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Maybe it's that Mayweather-Pacquiao buzz in the air, but tonight was a good night for typically unexciting fighters, with TMT's Ishe Smith and Ashley Theophane turning in solid wins in unexpectedly fun fights.
Ishe Smith seemed to have built his entire gameplan around the idea of Cecil McCalla's imitation shoulder roll. If McCalla was a bootleg Floyd Mayweather, Smith was a bootleg Miguel Cotto, and Ishe played his part far more convincingly than his opponent. From the early going Smith (27-7, 12 KO) hammered McCally's body with a right hand reminiscent of the famous candy cane punch of Sugar Ray Robinson. McCalla (20-2, 7 KO) had no answer to any of Smith's punches but to turn his body and dip down to his right, and Smith hammered with uncharacteristically venomous punches, even putting McCalla on skates at the end of the 2nd round. Smith was supposed to win this bout, but he did it in very impressive fashion. Certainly the most fun I've ever had watching an Ishe Smith fight.
Ishe Smith defeats Cecil McCalla by Unanimous Decision (97-93 x 2, 98-92)
Bad Left Hook scored it 98-91 for Smith.
Two high quality journeymen clashed in the co-headliner bout. TMT's resident Brit Ashley Theophane looked to outjab and, at times, outfight the relentless Mahonri Montes. Theophane (38-6-1, 11 KO) started off in typical fashion, pumping his machine gun jab and circling around the stalking Montes. As the fight wore on, Montes (30-5-1, 21 KO) starting to find his rhythm and his range. He looked set to take over for good, when suddenly the normally conservative Theophane showed an unexpected fighting spirit, and seized the momentum by landing power shots to the head and body. The bout turned into a surprise action fight in the last three rounds, with Montes landing a blistering 1-2 to drop Theophane ten seconds before the final bell. Theophane survived, and got up to take a hard-fought, if somewhat iffy decision win.
Ashley Theophane defeats Mahonri Montes by Split Decision (96-93 x 2, 96-93)
Bad Left Hook scored it 95-94 for Montes.