Ringside Boxing Report: Vernon Forrest – Ike Quartey

Viper Gets Decision Over Bazooka! Ouma A Bad Dream For Iron Horse!

Saturday night at the theater in New York’s Madison Square Garden, former welterweight world champions, Ike “Bazooka” Quartey and Vernon “The Viper” Forrest, faced off in a ten round junior middleweight crossroads bout, each attempting to recapture past glory. In round one of the DiBella Entertainment card, televised by HBO Sports, both fighters started the contest aggressively, but it was Quartey stalking the taller Forrest, using his jab to land the more cleaner and effective punches. In the second round, both fighters engaged in more toe to toe action than boxing. Both contestants scored well, but it was Quartey who got the better of the exchanges.

In the third, Forrest used his jab and picked his shots well to hold off Quartey and win the round. In frames four through six, Quartey stalked Forrest and was the busier and more accurate puncher. Forrest won round seven by connecting with right hands and appeared to stun Quartey.

In the ninth, Forrest was deducted one point for a low blow to Quartey and in the tenth and final round, Quartey outworked a retreating Forrest. Official scores were 95-94 twice and 96-93, all in favor of Forrest.

The expression on Quartey’s face appeared to be one of shock after the official decision was read. The crowd began to shout obscenities regarding the decision. SaddoBoxing scored the fight 98-90 in favor of Quartey. HBO’s unofficial judge Harold Lederman scored the fight 97-92 in favor of Quartey. Guest fight Commentator Emmanuel Steward said “I had Quartey winning the fight,” when asked about the official decision.

Promoter Lou DiBella was incensed regarding the decision. “This is why we need a National Boxing Commission,” said DiBella. “Ike started training for this fight since December. Unfortunately, boxing losses again. A bad decision for a good night of boxing. I am going to appeal this decision.”

“DiBella can appeal the decision. Whether or not anything changes, we’ll see,” stated New York State Athletic Commission Director Ron Scott Stevens.

So what’s next for Quartey? “Were going to treat this fight as a win. We’re going to try and get a rematch with Forrest, if not will move on to bigger and better things.” Forrest improves to 38-2 (28) while Quartey drops to 37-3-1 (31).

In the co-feature, former IBF Junior Middleweight Champ Kassim “The Dream” Ouma, 25-2 (15), faced off against Sechew “Iron Horse” Powell, 20-1 (12), in a ten round bout. Ouma was looking to regain another world title, while Powell was trying to show he belonged in the elite 154 lb class.

This contest could simply be summed up as the difference between pretenders and contenders. Ouma demonstrated that he is the contender and Powell the pretender, although Powell appeared to be the stronger and bigger fighter. From the first round, Ouma simply outboxed, and outsmarted Powell.

More of the same action followed in round two. In the third, Powell used a good jab to put his punches together and score well. In rounds four through seven, Ouma put good combinations of his own together to continue outworking Powell. By the eighth frame, Ouma began chasing his opponent around the ring, while Powell did his best to evade the native Ugandan’s accurate punches.

More of the same action followed in the last two rounds and the official scores were 100-90, 96-94 and 97-93, all in favor of Ouma. SaddoBoxing scored the fight 99-91 for “The Dream.”

On the undercard, in a scheduled eight round welterweight bout, Andre Berto improved his record to 14-0 (12) with an impressive stoppage of overmatched Robert Valenzuela 37-25-2 (33) in 2:19 of the initial round.

Jaidon Codrington, 12-1 (10), defeated former light middle world champion Carl Daniels, 49-10-1 (31), by winning a unanimous decision in a six round super middleweight bout. All three scorecards were identical at 60-54.

In a women’s four round bantamweight bout, Noriko Kariya, 5-1-1 (1), decisioned a game Michelle Herron, 1-4 (0). All three judges scored the fight 39-37.

In scheduled twelve round clash, Pat Nwamu claimed the vacant IBA Super Cruiserweight title with a TKO at 2:50 of the third over John Battle. Nwamu improves to 12-1 (4) while Battle drops to 14-17-1 (7).

In a scheduled twelve round junior welterweight bout, Darling Jimenez improved to 20-2-2 (11) by stopping Arturo Brambilla, 8-8 (4), at 2:32 of the first round.

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