Every Joe Gans Lightweight Title Fight – Part 7: Steve Crosby

Published

3 years ago

July 6, 2021

Every-Joe-Gans-Lightweight-Title-Fight-Part-7-Steve-Crosby

Color ought not to cut any figure in the ring so long as a man is willing to do his best. – Joe Gans

As 1903 got underway, Joe Gans showed the type of restlessness that only manifests itself in true pound-for-pound greats. The lightweight champion decided to pursue Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, who had recently scored a victory over future heavyweight champion of the world Marvin Hart, very nearly knocking him out. Gans proposed that in order to take the winner’s share of the purse he would only have to survive the distance but assured the press that he would seek to knock the bigger man out.

At first, from O’Brien, silence, then he cried off with an injured hand although he was well enough to be matched in late February and throughout March, including against Joe Choynski who had recently knocked out Jack Johnson. Joe Gans had been ducked by a man mixing it with elite heavyweights.

Frank Erne made some noises over a trilogy fight but did not back himself to the extent of placing a $1,000 side bet on the line, as Al Herford insisted. Herford, manager and general mouthpiece for Gans, insisted loudly that Joe would meet the “white lightweight champion” Jimmy Britt over twenty rounds and that in order to be named the world champion, all Britt had to do was hear the final bell.

“When I became a pugilist,” Britt responded, “I made a resolution not to meet colored men and I don’t intend to go back on it now.”

Gans was insistent.

“Britt has been saying that he could beat me and all that sort of thing…I am willing to make any concession he may desire. I am willing to let him name the date, weight, place of meeting and conditions as well as the percentage into which the purse will be split.”

From a champion, these are astonishing remarks.

This left a frustrated Gans without a big money fight. In the first decade of the twentieth century, however, there was always a serious contender to the lightweight crown to be repulsed. Gans, for his part, certainly was not about to draw any colour line.

Steve Crosby was a member of an African-American murderer’s row that duked it out for the role of foremost black lightweight contender through the late 1800s. He and Gans were no stranger to one another. They met for the first time in 1898, the winner to find himself in line for a shot at the era’s top fighters – the top white fighters. Gans controlled the fight with a flash of what would be his primed generalship, boxing left-handed and at distance, pumping his jab into Crosby’s gut. The Kentuckian was sickened by these shots and his seconds spared him the knockout blow, pulling him after six. The two fought a tame short-form fight in 1899 but for the main, Gans probably believed he had finished with Crosby, only for his rival to go eighteen fights unbeaten to force a third fight between the two.

This third fight, fought over twenty rounds, was key to their series and to Crosby’s plans for resisting Gans. Essentially, this involved his fighting like he was in a shorter fight, throwing caution windward and punches with it, trying to outland Gans in the early stages. This, he did but only with moderate success; Gans blocked, countered and chipped away at his opponent who by the tenth had begun a grim vigil of his own faculties, hanging on to Gans for dear life, trying to clinch his way to the final bell. Essentially Crosby was one of the last to take advantage of Joe’s one-time weakness, his inability to put away fighters bent only upon survival. Why this mattered so much more in 1901 than it does in 2021 is illustrated by this third fight. Crosby split the early part of the fight with Gans by modern eyes, but from the perspective of a good judge in this era, Crosby was amply rewarded for “forcing the fight.” When he erupted in the nineteenth and twentieth rounds in a savage attempt to rest the “colored” lightweight championship from Gans, Crosby probably had not won a round since the eighth or ninth, but the referee and sole arbiter was impressed enough to render a draw; Crosby had earned a rematch.

“Crosby showed,” noted a Washington newspaper in previewing that rematch “that he belonged in the first class of fighters.”

Gans won this fourth fight, fetching Crosby up against the ropes and shipping punishment into him when the police interfered to stop the prize-fight, not an uncommon occurrence at this time. In control at the time of the stoppage, Gans had been forced to wrest the fight from Crosby once again as he staged a repeat of his early attack. The result then, was unsatisfying. Crosby was not the first choice for a Gans defence, nor a second, nor a third, but he was a natural choice. As was his first defence against Elbows McFadden, Crosby represented unfinished business.

