Round by Round: Beck-Barrett.
The chief support fight to the Spinks-Judah rematch tonight in St. Louis was the WBC/IBF heavyweight elimination bout between New York’s Monte Barrett and Jamaican born Owen Beck. The grudge match ended in a technical knockout win for Barrett who moves his record to thirty-four wins against three losses.
Beck’s loss signals his first defeat as a professional fighter.
The following is the exclusive Saddoboxing.com round by round report.
Round one: Beck looks relaxed and Barrett seems tense. Both jab well and Barrett lands a good left hand. Beck seems very hittable. The action is fairly untidy and Beck seems to have quite an awkward style and seems disorganized when he is hit.
Round two: This is a good round. Barrett’s jab is good and Beck starts to attack well to the body. They exchange some good shots inside and Barrett scores a quick knockdown with a left hook. Beck does not look hurt but it is a 10-8 round for Barrett.
Round three: Beck is sloppy in defense but neither fighter looks very organized. They go head to head and trade some heavy shots but nothing really decisive lands. Beck hurts Barrett and Barrett begins to stagger around the ring.
Round four: They come out and stand toe-to-toe, digging shots at each other, powerful hooks and uppercuts. Beck cuts Barrett with what referee Jay Nady says is a punch but the replay later seems to imply the use of the head by Beck that causes the cut. Barrett argues with Nady about Beck’s head use and the damage to Barrett’s left eye looks bad.
Round five: They jab more and leave more space between one another. Barrett is cut above and below his left eye and Nady calls the doctor in to check it out. Barrett is allowed to go on. Beck starts to back Barrett up and the younger Beck is starting to look like the boss in there. Barrett’s cut may be bad enough ot have him stopped.
Round six: The actions slows in this round. Beck takes far too many shots and Barrett is unloading with some success. Barrett does not look particularly authoritative but he is commanding the action and landing the better punches.
Round seven: The older Barrett is looking tired now and Beck starts looking good. As they trade, Barrett starts to unload again. Beck looks hurt. Beck does not jab or move his head and is really not busy enough to win the rounds.
Round eight: They are both taking chances now but Beck is the one that gets caught with a huge uppercut from Barrett. Beck lands a big right hand but does not follow it up. Later, another big right hand lands for Beck and might be enough to gain him the round.
Round nine: The action has become sloppy as both fighters are tired. Neither can really get anything goig. Suddenly, Barrett unloads and puts Beck down. Beck gets up but Barrett goes in for the kill and puts Beck down for the last time with a left hook before Nady stops the fight.
The winner by TKO in the ninth round, Monte “Two Gunz” Barrett.
Jim Cawkwell can be reached at jimcawkwell@yahoo.co.uk