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If boxing matchups were all as good as the confrontation between junior middleweights Jamaal Davis of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Eberto Medina of Newark, New Jersey, the popularity of the sport of boxing would be back the way it was in the good old days in the heyday of Madison Square Garden bouts.
Davis, now 13-8-1 (6), is a favorite at Bally’s in Atlantic City and the Blue Horizon in Philadelphia, having fought in these venues frequently of late. In his third consecutive appearance at Bally’s, Davis fought a rematch with Medina, who drew with him in their first meeting in July 2011, with all three judges seeing the bout differently. The rematch would become a close squeaker on the scorecards.
Medina, now 6-8-1 (1), trained himself into world championship quality condition to try to win this rematch, as did Davis. The bout surprisingly took off at a championship pace for five rounds, with Davis forced to keep up with the fast tempo set by Medina, who made Davis fight up to his level and gave him no room to breathe. Both fighters were cautiously exchanging and countering in round one, while moving and not leaving themselves too exposed. In the second round, Medina came forward with a furious pace, staggering Davis with an overhand right before getting pushed to the canvas. Davis tried to counter Medina’s come forward offensive attack by throwing fast jabs and moving side to side.
In the third both fighters wrestled each other for position, with Davis winding up on his back from a slip. Davis tried to take the fight in close. Medina began to swing wildly and miss a lot, but some of his jabs scored on Davis. By the fourth round, the fight had developed into a superfast war. Davis got caught along the ropes by Medina at some point, and struggled to get out. Both fighters were warned for low blows.
By the fifth round, the fight had graduated to a furious pace, a world championship tempo. Davis threw a right cross to the jaw of Medina, knocking out his mouthpiece.
In the fifth and sixth rounds, Davis turned more to reduce his body target, and landed numerous body shot flurries to win the rounds. Medina countered with a vicious right to the head of Davis at one point which almost finished him, but somehow survived and recovered.
The seventh round apparently went to Medina, who did a nice job cutting off the ring, and landing more blows in exchanges with Davis. However, all rounds to this point were somewhat close and seemingly difficult to score. In the eighth round, Davis knocked out the mouthpiece of Medina with a straight punch. Medina began to tire somewhat, allowing Davis to outwork him and land more punches to win it.