Gans arrived in Hot Springs, Arkansas, a whole week before the fight, unusual for him, and set straight to work. In this matter, Gans demonstrated a respect he did not replicate in his preparations for George McFadden, for example, illustrative perhaps of his sense that Crosby, in his heart and strength, might represent a potential banana-skin. Herford did not share this trepidation and loudly pursued wagers of $4,000 at odds and even money that Gans would dispose of Crosby within twelve rounds.

Crosby had already been in town for a month, and in fact had boxed a pair of slow draws with the former Gans victim Kid Ash in Hot Springs while waiting for the champion to arrive. These fights were only interesting in how uninteresting they were. Crosby, who might have expected to test himself in the early going for his presumed Gans strategy, instead clinched from the first, and throughout, before finishing each fight in a blazing attack.

Previews concentrated on Crosby’s innate toughness and proven bravery in the ring, some reports perhaps continuing to aim barbs at Gans in naming Crosby “without doubt the toughest colored lightweight in the business.” He was not expected to beat Gans, but the papers, like the champion, expected a good show from the challenger.

Both men hit their mark upon the scales at 3pm and around six hours later made their way to a ring stuffed with intrigue.

The referee was none other than Tommy Ryan. Gans would share the ring with the middleweight champion and perhaps the only man in the world that could rival him for skill. Seconding Crosby was a figure from Joe’s future, the most significant foe from the second half of his title reign, Oscar Nielsen, ring name “Battling Nelson.” Even the timekeeper was a person of interest, superfan and professional gambler “Honest” John Kelly responsible for sounding the gong. Before the largest crowd ever assembled at Hot Springs Athletic Club, Crosby greeted the gong with a clinch.

Despite having had some success against Gans early in two fights, his whole outlook had changed. Whether he was intimidated, whether he felt something he didn’t like in the first exchanges or whether his dramatic change of strategy was part of some bold plan to stop Gans late, Crosby was warned by Ryan as early as the second round. Gans, who had begun with a certain caution, perhaps expecting the traditional rush from Crosby, stuck his left in his challenger’s face repeatedly but waited; when it became apparent that there would be no rush, but rather a persistent commitment to single right hands, Gans began to impose himself.

Crosby “seemed afraid to mix it up” according to the St. Louis Republic, the Richmond Times Dispatch adding that his “hugging tactics” were what “saved him from early defeat” although the audience joined Tommy Ryan in loudly objecting. There is something a little unfair about this. Crosby did not deliver on an early attack, and his constant clinching obviously frustrated the crowd, but he crossed the ring to meet Gans at every bell. He did not run; but upon closing the distance he did everything he could to avoid being hit, at the expense of his own offence.

“In the third, fourth, fifth and sixth rounds,” reported the Daily Northwestern, “Gans did most of the fighting, Crosby continually clinching and hugging in a manner that disgusted the spectators.”

I will spare the reader a detailed description of what occurred in these turgid rounds, but I suspect that Gans was more than satisfied with what transpired. There was none of the hot fighting seen in their earlier contests and he was being allowed to chip away at Crosby’s resistance at almost no cost to himself. Crosby was gifting the type of control that Gans often had to fight for, though he had learned to consistently achieve it.

In the seventh, Crosby’s clinching failed as Gans went to work on him as he tried to close and clinch, Gans risking more for a higher return against an opponent who had been punished. In the eighth, Gans stepped in with a long left uppercut, using Crosby’s own momentum against him, driving him not just off his feet, but through the ropes, “a distance of some four feet” as observed by the Louisville Courier-Journal.

“The blow was hard enough to have defeated the average heavyweight,” continued the paper, “but Steve quickly arose, vaulted over the ropes, and rushed Gans to his corner.”

The Courier-Journal was perhaps alone in admiring Crosby’s performance so completely, and in fact it led them to name him “outside of Gans” no less than the “toughest proposition in the lightweight division.” This is quite a claim. Still, they found column inches too to describe Joe’s brilliant footwork and consistent control of distance which prevented the development of whatever plan Crosby and his people had concocted. After being ditched to the auditorium floor in the eighth, Crosby’s shot at the title was essentially over.

