Ringside Boxing Report: Jason LeHoullier – Jerome Elder

PBC Fighter LeHoullier cruises to 19-0, looks sharp in tune-up bout

Click for larger image © Shawn French Saddo Boxing

With major bouts scheduled for May and July, Portland Boxing Club brawler Jason “The Hammer” LeHoullier was looking for a tune-up in Saturday night?s main event at the Rochester (New Hampshire) Community Center. What he got was eight rounds of heavy-bag work against an opponent who didn’t seem to have much interest in punching back.His opponent, Jerome Elder

of Indianapolis, IN, broke out his version of the rope-a-dope, laying back on the ropes, taunting his opponent and hoping to weather the storm until LeHoullier punched himself out.

It can be an effective tactic (all nine of Elder’s wins have come by knockout), but only against boxers who get tired. Unfortunately for Elder, LeHoullier got stronger as the fight wore on. After spending much of the opening round sizing up his opponent, LeHoullier backed Elder into the corner and unloaded with a half dozen hooks. Elder clowned for the crowd, dismissing the punches, then he ate a half dozen more.

LeHoullier picked up steam over the next few rounds, winning each more decisively than the one before. By the end of the fourth, Elder seemed to be feeling the effects of a few dozen hooks to the ribcage. He rarely left the ropes, and only then to find a spot he liked better. He popped out of his defensive shell to offer just enough offense to keep the fight from being stopped.

The Hammer ended the fifth round with a left-right-left series of hooks that all connected upstairs, and a thunderous left to the ribs in the sixth ignited the crowd and sent Elder to a knee. Elder got up, but was never the same after that. He still tried to showboat, but it was an empty gesture and the crowd seemed increasingly annoyed by it. In the final two rounds, when the exhausted Elder stuck out his tongue it wasn?t clear if he was taunting or panting.

True to his reputation, LeHoullier never tired and kept hammering away with hooks and uppercuts until the final bell. The decision was a no-brainer, and Frank Wells, Norrin Champaign and James Finnegan each scored the bout 80-71 for LeHoullier, who advanced to 19-0 as a pro.

“These type guys are harder to get out of there than the guys who are more accomplished,” said LeHoullier?s trainer Bobby Russo. “This guy don?t take no chances. I was telling (LeHoullier) to close the gap and stay busy. Just try to crack him open with uppercuts and hooks, keep switching sides. There?s always a hole, it’s just finding it.”

The 28-year-old LeHoullier will fight May 13 at the TD Banknorth Garden on the undercard of Ricky Hatton’s HBO bout, then he’s back on ESPN this July. The fighter said Elder’s style was a little frustrating at first, but the bout provided eight good rounds of work, and that should help him in his upcoming fights. On the undercard, Jose Medina, who LeHoullier beat by unanimous decision on ESPN last July, scored a convincing decision over 43-year-old Hollister Elliot. Elliot was the aggressor, and Medina spent the fight circling and countering at will. There were no knockdowns in this bout between two fighters who appeared to have much better chins than fists.