ESPN Saves Best For Last
Cloud And Urango Elevate to Elite Status
By. Andrew Lapachet
www.primerround.com
www.profightnetwork.com
ESPN2 delivered the card of the summer, if not of the year, last Friday night when Tavoris Cloud (20-0, 18 KO’s) and Juan Urango (21-2-1, 16 KO’s) both separated themselves from prospects to legit champions. Its been a while since ESPN fight night brought a card where the co-main event and headliner kept people on their feet for a good part of twenty-three rounds, but that was what was delivered on Friday night. Cloud fought for his first world title (IBF) in the co-main event against former Light Heavyweight Champion Clinton Woods (42-4-1, 25 KO’s), and Juan Urango defended his IBF title for the first time against former WBO Jr. Welterweight Champion Randall Bailey (39-6, 35 KO’s) as the main event.
Both of the fights played the same storyline – youth & power vs. experience & precision. A storyline that usually guarantees drama; many experts expected drama and many experts were right. Both fights and all four fighters laid it on the line and delivered an instant classic for the network.
In the first fight, Tavoris Cloud fought for his first world title (IBF) against former Light Heavyweight Champion Clinton Woods (42-4-1, 25 KO’s). This was by far his toughest opponent to date as Woods entered the ring as a former champion who had fought the likes of Roy Jones Jr., Glenn Johnson, Antonio Tarver, and Julio Gonzalez. If Cloud wasn’t as good as his record showed then Wood’s would have exposed.
Early on, it looked as if Cloud’s youth was going to be too much for Woods. The young prospect came out blazing in the first couple of rounds trying to show the aged veteran who the boss was. For the most part it worked. Cloud was clearly winning the rounds by throwing combos that were more effective. The only bad thing about what was happening was his best shots weren’t even making Woods flinch, and he was throwing a lot of them. So many that you could see Woods waiting for when Cloud would get tired then he would counter.
This paid off for Woods from the third to the seventh round as he was trying his best to time the aggressive youngster. The power had left Cloud’s punches in these rounds and that gave Woods the opportunities to land his counter punches especially when Cloud would throw too many shots at one time. While it was impressive, there were times when you could see the last two punches of a five-punch combo were all arm punches. Woods noticed this too and was doing a great job of trying to land that single shot that would change the momentum of the fight. It almost happened at the end of the seventh when it looked like Cloud wobbled off a left hook at the end of the round. Maybe Tavoris was just getting bored because in the next round Cloud did a good job of recuperating, coming out one minute and putting in the best round of the fight.
In the eighth round, Cloud beat whatever thought Woods had of winning out of his mind. He totally pulled away throwing some thunderous power combos that finally had the granite chin of Woods cracking. How Woods stayed on his feet in this round was a miracle but at the end he did go back to his corner on Wiggle Street and it started to look as if the end was near.
To Woods credit, I was wrong for thinking he was almost out of this fight because in one of the most impressive demonstration of a fighter’s will to continue, Clinton went on to fight the next four rounds and hear the final bell. It wasn’t pretty at times when the veteran was spending a lot of time taking shots with his back on the ropes but it was still impressive to see a man take the shots that he did and continue to fight.
In the end, all three judge’s scorecards had Tavoris Cloud winning the fight at 116-112. I had the fight 118-110 for Cloud. I remember when this fight ended feeling how was main event going to live up to the performance we had just witnessed, and then Urango and Bailey answered by fighting in an all-out barnburner that saw both men going down a combined number of four times.
It didn’t take long for Juan Urango and Randall Bailey to take up where Cloud and Woods had left off because Urango only has one style and Bailey one punch. When the bell rang Urango came forward punching like he’s filming an action movie, while Bailey countered with his trademark right hand.
The fight was going Urango’s way for the first five rounds as the champion was being more active and throwing way more variety of combos. Bailey’s whole game plan was to counter and while he does have a great right hand, that style does not help you in the points category. He was taking a lot of shots just to land one of his own. The only bright side for Bailey is even at the age of 37 years, he probably still has the best right hand in the division.
In the sixth, all the waiting finally paid off for Bailey as he crushed Urango with a beautiful right hand. It was the perfect shot; he hit Urango so hard his cheek ripped open under his right eye. With two minutes left in the round, the situation did not look good for the young Champion; he was cut, bleeding, and wobbly. It looked as if the knockout king Bailey had struck again, but Urango refused to give in. He fought most of the round hurt, but survived and did it mostly by fighting back. I don’t think Juan knows what clinching is yet because right now he just seeks and destroys. Very impressive to see him last through this round showing signs of what makes a great champion.
Bailey sure wasn’t impressed with Urango’s recuperating skills because in round seven he totally switched up his approach and started to mix it up with the champ a lot more. It was a decision that Bailey would soon regret because while he was being more aggressive, it left opportunities open for Urango that he didn’t have when Bailey was playing counter puncher. By the end of the round, Urango had full control of the fight again as he swung freely to the body and head of a retreating fighter.
For the next three rounds, Urango would beat the former WBO Jr. Welterweight champion down – sending him to the canvas three times in route to a TKO victory. Bailey’s corner had seen their man take enough body shots in round eleven and threw in the white towel. It was a great stoppage by Bailey’s corner because they had given their man enough time to pull out the win but it just wasn’t going to happen, John David Jackson realized it and pulled the plug before somebody got hurt. Urango was killing his body to the point where Bailey could not even stand straight up. Immediately after the stoppage, Bailey collapsed in his corner showing how close the end was for him, no argument turned and went down.
It was a good win for Urango as the young Champion proved that he is a real threat in the Jr. Welterweight Division. His power lasted the whole fight, he never took a step back, and his chin while tested held-up in a back and forth power punching frenzy. Most importantly and most impressively was his body attack throughout this fight. If Urango brings that same game plan to his other fights, he’s not only going to be one of the most exciting fighters in the sport, he’s also going to be one of the hardest man to beat in the division.
All the way around, it was an impressive night of fights as you had a good show for free (hard to come by in boxing) and you had two talents separate themselves as prospects to Champions. If Cloud and Bailey keep fighting the way they did Friday, it won’t be long before HBO PPV comes calling.
In light of the CASC granting Nate Campbell his request to overturn referee David Mendoza’s decision from a victory for T. Bradley to a no-decision – Should Urango go ahead and do the same? He has video that shows a punch landed and then his opponent went down. Why shouldn’t his record show four knockdowns instead of three? It’s almost as pointless as Campbell saying he wanted his loss removed because he didn’t want his sixth loss on his record. Is there even a difference between five and six losses?
Just a thought….
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