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Haney Outpoints Linares
By William Trillo @ Ringside
Photos: Ed Mulholland - Matchroom
The boxing stage was set in Las Vegas on Memorial Day
weekend. With an almost full house at The Mandalay Bay,
Lightweight Champion Devin Haney (26-0, 15 KO’s) was
ready to face in toughest foe in the three-time former
champ Jorge Linares (47-6, 29 KO’s). It was a match that
was sure not to disappoint. It’s always interesting to
see what the new young gun can do against a proven and
seasoned former champion.
In the opening round Haney opened aggressively with a
good jab that was landing often. Linares on the other
hand was content to land just a few attention getting
counters. The battle was on.
Haney opened round two much more aggressively and was
now throwing some good right hands into the mix. Linares
was still patient while landing extraordinarily strong
punches. Haney made it clear he did not like the taste
of that leather and began holding. It was a sign of
things to come.
Round three started with Haney teeing off early with a
barrage of punches. Linares motioned for him to bring it
on, but it was now time for Linares to start taking some
initiative.
No sooner said than done, Linares put his foot on the
gas and started putting pressure on Haney. Loud thudding
punches were landing on Haney, and he did not like it.
The punches that sounded like Linares was pounding a
drum reverberated in the arena.
Round five was a barn burner and exceedingly difficult
to score. Linares was now the one coming forward and
Haney was almost always in full retreat. Again, Linares
was landing shots that were getting the attention of
everyone in the house, including Haney.
The afore mentioned holding by Haney reared its ugly
head again in round six. It was obvious he didn’t like
the medicine Linares was serving up. Haney’s reaction to
those blows was to clutch and grab, nothing more.
Quicker to the punch in round seven Haney was in charge
of most of the round. After showing some signs of not
wanting to engage Haney proved he was a game fighter.
With nothing to lose the aged warrior Linares was more
than willing to exchange over the course of the next two
rounds.
Haney had a decent round in round ten up until the point
that Linares clipped him near the end of the round. The
shot stunned Haney and he was visibly hurt. Adding salt
to the wind Linares performed a Matador move as he
ushered a buzzed Haney back to his corner.
Linares clipped Haney early in round eleven which had
Haney go into that holding shell that would draw the
disdain of the crowd for the last two rounds. Anytime he
was getting rough upped, Haney held and the crowd booed.
It became a theme.
In the last and final round Linares wanted to do
everything to get to Haney, but again Haney was content
to hold. And again the crowd was less than content with
that over and over again tactic and they booed to let
Haney know it.
In the end Haney held on to his World Boxing Council
World Light Title with scores that read 115-113 and
116-112 x 2.
On one hand Haney proved he can hang in there with a
very formidable former champion like Linares. On the
other hand Linares exposed a side of Haney that his
hometown crowd did not appreciate at all. The hugging
and holding displayed by Haney when he got in trouble
gave his fans something to think about.
On his victory Haney said, “I just kept smart, used the
jabs, feinted and landed shots in the 12th round. You
are going to get hit with big shots in boxing. I didn’t
get dropped, I didn’t get hurt. You see fighters get
dropped and get up from big shots and people praise
them, I didn’t get dropped, I stayed on my feet, kept
throwing shots and closed it out. I want to fight the
best, I stayed focused on Jorge this week, I knew he was
a tough competitor and I got the job done with the game
plan. If Teofimo wants to do it next, let’s do it for
all the belts, the real undisputed.”
It was bombs away in the Middleweight battle between
Jason Quigley (19-1, 14 KO’s) and Shane Mosley Jr (17-4,
10 KO’s) in this significant WBO/NABO title fight. Fans
were treated to a spectacular show as neither man was
shy about letting the punches go. Credit to both men for
showing true warriors’ hearts.
In the end scores read 95-95 even and 97-93 and 96-94
for Quigley who took the Majority decision win. With the
victory Quigley is looking to make his mark in the
loaded Middleweight division.
Super Lightweight Chantelle Cameron (14-0, 8 KO’s) used
superior skill to defeat the gritty Melissa Hernandez
(23-8-3, 7 KO’s) in this World Boxing Council World
Female Super Light Title. After taking more than her
share of punishment at the hands of Cameron, the ref
decided to bring this one to an end as Hernandez, though
rugged, never really stood a chance to defeat the champ.
Officially the fight came to an end at the 1:38 mark of
round 5 via TKO.
The fight between Super Featherweights Martin Joseph
Ward (24-2-2, 11 KO’s) Azinga Fuzile (15-1, 9 KO’s)
started out somewhat lacking luster, but things heated
up in round five. Things stayed at a torrid pace in
round six as the fighters exchanged serious punches.
Then in round seven Fuzile uncorked a right-hand flush
to the chin of Ward sending him down. Moments later the
corner of the fallen fighter mercifully halted the
carnage. Officially the bout was stopped via TKO at the
2:47 mark of round seven.
Welterweights Reshat Mati (9-0, 7 KO’s) and Ryan Pino
(8-6-2, 4 KO’s) gave the fans an exciting slugfest in
ruggedly fought six round battle. Both men dished out
the heavy leather serving up punishment throughout the
fight. In the end the judges scored it 60-54 and 58-56 x
2 all in favor of Mati who keeps his undefeated record
intact.
Featherweight Ramla Ali (3-0) remains undefeated as she
took a unanimous decision over Mikayla Nebel (4-9, 1 KO)
over four rounds. Ali pitched a shutout on the
scorecards with scores of 60-54 across the board.
Light Heavyweight Khalil Coe made his pro debut an
impressive one as he dropped Nathaniel Tadd (2-5, 1 KO)
twice in round one with nice body work. More of the same
dropped Tadd again in round two. The ref called it off
at the 1:10 mark of the second.
In the opening bout of the night Super Welterweight
Jonathan Ryan Burrs (3-4) fell victim to Amari Jones
(2-0, 2 KO’s) via first round knockout.
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