Round by Round: Quiles-Cherry.

On Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, Ricky Quiles won a split twelve-round decision verdict over Edner Cherry. It was an action packed fight in which both fighters had their moments and their respective styles made for an entertaining clash almost from start to finish. The fight was an

IBF title eliminator and Quiles may find himself in a position to challenge for that title in the near future.

Read on for our exclusive round by round coverage:

Round one:The orthodox Cherry stalks southpaw Quiles but has trouble landing his considerable power. Quiles lands a great straight left hand. The clash of their opposing stances makes for a lot of messy clinches before the end of the round.

Round two: Cherry tries to land his big shots but Quiles’ movement is just too good. Quiles spins Cherry several times and Cherry looks confused about how to deal with someone as mobile and experienced as Quiles. The action begins to heat up as the end of the round approaches and Quiles’ combinations land but Cherry lands some good single shots.

Round three: The action is messy again at the start of the round. Quiles has success with the straight left once again and Cherry starts to land his right hand towards the end of the round. They really start to go at each other before the end of the round.

Round four: Cherry gets picked off from the outside as Quiles moves off after he gets his shots on. Quiles is able to duck Cherry’s wild hooks and Cherry looks like the inexperienced fighter with his disorganized lunges. Cherry has the power but he cannot land it at the moment.

Round five: More jabbing from both fighters but Quiles is by far the more organized of the two. Quiles is starting to get his punches off with great regularity and is very quickly becoming the coss in the fight.

Round six: Cherry is deducted a point for rabbit punches and immediately goes after Quiles to make up for the point deficit. Quiles starts to catch Cherry coming in and punishes him with sharp shots. Cherry starts to attack the body and begins to get through with some of his best shots of the fight.

Round seven: Cherry is landing with power now but not often enough. Quiles gets some great left hands in from the outside.

Round eight: Cherry gets close enough but does not do enough with his opportunities. Quiles decides to trade with the more powerful Cherry and pays for it as he gets hurt with some big shots from the younger and stronger puncher in Cherry. They really have a great trade of combinations as the round comes to a close.

Round nine: Quiles’ movement decreases more and Cherry starts to make good on his openings. Suddenly, Quiles remembers to move himself around the ring and he makes the fight that much easier for himself. Quiles’ combinations are still pretty sharp and landing accurately.

Round ten: Quiles is very tired now and he is starting to get hit with a lot of punches. Cherry cannot follow up on his successes as Quiles tries to lean him into the ropes for the rest of the round, smothering his work.

Round eleven: The action slows down slightly here, again it is Quiles’ tiredness that is making the fight easier for Cherry. They trade a huge succession of punches towards the end of the round once again. The crowd loves it.

Round twelve: Cherry has some success in this round but it is starting to feel like it is too little, too late. They go at each other with all their might as the final bell approaches.

The final scores are: 114-113 Quiles, 113-114 Cherry and 116-111 for the winner by split decision, Ricky Quiles.

Jim Cawkwell can be reached at jimcawkwell@yahoo.co.uk