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05/14/2007 Archived Entry: "Davis Wins Un-popular decision!"
Davis Wins Un-popular decision!
Cloud Destroys Strohl in the 1st Round
By Rich Lopez at ringside
CICERO, Ill. - Once again, 8 Count Productions brought another boxing event to the Cicero Stadium for another night of boxing action. The theme for this event was called “Mano-A-Mano.”
In the main event, local heavyweight Carl “Iron Fist” Davis (9-2, 8 KO’s) won a unanimous decision over Ohio’s Zack Page (12-12-1, 5 KO’s) in an uneventful bout. This was a step up in competition for Davis, as the last time we saw him he scored a 1st TKO over Innocent Otukwu back in February. Despite the 12 losses on his record, Page has fought notable opponents like Dominick Guinn, Mike Mollo, and most recently Jason Estrada.
The 1st round was a strong start for Davis as he worked the jab and applied the pressure looking for a quick knockout. Davis landed a few rights followed by some looping shots. Page didn’t do much in this round but he looked very relaxed and made Davis miss a lot of punches. Towards the end of the round Page finally landed a flurry, but Davis was the busier of the two.
The 2nd round was more of the same with Davis pressing the action following Page around the ring. Page once again was just moving around, but letting his hands go more this time around, landing a nice body shot in the mid-section to Davis. Another good round for Davis, who would eventually fade over the rest of the fight.
In rounds 3-9, the fight shifted towards Page. Page’s experience was starting to pay off. Davis had a good start but grew tired and threw one shot at a time. Page was effective with his jabs and landing straight right hands to the head of Davis. As the fight went on, the elusive Page was more confident and Davis was getting frustrated. Davis was making a mistake of following Page around, not cutting off the ring or even jabbing his way in like in the early rounds. Davis had his moments here and there when he would get Page on the ropes, but Page moved out of danger and did not let Davis get off.
In the final round, it was clear that Davis needed a knockout to win the fight. Davis came out with a sense of urgency and pressed the action, throwing some hard shots trying to catch the faster Page. Page was just surviving the round not doing much, as he felt he did enough to win the fight already. He even showboated to the crowd. That drew some boos. Better round for Davis, but a little too late.
As the decision was being announced, Page already had his hands raised in victory only to be surprised that the decision was awarded to Davis. Davis won a unanimous decision that drew boos from the crowd. Even though the local guy won the fight, it was unpopular. The judges seem to favor the aggressor of the fight, but it was not effective aggression. The scores were 97-93, 96-94 and 98-92 all in favor of Davis.
The co-feature of the night was in the light heavyweight division featuring hot-rising prospect Tavoris Cloud (14-0, 13 KO’s). The last time we saw Cloud, he scored a 2nd round knockout of Aaron Norwood in February. Once again he did not disappoint as he scored a spectacular 1st round KO against Jim “Steel Chin” Strohl (27-4, 21 KO’s). Another step up for Cloud as Strohl had only four losses in the heavyweight division. Strohl, who is being currently trained by hall of fame fighter Mike McCallum, was there to test the younger Cloud and provide a good challenge. However, Cloud had other plans.
Once the bell rang, Cloud started very fast and worked the jab to get inside his opponent. Then Cloud threw hard combinations upstairs to the head and downstairs to the body. The blistering speed and power of Cloud was too much for Strohl. Cloud landed a nice uppercut to stun Strohl that forced referee Tim Adams to issue a standing eight count for Strohl. Strohl signaled to the ref that he was okay and then the chiseled Cloud went for the finish, landing a powerful right hand that dropped Strohl face first to the canvas. Strohl was out and the referee didn’t even need to issue a count. The time was 2:59 in the 1st round by way of knockout. Look for Cloud in the future as he looks to be a serious player in the Light Heavyweight division.
Undercard bouts:
In the super middleweight division for 4 rounds, Lupe Diaz (1-1) won a majority decision over Jeff “Big Frog” Curran (1-1-1). Diaz was the busier of the two fighters throwing overhand rights and body shots. Curran would try to counter back but was ineffective and missing too much. Even though Curran had a better 2nd round where he stunned Diaz with a right hand, he was being outworked by Diaz. Diaz hurt Curran in the 3rd round with a right that had Curran move back to the ropes. Diaz then followed with a left body shot followed by a right uppercut, but Curran hung in tough. The 4th round was more of the same where Diaz was still effective. The scores were 38-38, 39-37, and 39-37 for Diaz.
In a 6 round super featherweight fight, Leo Martinez (9-9, 5 KO’s) won an easy unanimous decision over David Maund (4-11, 2 KO’s). Martinez was working combinations to the head and body of Maund who was just taking a beating. Maund was basically becoming a human punching bag for Martinez, but to Maund’s credit though, he was taking the punches and fighting back occasionally to keep himself in the fight. In the end it was Martinez winning one-sided with all the judges scoring it 60-54.
A few boxers were spotted in attendance as well that included: Mike Mollo, Miguel “Macho” Hernandez, and former lightweight champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini. Frank Stallone was also there, who is the brother of Sylvester Stallone.
