By Arne K. Lang
The venerable Don King was back in action tonight with a pay-per-view card that aired from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino Hotel and Resort in Hollywood, Florida. In the main event, Blair Cobbs out-worked Adrien Broner en route to winning a unanimous decision.
Broner, who was competing in only his second fight since February of 2021, was swimming upstream after he was knocked to the canvas in round two. The punch, a straight left hand, dislodged one of his teeth.
In the ensuing rounds, Cobbs mixed up his punches well while frequently finding a home for that straight left. Broner had trouble putting his punches together, but continued to march forward and closed the gap with a strong ninth round. The scores were 97-91 and 96-93 twice.
At age 34, Cobbs, who improved to 17-1-1 (10), seems poised for a late career surge. In his previous bout, he scored the best win of his career, a comprehensive 10-round decision over former WBO 140-pound title-holder Maurice Hooker. Broner (35-5-1) has degenerated into a journeyman, but the former four-weight-class title-holder is a nice feather in anyone’s hat.
Co-Feature: Michael Hunter vs, Cassius Chaney
Punching a punching bag for 10 rounds is a very strenuous workout, but at least a punching bag doesn’t punch back. Tonight, Michel Hunter had a strenuous workout.
The CompuBox crew wasn’t there, but if they had been, Cassius Chaney would have likely set a record for the fewest punches thrown in a 10-round fight. The final bell was greeted with a cascade of boos, but it wasn’t Hunter’s fault. Chaney fought as if he entered the ring on quaaludes. He not only lost every round, but every minute of every round.
There was a time when Michael Hunter was close to nailing down a fight with Anthony Joshua when Joshua held the world heavyweight title. But he has been spinning his wheels since he TKOed otherwise undefeated Martin Bakole in London in a bout that transpired nearly six years ago.
Hunter’s last two documented fights were on small cards in Mexico against hapless opponents. Seven weeks ago, he was in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where he lost a 10-round decision to unsung Artem Suslenkov, a boxer who hadn’t previously fought in a 10-round fight. That match wasn’t acknowledged by boxrec and the announcing crew for tonight’s show made no mention of it. Hunter has also been picking up loose change by competing in the Team Combat League where he has racked up an 11-1 record in one-round fights on seven shows.
At age 35, Hunter (23-2-2, 16 KOs) is still young by heavyweight standards and capable of giving most of the top dogs in the division a hard tussle. The 37-year-old Chaney lost for the second time in 25 fights, but was never anything special, notwithstanding his brutal knockout of Trevor Bryan. It’s absurd in retrospect that he was ranked #7 by the WBA, a notch ahead of Michael Hunter.
Also
In a 10-round middleweight bout of note, Paterson, New Jersey’s Ian Green improved to 19-2 (12) with a well-earned unanimous decision over Toledo’s Ray Barringer. Green, ranked #5 by the WBA, fought the second half of the fight with his left eye completely shut. Barringer was damaged too, suffering a bad cut over his left eye in the eighth round, the result of an apparent accidental clash of heads. The judges had it 98-93 and 96-94 twice.
The venerable Don King was back in action tonight with a pay-per-view card that aired from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino Hotel and Resort in Hollywood, Florida. In the main event, Blair Cobbs out-worked Adrien Broner en route to winning a unanimous decision.
Broner, who was competing in only his second fight since February of 2021, was swimming upstream after he was knocked to the canvas in round two. The punch, a straight left hand, dislodged one of his teeth.
In the ensuing rounds, Cobbs mixed up his punches well while frequently finding a home for that straight left. Broner had trouble putting his punches together, but continued to march forward and closed the gap with a strong ninth round. The scores were 97-91 and 96-93 twice.
At age 34, Cobbs, who improved to 17-1-1 (10), seems poised for a late career surge. In his previous bout, he scored the best win of his career, a comprehensive 10-round decision over former WBO 140-pound title-holder Maurice Hooker. Broner (35-5-1) has degenerated into a journeyman, but the former four-weight-class title-holder is a nice feather in anyone’s hat.
Co-Feature: Michael Hunter vs, Cassius Chaney
Punching a punching bag for 10 rounds is a very strenuous workout, but at least a punching bag doesn’t punch back. Tonight, Michel Hunter had a strenuous workout.
The CompuBox crew wasn’t there, but if they had been, Cassius Chaney would have likely set a record for the fewest punches thrown in a 10-round fight. The final bell was greeted with a cascade of boos, but it wasn’t Hunter’s fault. Chaney fought as if he entered the ring on quaaludes. He not only lost every round, but every minute of every round.
There was a time when Michael Hunter was close to nailing down a fight with Anthony Joshua when Joshua held the world heavyweight title. But he has been spinning his wheels since he TKOed otherwise undefeated Martin Bakole in London in a bout that transpired nearly six years ago.
Hunter’s last two documented fights were on small cards in Mexico against hapless opponents. Seven weeks ago, he was in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where he lost a 10-round decision to unsung Artem Suslenkov, a boxer who hadn’t previously fought in a 10-round fight. That match wasn’t acknowledged by boxrec and the announcing crew for tonight’s show made no mention of it. Hunter has also been picking up loose change by competing in the Team Combat League where he has racked up an 11-1 record in one-round fights on seven shows.
At age 35, Hunter (23-2-2, 16 KOs) is still young by heavyweight standards and capable of giving most of the top dogs in the division a hard tussle. The 37-year-old Chaney lost for the second time in 25 fights, but was never anything special, notwithstanding his brutal knockout of Trevor Bryan. It’s absurd in retrospect that he was ranked #7 by the WBA, a notch ahead of Michael Hunter.
Also
In a 10-round middleweight bout of note, Paterson, New Jersey’s Ian Green improved to 19-2 (12) with a well-earned unanimous decision over Toledo’s Ray Barringer. Green, ranked #5 by the WBA, fought the second half of the fight with his left eye completely shut. Barringer was damaged too, suffering a bad cut over his left eye in the eighth round, the result of an apparent accidental clash of heads. The judges had it 98-93 and 96-94 twice.