ShoBox results: Ronald Ellis and Junior Younan fight to a draw

Ronald Ellis and Junior Younan fought to a split draw in tonight’s ShoBox super middleweight main event, a fair decision in an even, inconsistent, but fun to watch affair from Sloan, Iowa.

Each fighter got one card on a score of 96-94, and the third card was even, 95-95. BLH also had it 95-95. Ellis is now 14-0-2 (10 KO), with Younan now 13-0-1 (9 KO). There’s perfectly good reason to see a rematch of this one on a future ShoBox, and hopefully we do.

It was a fight of two halves. I gave Younan four of the first five rounds, and Ellis four of the latter five rounds, including the ninth and 10th, which were both fairly quiet, but Ellis outworked him in both.

Younan made the fight’s biggest charge in the eighth round, throwing a ton of wild shots and his fight-high 76 punches overall in the round. But he didn’t stop Ellis there, and seemed pretty out of energy after the flurry came to an end.

There was a lot to like from both fighters in this one, and some obvious work to be done on both sides. Younan has the raw talent of a serious contender, but a lot more polish can be put into his game. Ellis is the more consistent of the two, with the lower upside being 28 (Younan is 22). Like I said, hopefully we see this again. There’s unfinished business here and it was an obvious good test for both.

In an entertaining co-feature, Thomas Mattice snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, stopping Rolando Chinea in the seventh round of a fight that BLH had Chinea leading, 59-55.

Chinea (15-2-1, 6 KO) started great, applying his trademark pressure in every round, with Mattice (11-0, 9 KO) struggling to get anything going, and tiring himself out trying to move around, trying to get off the ropes, trying to land big shots. Chinea, however, got caught square on the chin with a right hand early in the seventh round, and was instantly hurt.

Mattice jumped all over Chinea, throwing tons of shots, finally clipping Chinea with a left hook that sent Chinea stumbling. The referee called it off there, and it was a fair stoppage, capping a great comeback win for Mattice where he took the best Chinea could offer.

In the opener, Montana “Too Pretty” Love made his ShoBox debut with a majority decision win over Sam Teah, in a fight that really shouldn’t have been seen even by anyone.

Love improved to 9-0 (4 KO), moving up the card on short notice to replace Wellington Romero. Love was flashier and more skilled than Teah (12-2-1, 5 KO), and while he didn’t outright dominate, it was hard to find any rounds to give to Teah. BLH gave him the sixth, scoring the fight 79-73 for Love, who will surely make his way back to the series in the future.