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Upset minded Rob Calloway, 66-7-1 (52), notched perhaps the biggest victory of his career last night, beating heavyweight fringe contender Terry Smith, 30-3-1 (18), in the he headliner bout of ESPN 2’s Friday Night Fights broadcast.
The clash, which took place at the Expo Center in Springfield, Missouri, pitted two heavyweights who have spent most of their careers campaigning in the American Midwest.
Terry Smith had all the momentum going into the matchup, having just scored a unanimous decision over former cruiserweight champion Kelvin Davis in May, in what many believe to be the most entertaining heavyweight scrap of this year.
That momentum however, was stifled in the very first round as a very nimble Calloway danced around on the outside and made Smith come to him while he fired straight shots down the middle. While Calloway was the smaller man, he had the speed advantage over Smith and consistently beat him to to the punch from the outside, utilizing his quick jab to establish distance.
From there, the fight followed the same pattern as the first round, with Calloway simply outworking and outhustling the Cincinatti native. Smith suffered a deep cut under his lip at the end of the second round and by the end of the third, it was bleeding all the through his mouth.
He had even more adversity to deal with at the end of the eighth round, when Calloway scored with the only knockdown of the night, immediately before the bell sounded. The punch, a straight right hand over the top the left hand of the charging Smith, forced Smith to tie up Calloway while the bell sounded, and when it came time for the referee to split the fighters, Smith crashed violently to the canvas before beating the ten count.
At the start of the tenth and final round, it seemed all Calloway had to do was to make it to the final bell to snatch the points victory. The task would prove much more difficult then it seemed. A revitalized Smith came out of his corner knowing he had to knock Calloway out in order to win, he immediately began walking down the 38 year old, loading up on his shots and firing straight ahead trying to turn the fight around on one punch.
Halfway through the round, Smith caught Calloway with a straight right hand that sent Calloway staggering backwards. Smith pressed Calloway, connecting several more times but Calloway held up and time eventually ran out on Terry Smith.
The bout went to the cards and Calloway won by the scores of 96-93, 96-94 and 96-93. In winning the decision, Calloway joined the ranks of title challengers Jameel McCline and Calvin Brock as the only fighters to hold a victory over the 30 win veteran.
In the opening bout of the televised event, Brian Norman, 15-5 (4), edged a decision over 34 year old Tracy Sneed, 23-2 (17). Norman was the taller of the two super middleweights, and was simply the busier boxer in the ring against the much shorter and much stockier Sneed.
Sneed, whose best work was done in the form of ripping body punches, never made a total commitment to getting within close punching distance of the more agile Norman, and let the fight slip away on account of his own indecisiveness.
As the bout wore on and Norman’s lead mounted, he became increasingly confident, jawing off constantly to the former inmate while still scoring with blows from the outside.
In the end, the scorecards read 77-75, 77-75 and 76-76, giving Sneed his first loss since coming back from a nine year prison sentence in 2003.
In the filler, Jeri Sitzes, 14-6-1 (6), won her homecoming fight, defeating the very game challenger and former champion Ada Velez, 14-3 (6), on the scorecards.
The fight had a lot of action, with the shorter Velez pressing forward but she was consistently picked off by the on point Sitzes. When the featherweight contest went to the cards, Sitzes found herself winning via scores of 59-55, 59-55 and 58-56.
