PHEW, WHAT A STINKER
Anderson does his best, but Merhy in no mood for a ght, writes Matt Christie
ON rare occassions, like when Ryad Merhy is in survival mode against Jared Anderson, watching boxing can be an almighty chore. Such was Merhy’s astonishing lack of ambition, this contest proved no more pleasurable to witness than a dreary 40-36 affair. Unfortunately, Anderson-merhy lasted far longer.
It’s perhaps cruel on Anderson to award this bout one paltry star but, for context, that’s likely one more than Merhy deserved. It was ominous before this heavyweight contest, the biggest of Merhy’s life, that the underdog – a cruiserweight until 2021 – was talking up his ambition to be a force in the new and largely redundant bridgerweight class. Ominous, too, for Tony Yoka’s career when one considers the Frenchman somehow lost to Merhy last year.
Merhy kept his gloves high, his back on the ropes and his punch output to a minimum while Anderson got stuck into a bit of target practice. The jab from the Houston resident was reasonably impressive, as was the accompanying uppercut, a shot that maybe persuaded Merhy to stay in his shell from the second round onwards.
Fans of a certain vintage may remember being hugely disappointed by the efforts of James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith when he took on Mike Tyson in 1987 but, in Bonecrusher’s defence, he caught Tyson with a terrific shot in the last round and, well, it was Tyson from whom he was running before that. Anderson, for all his promise, is a long way from a peak ‘Iron’ Mike and Merhy, stinking the joint out on a headline spot on ESPN and Sky Sports, may one day regret his approach.
Anderson struggled to prise open his opponent but, on the plus side, he again proved he can comfortably go 10 rounds and he’ll have learned along the way.
“I wanted to give the fans a better show, but what can you do when they show up to fight like him?” the 24-yearold said afterwards. It’s just another day in the office.
“I stayed sharp for 10 rounds. That’s the biggest takeaway. I got to make some changes. I made some mistakes. I got hit with a few punches. I shouldn’t have gotten hit at all, because he didn’t even come here to fight.”
Anderson won via scores of 100-90 (twice) and 99-91. Lee Rogers was the referee.
Far more entertaining at the American Bank Center, particularly in the early going, was Efe Ajagba’s heavyweight dingdong with Italian Guido Vianello. It could have gone either way after 10 sessions, but it would be the crude but strong Nigerian, another Top Rank-promoted heavyweight, who got the split nod. Scores were 96-94 (twice) and 94-96.
A looping right hand staggered Ajagba in the second session, another one made his knees dip, yet Vianello was perhaps a little too eager for the knockdown when he then bodyslammed his man in an effort to take him off his feet. The result was Ajagba swinging on the top rope, and almost toppling out of the ring, before regaining balance of sorts. Ajagba took another right in the third – again, it was bowled over and landed with a thwack – before mounting his own attacks to good effect. To his credit, Ajagba is improving technically with each passing bout and, in round seven, scored with a right and left uppercut and his jab is a developing into a pesky weapon. But Vianello, who represented his country at the 2016 Olympics, never had a problem landing, which often initiated exciting twoway action [pictured inset].
Vianello – after ending the bout in the ascendancy – can count himself unlucky to have lost this Laurence Coleofficiated encounter. At lightweight, Californian southpaw contender Ruben Villa won a unanimous 10-round decision over Mexico’s Cristian Cruz Chacon. The scores were 98-92 (twice) and 97-93. In the same division, the promising
Abdullah Mason halted Venezuela’s
Ronal Ron in four rounds.
THE VERDICT It takes two to tango and Mehry was not remotely in the mood to dance.