Blog by Jeff Bollinger (schlup) - - Oliver
McCall 52-9 (37 KOs) and Franklin Lawrence (12-1-2 (7 KOs) squared off at The
Orleans casino Friday
night for the IBA Heavyweight Championship. The Brinks job, it wasn’t but
judges Robert Hoyle 97-93, C. J. Ross 96-94, and Jerry Roth 96-94 all questionably
scored the fight for McCall.
I was
sitting 8th row and thought that I had just seen the coming out party for a new
player in the Heavyweight ranks. Franklin Lawrence showed quick hands and
decent power as he peppered the sweat off of the ex Heavyweight Champ from
Pilar to post for most of the 10 round main event. Oliver showed his experience
with good bodywork throughout the fight, but I didn’t give him more than one
round, I think it was the 9th when
Lawrence
took a breather to finish up strong in the 10th.
You can rob
a guy in boxing with a pen just as easily as you can mug a drunk in an ally
with a pair of dusters, but when I see it happen, as a fan I start singing. If
snitches get stitches, then call 911 right now, because I’m heading for the ER.
Franklin
Lawrence is a good Heavyweight fighter that beat a good but fading heavyweight,
in McCall but got no credit. I think that Yah Yah Lawrence could hold his own
with most of the top ten tomorrow, but the three stooges scoring this bout beg
to disagree.
In other
action on the card, (all 4 rounders.) Light welterweight Lawrence Hughes won
Marcos Menlias by TKO 3. Super middleweight Christopher Spang won his debute
against Stevan McCray by UD4. Super middleweight Isiah McFadden won DeMark
Scott by TKO 1. Light weight Ricardo Calazada won his debute over Jeff Watkins
by UD 4. Featherweight Dustin Day won Brian Battease SD 4. And Beau Tribolet
won Chad Davis by UD 4.
After the
main event I had a chance to talk with Al Bernstein about the decision. I asked
Al "How many rounds did you give McCall?" Al responded by saying
" I don’t think that McCall won this fight at all." When I pressed
again about how many rounds he had given to McCall, Al hedged a bit, but
finally relented and said " Without actually scoring it on paper I’d say
maybe 3 or 4." I thought that was very generous for the ex Champ.
The venue
at The Orleans’s is very fan friendly and I highly recommend a visit the next
time your in Vegas. Tickets were $25.00, $50.00 and $75.00 and you couldn’t go
wrong with any of them.
But
remember Franklin Yah Yah Lawrence. At 33 years old, I can see him making some
noise in the months to come.
