The Brits Sack Florence: Sam Eggington & Luther Clay Win Titles
[AdSense-A]
By Iberedem “El Magico” Ekure
On September 19, 2019 was an impressive night of boxing in Florence, Italy put together by DAZN and Matchroom Boxing Italy. It was an entertaining lineup of fights; superb knockouts, relentless journeymen from Nicaragua, flying mouthpieces, good decisions by judges and the home crowd got treated to two shockers: The main event and undercard saw the two foreigners walk in, handle business and walk out with the belts!
In the first 5 fights of the night, the results were as expected including three victories by local heroes Sebastian Mendizabal, Carmine Tommasone and Devis Boschiero who picked up the IBF International Super featherweight championship for his efforts. The next two fights were the big draw; the crowds began to fill Tuscany hall in Florence expecting to watch Dario Morello and Orlando Fiordigiglio defend their WBO Global Welterweight and IBF International Super Welterweight titles. The DJ amplified his performance rousing the growing crowd with remixed versions of hip-hop classics.
Dario Morello would go first. His opponent, Luther Clay, the “Black Panther” from South Africa, fighting out of Bracknell, Berkshire in the UK had already made his way to the ring with no fanfare and his Eastern European trainers in tow. Morello followed to applause and screams from the audience, ready to make his title defense against the shorter, slower man. Upon physical inspection, Clay looked the fitter, but this rarely is a good predictor of fight outcomes.
The bout began with the champion, Morello, forcing the action with searching jabs and hooks. Clay, on the other hand, didn’t give up the center of the ring showing great ring generalship: He slipped and weaved most of the champ’s punches and counterpunched effectively landing the cleaner punches, working the body and frustrating Morello. The champion had a rally in the last 30 seconds catching Clay against the ropes, but it was not enough. 10-9 Clay
Round 2 saw Clay grow in confidence after the previous round and go on the hunt for Morello. He continued landing clean shots and caught the champ with a big left hook. With a minute to go, Morello responded with a flurry of punches all bouncing off Clay’s gloves and Clay resumed stalking him around the ring for the rest of the fight. 20-18 Clay
The champion found his footing by round 3, standing his ground and exchanging with Clay while taking some hits to the body. Clay hit Morello with a good uppercut and Morello returned to circling and punching from the outside, doing enough to win the round. 29-28 Clay
Round 4 began with clinching in the first 30 seconds, Clay using the opportunity to pound Morello’s body. Morello got clay against the ropes and unleashed a flurry which Clay responded to with combinations of his own. The rest of the round saw Morello continue to throw impressive flurries but Clay landing the more powerful shots, working the body and landing uppercuts in close range. 38-38 even
Clay came out for round 5 with snapping jabs and crosses. After a minute his corner shouted for him to go back to the body and in his first attempt at doing so, Morello landed a counter hook. The body shots started pouring in from Clay and Morello moved around to create distance. Clay continues to push the agenda working the head and body while Morello had some success counterpunching. Clay landed a big right hand near Morello’s corner that knocked the champion down. Morello quickly regained his footing for the 8-count, protesting that it was a slip, and seeing out the round. 48-46 Clay
Going into round 6, Clay eased back into controlling the center of the ring, letting Morrello be the aggressor, then slipping and counterpunching. In one of the exchanges, Clay landed an uppercut that had Morello in trouble. A few more hooks to the head and body connected and the champ sensing the fight was getting away from him, became more aggressive in the last 20 seconds, landing a big left hook but the round was firmly Clay’s. 58-55 Clay
The crowd was growing quiet and as both men circled in for round 7 fighting in close quarters, Clay landed a left hook that pushed Morello back. Morello responded with a few successful punches of his own in typical quick flurries but then got hit with an overhand right that put him on the canvass again. After beating the count, Morello got hit with combinations to the body and a right hand that sent his mouthpiece flying. Clay sensed the end was near and began throwing all his power behind hooks and uppercuts but the champion survived, landing a flurry in the last 30 seconds. Too little, too late. 68-63 Clay
In round 8, Clay held court in the center of the ring, blocking and counterpunching. Morello, now fighting with his hands lowered threw several combinations but was having little luck catching Clay. Clay landed a right hand and Morello’s mouthpiece was in the air again. The champion put up a valiant effort, throwing quick hands, but the body shots started to take a toll and he backed off whenever he got hit with one. 78-72 Clay
Clay came into round 9 looking to score the knockout, landing flush with a right hand. Both men exchanged shots subsequently with mixed success and in the last minute of the round, Morello got hit with a jab and two right hands that caused him to spit out his mouthpiece thrice! Surprisingly, the referee did not deduct a point. 88-81 Clay
Morello needed a knockout to salvage the fight and he came out swinging in round 10. Clay ran for the first 30 seconds and then went on the offense, landing a right hand that caused Morello to lose his mouthpiece yet again. The fatigue began to set in and both men began clinching and exchanging combinations with Clay losing his mouthguard in the process. A few seconds later, Morello lost his mouthguard and an exasperated referee ordered his corner to put it back in. The last 30 seconds of the fight saw Morello go on the offense trying to score the big knockout but Clay blocked and weaved his way to victory. 98-90 Clay; the score was unanimous on all 3 judges scorecards and the local champion had lost his WBO Global Welterweight title to the UK fighter with promoter, Eddie Hearn smiling at ringside.
Not long after, the main event was underway and Orlando Fiordigiglio would surely set things right with the local crowd by defeating Sam Eggington, the British fighter nicknamed “The Savage” who had been on a confidence-building mission after his loss to Liam Smith in March for the WBC Silver Super Welterweight title. Eggington outpointed a couple of journeymen since and this was his chance to get back on the world stage. The challenger made his way to the ring in white trunks with trim patterned after the Italian flag in a bid to curry some favor with the local crowd but it was clear the crowd wanted to go home seeing one of their own as champion.
The fight began with Sam Eggington on the front foot, leading with jabs and body punches but getting counterpunched in some of the exchanges. Good round for both men but Eggington got the better of Fiordigiglio. 10-9 Eggington.
Eggington came out for round 2 with the same mentality, pressing forward and walking into a few jabs from the champion. He soon found his range and landed a few two punch combos while walking Fiordigiglio down around the ring. Giving in to the pressure, Fiordigiglio tied Eggington up in a clinch after getting hit by a big right hand. Unfortunately for the champ, Eggington’s right hand was still free despite the attempted clinch and he used it to pummel the Fiordigiglio. As a result of the barrage, Fiordigiglio was up against the ropes and Eggington smelled blood: He went in for the kill, releasing a flurry of right and left hands that forced the referee to step in and stop the fight to mild protest from Fiordigiglio’s corner. Eggington scored the TKO and stood victorious in the middle of the ring, IBF International Super-welterweight title in hand, joined by Eddie Hearn who was all smiles.
The crowd began to disperse. The English had sacked Florence with help from South Africa. A good night for boxing.
[si-contact-form form=’2′]