Guyana’s world rated bantamweight fighter Leon ‘Hurry Up’ Moore survived three knockdowns to walk away with a unanimous decision win over Venezuelan Breilor Teran in the main event of the Caribbean Fury 2 boxing card at the Princess Hotel Saturday night.
The fight was divided into two distinct halves with Moore dominating the first half and Teran the second.
The last knockdown came seconds before the 10-round contest came to an end when Teran connected a solid overhand right to the temple of Moore.
Referee Rudolph Torrington, was administering the count but subsequently waved the fight off when the bell sounded.
However, when the results were announced Moore was given a majority decision victory.
Judges Bernard Dos Santos, Andrew Thorne and Francis Abraham scored the fight 94-93, 94-94, 95-93 for Moore.
Part of the arena’s gathering was stunned, another part ecstatic and the Teran camp outraged.
When Stabroek Sport spoke to Teran, through his interpreter Carlos Cuevas, he said that he will never fight in Guyana as he thought that he had won the fight.
A riled up Teran said that the Guyanese crowd saw that he won the fight and added that he will be launching an appeal to the world governing body since there is a tape to support that he won the fight fairly.
Moore on the other hand told Stabroek Sport that he felt that he won the fight and said he controlled the first part of the fight.
He admitted though that he was not wholly satisfied with his performance.
Moore said he felt that the referee should not have given him an eight count for the second knockdown down “since it was from a low blow.”
He also stated that he would give Teran a rematch because he is positive that he is the better fighter.
When the main event started Teran had difficulty adjusting to the height and speed of Moore, who subsequently accumulated a healthy lead.
Moore’s movements were slick and he looked comfortable as he landed a better percentage but it was evident that his punches lacked the power to hurt Teran.
Nevertheless, Moore continued to score by sticking the jab and moving and landing the occasional power punch. After a close quarter combat in the third round, Moore started the fourth frame with a three-punch combination before the contest began to get more physical. Teran slowly started to assert himself in the fight. He was being more elusive and his jabs were starting to take effect.
Teran stunned Moore late in the sixth round and then followed up by knocking him down early in the seventh round.
Moore tried to shift the momentum back his way by resorting to his initial tactic of sticking and moving but Teran cut the ring off and took Moore apart, punch by punch.
In round nine, Teran started with a flurry of punches and Moore went down from an apparent low blow which the referee ruled a knock down.
In the final round, Moore tried to avoid contact but Teran kept advancing and connecting and a knockout was imminent.
In the dying stages of the fight Teran landed a perfectly placed overhead right hand which floored Moore for the third time and caused Teran to start celebrating.
In the main supporting bout between Shondell ‘Mystery Lady’ Alfred and Olga ‘La Mona’ Julio, the Colombian fighter made the Women’s International Boxing Association (WIBA) bantamweight champion look ordinary. Alfred later said that it was not a case of underestimating her more inexperienced, but skillful opponent, but rather that Julio can “take a good shot.”
Alfred, who is expected to fight in a unification bout next year, expressed hope of fighting Julio again.
Raul Frank made light work of ‘Deadly’ Denny Dalton carving out a unanimous decision over the game Dalton. Frank, who was constantly being smothered by Dalton, had to make the room to land effective shots but managed to take Dalton apart with this strategy.
Canadian Richard Riettie stopped Mark Murray in the first round of their fight while there were unanimous wins for Gwendolyn O’Neil, Kurt Bess, Clive Atwell and Joel Mc Rae over Pamela London, Mitchell Rogers, Errol Trotman and James Walcott respectively.
