Ringside Recap: Peter v McCline
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Saturday evening before the fight card began at Madison Square Garden I took some time to relax and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather outside. As I smoked one of my favorite cigars various boxing scribes stopped by to say hello and make small talk about the upcoming fight. The pre-fight conversation was nothing new as I always enjoy getting a feel of everyone’s predictions before the fight but what was different this time was everyone seemed to agree on the outcome…
Sam Peter will win because Jameel McCline has no heart.
I felt that the opinions were warranted due to McCline’s history in Heavyweight title matches where he has a variety of losses to Wladimir Klitschko, Chris Byrd and Nicolay Valuev but I thought someone might have given him the benefit of the doubt.
Early in the fight it seemed as if McCline would prove everyone wrong. He dropped Peter for the first time in his career at the end of the second round. In the next round it was clear that he had Peter hurt as he knocked him to the canvas two more times. The crowd cheered for McCline to finish him off but it never happened.
Peter would recover going into the fourth round and McCline would fail to keep the pressure on him. As the rounds continued Peter seemed to edge out round after round not by dominating the fight but just by being able to do a little more than McCline.
Some of the rounds were close to call and could have gone to either fighter, but at the end it would be Sam Peter who would improve to 29-1 (22) with a unanimous decision over McCline who drops to 38-8-3 (23).
McCline put on probably the best performance of his career. He was able to drop Peter three times, take some of his best punches and go the distance with the champion. But at the end of the night you could almost hear the pre-fight predictions echoing about McCline’s lack of heart as he would say after the fight, “I could’ve finished him. I should’ve finished him and I didn’t.â€
UNDERCARDS
In a WBA Super Welterweight Elimination bout Daniel Santos 31-3-1 (22) won by TKO in the eighth round against Jose Rivera 38-6-1 (24). Santos seemed faster and used superior footwork to out hustle Rivera most of the night.
After delivering a variety of flurries in the earlier rounds Santos landed a straight left that sent Rivera to the ropes where he received a full onslaught of punches and finally dropped to the canvas. Rivera was able to get to his feet but the referee stopped the fight at 2:50 of the round.
The “Mecca of Boxing†was not filled to capacity but of the 7,102 fans in attendance it seemed as if most of them were there to see Andrew Golota 40-6-1 (33) and the last fighter to defeat Mike Tyson, Kevin McBride 34-6-1 (29). Entire sections of the Garden were filled with Polish and Irish fans waving flags and cheering as the fighters entered the ring.
McBride had a strong first round staggering Golota with a left hook and continued with a relentless onslaught of punches. Golota came back in the next two rounds as the two heavyweight’s battled toe-to-toe for much of the rounds which made both the Polish and Irish fans cheer.
Golota began to take control of the fight as his confidence grew in the fourth and fifth round displaying good boxing skills as he side-stepped to his right landing a solid straight to the side of McBride’s head. McBride appeared exhausted going into the sixth round but was still throwing punches when he was hurt by a straight left from Golota who unloaded on him until the referee stopped the bout at 2:42 of the round.
After the fight Golota was pleased with his performance saying, “I proved tonight that I can still fight with anyone.â€
Kali Meehan improved to 33-3 (27) with a sixth round TKO over Davarryl Williamson 24-5 (20). Meehan was the underdog, taking the fight on only ten days notice.
Both heavyweight fighters provided a lot of action as they traded punches back and forth for the first five rounds. Meehan dropped Williamson at the end of the sixth round with a strong looping right. Although Williamson beat the count he was unstable as he walked to his corner where the ring doctor called the fight off.
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