This past Wednesday at York Hall, New Yorker Tor Hamer showed a wide ranging skill set in
order to emerge victorious in the latest instalment of the Prizefighter series.
In the final Tor (16st 3 ½ lbs) beat red
hot favourite, Kevin “Kingpin” Johnson (17st 4 lbs) with smart, stick and move
tactics against the bigger man. Exploiting his superior speed, Hamer darted in
and out landing two punch combos and then retreating to a safe distance. It showed
a good understanding of the three round format and it seemed as though Tor’s whole
plan was to bank two rounds and then get on his bike, knowing the lacklustre
Johnson would take a while to warm up.
Fellow American Johnson started the 2nd round
with a bit more urgency throwing out the jab with venom but Hamer responded
with a quick left jab of his own and some good footwork to keep the flow of
scoring punches in his favour. The crowd warmed to Hamer and seemed to resent
Johnson’s apparent lack of effort. Johnson did land a big right in the third
but failed to follow it up with anything meaningful. Tor clearly felt he had done enough in the
first two rounds and engaged less frequently in the last round. The Judges saw
it the same giving Hamer the nod, 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 Tor gave a strange
interview after the fight which might not have pleased Eddie Hearn, the
promoter but he was a worthy winner.
Hamer showed his versatility by blasting out Chathams’s Tom Dallas (16st 9 ½ lbs) in less than 30
seconds. Perhaps feeling he had Dallas’ number he went for broke, possibly
thinking an early finish would conserve energy for the final. Tor jumped on the
unfortunate Dallas from the opening belland landed almost at will. Perhaps
still shell shocked from his quarter final, Dallas swallowed almost every punch
Hamer threw. A left right combo followed by a thumping right hook had the
referee stepping in to save Tom from any
further punishment.
The other semi final
saw two former world title challengers clash in the shape of Kevin Johnson
and Poland’s Albert Sosnowski (15st 13 ½
lbs) in a nip and tuck affair. Albert shaded the opener on work rate as “Kingpin”
was again slow to start. Johnson stepped it up a bit in the 2nd and
his power troubled Sosnowski on a few occasions as the straight right landed.
With a spot in the final up for grabs, the last round was surprisingly tepid
but in the end Johnson did just about enough work to take a split decision
29-28, 28-29 and 30-27.
Fight of the night was the 4th quarter final
between Hatfield’s Tom Little (18st 3lbs) and Tom Dallas. The flabby Little, in
only his 4th paid bout showed
surprising hand speed and a big heart as he threw the kitchen sink at Dallas
from the off. Finding success with jabs
and hooks both upstairs and down, Little looked to be on course for an unlikely
victory as Dallas neglected defence in order to meet fire with fire. Little
started the 2nd round with similar ambition but, from quite early
on, was looking up at the big screen to see how long was left in the round.
Little continued to throw leather and give Dallas problems although he was
clearly gassed by the end of the round. In the 3rd it all fell apart
for Little as he had just completely run out of steam. Dallas landed some good
shots but it was 90% exhaustion that caused Little to crash to the canvas. He
managed to get to his feet but could barely stand so the fight was waved off. If Little can find the discipline to spend
more time in the gym and less time in KFC, he has plenty offer on the domestic
heavyweight scene.
Tor Hamer Booked his semi final spot but outboxing Brazilian Marcelo Luiz Nascimento (16st 3lbs). Hamer countered well as Marcelo showed
ambition throughout. Hamer managed to see most of the bigger man’s shots coming
and land his own hooks downstairs quite easily. The crowd warmed to Nascimento
because of his cavalier swinging and booed roundly when he was bundled to the
floor and given a count. He was mostly shoved to the canvas but two big hooks a
moment before may have weakened his legs somewhat. In the end, Hamer scored a comfortable win
29-28, 30-26 and 30-26.
Kevin Johnson showed his undoubted class in his opening bout
by stopping over matched Noureddine Meddoune (17st 7 ¼ lbs) from Morocco in the first round. Meddoune
started brightly enough and threw plenty of big shots, but Johnson’s left jab/straight
right combination began to land. A big straight right put Noureddine on his
back and he never fully recovered. The referee stepped in with just a second to
go in the first round.
Albert Sosnowski was perhaps fortunate to progress against USA veteran Maurice Harris (17st 3 ½ lbs). I
felt that Harris shots carried the more menace in and he landed plenty of right
hands but two of the judges saw it differently, giving it to Sosnowski,
presumably because he was slightly busier. The cards read 29-28, 28-29 and
29-28.
It was an intriguing night’s action which Prizefighter
invariably provides. There were some great KOs, slick boxing and some interesting
characters. The one fly in the ointment was the 9pm start time on a Wednesday.
I understand the show went out live in the US but a lot of the fans had left
before the final which was after 11:30pm. One of those was forced to leave
early was York Hall regular Roy
Venables, who said disconsolately “I am not backing the late kick off time, I
have to be up early to singlehandedly revive the global economy”.
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