Rances Barthelemy, Robert Easter fight to draw in Las Vegas
Lightweight boxers Rances Barthelemy and Robert Easter Jr. arrived at the Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hoping to claim the vacant world titles that awaited the winner.
But after 12 rounds of nondescript monotony, the three judges concluded there was no winner.
And thus, no new champion.
Barthelemy and Easter Jr. boxed to a split draw Saturday night on Showtime, ensuring that the WBA and IBO lightweight championships remain vacant. Easter was more aggressive, throwing 415 punches to Barthelemy’s 328. But neither fighter landed anything of consequence, and Easter finished with a 54-52 edge in connections.
One judge scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Barthelemy, another 115-113 in favor of Easter and the other 114-114.
Easter, for one, thought he should have won.
“He’s a crafty fighter, a tricky fighter. He stayed away from my power, which was smart,” Easter said. “I was smart, too, on my end. I didn’t take much punishment. I was trying to draw him in as well and not lead him in.”
Easter (21-1-1) opened the fight as the aggressor, throwing and landing more punches in each of the first three rounds. Barthelemy (27-1-1) rebounded midway through the fight with a series of swooping left hooks to Easter’s body.
They didn’t do much damage, though, and didn’t swing the fight in his favor.
Both boxers were more tentative in the later rounds, and Easter assumed his role as the aggressor — to a degree — while Barthelemy evaded the majority of his punches without countering.
No flurries.
No knockdowns.
Definitely no new world champion.
“I thought I boxed well, landed the better punches to the body and the head,” Barthelemy said through an interpreter. “Looking back, my team was a little more critical, saying I should have thrown more punches so it was more clear. … It was a weird fight.”
Postol outlasts Mimoune in lightweight title eliminator
Viktor Postol raised his right hand in triumph after completing 10 rounds against Mohamed Mimoune.
Victory, at that point, was simply a formality.
Postol, a former WBC super lightweight champion, coasted to a unanimous decision over Mimoune in a super lightweight WBC title eliminator bout. The 34-year old peppered Mimoune with jabs, hooks and combinations throughout the course of the 10 rounds and showcased his experience and poise.
“I always try to be disciplined. I did well tonight. My opponent’s style was a little awkward, but I did OK,” Postol said. “I feel like I’m all the way back. I’m 100 percent ready for whoever my next test is.”
Ajagba rolls Wallisch in heavyweight showdown
Efe Ajagba has won seven of his 10 professional fights by first-round knockout.
He settled on Saturday for the second round.
Ajagba (10-0, 9 KOs), 25, overwhelmed Michael Wallisch (19-2, 12 KOs) with flurries of left jabs and right hooks, forcing referee Tony Weeks to stop the fight 1:40 into the second round.
“I used my jab a lot, and it worked. … When I shot my right hand and he took it, I decided to keep unloading,” said Ajagba, who went viral on the internet last summer after Curtis Harper walked out of the ring during their bout in Minneapolis. “I never expected to knock him out. So, I go to test him with my jab. The guy took my best shot. He took my best right hand. I decided to use the jab.”
Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.