Heather Hardy, the busier boxer, with stamina galore, downed Edina Kiss in the opener a Barclays Center Saturday night, underneath the Danny Garcia v Keith Thurman welterweight main event.
Heather (124.6), repping Brooklyn, came in with an 18-0 mark, while the Hungarian Kiss (124.2) was 13-2.
Hardy was in dominant form, busy, ever busy, mixing a persistent jab with combos, and head movement and strong stamina. Kiss stayed competing, but wasn’t able to decipher the code to keep Hardy off of her. After eight rounds, the judges’ tallies read: 88-72, 88-72, 79-73. I saw Hardy winning every round.
After, she wasn't as happy as one would expect. The card was long, nine bouts, and she opened it. Some of her fans missed a few rounds of the bout.
In round one, Hardy pressed forward, flinging. She worked low and high and was the busier boxer.
In the second, left hooks and body work took it for Hardy. Kiss looked to clinch a couple times and her body language suggested she was not liking Hardy’s accuracy.
In the third, Kiss backed up, but tried to be busier with the jab as she did so, so she wouldn’t get stalked as badly. Hardy piled up combos, used uppercuts, took the third straight round.
In the fourth, more underneath body work from HH. She stepped up the activity, was the relentless stalker and won another round.
In the fifth, Kiss landed a lead right early. The body attack was simply vicious from the Brooklyner. Kiss was there, still competing, but not winning single minute of a round, let alone a full round.
In the sixth, Hardy the assaulter kept on chugging. Kiss looked fatigued, a left hook missed looked soooo sloooow. Kiss fell to the mat midway through, testifying to tiredness. To 7; the combos were more plentiful from Hardy. She slipped and ripped, ducking left, and then firing a right.
In the eighth and final round, we saw trading. Hardy’s jab still had some crispness. They closed the show still active, and hugged. To the cards we went.
In a light heavy clash, Andrzej Fonfara gave a plug to pilates, as he stopped ex champ Chad Dawson in round ten, via TKO. The action was tight early and then the Pole roared back. He dropped Dawson, out of CT, in the ninth. He then finished him off in the tenth, in a scheduled ten.
Fonfara was dropped and stopped by Long Islander Joe Smith last June. He regrouped, took up pilates, and voila, he is back on track.
Quotes from the winner: “I heard the scores were not in my favor. Right now I can't say whether or not I agree with them. I thought I was winning the fight, but I'd have to go back and watch closer.
“I hit him with a left hook to the side of the head. Once I hit him with that, I knew that I had him hurt.
“I hope that this will put me in a position to either fight Adonis Stevenson or Joe Smith again. I think that both of those fights would be really good rematches for me.
“Chad Dawson has had a great career and gotten some huge wins. That definitely helped him tonight, but he didn't do anything to surprise me and he never hurt me.
“I knew after my loss to Smith that a lot of people had come out to see me. Some people were disheartened with that loss but I know a lot of people made the trip to see me again tonight. I just want to thank all of my fans back from Chicago and here in New York, and I can't wait to come back even stronger. “
Said Dawson after: “I knew I was winning the fight. I didn't agree with the stoppage. He was early. The knockdown was a push also but he caught me on my way down. I have nothing to hang my head about.
“I think I'm leaning towards retirement. I've had a good career. I have nothing to be ashamed of.
“I was comfortable the whole fight. I think I did a lot to confuse him. He didn't expect me to box the way I did. I put on a good performance until the stoppage. I knew I was ahead.”
Sergey Lipinets stopped Clarence Booth, in round 7 at 1:30, via TKO. He was being workmanlike, piling up points and then trapped Booth in a corner. Bang bang bang, combos landed. The ref stepped in. Sergey is now 12-0, and No. 1 rated at 140 by the IBF.
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Stat details from CompuBox:
Lipinets landed 49% of his power punches and had a 89-55 edge in power shots landed. 30 of Lipinets landed power shots were to the body of Booth.
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SERGEY LIPINETS
“We had a short camp for this fight so it took me a little while to relax. Once I got loose, I did what I wanted to do.
“I'm the mandatory for the IBF title. I'm going to wait for my shot and from then on we'll just see who is willing to fight us.
“I'm still developing my style. I want to please the crowd. It's an honor to be on a show like this. I'm not a fluke. Ever since I've fought professionally, I've only fought tough opponents.
“I had him hurt. He could have kept going based purely off of will but he would have just gotten hurt more. He's better off this way and can fight again.”
CLARENCE BOOTH
“I thought it was an early decision. I was alright. He got me with a decent shot. But I was fine when he came rushing at me.
“I thought I was in the fight. He's a strong guy, but he didn't really hurt me. I thought I was right there with him.”
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Richardson Hitchins showed he has pop, and poor Mario Perez can testify. Two knockdowns in round one and at the second, the ref said no mas.