The Gans jabs “were too much for Crosby, and [he] began to show signs of weakening in the ninth round” according to the New York Evening World, while the St. Louis Republic went a little farther; for them, Crosby was now looking for a way out. That seems spurious; if Crosby wanted to quit, there were ample opportunities in the eleventh. Gans, as he so often looked to do once his opponent was under control, feinted with the left and looked for the right. Crosby bought the feint and kissed the right, dropped clean, but he fought his way to his feet rather than sit out the count.

The Evening World: “[Crosby] got up and was sent down again by a similar blow. Crosby was weak, but at the count of nine managed to stagger to his feet. Gans nailed him again on the jaw with his right and he went to the floor in a heap.”

Still, Crosby would not quit but as he wrestled with the count, and with himself, his corner tossed up the sponge. There is some disagreement as to whether or not Ryan “accepted” the corner’s instructions and that he had rather ignored it and waved for the two to fight on as Crosby tottered to his feet. This does make some sense, as Ryan was involved in some of the most vicious encounters in ring history, but either way, Crosby never made it out of the eleventh. Gans had successfully defended his title once more, tricking, trapping and out-fighting Crosby on the inside, the only man up until that point who had stopped the heart-fuelled Crosby with punches.

Gans returned to Baltimore, where local papers reported him “unscratched” and a little piqued that he had taken so long to stop Crosby. Gans had not appreciated Crosby’s clinching. Herford, pleased to have won his bet that the fight would be settled before the end of the twelfth but put out that he had been able to lay only hundreds rather than thousands, went east to prepare the way for Joe’s next match, a non-title fight with two-time victim Jack Bennett, a talented fighter with a soft chin. Gans blasted Bennett out in five on this occasion.

But the same old problem persisted. Gans could not make big fights. Spike Robson made noises but could not deliver in the ring; he was eliminated from contention not once but several times. Yet again, the prospect of a third fight with Frank Erne emerged, but to no end. After dusting Australian welterweight Tom Tracey, Gans made it clear that he was bound for the division above where perhaps the big fights could be made. Even at the higher poundage, expectations were that Gans would dominate the opposition, a task that “ought not to be particularly hard” for him according to The Republic.

After crushing the popular Willie Fitzgerald in ten – more about this fight next time – and a hapless Buddy King in July, Gans went quiet for three months, something that had not happened since his 1899 knockout by Elbows McFadden. There was talk of a trip to England, talk of a bout with Willie Lewis, or welterweight Martin Duffy; instead there was nothing. It seemed Jimmy Britt might finally dare to break the colour line, but only if the champion Joe Gans would agree to make 133lbs at ringside.

When Gans returned it was in an old-fashioned barn-burning tour, six fights in fifty days, all but one over a short distance. Results were poor. These were six-round, no-contest results and in truth, were of little import insofar as Gans wasn’t knocked out; but when he lost over fifteen rounds to a teenager named Sam Langford, it was clear that Gans had over-reached. This was not a close fight: Langford, arguably the greatest fighter in history in full bloom, was then barely a novice. He out-thought and out-fought Gans, a disturbing way for a great general to lose.

But what was Gans doing fighting Langford just hours and three-hundred miles after he had fought no less a figure than Dave Holly? This was 1903; the schedule that saw him fight in Philadelphia on the seventh of December and Boston on the eight was an absurdity. Gans, the ultimate professional, seemed to have contracted a dose of cowboy. Unchallenged as a lightweight since he crushed Erne in one, he sought challenges perhaps no man could have met. Carrying a stomach injury to the ring against Langford and finding himself soundly beaten, when Gans took to the ring to defend his title just thirty-five days later he seemed something he had not been since the 1800s.

Vulnerable.

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Ramon Cardenas Channels Micky Ward and KOs Eduardo Ramirez on ProBox

Published

1 day ago

April 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

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The Wednesday night bi-monthly series of fights on the ProBox TV platform is the best deal in boxing; the livestream is free with no strings attached! Tonight’s episode was headlined by a super bantamweight match between San Antonio’s Ramon Cardenas and Eduardo Ramirez who brought a caravan of rooters from his hometown in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.

