Cloud, Bundrage Retain World Titles In St. Charles

IBF light heavyweight kingpin Tavoris Cloud stopped challenger Yusaf Mack while IBF light middle boss Cornelius Bundrage gained revenge in a rematch against rival Sechew Powell last night at Family Arena in St. Charles, MO.

Cloud had to wait a few rounds before he could get to grips with fleet-of-foot challenger Mack, who used good movement behind the jab in the early going.

Once the champion had closed distance, a focus to the body steadily brought down the defenses and ability of the challenger, who could not compete with Cloud on the inside.

By the eighth, Mack was showing signs of wear and tear before Cloud landed a sweeping left in the corner that hurt the challenger badly. A few punches later Mack was down and while he beat the count, the Philadelphian could not comply with referee Sam Williams’ command to walk forward and the contest was halted at 2:57 of the round.

Cloud improves to 23-0 (19), while Mack’s resume now stands at 29-4-2 (17).

Bundrage had to wait five years for his chance to avenge a 2005 one round KO loss to Powell and the considerable bad blood displayed in the media build up spilled over into the ring.

In a bout the featured no real attempt at defense, the pair simply threw each punch at the other with intentions to end the fight and as such it was an ugly contest from the start.

Powell controlled the middle rounds as 38 year old Bundrage started to slow down but the situation reversed itself in the later frames as the champion got his second wind, picking up the victory behind a good effort in the 12th.

Bundrage is now 31-4 (18), Powell drops to 26-3 (15).

Former WBC/IBF light welter champion Devon Alexander, 22-1 (13), had a grueling comeback bout against Argentine slugger Lucas Walter Matthysse, 28-2 (26), over ten rounds.

Alexander swept the early frames on the strength of his quick southpaw style but once Matthysse got closer, he started nailing Alexander, who was down in the fourth.

From that point on Alexander made the dubious decision to stand and trade with Matthysse and was caught with numerous big right hands upstairs and lefts downstairs as a result.

Alexander had little trouble scoring with sharp counters but was taking a lot of punishment by going into the trenches with Matthysse, who finished strong in the final frames.

After ten rounds, Alexander won a controversial split decision by taking two cards, 96-93 and 95-94 while Matthysse was awarded the third at 96-93.

Heavyweight prospect Bermane Stiverne, 21-1-1 (20), stopped veteran Ray Austin, 28-6-2 (18), with a right hand at 0:43 of the tenth to capture the vacant WBC silver belt and cruiserweight Ryan Coyne, 17-0 (6), had a very difficult time against late replacement David McNemar, 13-1 (10), who had not been in a ring since 2007, to capture a close UD for the USNBC and WBA fedelatin titles.

Former unified welterweight and IBF light middle champ Cory Spinks, 38-6 (11), won a wide 10 rounder on points over 42 year old Shakir Ashanti, 16-11 (4).