You’ll get a more detailed post from Mike Coppinger on the ShoBox card Friday soon enough, and he was ringside in Atlantic City so his account will be better than mine. But for now here’s what went down broadly on both ShoBox and Friday Night Fights:
- In the ESPN2 headliner in Montreal, welterweight Antonin Decarie turned in a pretty good performance in a unanimous decision win over Shamone Alvarez. I’m not sure what kind of ceiling Decarie has because his speed isn’t quite up to snuff, but he’s got poise and I like his punch variety. He decked Alvarez in the 5th with a straight right, and commentator Teddy Atlas kept saying Decarie should begin to put the left hook behind the right — which he was doing. He also went to the body well after dropping Alvarez. Alvarez battled through a lot of adversity but Decarie stayed on top of him and controlled distance and pace.
- In the main undercard bout, fellow Canadian welterweight Jo Jo Dan flashed skills that made him look like a real contender, not a one-time fluke who deserved to get the win on the scorecards against Selcuk Aydin. Steve Forbes gave him moments of difficulty, because Forbes even at this point in his career can do that. But Dan was crafty with his counters and good on defense before a head butt ended matters — Forbes suffered a grisly gash — and sent the fight to the cards for a Dan decision win.
- Over on Showtime, the most heralded prospect of the evening, junior featherweight Rico Ramos, struggled a bit with the determined pressure and head clashes of Alejandro Valdez, but came away with the wide unanimous decision. It could have been closer — the rounds were hard to score, given the classic more(Valdez)/better(Ricos) problem — but I had it seven rounds to three for Ramos, like two of the judges. Another had it eight rounds to two. Ramos is a bit inconsistent; he’ll look great one fight and just OK the next. This was an entry under “OK,” although Valdez, brain clot or no, probably was his hardest opponent to date.
- Middleweight Don George showed up Ramos on the undercard. Coming off a brutal stoppage loss that raised serious questions about whether he was a real prospect or not, George bounced back to score a 1st round knockout of Cornelius White, who was inexperienced but undefeated and therefore the “A-side” in this match-up. George caught White with a 1-2 that put him down hard, then dropped him again with a right hook and then once more with a non-stop flurry. George was understandably ecstatic, and it’s hard not to like a fighter who can bounce back like that. Maybe White just got caught cold, but if he bounces back George-like, he’ll need to learn to tie up for if he ever gets in trouble again.
