Tim Tszyu and Sam Goodman Trounce Their Challengers!
During the first several rounds of his first title defense, WBO super welterweight champion Tim “The Soul Taker” Tszyu (24-0, 17 KO’s) found himself a bit flustered. This was on account of his opponents, Brian “La Bala” Mendoza’s (22-3, 16 KO’s), fast hands and nimble feet. The challenger successfully circled and turned the champion, and landed with far greater volume.
The Soul Taker would begin turning the tide with a solid fifth round where he nailed La Bala with a number of whistling jab-straight right combinations down the pipe. The crunching shots near instantly marked Mendoza’s face and sprouted a mouse under his right eye. Tszyu, following a slower sixth round, upped the ante in the seventh by first clobbering La Bala with three consecutive left uppercuts.
For the remainder of the period, the champion belted Mendoza with a bevy of power shots that appeared to be visibly wilting him. To his credit, La Bala resumed gliding around the ring in the eighth and caused Tszyu to miss a fair amount of his offense.
The Soul Taker enjoyed another particularly destructive tenth round where he whacked Mendoza around the ring like a tugboat in a tropical storm. With a bruised face and a slack mouth sucking air, La Bala soldiered on into the eleventh where he was once again hammered with thumping hooks and crisp uppercuts.
It was really a testament to his chin that Mendoza ate the venomous shots without going down. Once the final cards were read, Tszyu won a predictable unanimous decision win to the tune of 116-111, 116-112 and 117-111. In his post-fight interview, Tszyu resumed his dogged pursuit and call out of unified super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo.
SAM GOOD MAN PROVES TOO MUCH FOR MIGUEL FLORES
In this battle of featherweights, both Sam Goodman (16-0, 7 KO’s) and Miguel Flores (25-5-1, 12 KO’s) went straight after one another from the outset. Yet the fast hands and accuracy of Goodman appeared to be edging many of the opening rounds. Then in the eighth round, Flores was forced to the canvas by a deflating left hook to the body. Despite making it to his feet, Flores was docked another point in the same round due to a low blow. After making a good account of himself in the ninth, Flores was deducted another point for a low blow in the tenth.
In all honesty though, the second point deduction was unwarranted. Instead of being legitimate, it was more the result of Goodman selling a legal blow as a foul. Regardless of his tactical superiority and destructive head and body shots however, Goodman was unable to close the show before the final bell. As a result, the hometown fighter would walk away with a wide unanimous decision to the tune of 118-107 and 120-105 (twice).
