Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA
DVD #394:
- Keith Thurman vs Jan Zaveck UD 12R - WBO Inter-Continental Welterweight Title
- Bernard Hopkins vs Tavoris Cloud UD 12R - IBF Light Heavyweight Title
Thurman vs Zaveck results: Keith Thurman wins shutout decision in WBO eliminator
Keith Thurman didn't score one of his signature
knockouts tonight, but he delivered a lot of punishment over 12 rounds,
beating Jan Zaveck in a WBO welterweight eliminator, ostensibly earning a
shot at Timothy Bradley, who defends next week against Ruslan
Provodnikov. The judges had it 120-108 across the board for Thurman. BLH
scored it 119-109.
For Thurman (20-0, 18 KO), this was the first time he'd ever gone
past eight rounds, and he told HBO's Max Kellerman that he appreciated
going the distance, and learning in the ring."Zaveck's never met the canvas. I was looking to land that one punch, but he has a tight defense, he keeps his chin tucked," Thurman said after the fight. "I'm glad I got to experience the 12 rounds. I learned that some people are tough. You've got to out-box them, you're not always going to get the knockout."
Zaveck (32-3, 18 KO) took some hellacious shots to the head and especially the body, but stayed on his feet the entire fight. His stubbornness was enough for Thurman's trainer to remark before round 12, "Fucker got a hard head." Indeed, Mr. Birmingham. Fucker got a very hard head.
Thurman probably won't be fighting Bradley, since that's a Golden Boy/Haymon-Top Rank no-go, but he's putting himself into contention for real. He looks like more than a hype job, and this was his best overall performance to date.
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Bernard Hopkins wins another title at age 48
Bernard Hopkins didn't just win tonight, he
convincingly defeated Tavoris Cloud and never had any real trouble,
winning a clear unanimous decision to claim the IBF light heavyweight
title at age 48, breaking his own record as the oldest man to ever win a
world title in boxing. Scores were 116-112, 116-112, and 117-111. BLH
had it 116-112 for Hopkins.
Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO) controlled the fight's pace for the majority
of the bout, with an outclassed Cloud (24-1, 19 KO) getting schooled
pretty clearly during the 12 rounds. Cloud, 31, did have some success,
landing some good power shots, but he just wasn't in Hopkins' league in
terms of ring smarts, and it made all the difference.Hopkins landed 41% of his shots overall (169/417), and 48% of his power shots (110/227). Cloud was much busier, but landed a mere 21% of his shots (139/650), and 26% of his power shots (72/282).
After the fight, Hopkins gave Cloud a little respect, but didn't miss the chance to let everyone know that he'd done it yet again.
"He's a gutsy, strong young champion. I told him I won't be here for too long," Hopkins told Max Kellerman. "He'll be a champion again. But I've got a history of destroying young champions, and you never see them again."
Hopkins seems set on fighting until he's 50 years of age, which could conceivably only be two more fights, or could be as many as four. He said to guest commentator Andre Ward tonight that there's not enough money out there to put the two of them in the ring together -- Hopkins likes and does not want to fight Ward -- and the main contenders at 175 pounds right now look to be Sergey Kovalev, who is a dangerous puncher, and maybe Nathan Cleverly and Beibut Shumenov, who hold paper titles. There's also the chance that one of the better fighters from 168 pounds could move up, like the Froch-Kessler winner.
Cloud was simply out of his depth on the mental side of things tonight, which didn't surprise many people. You got the sense that he wanted to throw more punches, wanted to be busier, and wanted to do more, but Hopkins had the Jedi mind meld working, and Cloud was tense, tentative, and seemed to be thinking way more than was good for his approach. He's a physical fighter who does well when he throws punches in bunches. That just wasn't there tonight.
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