Amir Mansour Defeats Travis Kauffman in a Close Fight- Boxing News

By Joshua “City” Brewer

Friday, March 17, gave us another edition Premiere Boxing Champions (PBC) on Bounce television. The opening bout saw Chordale Booker, 6-0, 3 KO’s, defeat Moshea Aleem, 4-1-1, 2 KO’s, older brother of rising prospect Immanuwel Aleem, in a somewhat active six-round bout. Booker showed an array of raw skills and was the more accurate puncher of the two, though he did have moments where he threw several wide shots. This is something that should improve as he progresses. The more solid shots were definitely landed by Booker and he was able to knock Aleem’s mouthpiece out on at least two occasions. The fight had moments of exchanges that looked as though it might be headed for something more as Aleem showed more aggression as the fight pressed, but ultimately Booker proved to be the victor. Booker won via unanimous decision.

The next fight saw David “Day-Day” Grayton 15-1-1, 11 KO’s, taking on veteran and former welterweight champion Kermit Cintron, 39-5-3, 30 KO’s. Cintron, looking to get back to contender status, started out posed while Grayton seemingly chose to be the aggressor. Grayton went for the kill early in the second round and landed several good shots throughout the remainder of the round on the 37 year-old Cintron though nothing seemed to hurt him enough to cause concern. Cintron did sustain a cut during this round. The two fighters met each other head on to start round three as Cintron started to stand his ground, though Grayton won the round.

Cintron saw his best round yet during the fourth as he was able to land several solid shots on Grayton. The 5th round saw an aggressive Grayton drop Cintron with a right hand in the middle of the round. Grayton was warned of a shot to the back of the head prior to the knockdown. Towards the end of the round Cintron seem to be hurt by an accidental headbutt and needed time to recover before ultimately being ruled unable to continue. The fight went to the scorecards and was scored a draw though I think that Grayton should have won the fight. Cintron showed up but should probably go ahead and hang the gloves up for good.

The final fight saw a heavyweight matchup between Travis Kauffman, 31-2, 23 KO’s, against Amir Mansour, 23-2-1, 16 KO’s. Mansour landed several decent shots during the first and won the round clearly in my book. Kaufman caught Mansour with a big shot that rocked him in the second round. Kaufman landed a few other good shots to close it out and won the round. The third round had spurts of exchanges from each fighter and they closed out the fight on a good note for each, close round. The fourth started with the fighters again picking up from where they left off in the third. Mansour closed out the round very well with solid body shots.

Rounds five and six saw each fighter taking on the role of aggressor at different points, though nothing really separated the two. Mansour got the better of Kauffman in a rough and sometimes sloppy seventh round. Mansour landed several big shots in the 8th round and seemed to almost have Kauffman out, though his chin ultimately held up. Kauffman came on better and showed a bit more in the ninth, though Mansour had several moments of his own. The tenth and eleventh rounds saw much of the same though Mansour seemed to land more shots as the aggressor.

Both fighters were visibly tired to start the twelfth but pressed on in aggressive fashion with urgency. Several hard shots were landed by each fighter and they showed that they have solid chins. This round turned out to be the most active of the fight and they closed it in dramatic fashion. When the final bell rang I viewed Mansour as the winner though it was a gutsy effort from both fighters.

Officially, the judges scored the fight for Mansour via majority decision. Mansour gave a valiant effort and truly deserved the win. PBC continues to move forward with solid cards in 2017. We can only hope more good fights are in store next time out.