Round by Round: Henry Crawford-Alex Viramontes.
In a prelude to the big fights being shown tonight, including the main event of Rocky Juarez vs. Juan Carlos Ramirez, we bring you a round by round reoprt of the four round welterweight contest between Henry Crawford and Alex Viramontes.
Round one: A feeling out round mostly that sets the tone for the rest of the fight. Henry Crawford sits back and looks to catch Alex Viramontes with counters as the smaller man seeks to come inside. Crawford looks like he’s trying to mimic Roy Jones’ style completely without the showboating. Not much happens in the round, lots of posing and both fighters keeping their distance. Viramontes looking for opening, but Crawford has good distance skills. Round to Crawford.
Round two: Viramontes now tries looping left hooks on the way in and Crawford tries to punish him with sharp counters. Crawford steadfastly refuses to engage Viramontes, he just waits to counter which makes for a cautious and uneventful fight as Viramontes has no idea how to bridge the distance gap. Viramontes apparently took the fight on eight days notice and both fighters look to be conserving energy. Suddenly, Crawford lands good combination and both are swinging away inside in a violent exchange that features hardly anything landing. Crawford misses with some wild counter swings before landing a stiff left hook counter. Another Crawford round.
Round three: Viramontes is still trying to get inside as Crawford starts to open up a bit offensively, showing a good quick jab. Crawford lands a good left/right combination which causes an exchange which Crawford wins. Crawford is starting to go after Viramontes more as Viramontes isn’t throwing much due to the counters. Viramontes lands a good lead right before Crawford answers back with a good jab and right of his own . Viramontes manages to land a three punch combination after he pounced on an off balance Crawford. Crawford regroups and catches Viramontes with Roy Jones style potshots as Viramontes moves inside. Another Crawford round.
Round four: Lots of missing in the opening minuite of this round, which doesn’t exactly look like the last round of a fight. Both fighters are very tense and they’ve been that way the entire bout. The second minute features slightly more action as Crawford lands some good shots, putting Viramontes off balance. More missing and clinching. Crawford then lands two great right hands in a row and Viramontes answers with a hard right counter to the body. Viramontes gets desperate and launches desperate attack, landing decent combo but too little too late. Round to Crawford.
Judges final scores.
40-36 (twice)
39-37
Crawford won by four round unanimous decision.
Richard Eberline can be reached at richardeberline@fastmail.fm