PBC on Spike TV – Barthelemy Retains Against Bey

Barthelemy Retains Against Bey – Last night (Friday, June 3) at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida the Premier Boxing Champions and Leonard Ellerbe were in town with a full night of boxing that saw the top fights air on Spike TV.

The main event saw IBF World lightweight champion Rances Barthelemy retain his title with a bizarre split decision win over challenger Mickey Bey that saw the judges score the fight (117-110, 116-111 and 110-117). The judge who had the fight for Bey was the controversial Hilton Whitaker III.

Despite the blown call scoring a knockdown agaibnst Barthelemy, Bey was not able to mount any type of consistent offense against the longer, taller champion. Bey had fought just once since being stripped of the title, a time period of more than a year and a half and the layoff showed in his precision and timing.

Barthelemy retains his belt and moves to a perfect 25-0 overall, while Bey falls to 22-2-1.

Barthelemy was flashing his pedigree early in the fight when he went down from a headbutt that was ruled a knockdown. Bey had previously held the same world title, but was stripped due to inactivity, and Bey showed a lot of confidence in the build-up to the fight.

The co-featured bout saw super bantamweight prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez go to 15-0 with a unanimous decision over veteran Alberto Guevara. Rodriguez, a 23-year-old Puerto Rican, outclassed Guevara but he seemed to be content with that and did not press to finish the fight. In the end, the judges had it for Rodriguez via scores of 100-90, 99-91, 99-91.

Also making the broadcast was super middleweight prospect Caleb Plant (13-0). Plant was impressive in stopping veteran Carlos Galvan, getting the stoppage at roughly the halfway mark of round four.

On the undercard, lightweight blue chipper Gervonta Davis moved his record to 16-0 with an explosive first round stoppage of veteran Mario Macias Rorozco (28-19). Davis is part of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s “The Money Team” roster. The 21-year-old southpaw from Baltimore may be in line for a step-up fight before the end of the year.