This past Saturday night Showtime Network broadcasted an exciting night of matches in Corpus Christi, Texas. The night featured bouts between Paul Williams and Nobuhiro Ishida, Tavoris Cloud and Gabriel Campillo, and Chris Arreola and Eric Molina.
Williams, who had not fought in almost two years, showed that he has not lost any of his skills and battled Ishida to the distance of twelve rounds, and won on all three judges scorecards, 120-108. Ishida just could not seem to deal with Williams’ speed and volume of punches in this 154-pound title elimination bout.
Williams has always brought speed, volume, and agility to the ring. Although there were signs that he could improve on his defensive skills, he definitely proved that he is still a worthy opponent for anyone in the division, and is still championship material.
Ishida fought and knocked out James Kirkland a short while back, so he was a legitimate challenger for Williams, who improved his record to 41-2 with 27 coming by way of knockout.
The semi-main event ended in a controversial decision between IBF light heavyweight champion Cloud and Campillo. In a bout that was competitive from the start, Cloud knocked down Campillo twice in the first round and was in a position finish him off. But he quickly started to fade after that and let Campillo back into the fight.
As the fight progressed, Campillo began to out box Cloud, who did not seem to have an answer to the attack of combinations and uppercuts being leveled at him as he was backpedaling throughout the fight.
Cloud was rendered a split decision win with two judges giving it Cloud, 116-110, 114-112 and one judge giving it to Campillo 115-111.
Most ringside observers felt that Cloud had won only two rounds at the end of the bout. Cloud is a very talented fighter, who reminds fight fans of Mike Tyson in the way he fights. It just seems that he did not fight the right way against a tall southpaw in Campillo, who is the former WBA light heavyweight champion.
In the other two bouts that are worthy of mention on this card, Arreola vs. Molina turned out to be quick and exciting and Malik Scott went the distance with Kendrick Releford.
Arreola knocked out Molina in the first round improving his record to 35-2 with 30 coming by way of knockout. He came into the bout in excellent shape and wants the world to know that he is ready for another title shot.
Scott, who hadn’t fought in three years, improved his record to 33-0 with 11 coming by way of knockout. He was rendered a unanimous decision his bout against Releford.
Top Rank Inc. will began the press tour for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley fight starting next week. Although this should turnout to be an exciting match, fans are all waiting for Pacquiao vs. Mayweather.
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