Jesus Karass-Andre Berto
WELTERWEIGHTS GOT SHOWTIME SPOTLIGHT
Saturday, July 27, 2013
KEITH THURMAN PREVAILS AFTER SHAKY START
San Antonio, Texas (Showtime) AT&T Center– Keith Thurman (21-0, 19 KOs) TKO 10 Diego Gabriel Chaves (22-1, 18 KOs) (147 lb.) Rocked and rattled early on, Thurman dropped Argentine with body shots before head shot causing knockdown ended matters in almost even scrap. Thurman looked “limited” at times, and while Chaves can fight, he stands too straight up like a European amateur and he was eventually broken down and finished! Thurman now possesses WBA “interim” 147 lb. trinket. B- overall grade for Keith in facing first world class foe.
BERTO POPS SHOULDER WHILE GETTING HAMMERED
Jesus Soto Karass (28-8-3, 18 KOs) TKO 12 Andre Berto (28-3, 22 KOs) (147 lb.) Pretty big upset here as Mexican mauler hasn’t exactly been the second coming of Salvador Sanchez, but Karass kicked some ass as Berto was hammered throughout and looked like he had been put through a car windshield when referee Jon Schorle put Berto out of his misery in round 12. It was obvious that the native of Haiti fought most of the time with a dislocated shoulder. Ahead in the fight, Karass went against his corner in round 12 and finished Berto. That’s three defeats almost back to back to back fights, time to stick a fork in Andre Berto!
OMAR FIGUEROA-NIKITO ARAKAMA IN “SPECIAL FIGHT”
Lightweight (135 lb.) Omar Figueroa (21-0-1, 17 KOs) vs Nihito Arakawa (24-2-1, 16 KOS) (135 lb.) Omar can fight, punished Arakama early in round one, dropped him in round two, only to have Japan’s #1 lightweight own the last minute of the three-minute session. That Round three saw Figueroa hurling bombs and the game Arakama was fighting back in spots, on occasion down stairs. Accidental head butt cuts Arakawa on nose. The fourth saw Omar punch and Arakawa catch, but he seemed to convince Omar that he wasn’t going to fold up like a cheap tent.
YOU DON’T GIVE THE GUY EATING LEATHER POINTS!
Great back and forth action as lefty Arakawa went to the body more than once in the round. This is the way it went, back and forth with another knockdown of the Japanese warrior in round six, until the final bell Figueroa was maintaining THE edge as the wide scores of 118-108, 118-108, 119-107 indicate. The winner hurt both hands, but hey he was throwing and landing bombs for 36 minutes.
Pedro Fernandez