Chapter 396: WBO Super Lightweight First Title Defense (1)
Madison Square Garden in New York, with two major boxing bouts to take place this Saturday night, caught the attention of fans around the world.
One will be the first WBO title defense between two heavyweight champions, WBC champion British Lewis and WBA and IBF heavyweight double champion American Holyfield, and the other will be the first WBO title defense of the WBA and WBO super lightweight world champion Wang Hao from Asia.
Needless to say, Lewis and Holyfield, the Olympic champion-turned-Lewis has long been regarded as the No. 1 all-round fighter in heavyweight boxing.
Holyfield, a former light heavyweight champion, is also a super-class fighter after moving up to heavyweight, and last year he defeated Tyson to achieve the most glorious victory of his career.
And Wang Hao, who is from Asia, is in the boxing arena where whites and blacks occupy an absolute dominant position, and a yellow whirlwind is blowing.
Wang Hao's success has attracted the attention of many fans and boxers, not only because of his unique Asian identity, Wang Hao has attracted the attention of traditional European and American fans, but even in these underdeveloped areas of Asia, he has become a household name.
Due to the rise of Wang Hao in the world of professional boxing, more and more Asian audiences have begun to watch boxing matches, and the influence of boxing in the Asian market is increasing, which is Wang Hao's unique contribution to boxing.
New York's Madison Square Garden, which hosted the two major events, was naturally advertised two months ago, and all the tickets at the venue were already sold out, even if they were priced much higher than the average boxing match tickets.
Huge promotional posters hang outside New York's Madison Square Garden, including one of Lewis and Holyfield, and the other of Wang Hao, who holds two ultra-lightweight belts in the WBA and WBO, and his challenger American Srku.
On the poster dozens of meters long, Wang Hao is wearing a red robe, his eyes are cold, and two huge golden Chinese characters "Dragon Fist" dragon flying phoenix dance are like surrounding Wang Hao, and the momentum is soaring.
At six o'clock in the evening, night gradually fell, and the venue of Madison Square Garden was already crowded with high-spirited audiences, and the atmosphere of the scene gradually became enthusiastic.
There are four games tonight.
Lewis and Holyfield's heavyweight trio boxing organization unification is the final main event, and Wang Hao's WBO super lightweight title defense is the vice main event.
The remaining two bouts are cushion matches with the Intercontinental Champion title.
First up was a flyweight WBC Intercontinental Champion Silver Belt bout between an American fighter and a Puerto Rican fight.
The Puerto Rican fighter defended his Intercontinental Champion silver belt in a ten-round bout.
The two fighters are in a low weight class, with fast punches and very fast transitions, but it's not easy to hit their opponents hard in terms of striking power.
Both fighters fought for ten rounds, both of which left each other bruised and swollen, but neither was able to knock out their opponent and did not have a clear advantage.
In the end, the game was handed over to the three scoring judges on the scene to decide.
Two of the three off-court scoring judges awarded defending Intercontinental champion Puerto Rican an extra round and challenger American won an extra round.
In the end, the defending Intercontinental Boxing Champion Puerto Rican won the bout by split decision and defended the Intercontinental Boxing Champion Silver Belt in his hand.
The second bout will be followed by a light heavyweight Intercontinental Champion of the Americas Silver Belt Defense, which is between a Canadian fighter and an American fighter who defends the WBA's Intercontinental Continental Championship of the Americas Silver Belt.
Before the official start of the second match, when the two fighters entered, the big screen at the scene appeared on the big screen of Wang Hao, who was preparing in the lounge.
Wang Hao was already bandaged, wearing orange shorts and a vest, and was doing pre-match preparations in the lounge.
I saw Wang Hao clenching his fists, opposite his head coach Sanchez, Sanchez attacked Wang Hao with a hand target, and Wang Hao quickly made dodging moves, and counterattacked from time to time.
There were quite a lot of spectators at the scene who came to see Wang Hao, and they were very excited to see Wang Hao's picture on the big screen, and many viewers shouted excitedly and stood up to applaud.
The footage prepared by Wang Hao in the lounge successfully mobilized the emotions of most of the audience, and the atmosphere was very warm while waiting for the two light heavyweight fighters to appear.
Finally, both light heavyweight fighters stepped into the ring.
The challenger, the Canadian boxer, is a strong white man, while the reigning WBA Intercontinental Champion is a black man from the United States, slightly thinner than the white Canadian boxer, and does not look as muscular as the white boxer, but is a little taller.
Bite!
After introducing the two fighters and the dos and don'ts of the fight, this WBA Intercontinental Championship of the Americas began, which was also a ten-round match.
Both fighters were cautious in the first round after the bout began, throwing less punches and more of a tentative.
It wasn't until the second round that the challenger's white fighter started to make a splash.
The white fighter has good technique, punches with a lot of power, and the pace of the attack is fast, and the second round once made the defending continental boxing champion black American boxer very passive, and even almost faltered.
However, in the end, the black defender still survived this round with difficulty, but in terms of score, this round was naturally led by the white Canadian boxer.
At the beginning of the third round, the black fighters changed some of their strategies, because the white fighters were slightly lower in height and had a shorter reach, and in order to prevent the white fighters from finding the right position to exert their power, the black fighters began to throw more jabs, control the distance, and enhance their movement.
It worked so well for a time that the white fighter didn't show the same performance as he had in the previous round, falling slightly behind on points.
The reigning black fighter took the third round.
The fourth, fifth, and third rounds were almost identical, with the white fighters trying to get close to the black fighters and striking from close range, but the black fighters tried to control the distance and didn't give the white fighters many chances.
The white fighters barely hit any effective heavy blows in those rounds, but in terms of points, the two men were about the same, and it was appropriate to decide who won both rounds.
By the sixth and seventh rounds, the black boxer who had thrown too many jabs seemed to be at the limit of his physical strength, a little tired, he threw fewer punches, and he had poor control over the white boxer.
This allows white fighters to get closer to black fighters and throw more heavy punches.
In these two rounds, the white fighter hit the black fighter many times, but there was no way to knock the black fighter down.
It was again two not-so-spectacular rounds, with the white fighters holding a slight advantage in points.
In the final three rounds of the fight, the black fighters seemed to have recovered their strength, throwing faster and more powerful punches, while the white fighters seemed to be reaching their physical limits, losing the momentum of the first two rounds and getting hit more by the black fighters.
Ten rounds were over, and neither fighter was able to knock out their opponents, and it was another point-point decision contest.
And the last three off-court judges also made different decisions, one referee ruled that the white Canadian boxer won the fight, and two judges ruled that the defending continental boxing champion American black boxer won the fight.
In the end, the result was almost identical to the first bout, with the reigning Intercontinental champion taking the bout by a slight points advantage.
There were two fights without knockouts in a row, which made the fans at the scene a little depressed, and some fans even voiced dissatisfaction, while more fans were looking forward to the next Wang Hao fight.
"The first two games were too ugly!" A local viewer in New York said, "No knockouts, not enough fights!" ”
"The next game is Wang Hao's fight, I heard that Wang Hao has won all his fights so far!" A viewer from Las Vegas said, "And his opponent is also a fighter with a very hot style, and he's looking forward to the next fight." ”
Finally, in the ardent anticipation of tens of thousands of spectators at the scene, the host's voice sounded.
"Ladies! Gentlemen! In the next WBO super lightweight title defense, the fighter Srku from the United States will challenge the defending boxing champion, Wang Hao of 'Dragon Fist' from China! “