A delegate of Russia’s lupine assault on boxing of late did his part to maul the competition on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, as lightweight Petr Petrov snatched Fernando Carcamo between his teeth after a cautious 1st round and wouldn’t let go until the referee ripped him away. The moment when the referee rescued him, tardily, was the 8th.
This figured as a terrific action fight between the two biggest punchers in either division of ESPN’s Boxcino tournament, only the ferocious power of Carcamo was nowhere to be found. The word was that Carcamo was weight-drained, and he had the look of it, coming out dry. Petrov had a similar look, however, and he eventually warmed up. And once he warmed up, he was far too sharp a boxer for Carcamo. His punches were crisp and crunching, his defense solid if not great, and he knew when to move in and out or left to right.
By the 7th, Petrov was teeing off on Carcamo in a disconcerting manner. Carcamo’s trainer, Joel Diaz, saw what ESPN’s broadcast team and everyone on Twitter saw, which was that Carcamo was done. If he couldn’t tell from what just happened in the ring, he should’ve been able to tell from about 45 seconds of Carcamo, wearing a vacant look on his face, not protesting when Diaz talked about stopping it. Finally, when the ref came over, Carcamo responded in the affirmative that he wanted one more round, dutifully, and the ring doctor inexplicably let it continue. The next 37 seconds of assault in the 8th round before the ref stepped in were not necessary.
Petrov, more than the winner of the middleweight tourney, strikes me as potentially ready for a top 10 ranking now, although that’s partially because the 135-pound division is weak at the bottom of its top 10. Unlike the younger Willie Monroe, Jr., he doesn’t have much time to waste. He’s 31 and he makes as much sense as an opponent on HBO or Showtime for a top 10 lightweight as he ever will — and against most of them, he wouldn’t be the bad sense of the word “opponent,” i.e., someone credible brought in to lose. He would stand an honest shot.
All in all, Boxcino was a success: It gave us a handful of new fighters to watch out for, a few excellent fights and as much as I liked the Super Six on Showtime, the swifter pace of this tournament was a boon. There’s talk of more like this. Bring them on.
