By Bill Calogero

Joey Abell won a majority decision over the previously unbeaten Teke Oruh in their ten-round Heavyweight bout. The Main Event was broadcast live from the Island of St. Lucia on Showtime’s ShoBox Series and was promoted by Goosen-Tutor Promotions.

In what was billed as a fight between two young prospects, the fight itself was less than entertaining. What it showcased were two fighters that have been fed “tomato-can” caliber fighters up until this fight. It really showed.

Joey Abell is a 6’ 4” southpaw who has very limited defensive skills, but was the busier fighter through out most of this fight. He was able to stay on his toes and land a pawing, yet crisp right jab during the course of the ten-round fight. He also followed his jab with a somewhat powerful left hand in the form of hooks and straight shots, mostly landing on the head of Teke Oruh.

Teke Oruh landed the more powerful punches throughout the fight, including a very solid right that clearly stunned Abell during the 9th round. The punch immediately caused swelling and a cut under Abell’s right eye. The problem was that Oruh simply did not land enough of them. He spent the majority of the fight plodding towards Abell, pressing the fight, but failing to actually throw punches.

From the seventh through the tenth and final round, with the exception of the last minute of the ninth round, Joey Abell out boxed the boxer to win this fight.

One judge scored the fight 98-92, one had it 96-94 and the third saw the bout even at 95-95, giving Joey Abell the ten-round majority decision victory. TheDailySports.com scored the fight 96-94 also in favor of Joey Abell.

Joey Abell goes the distance for the first time of his career, improving to 18-1-1 NC (17 KOs). Teke Oruh loses for the first time, dropping to 14-1-1 (6 KOs).

This fight showcased why you can’t “over-protect” your fighter. We had two fighters being billed as potential contenders based on beefed up records against opponents that rarely had a .500 record, let alone fighting against opponents with winning records. The one thing I appreciate is that they fought each other. I would hope other fighters in similar situations would do the same so we can end up with legitimate contenders.

In the Co-Main event, 2004 Gold Medallist, Andre Ward improved to 14-0 (9 KOs) with his 5th round TKO win over the tough and very game Roger Cantrell in their scheduled ten-round Super Middleweight bout.

Ward used his much superior boxing skills to dominate this fight. He showcased a fast jab and a full arsenal of straight, hook and overhand rights during the fight. He did not work the body much and his footwork needs to improve, but all in all, it was a very good performance for Andre.

From the first round on, Ward battered Cantrell. After several solid left-right-left combinations that were all landing flush, referee Jose Rivera stopped the bout officially at 1:56 of the fifth round. Cantrell flipped when the fight was stopped, but it was a justified stoppage. There was no way that Cantrell was going to stop Ward and he was destined to receive more punishment from a far superior skilled boxer.

Andre Ward improves to 14-0 (9 KOs) and will continue to rise in the division as time goes on. He is only going to get better and better. Roger Cantrell loses his first professional contest, dropping to 12-1 (8 KOs) and showed he has heart and comes to fight, but needs to improve his skill if he plans on stepping up his level of competition.

Rock Nothing Special

Hasim Rahman continued his comeback with a non-impressive win over Zuri Lawrence Thursday night. The fight was the Main Event of Top Rank Inc.’s “Fight Night” and was broadcast live from the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania on the Versus Network.

Lawrence was a very late sub for this fight. He was coming off a win only days earlier and hadn’t been in the gym. He was the one that controlled most of the fight, scoring with his jab and was able to land several hard rights.

Rahman has one skill, and one skill only. He can throw a right hand. That’s it. He has no jab, no left, no foot work and in my opinion is nothing more than a re-tread fighter that has no business taking up a contender position in any of the major sanctioning bodies.

Zuri had been controlling the fight until he found himself staying against the ropes. This was the ONLY thing he should not have done because Hasim was able to land the one punch he knows how to throw, his right hand.

During the sixth round, Hasim was able to land several hard punches, again driving Lawrence against the ropes. While trying to avoid getting hit, Zuri got tangled in the ropes and Hasim was able to land a solid shot that sent Zuri out of the ring onto the cement floor. By rule, he had twenty-seconds to get back in the ring to continue, which he did, but was not the same as he was up to that point to close the round.

Zuri was able to come on again, dictating the fight, and in my opinion was winning on my scorecard, despite the knockdown during the 6th, until a barrage of shots caused referee Gary Rosato to stop the bout with 40 seconds left in the fight to give Rahman the TKO win. I think this fight should have been permitted to go to the scorecards.

Hasim Rahman improves to 44-6-2 (35 KOs) and unfortunately is being mentioned to get a title shot soon, which in my opinion is simply terrible. Zuri Lawrence drops to 23-13-4 (0 KOs). The question I have for Zuri is why? Why did you take this fight when you were clearly on the road back to getting a title shot yourself? I am not sure whose decision it was to take this fight, but I sure hope it was Zuri’s and not any one or all of his team. If someone around Zuri Lawrence told him to take this fight, I would be the first to say they clearly are not looking out for HIS best interest. Up until the stoppage, Zuri looked like the fighter that was working his way back into contention, not Rahman.

On the under card, in today’s most exciting division, the Welterweights, Jesus Soto-Karass won a unanimous 10-round decision over Juan Buendia. Soto-Karass used his accurate punches to dominate the fight. Buendia threw many punches of his own, and to his credit most of them seemed to be powerful, however he was too wild to score effectively.

During the second round a devastating left hook dropped Buendia. It was a delayed knockdown, which seemed to take a while before its effects left Buendia. He was able to come on strong during the fourth, but Soto-Karass’ superior overall boxing skill was too much for him to overcome.

Two of the three judges scored the fight 98-91, while the third had it 97-92, all in favor of Jesus Soto-Karass. Soto-Karass improves to 18-3-3 (14 KOs) and should be considered an up and comer in this rich Welterweight Division.

Juan Buendia loses for only the second time of his career, dropping to 14-2-1 (8 KOs) and will surely be back.

For full discussions on these fights and all the other boxing news, don’t miss this week’s “Talkin Boxing With Billy C” radio program. Tune into TPSRADIO.net on Wednesdays from 6-8pm EST to listen live, or go to www.TalkinBoxing.com for all information on downloading the podcast of ALL previous shows.