This weekend wasn’t tipped to be particularly big on the calendar, but hey, you’ve gotta hand it to the two underdogs who came out shining at Chicago’s UIC Pavilion. Rau-shee Warren wasn’t considered a major underdog, sure, but he worked hard en route to capturing his first Bantamweight world title in a rematch with Juan Carlos Payano. Warren took the WBA belt on tallies of 115-113 twice and 114-114, scores which told the story of another close bout. BB had it 115-113 for the new champ.
Check out PBC’s Payano vs Warren II Highlights:
Payano vs Warren II will have divided opinion down the middle given there was never a scientific way – as is always the case in this sport – to score the action. For Warren, who became emotionally overwhelmed when he was awarded the title, this was a huge win, and credit to him for being a slightly bigger hit with the judges tonight. Warren now improves to fourteen wins, 1 defeat, 4 knockouts, while Payano reduces to seventeen wins, 1 defeat, 8 knockouts.
Warren was fast, tenacious, perhaps the more entertaining, and seemed to throw the more leather. But his old adversary was never too far behind, and, if you ask me, seemed to land with the greater clean connects which included some big counters. One criticism could be that Payano seemed to come a little unstuck in the early and later rounds. That said, he was never too far behind, generally always closing each stanza strong, and was certainly on his game during the middle rounds.
We shouldn’t now rule out a potential Payano vs Warren trilogy-maker, folks.
Before the main event got underway, an absolute doozy of a shocker played out. Nobody had really given the night’s chief support act much of a chance to do anything else than what was written on the pre-fight script, but Joe Smith Jr had the world’s attention following his 1st round drumming of Andrzej Fonfara.
Check out PBC’s Fonfara vs Smith Jr Highlights:
Smith, who was expected to perhaps give Fonfara some rounds at best, dropped his man with a cracking overhand right not long after the bell. Fonfara was buzzed all the way to his boots, falling straight to the canvas and on very wobbly supports when he quickly resumed his footing. Smith seized his opportunity to avoid unnecessary overtime and went straight to Fonfara, landing flush power shots until his crumbling opponent hit the deck for the second time. The referee soon waved off the violence and it was the right call.
Following the victory, Smith Jr will now obviously be considered a contender at Light Heavyweight. Major props to him for not only proving his doubters wrong tonight, but for winning in stunning fashion to boot. Smith now builds to 22 wins, 1 defeat, 18 knockouts, while Fonfara falls to 28 wins, 4 defeats, 16 knockouts.
What are your thoughts on Payano vs Warren II and Fonfara vs Smith? Unload in the comments.
