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© Tom Casino / Showtime Boxing
On Saturday, April 25 at the MGM Grand Ballroom in Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT, WBC Super Middleweight titlist Carl “The Cobra” Froch made the first defense of his belt when he faced off against former undisputed Middleweight Champion Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor.
Froch, who had fought all but one of his previous 24 bouts in the United Kingdom, and his promoter Mick Hennessy were both hoping to use this bout as a way to showcase Froch to the United States fans, but “The Cobra” ended up being anything but impressive until the final two rounds.
When the bout began, Taylor was in control immediately, landing his jabs at will, following up with big right hands that at first unfazed the British Champion, at least until the third round when Froch went down for the first time in his career.
While Froch regained himself, rising at around the count of six, it had become apparent that he had underestimated Taylor’s power and had now been unnerved by it.
Rounds four and five continued to go in Taylor’s favor as his jab could not miss. Froch was lunging with his shots, coming up short, as it appeared that he had become overly wary of getting countered.
When Froch had the opportunity to land his shots, Taylor would move, causing Froch to miss with wild hooks and looking amateurish at times.
It was not until round six, when Taylor seemed to take a break, did Froch even begin to look competitive. While the sixth went to the champion’s favor, Taylor’s jab still landed on a regular basis.
Rounds 7,8,9 continued to go Taylor’s way and Froch continued to look nothing more then average, lacking in defense and seemingly confused by Taylor’s jab.
It was starting to appear that there would be a new champion crowned until midway through round 10, when Taylor began to tire.
When the 11th round began, it had become apparent that Jermain had lost most of the steam in his punches and Froch was able to connect with big shots.
At the end of the round, Taylor went back to his corner looking very suspect and when the 12th round began, Froch, who sensed his title slipping away, quickly went all out.
Taylor was rocked less then a minute into the round and instead of holding, he backed to the ropes and covered up, finally wilting to the canvas after a barrage of punches by the champion.
Although Taylor managed to beat the 10 count, time was against him. After Taylor survived a few more single shots, Froch unloaded another barrage of punches, causing referee Mike Ortega to halt the bout at 2:46 of the 12th round and allowing Froch to leave with his title still intact while Taylor dropped to 28-3-1 (17).
In the post fight press conference, Taylor gave all the credit in the world to Froch, now 25-0 (20), and called him a “True Champion”, while Froch refused to admit it was the toughest bout of his career and was quoted as saying ,”This was a great fight for me, it took me 10 rounds to warm up but that is why I am a throw back fighter”.
On the undercard, super middleweight contender Allan “Sweetness” Green, 28-1 (20), dominated Carlos De Leon Jr, 21-3-2 (14), scoring a second round knockout.
Green put De Leon down to the canvas four times in the second round, causing referee Joey Lupino to halt the bout at 1:54 of the round.
In an eight round bout, former 140lb IBF titlist Paulie Malignaggi, 26-2 (5), won a hard fought unanimous decision
against journeyman Christopher Fernandez, 16-7-1 (9).
While Malignaggi controlled the distance of the bout, Fernandez gave the ex-champion little breathing room and even had Malignaggi rocked towards the end of round three.
In heavyweight action, former top 10 ranked Dominick Guinn, 31-6-1 (21), defeated previously unbeaten Johnnie White, 21-1 (18) by first round TKO.
Guinn dropped White less then 30 seconds into the bout and again just a minute later, causing a halt at 2:01 of the round.
In another super middleweight bout, Johnathan Nelson, 9-0 (4), defeated Eddie Caminero, 5-1 (5) by six round UD.
In light welterweight action, local favorite Danny O’Connor, 6-0 (2), defeated Travis Hartman, 9-12-1 (7), by UD in a four round affair and Sadam Ali improves to 3-0 (2) with a UD over Brian Abraham 1-1 (1).
