Boxing Ringside Report: Matt Godfrey – Derrick Brown
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Live from Twin Rivers Resort in Lincoln, Rhode Island, cruiserweight Matt “Too Smooth” Godfrey put his NABF Cruiserweight title on the line against Derrick “D-Train” Brown last Friday night.
Godfrey entered the fight rated #2 by the WBC after a recent string of impressive victories over the likes of Felix Cora Jr. and Shaun George. Godfrey has been steadily climbing the world rankings and has scored four knockouts in his last five fights before stepping in with Brown.
Godfrey knows the eyes of the boxing world, as well as the cruiserweight division, are focused on him as he continues to step up in competition. These are the type of fights that can give us a glimpse as to what the future may hold for this promising young prospect turned contender.
Conversely, Derrick Brown has struggled to get anything going lately with his last two fights, first facing Gary Gomez and secondly against Alfredo Escalera, ending in a draw. Both fights, it has been speculated, were hometown decisions that went against Brown who steps in against an undefeated fighter for the second time in two fights.
A tough, hard hitting cruiser who has campaigned mostly at heavyweight, Brown enters looking to give Godfrey all he can handle. The New Yorker brings with him 11 knockouts in 18 fights, proving that he has plenty of pop.
The fight started slowly with both men feinting and looking to score off their opponent’s mistakes. Neither fighter made any glaring mistakes or took any chances in forcing the action, which made it a tough bout to score. Godfrey seemed to be landing the more effective shots in rounds 1-3, narrowly taking each frame on my card by scores of 10-9.
Godfrey doubled up on the jab and followed with a short left hook, a combination that appeared to be giving Brown just enough trouble to keep him moving backwards.
While it wasnʼt enough to change the round, Brown scored one of the best shots of the evening in the third, landing a hard overhand right. Godfrey didnʼt look hurt but that punch, in my opinion, changed the course of the action for the remainder of the fight.
Suddenly Godfrey, who had been winging left hooks, seemed somewhat reluctant to throw the left perhaps fearing that Brownʼs right hand would again find a home on his chin. Brown capitalized on the opportunity presented to him taking the fourth round on my card.
Surprisingly, Brown actually looked a bit quicker than Godfrey for most of the evening and perhaps even more surprising was the fact that Godfrey was unable to solve Brownʼs style in order to time some of his trademark combos.
Godfrey bounced back to take the fifth by a slim margin. He moved well and controlled the round more so by making Brown miss than by mounting an offensive attack. At this point, it looked as though Godfrey was in control and could cruise to a points victory.
It was then that the tide turned in Brownʼs favor. Derrick Brown proceeded to, in my eyes; decisively win the next five rounds. Brown continuously landed thumping right hands and brought the fight to Godfrey, all the while keeping the NABF Champion off balance. At times, Godfrey seemed sluggish and even when he got inside of Brown, which is where youʼd think he would be effective, he did little more than tie Brown up and lean on him.
My score card read: 96-95 in favor of Derrick Brown. The judges however, saw it differently scoring the bout for Godfrey by unanimous decision with scores of 97-93, 96-94 and 96-94 respectively, a decision that had we not been in Rhode Island, may have gone another way.
Matt Godfrey remains perfect, improving to 16-0 (9). Godfrey has a bright future and having witnessed him at his best I tend to believe that this was simply an off night. Brown fought well and gave Godfrey a great test, Godfrey passed and moves closer to a shot at a world championship.
In an exciting co-feature, cruiserweight Aaron Williams delivered a first round TKO, making quick work of Jeff Brownfield. The super prospect continues to impress and could well be on a collision course with stable mate Matt Godfrey. Williams remains undefeated moving to 14-0-1 (10), and is definitely one to keep an eye on going forward, an electric prospect with lots of power.
Another cruiser, Rich Gingras, makes short work of Derrick Holsinger scoring a second round TKO. The stoppage came after a hard left hook to the body sent Holsinger crashing to the canvas. Gingras improves to 3-0 (3) and Holsinger falls to 3-9-2.
Middleweight Andrey Nevsky rocks Rakeen Carter through the ropes for a TKO victory in round two. Nevsky improves to 3-0 (3) and Carter remains winless at 0-1-2.
Light heavy Marcus Upshaw remains perfect improving to 7-0 (2), scoring a UD victory over Earl Doe who drops his first fight as a pro, falling to 4-1 (2). A well contested battle with Upshaw getting the better of most exchanges.
Light heavy Manuel Lopes scores three knockdowns against Lonnie Bowen en route to his third victory. Bowen drops his first fight as a pro and Lopes improves to 3-0 (2).