Junior welterweights Pedraza, Commey battle to hard-fought draw in crowd-pleaser
Heavyweight prospects Anderson, Torrez notch booming KOs
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The mission for former lightweight world titleholders Jose Pedraza and Richard Commey was to shake off a loss in their previous fight in order to maintain their relevance and make their case for a bigger fight.
While neither man won, they did not lose either, fighting to a spirited split draw in a crowd-pleasing junior welterweight fight that headlined the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Saturday night at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Pedraza won the ninth and 10th rounds on all three scorecards to make it a draw.
After Commey had his best success in the first half of the fight, Pedraza came on strong in the second half of a bout that was a toss-up on paper and dead even when it was over. Judge David Sutherland scored it 96-94 for Commey, Henry Gueary had it 97-93 for Pedraza and Gary Ritter had it 95-95. Fight Freaks Unite scored it 96-94 for Pedraza.
“I was a little bit disappointed (in the draw) because I thought I won this fight but it is what it is,” Commey said. “This is boxing. I think I gave away a few rounds.”
Commey (30-4-1, 27 KOs), 35, of Ghana, who was moving up to 140 pounds and coming off a one-sided decision loss to three-division champion and former pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko in December, won two of the first three rounds on all three scorecards and set a fast face.
He knocked Pedraza off balance with a left hook in the second round and another in the third round, when he also gave Pedraza a bloody nose.
By the end of he fourth round there was swelling under Pedraza’s left eye and in the sixth round Commey suffered a cut over his left eye that referee Gerald Ritter ruled was from a punch. However, the cut was clearly caused by an accidental head butt as video replays showed.
Commey was bothered by the blood dripping into his eye and pawed at it for the rest of the round, but cutman Mike Bazzel got the cut under control in the corner and it did not severely hamper Commey.
Commey exerted a lot of energy during the first half of the fight and seemed to tire in the second half. Pedraza nailed him with a stiff left hand late in the seventh round and had his best round of the fight in the ninth.
Pedraza (29-4-1, 14 KOs), 33, of Puerto Rico, who is also a former junior lightweight titlist, teed off on Commey in the ninth round, landing solid left hands and a pair of left uppercuts. Commey was on the ropes and late in the round there was desperation from his corner, which shouted at him to dig deep for the sake of his children.
After the ninth round, Commey trainer Andre Rozier told him to go get Pedraza because he needed the round to win. But Pedraza, who was trying to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to former unified junior welterweight titlist Jose Ramirez on March 4, won the ninth and 10th rounds on all three scorecards.
“I landed a great body shot. I felt that I hurt him, and that gave me the inspiration to keep going after him,” Pedraza said of his big ninth round and draw-sealing 10th round. “I actually believe those were the rounds that gave me the victory tonight, despite what the scorecards say.”
By winning the 10th round on judge Gary Ritter’s card, Pedraza pulled into a 95-95 tie to secure the draw.
“Even though my eye was inflamed, we understood that it was done because he has a good right hand,” Pedraza said through an interpreter. “The entire night, the whole point was to neutralize that right hand. Despite the fact that it was inflamed, I was able to do that.”
According to CompuBox statistics, Pedraza landed 165 of 496 punches (33 percent) and the harder-hitting Commey landed 149 of 684 (22 percent).
Perhaps a rematch might be in store.
“It is a draw. Obviously, I have to go back home and see my people. I love my people, and I gotta go back there, do what I gotta do,” Commey said.
Added Pedraza, “I’ve never turned down a fight, and I’m not going to start now. So, whatever Top Rank wants for me. If they demand a rematch, I’m ready to give Richard Commey a rematch because he deserves it and I have the utmost respect for him. But ultimately, my goal is to win a world title once again. Whatever I have to do, that’s what I’m willing to do.”
Another big KO for Anderson
Jared Anderson, who is viewed by most as the No. 1 American heavyweight prospect, returned from an eight-month layoff and right hand surgery and did not appear to have any issues with his hand as he used it to score a thudding second-round knockout of Miljan Rovcanin in the co-feature.
