Ji-Hoon Kim (24-7) won by unanimous decision over Alisher Rahimov (23-1) in an exciting lightweight match up for the 10 round main event on ESPN Friday Night Fights in St. Louis, MO. Kim came forward like a constant tornado while Rahimov was the tree he could not unroot. Rahimov countered with hard punches in return that Kim walked through making for an action filled event. The Russian won some rounds with effective punching, but the Korean Kim never let up enough for Rahimov to take control of the fight. According to ESPN, Kim threw an astounding total of 1,225 punches in the fight. Teddy Atlas surprisingly scored it a draw, but it appeared to be a definitive win for Kim.
On the televised undercard, heavyweight Vincent Thompson (11-0) defeated Joell Godfrey (14-7-1) by unanimous decision in a snoozefest being almost the exact opposite of the main event. Godfrey was not willing to fight and stayed in survival mode while Thompson won basically just because he threw punches which were still few. The ESPN commentators also pointed out that Godfrey was wearing contacts in which one of them came out of his eye during the fight.
The non-televised undercard featured some good bouts and knockouts. St. Louis hometown boxer Ryan Coyne (20-0) defeated Julius Fogle (15-8) in a light heavyweight match that should have been aired instead of the Thompson/Godfrey undercard. Coyne started a little slow in the first round, but settled in well afterwards. Coyne's right hook to the body became his signature punch of the night leading to a dominate decision win for the "Irish Outlaw". Fogle was knocked down three times and was noticeably tired, but Coyne came up a little short of the KO victory.
Local boxer Chris Rapa (6-0) fought against Steve Kollin (2-2) winning a majority decision of the four round welterweight bout. Rappa has over 100 amateur fights, but was not overly impressive. He looked much larger than his opponent and with his experience, I expected more. He has fought as heavy as middleweight while Kollin has fought as low as light welterweight. He started slow and Kollin picked him apart well early. However, he did get the win and clearly won the second half of the fight.
Leon Spinks III (2-0) vs Chavron Spain (0-1) was the walk out bout of the night with Spinks getting a unanimous four round decision win. Spinks was relatively hesitant until the last round when he scored two knockdowns and at one point of the fight, he was punching while not looking doing so in a showboating manner. It was an easy win for the third generation Spinks, but it is way too early in his career to compare him to Leon, Michael or Cory Spinks and especially since he does not have the amateur pedigree coming into the pro ranks as they did.
Heavyweight Tex Trismegistus (1-0) won in his pro boxing debut against Brandon McCrary (0-1). Trismegistus looked very cold early and McCrary actually appeared to be winning until Trismegistus finally assaulted him in the third round resulting in a knockdown. McCrary rose from the knockdown and looked able to continue. but the referee called the fight in a quick stoppage.
Ian Warren (2-0) defeated Mitchell Harris (0-2) by unanimous decision in a four round cruiserweight bout. Warren easily dominated the fight, but was mostly just willing to jab his way to a victory against an outclassed opponent.
Samir Simpson Bey (1-0) also won his pro debut versus Nick Fannin (0-2) with a dazzling knockout via a left hook on the button. Fannin was clearly overmatched, but was a fair opponent for a debut. See video of the knock out posted below.
Ji-Hoon Kim vs Alisher Rahimov on YouTube
On the televised undercard, heavyweight Vincent Thompson (11-0) defeated Joell Godfrey (14-7-1) by unanimous decision in a snoozefest being almost the exact opposite of the main event. Godfrey was not willing to fight and stayed in survival mode while Thompson won basically just because he threw punches which were still few. The ESPN commentators also pointed out that Godfrey was wearing contacts in which one of them came out of his eye during the fight.
The non-televised undercard featured some good bouts and knockouts. St. Louis hometown boxer Ryan Coyne (20-0) defeated Julius Fogle (15-8) in a light heavyweight match that should have been aired instead of the Thompson/Godfrey undercard. Coyne started a little slow in the first round, but settled in well afterwards. Coyne's right hook to the body became his signature punch of the night leading to a dominate decision win for the "Irish Outlaw". Fogle was knocked down three times and was noticeably tired, but Coyne came up a little short of the KO victory.
Local boxer Chris Rapa (6-0) fought against Steve Kollin (2-2) winning a majority decision of the four round welterweight bout. Rappa has over 100 amateur fights, but was not overly impressive. He looked much larger than his opponent and with his experience, I expected more. He has fought as heavy as middleweight while Kollin has fought as low as light welterweight. He started slow and Kollin picked him apart well early. However, he did get the win and clearly won the second half of the fight.
Leon Spinks III (2-0) vs Chavron Spain (0-1) was the walk out bout of the night with Spinks getting a unanimous four round decision win. Spinks was relatively hesitant until the last round when he scored two knockdowns and at one point of the fight, he was punching while not looking doing so in a showboating manner. It was an easy win for the third generation Spinks, but it is way too early in his career to compare him to Leon, Michael or Cory Spinks and especially since he does not have the amateur pedigree coming into the pro ranks as they did.
Heavyweight Tex Trismegistus (1-0) won in his pro boxing debut against Brandon McCrary (0-1). Trismegistus looked very cold early and McCrary actually appeared to be winning until Trismegistus finally assaulted him in the third round resulting in a knockdown. McCrary rose from the knockdown and looked able to continue. but the referee called the fight in a quick stoppage.
Ian Warren (2-0) defeated Mitchell Harris (0-2) by unanimous decision in a four round cruiserweight bout. Warren easily dominated the fight, but was mostly just willing to jab his way to a victory against an outclassed opponent.
Samir Simpson Bey (1-0) also won his pro debut versus Nick Fannin (0-2) with a dazzling knockout via a left hook on the button. Fannin was clearly overmatched, but was a fair opponent for a debut. See video of the knock out posted below.
Ji-Hoon Kim vs Alisher Rahimov on YouTube
RSS Feed