Rock Hotel and casino that was promoted by Top Rank promotions.
Both fighters coming off their first professional losses in their last fights fought toe to toe up until the final bell. Kennedy, the fighter from Philadelphia appeared more aggressive and threw more punches but Chula Vista, California’s Martin threw fewer but harder and more accurate punches.
From the opening round to the 6th, No matter how hard his opponent tried to land his combinations, Martin’s defense was more solid than Kennedy’s which allowed the former to connect through the latter’s guard more effectively. Kennedy caught Martin a couple of times against the ropes and the corner only for Martin to show enough speed and slick defense to roll against his opponent’s punches.
Both fighters appeared to have slowed down during the 7th round. They were both trying their best to throw their punches but both of them missed a lot of their targets. The final three rounds had both fighters trying to win the fight. Round 8th was a close round that belonged to Kennedy because of his persuasion to throw and land effectively while Martin just kept leaning against the ropes.
Martin’s defense was back during the 9th round. His slippery defense successfully protected him against Kennedy’s onslaught and he threw fewer but cleaner and stronger punches. His right uppercut was the punch that successfully backed Kennedy off during the whole fight. It was also during this round that Kennedy’s left eye started swelling. ESPN announcers also noted that Kennedy’s left eye has been cut from punches by his opponents in his last 2 fights.
The 10th and final round showed two fighters going at it aggressively. They both worked hard to try and win the fight but this round was so close. Both fighters stuck to their game plans. Kennedy kept aggressively stalking Martin and Martin kept countering. This would’ve been the deciding round of the fight but unfortunately none of them stood out. Both fighters were so determined that it could have gone either way.
At the end of the night, one judge scored the bout in favor of Kennedy but the other two judges saw both fighters evenly matched. This main event ended in a majority draw. A decision that even though is not what everybody in the crowd was looking for, it was a decision that was fair for both warriors.