Cardenas, coached by Joel Diaz, entered the contest ranked #4 by the WBA. He was expected to handle Ramirez with little difficulty, but this was a close, tactical fight through eight frames when lightning struck in the form of a left hook to the liver from Cardenas. Ramirez went down on one knee and wasn’t able to beat the count. It was as if Cardenas summoned the ghost of Micky Ward who had a penchant for terminating fights with the same punch that arrived out of the blue.

The official time was 1:37 of round nine. Cardenas improved to 25-1 with his14th win inside the distance. Ramirez, who was stopped in the opening round by Nick “Wrecking” Ball in London in his lone previous fight outside Mexico, falls to 23-3-3.

Co-Feature

In an upset, Tijuana super welterweight Damian Sosa won a split decision over previously undefeated Marques Valle, a local area fighter who was stepping up in class in his first 10-round go. Sosa was the aggressor, repeatedly backing his taller opponent into the ropes where Valle was unable to get good leverage behind his punches.

The 25-year-old Valle, managed by the influential David McWater, was the house fighter. This was his 10^th appearance in this building. He brought a 10-0 (7) record and was hoping to emulate the success of his younger brother Dominic Valle who scored a second-round stoppage of his opponent in this ring two weeks ago, improving to 9-0. But Sosa, who brought a 24-2 record, proved to be a bridge too high.

The judges had it 97-93 and 96-94 for the Tijuana invader and a disgraceful 98-92 for the house fighter.

Also

In a fight whose abrupt ending would be echoed by the main event, 34-year-old SoCal featherweight Ronny Rios, now training in Las Vegas, returned to the ring after a 22-month hiatus and scored a fifth-round stoppage over Nicolas Polanco of the Dominican Republic.

A three-punch combo climaxed by a left hook to the liver took the breath out of Polanco who slumped to his knees and was counted out. A two-time world title challenger, Rios advanced to 34-4 (17 KOs). Polanco, 34, declined to 21-6-1. The official time was 0:54 of round five.

—

The next ProBox show (Wednesday, May 8) will have an international cast with fighters from Kazakhstan, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom. In the main event, Liverpool’s Robbie Davies Jr will make his U.S. debut against the California-based Kazakh Sergey Lipinets.

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Haney-Garcia Redux with the Focus on Harvey Dock

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Haney-Garcia-Redux-with-the-Focus-on-Harvey-Dock

Saturday’s skirmish between Ryan Garcia and WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney was a messy affair, and yet a hugely entertaining fight fused with great drama. In the aftermath, Garcia and Haney were celebrated – the former for fooling all the experts and the latter for his gallant performance in a losing effort – but there were only brickbats for the third man in the ring, referee Harvey Dock.

Devin Haney was plainly ahead heading into the seventh frame when there was a sudden turnabout when Garcia put him on the canvas with his vaunted left hook. Moments later, Dock deducted a point from Garcia for a late punch coming out of a break. The deduction forced a temporary cease-fire that gave Haney a few precious seconds to regain his faculties. Before the round was over, Haney was on the deck twice more but these were ruled slips.

The deduction, which effectively negated the knockdown, struck many as too heavy-handed as Dock hadn’t previously issued a warning for this infraction. Moreover, many thought he could have taken a point away from Haney for excessive clinching. As for Haney’s second and third trips to the canvas in round seven, they struck this reporter – watching at home – as borderline, sufficient to give referee Dock the benefit of the doubt.

In a post-fight interview, Ryan Garcia faulted the referee for denying him the satisfaction of a TKO. “At the end of the day, Harvey Dock, I think he was tripping,” said Garcia. “He could have stopped that fight.”

Those that played the rounds proposition, placing their coin on the “under,” undoubtedly felt the same way.

The internet lit up with comments assailing Dock’s competence and/or his character. Some of the ponderings were whimsical, but they were swamped by the scurrilous screeching of dolts who find a conspiracy under every rock.

Stephen A. Smith, reputedly America’s highest-paid TV sports personality, was among those that felt a need to weigh-in: “This referee is absolutely terrible….Unreal! Horrible officiating,” tweeted Stephen A whose primary area of expertise is basketball.

