Friday Night Round-up.

Action from the US, Australia, Thailand and Colombia.

Some important fights took place across the globe on the first night of this weekend, so let’s get down to business. On ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, heavyweight hopeful Terry Smith survived his encounter with seven-foot puncher Keith Long, who outweighed Smith by thirty-one pounds, to score a unanimous decision win in Little Rock,

Arkansas. Smith showed his quality early, outboxing the amazingly tall adversary, but midway through the bout the thirty-four-year-old was holding on for dear life after catching some shots from the hammer fisted Long. Smith got through the trouble and engaged in a seesaw battle the rest of the way. The Arkansas native’s early lead clinched the victory in the end as Smith climbs to 25-1-1 (16) and the aptly named Long falls to 14-7 (12). Also, “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis reclaimed some of his former career velocity as the native of Greece posted a wide ten round decision over journeyman Marteze Logan in Las Vegas. The fast handed light welterweight prospect used his superior foot and hand speed to control the action and keep a pressing Logan at the end of the jab. For former Olympian Logan it’s yet another disappointment as the light hitting Georgia man sees his mark tumble to 20-18-2 (5). Arnaoutis regains some of the luster removed in his previous bout against Roberto Santa Cruz to go to 14-0-2 (6).

In Savannah, Georgia, hometown hero Al Seeger gave his career a shot in the arm by securing an eighth round stoppage over Mexican tourist Cesar Figueroa to win the IBA super bantamweight title. Figueroa came in to the contest having faced the stiffer competition but that experience meant nothing in the face of Seeger’s sharper boxing skills. The local man beat his foe to the punch time and time again and was never in danger of losing control of the fight. By the time the bout entered the latter stages, Figueroa was starting to break down and proved unable to answer the bell for the ninth round. Seeger records the nineteenth early win of his twenty-five victories against a single loss while Figueroa drops his second in a row and sees his resume degraded to 28-6-2 (20).

Heading East all the way to Nonthaburi, Thailand, Pramuansak Posuwan made short work of Filipino Jun Pader, knocking out the severely overmatched novice in the second round with a body shot. thirty-six-year-old Posuwan, nicknamed “Machine Gun”, retained his WBO Asia Pacific super flyweight crown for the seventeenth consecutive time. Posuwan, 29-0 (17), won the title in January of 2002 while competing in just his third professional fight. The Thai fighter must upgrade the level of his opposition (Pader had a published record of one win and nine losses) if he is to have a hope of competing at world level.

In Cartegena de Indios, Colombia, Wilfridion Perez won the WBO Latino minimumweight crown over another hapless beginner, Alphonso De La Hoz, 1-6-1 (0). It’s unclear just how De La Hoz qualified to contend for even a regional title on the strength of six straight losses but nonetheless Perez, 22-1-2 (16), somehow found a way to decision the hard luck De La Hoz over twelve rounds.

Finally, in Newcastle West, Australia, welter Chad Bennett bombed out Plaisakda Singwangcha in five to take the vacant IBO Intercontinental rope. The Aussie had to fight through a first round cut eye to outbox the willful Thai visitor for the first half of the contest before dropping Singwangcha with a heavy right hand in the sixth. The action was called off at that point and Bennett, 16-1-3 (11), declared the winner. Singwangcha suffers his fourth straight stoppage loss while his CV plummets to 26-9 (22).

Contact Curtis McCormick at thomaspointrd@aol.com