The fight between Ishe Smith and Erislandy Lara finally happened Friday night, in San Antonio, TX. Initially set to take place earlier this year, Lara decided a fight against “Canelo” was better.
The fight was full of emotions, at least from Ishe Smith’s side. From the look on Smith’s face, the talking, and lunging haymakers, he was frustrated and angry. Lara’s constant movement had Smith chasing and missing winging punches. Smith at one point yells, “stop running!”
Erislandy Lara’s plan of attack from the beginning bell was to use his superior footwork to stifle Ishe Smith. The only time Smith did much of any damage, would be during a tie up, or when Lara took rounds off and allowed Smith to punch at his arms.
In addition to his footwork, Lara used his speed and quickness, and ability to create angles, to outbox Smith. The two fighters looked to be on complete different levels, and the scorecards would agree. In a fight that looked more like a sparring match, one judge scored the fight 117-111 for Lara; the other two judges gave all but one round to Lara.
The co-main event was a slower paced fight, sometimes too slow. But in round 4 of the scheduled 10, Badou Jack decided to turn up the action. Taking on Francisco Sierra, Jack landed a body shot that hurt Sierra, but Jack was unable to capitalize. While stalking and inflicting damage, in the sixth round, the ref finally steps in and waves the fight off. Sierra was taking too much unnecessary damage, and not intelligently defending himself.
The first fight on the televised card featured Chris Pearson and Steve Martinez. This was a fight where speed and quickness proved to be the best weapon to have. Pearson’s hand speed dictated the pace of the fight, and his stiff jab constantly found a home on Martinez’s nose. There were times when Martinez was able to force the inside fighting, but even in the pocket, Pearson was too quick. Chris Pearson’s would go on to earn a unanimous decision.
The last two undercard bouts both were first round stoppages. The first, Ronald Gavril from Romania, took on Jose Rodriguez. Gavril stalked his opponent until landing a liver shot that forced him to the mat and would not allow him to answer the ref’s count. The other bout to end with a first round knockout, Andrew Tabiti versus Ernest Reyna. Tabiti landed a right hand that knocked the mouthpiece out of Reyna’s mouth, and had his head bounce off of the canvas. This was the second knockdown, and the ref did not give a count.
Undercard Results:
Andrew Tabiti def Ernest Reyna via Knockout – Rd. 1
Ronald Gavril def Jose Rodriguez via Knockout – Rd. 1
Ashley Theophane def Miguel Zuniga via Unanimous Decision
Lanell Bellows def Rahman Yusubov TKO – Rd. 3
Ladarius Miller def James Burns via Unanimous Decision
Juan Heraldez def Eric Butler via TKO – Rd. 2