ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, 5.18.12

Wow.

Kareem Mayfield and Raymond Serrano did a lot of holding, Mayfield did a lot of wild swinging between the hugs. Serrano wishes he held more.

In a so-so fight with more than enough holding/grabbing to make you wonder if anything will even have a chance of happening, BOOM goes Kareem Mayfield.

With the last seconds dwindling down on round four, Mayfield dipped his right should down and unleashed a ridiculous overhand right that crushed Serrano quite literally as the bell rang to end the round.

Serrano ate the punch flush and immediately crumbled to the canvas, with little-to-no movement.

The ref started the count and Serrano staggered (horribly) to his feet. The count stopped and the ref asked Serrano to step towards him. Serrano took one step then literally fell forward into the ref.

How the referee allowed the fight to continue is beyond me and (thankfully) it didn’t end in Serrano getting seriously injured by the head hunting Kareem Mayfield in the 5th round, where the fight ended by stoppage at 47 seconds into the round.

For Serrano it was a disappointing performance and other than a few flashes I didn’t see anything that leads me to believe he can ever seriously challenge for a world title (for whatever they are worth these days).

Mayfield on the other hand showed me something, at times. There were flashes of a fighter that, with more seasoning, could possible contend for a world title. It’s too soon now, but his competition has been strong and he has performed at a very high level in running his record to a now glowing 16-0-1 with 10 KO’s.

He did have his faults though. He needs to fight within himself more. He’s far too wild for long stretches, looking for the homer, when he should work the jab and compose himself for longer stretches. If Mayfield can pull himself together and keep the wild flinging of punches to a low number he can be very good.

Undercard:

Jason Escalara vs. Nick Brinson

The fight had clear roles for both fighters. Brinson was the quicker, more agile fighter moving around the ring and throwing well-timed and accurate punches, while Escalara was the brooding, Terminator-like stalker, constantly walking down Brinson and mixing thudding body shots and wild, looping punches to the head.

In the end, despite winning four of the first five rounds on my card, Brinson slowed and gave the distance to he had worked all fight to that point away to Escalara. The body blows and consistent walking down on Brinson had done its job and made him a more stationary target. Brinson continued to throw and land, but there wasn’t anything on his punches, Escalara just walked right through them with no regard.

The second half of the fight was clearly Escalara’s for the taking and he seized them.

My card:

Rd 1, 10-9 Brinson
Rd 2, 10-9 Brinson
Rd 3, 10-9 Escalara
Rd 4, 10-9 Brinson
Rd 5, 10-9 Brinson
Rd 6, 10-9 Escalara
Rd 7, 10-9 Escalara
Rd 8, 10-9 Escalara

76-76 a draw

The judges had it; 76-75 Escalara, 76-75 Brinson, and 76-76 a draw

The fight bodes well for Escalara as he had never before been past four rounds and it was after the fourth that he started to take full control of the fight.

Kevin Rooney Jr vs. Anthony Jones

Jones came out like a raging bull. For his part, Rooney took most of the punches without any problem, but he threw little back giving Jones the all-full to attack at will.

The knockdown in round one should not have been a knockdown. The knockdown in round two was completely legit however. The two 10-8 rounds effectively meant Rooney had to become the aggressor and push the action or face losing or at best case a draw. Not sure what was going through Rooney’s head though as he continued his methodical approach despite clearly needing to step up his game.

With under a minute left in the fourth and final round he finally decided to step his game up, but it was too little, too late.

My card:

Rd 1, 10-8 Jones
Rd 2, 10-8 Jones
Rd 3, 10-9 Rooney
Rd 4, 10-9 Jones

39-35 for the winner, Anthony Jones

Judges had it 39-35, 38-36 (twice)

I hate to say it about a local guy, but he’s 27-years-old and has sputtered to a 4-2 record against mediocre (at best) competition, it’s time to move on to another occupation.