Ronald Ellis – Junior Younan Remain Undefeated in Split Draw

By Joshua “City” Brewer

ShoBox: The New Generation was in action once again live from Iowa last night. The event brought us a line up of three telecasted fights featuring some of boxing’s top prospects looking to take the next step in their careers. As usual, the show didn’t disappoint.

Main Event: Ronald Ellis, 14-0-2, 1 NC, 10 KO’s Vs Junior Younan, 13-0-1, 9 KO’s

Both fighters started off aggressive in the opening minute of the round before settling into their groove. This resulted in Ellis stalking Younan on the front foot while landing a mix of shots to the body and head. Younan was able to counter with good body shots of his own and was able to get off his jab in spurts. A similar narrative played out in the later rounds with Ellis continuing to come forward with occasional exchanges that saw each fighter scoring blows in what was a closely contested fight. Ellis stepped on the gas in the seventh round and repeatedly landed hard shots on Younan as he laid against the ropes trying his best to offer some resistance.

Younan seemed to go for broke in the eight round as he threw a multitude of wide, wild, and looping shots. Some of the shots were landing but he eventually seemed to punch himself out though Ellis wasn’t able to capitalize on this opportunity. The fighters closed the show in dramatic fashion as they each battled with what energy they had left through the 10th round. When it was all said and done, the judges officially saw the fight as a draw with scores of 96-94 (Ellis) 96-94 (Yonan), and 95-95. Could a rematch be in order?

Co-Feature: Thomas Mattice, 11-0, 9 KO’s Vs Rolando Chinea, 15-2-1, 6 KO’s

Chinea continued to move forward and stalked Mattice from the opening bell. This resulted in much of the fight being fought on the inside. Mattice was continually forced to fight at Chinea’s pace, who was able to capitalize with a multitude of shots to the head and body. That aside, Mattice did have his moments landing hard counter shots that seemed to be more heavy than those coming from Chinea. In the seventh round Mattice hurt Chinea with a left hook and followed up with a barrage of hard shots that landed cleanly before dropping Chinea and forcing the referee to step in and call the fight off. Chinea was visibly hurt and struggled badly to get to his feet. The official time of the stoppage was 1:31 of round seven. Mattice picks up his ninth knockout.

Montana Love, 9-0, 4 KO’s Vs Sam “Tsunami” Teah, 12-2-1, 5 KO’s

Both fighters battled for control early on. Love was able to control the first two rounds by fighting off of his back foot while landing clean shots on the outside. In the third, Love was able to essentially control Teah from the middle of the ring as he landed straights and countered. This pretty much defined the remainder of the fight though Teah tried to offer some resistance. In the end the judges saw it as a majority decision victory for Love with scores of 76-76 and 78-74 twice.

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