Keyword
BOXING
Champions
Schedule
SPORT SECTIONS
Saturday, April 29
 
No controversy in this Gatti victory

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- This time, there was no dispute about Arturo Gatti's weight. And no question about his win.

In his first fight since a controversy over the weigh-in tainted his victory over Joey Gamache, Gatti had little trouble stopping an outclassed Eric Jakubowski in the second round Saturday night on the undercard of the Lennox Lewis-Michael Grant heavyweight title fight.

In another title fight on the card, Scotland's Paul Ingle came back from a ninth-round knockdown to stop veteran Junior Jones of Brooklyn, N.Y., and retain his IBF featherweight championship.

It was the first defense for Ingle, who endured a bruising battle and the knockdown to knock down Jones in the 11th round and punish him before referee Steve Smoger finally stopped it with Jones wobbly on the ropes at 1:16 of the round.

Ingle, 125½ pounds, had all he could take from Jones, 125, before Jones began wearing down under a barrage of punches in the 10th round. Jones, who was ahead on one of the three ringside scorecards after 10 rounds, fell to 47-5, while Ingle improved to 23-1.

Gatti weighed in at 149 pounds on the morning of his fight, unlike his Feb. 26 fight with Gamache in which he officially weighed 141 the day before the fight but had ballooned to 160 pounds by fight time.

Gamache was brutally knocked out in the fight, and is suing over the New York State Athletic Commission's handling of the weigh-in.

"I felt sluggish and a little heavy," Gatti said. "I don't want to blame it on the weigh-in today but it was maybe because I didn't have enough time to relax today."

Gatti did not get on a scale just before the fight, at the advice of his lawyers.

Gatti (32-4, 27 knockouts) hurt Jakubowski from the opening bell, slowing him quickly with body shots.

"Fighting at welterweight, the punches are a little harder," said Gatti, who is ranked No. 4 by the WBA at junior welterweight but wants to fight Oscar De La Hoya at welterweight.

Jakubowski got up at the count of seven after being knocked down for the second time in the fight in the second round, but the fight was waved to a close as he stumbled across the ring.

"His body shots in the first round took everything out of me," said Jakubowski (20-7), of Whiting, Ind.

In a heavyweight fight, contender Wladimir Klitschko wasted little time in stopping David Bostice in the second round of a scheduled 12-round fight.

Klitschko, one of two Ukranian heavyweight brothers, improved to 33-1 in a fight in which Bostice was credited with landing only six of 96 punches.

Klitschko, ranked No. 3 by the WBA and No. 5 by the WBC, dropped Bostice four times before the fight was stopped at 1:27 of the second round. It was the ninth straight knockout win for Klitschko, who weighed 242½ to 230 for Bostice, of Mesa, Ariz., who fell to 21-2-1.

Tracy Patterson, a former two-time champion, announced his retirement after losing another undercard fight, a unanimous decision to Scotland's Scott Harrison.

The 35-year-old Patterson, 130, lost by lopsided margins on all three scorecards, finishing his career at 63-8-1. Harrison, 128, improved to 10-1-1.




 ESPN Tools
Email story
 
Most sent
 
Print story