Because of the hand injury, the 6-foot-4, 241-pound Anderson (12-0, 12 KOs), 22, of Toledo, Ohio, missed a chance to have his fourth training camp as heavyweight champion Tyson Fury’s main sparring partner and a spot on the undercard of his April 23 defense against Dillian Whyte before 94,000 at Wembley Stadium in London.
But he did exactly what most expected for him to do against the 6-4, 230-pound Rovcanin (24-3, 16 KOs), 28, of Serbia, in their scheduled eight-rounder.
In the second round, Anderson knocked out Rovcanin’s mouthpiece when he hit him on the break and was warned for the foul by referee Mark Nelson.
Rovcanin mounted brief bursts of offense but nothing that dissuaded Anderson from his steady attack, which included body shots and concluded when Anderson landed a three-punch combination that he finished with a powerful chopping right hand to the head that dropped Rovcanin flat on his back. He seemed alert but took Nelson’s full count with the official time of the knockout 3 minutes of the second round.
“I was very calm. I was very patient,” Anderson said. “Actually (trainer Darrie Riley) was more nervous than I was, as usual, though. I felt very relaxed, pretty much the most relaxed I’ve ever been.
“(The body punches were) the reason for the knockout to me because he slowed down. His hands came down and that’s what executed the knockout.”
Rovcanin’s five-fight winning streak came to an end. A possible spot for Anderson’s next fight is on the undercard of Teofimo Lopez’s next fight on Dec. 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Anderson would like to step up in opposition and continued to call out unbeaten contender and IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic.
“Realistically, we don’t know how far we are from a (Hrgovic) fight. I would love that fight,” Anderson said. “Filip Hrgovic or anybody in the top 10 of the IBF or WBO, WBC. We’re just looking to get some bigger names. Everybody keeps asking for bigger fights. We would love to have those bigger fights.”
Torrez scores massive KO
In the opener, Tulare, California, heavyweight prospect Richard Torrez Jr. scored an explosive first-round destruction of Marco Antonio Canedo, knocking him out cold in 44 seconds of a scheduled six-rounder.
Torrez (3-0, 3 KOs), 23, a southpaw, who claimed the super heavyweight Olympic silver medal at last summer’s Tokyo Games, went right at the massively overmatched Canedo (4-3, 2 KOs), 31, of Mexico, and blasted him out quickly.
Barely 20 seconds into the fight, Torrez landed a left hand that dropped Canedo to his knees in a corner. He quickly popped up but not for long.
Torrez forced Canedo to the ropes and landed a huge left hand to the head that essentially knocked him out. But Torrez got off three more devastating punches, another left, a right to the center of the face and a final left that dropped him hard. Canedo was already out and was unable to break his fall, so he landed on his face.
Referee Gerald Ritter immediately waved off the fight and medical personnel immediately entered the ring to assist Canedo, who was down for several minutes. Even when he got to his feet he still appeared dazed and while he walked to the dressing room, he was assisted and then taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons.
“I am happy with the result, but my thoughts right now are with Canedo,” said Torres, who landed eight of the 10 power shots he threw. “He’s a tough man, and I have the utmost respect for him. It happens to the best of us.”
Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
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Torrez beat Anderson in 2017 amateurs
Anderson is an exciting prospect; he took a couple shots last night, which was good to see, actually, and remained composed and finished like a real prospect. Intrigued to see where this goes.
Both Pedraza and Commey seem worn, and neither can compete on the top level, but they were perfectly matched and made a good fight. Kinda glad neither won, as that would have potentially cleared the way for a Teo fight, and I’d rather see him better tested than fighting an old lightweight at 140. Barboza doesn’t knock my socks off, but he’s a better test than either of these two.
On the matchmaking front, Torrez, a guy with proper pedigree and Olympic medal, should be nowhere near the guy he fought. Candelo couldn’t fight, and had ZERO pinch resistance, and it served no purpose and almost got dude killed. TR should do better than that.