Harvey Dock

Dock fought as an amateur and had one professional fight, winning a four-round decision over a fellow novice on a show at a non-gaming resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He says that as an amateur he was merely average, but he was better than that, a New Jersey and regional amateur champion in 1993 and 1994 while a student New Jersey’s Essex County Community College where he majored in journalism.

A passionate fan of Sugar Ray Leonard, he started officiating amateur fights in 1998 and six years later, at age 32, had his first documented action at the professional level, working low-level cards in New Jersey. The top boxing referees, to a far greater extent than the top judges, had long apprenticeships, having worked their way up from the boonies and Dock is no exception.

Per boxrec, Haney vs Garcia was Harvey Dock’s 364^th assignment in the pros and his forty-second world title fight. Some of those title fights were title in name only, they weren’t even main events, but, bit by bit, more lucrative offerings started coming his way.

On May 13, 2023, Dock worked his first fights in Nevada, a 4-rounder and then a 12-rounder on a card at the Cosmopolitan topped by the 140-pound title fight between Rolly Romero and Ismael Barroso. It was the first time that this reporter got to watch Dock in the flesh.

Ironically (in hindsight), the card would be remembered for the actions of a referee, in this case Tony Weeks who handled the main event. Barroso was winning the fight on all three cards when Weeks stepped in and waived it off in the ninth round after Romero cornered Barroso against the ropes and let loose a barrage of punches, none of which landed cleanly. Few “premature stoppages” were ever as garishly, nay ghoulishly, premature.

With all the brickbats raining down on Weeks, I felt a need to tamp down the noise by diverting attention away from Tony Weeks and toward Harvey Dock and took to the TSS Forum to share my thoughts. Referencing the 12-rounder, a robust junior welterweight affair between Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr, I noted that Dock’s Las Vegas debut went smoothly. He glided effortlessly around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. (This post ran on May 15, two days after the fight.)

Folks at the Nevada State Athletic Commission were also paying attention. Dock was back in Las Vegas the following week to referee the lightweight title fight between Devin Haney and Vasyl Lomachenko and before the year was out, he would be tabbed to referee the biggest non-heavyweight fight of the year, the July 29 match in Las Vegas between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.

The Haney-Garcia fight wasn’t Harvey Dock’s best hour, I’ll concede that, but a closer look at his full body of work informs us that he is an outstanding referee.

—

While the Haney-Garcia bout was in progress, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman threw everyone a curve ball, tweeting on “X” that Devin Haney would keep his title if he lost the fight. Everyone, including the TV commentators, was under the impression that the title would become vacant in the event that Haney lost.

Sulaiman cited the precedent of Corrales-Castillo II.

FYI: The Corrales-Castillo rematch, originally scheduled for June 3, 2005 and aborted on the day prior when Castillo failed to make weight, finally came off on Oct. 8 of that year, notwithstanding the fact that Castillo failed to make weight once again, scaling three-and-a-half pounds above the lightweight limit. He knocked out Corrales in the fourth round with a left hook that Las Vegas Review-Journal boxing writer Kevin Iole, alluding to the movie “Blazing Saddles,” described as Mongo-esque (translation: the punch would have knocked out a horse). After initially insisting on a rubber match, which had scant chance of happening, WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Mauricio’s late father, ruled that Corrales could keep his title.

Whether or not you agree with Mauricio Sulaiman’s rationale, the timing of his announcement was certainly awkward.

Haney’s mandatory is Spanish southpaw Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KOs), a cutie best known for his 2021 upset of Mikey Garcia. A bout between Haney and Martin has the earmarks of a dull fight.

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In a Shocker, Ryan Garcia Confounds the Experts and Upsets Devin Haney

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2024

David A. Avila

In-a-Shocker-Ryan-Garcia-Confounds-the-Experts-and-Upsets-Devin-Haney

Its good to be crazy. Like a fox.

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia knocked down WBC super lightweight titlist Devin Haney three times to remind everyone of his fighting abilities in winning by majority decision on Saturday.

“I just knew what I could do,” Garcia said.

Fans will not forget the lanky kid from Victorville, California now.

Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) fooled everyone in playing crazy weeks before the fight, then showed shocking power to hand Haney (30-1, 15 KOs) his first loss as a professional at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Haney’s WBC super lightweight title was not at stake for Garcia because he weighed three pounds over the limit.

After Garcia seemingly acting out of control on social media, Haney’s guard must have slipped in the first round during the first few seconds as Garcia connected with that hellish left hook and Haney, with a look of shock in his eyes, almost went down. He barely survived the first round.

“He caught me with it,” said Haney.

During the next few rounds, Haney proceeded to advance toward Garcia seemingly fully aware of the lethal left hook. He used feints and rights to score with a busier approach as Garcia seemed cocked and ready to counter with a left hook.

In the fourth round it seemed Haney was confident he had regained control of the fight, but every time he opened up with more than a two-punch combination Garcia reminded him whose hands were faster and more dangerous.

Though Garcia seldom jabbed he seemed bent on looking for the right moment to unleash his deadly left hook. And every time the Southern California fighter opened up with a combination he scored and Haney dare not exchange.

A few times Haney smiled as if signifying he escaped.

In the seventh round Haney looked to punish Garcia’s body and instead was met with a three-punch combination included a left hook to the chin and down went Haney slumped on the ground. He managed to beat the count and as soon as Garcia came within reach Haney wrapped his arms around him with a python grip. Despite the warnings by referee Harvey Dock, the fallen fighter would not release and Garcia impatiently fired a weak punch during the break. The referee deducted a point from Garcia though he could have deducted a point from Haney for not obeying his instructions to release his hold. Haney actually went down three times in the round but only one was counted by the referee.

From that point on Haney was very cautious but still looking to win by decision.

Though Garcia kept using a shoulder-roll defense that left his body exposed, he would retaliate with three and four punch combinations that usually Haney could defend against other fighters.. But Garcia’s blazing combinations were too fast to defend.

In the 10^th round Haney looked to attack and was countered by Garcia’s right and a blinding left hook to the chin and another two blows that sent the former undisputed lightweight champion to the floor again.

It didn’t look good for Haney to survive.

Garcia walked into the 11^th round still composed and never out-of-control He dared Haney to exchange and when within striking distance Garcia unleashed another lightning combination and down went Haney again with a defeated look.

Both fighters had fought each other as amateurs six times so there were no surprises between them. But Garcia’s power and speed were superior and that was the difference in a professional fight.

In the final round both were cautious with Garcia’s combination punching proving too dangerous for Haney to open up. Garcia celebrated early as the round ended confident of victory.

After 12 rounds Garcia was seen the victor by majority decision 112-112, 114-110, 115-109.

“You really thought I was crazy,” Garcia told the interviewer and the crowd. “You guys hated on me.”

Other Bouts

Arnold Barboza (30-0) won a curious split decision victory over United Kingdom’s Sean McComb (18-2) in a 10-round super lightweight fight. McComb’s long reach and busy southpaw style gave Barboza trouble. But he managed to win the fight though the crowd was not pleased.

Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs) defeated France’s Pierre Dibombe (22-1-1) by technical decision after eight rounds due to a cut on his eye from an accidental head butt. It was a very competitive super middleweight fight.

Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (16-1, 11 KOs) outworked John “Scrappy Ramirez (13-1, 9 KOs) in a 12-round scrap to upset the Los Angeles based fighter. After a few close rounds Jimenez simply bullied his way inside and forced Ramirez against the ropes and unloaded his guns.

After 12 rounds two judges saw it 117-111 and 116-114 all for Jimenez.

“I’m a hard-working man from Cartago I come from nothing,” said Jimenez. “My corner told me I had to work inside.”

Charles Conwell (19-0, 14 KOs) stepped on the gas early with vicious body shots and uppercuts and blasted through the resilient Nathaniel Gallimore (22-8-1, 17 KOs) for several rounds. After a brutal fifth and sixth round the referee halted the one-side beating in favor of Conwell who was fighting for the first time under the Golden Boy banner.

Another winner was Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-5) by decision over Vaughn Alexander (18-11-1) in a super middleweight match.

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