by Paul Strauss – Tavoris’ mother must have thought she witnessed a miracle, because she fainted in the ring. Thankfully she’s okay, but Showtime fans in attendance at the American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas are still in shock. They booed loudly when the decision was announced. Two visually impaired judges scored the fight for Cloud. Only Judge Denny Nelson, from Minnesota, got it right.
When Campillo strutted around to the four sides of the ring after the fight, he was met with loud cheering approval. They wanted to let him know they appreciated his performance. Cloud tried to win them back with his post-fight comments to Jim Gray, explaining that he had dropped Campillo multiple times and was the aggressor. He forgot that aggression is not enough. To be effective, it has to get the desired results.
Cloud was partially correct, though. He did indeed drop Campillo twice in the first round. The first knock down came as the result of a hard left jab, followed by a big right hand landing flush on the jaw. Campillo went straight back to the seat of his pants. He beat the count, only to have Cloud swarm all over him. After a particularly hard barrage of punches, he sat back on the ropes, and Referee Mark Nelson stepped in between the fighters and signified another knockdown had occurred. It was the correct call. It also might have helped Campillo get a little break in the attack. Regardless, he made it through to the end of the round.
Instead of coming out overly cautious or afraid in the second round, Campillo took charge. He started firing his right jab, and punched in combinations. Then he would step off to the side and do it again. He also used the uppercut and body shots effectively. He shocked Cloud, and soon started marking him up.
By the end of the fight, Cloud’s face was a mess. He was swollen around both eyes and had a bloody nose. He also had sustained cuts both over and under the left eye. The one above the eye was particularly bad, but his cut man did a good job keeping the bleeding under control for most of the fight.
Cloud remained dangerous throughout the fight, but he never was able to land the big punch again after the one-sided 10-7 first round. After that round, Campillo regained his poise and demonstrated his superior speed and boxing skill. He exposed Cloud’s weaknesses and deserved the win.
The main event featured Paul Wiliams vs. Nobihiro Ishida. The Japanese fighter was coming off of two first round knockouts, one over feared puncher James Kirkland. Williams was fighting for the first time since July of 2011, when he managed to come away with a controversial win over Erislandy Lara. Williams had something to prove, and Ishida wanted to continue with his impressive wins. Ishida ended up disappointed.
Williams came out fast and never let up; although, he didn’t punch at quite the same high level of volume punching as in the past, he was still busy enough to keep Ishida off balance. Ishida didn’t seem to have a reall strategy, other than to look for the big counter punch. He didn’t exhibit much of a jab, so he couldn’t keep Williams at bay, or drive him back at all. Rather, he found himself under attack for most of the fight.
Initially, Ishida displayed decent footwork, which took him momentarily out of trouble, but as the fight progress, he became more and more stationary and vulnerable to Williams’ onslaught. The result was a shutout. Ishida managed to land a solid shot here and there, but he never had Williams in any real danger. But, Williams couldn’t put Ishida away either, and that is something he definitely wanted to do to put him back in the good graces of the experts. But, he got the one-sided win, which he hopes will lead to a another bigger fight with maybe someone like Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. or Saul Alvarez. Surprisingly he seemed to dismiss Kirkland as not being a big enough name?
Chris Arreola quickly disposed of Eric Molina, after getting tagged himself. It seemed to wake him up. He quickly landed a left hook, followed by a looping right hand. Molina apparently felt he had enough, and stayed on the canvas long enough to be counter out. It was embarrassing. At least Arreola didn’t try to kiss him. Nothing much was proved in this fight for Arreola. Chris keeps saying he’s been working his ass off, but that pack animal still seems visible and is hauling around a load of lard. Chris weighed in at 245lbs., and looked flabby. It’s seems likely Chris doesn’t really know what being in great shape means. If he gets his wish for a big fight with Wladimir Klitschko, he will undoubtedly get beat up again, as he did against Vitali.