The 13th Round - Boxing for the Hardcore

2017-08-03	TTR Monthly Honors: July 2017
Fighter of the Month: Mikey Garcia It was a 2 man race between Garcia and Jeff Horn this month, Garcia won the vote of the TTR community 10 to 7. In what was probably the highest profile matchup of his career to date Mikey Garcia took on the 4 weight titleholder Adrien Broner. This was Mikey's first bout at the 140 pound weight class, but he handled it very well putting on possibly his best performance to date, and completely dominating Adrien Broner over 12 lopsided rounds. From the outset Broner was fighting on the backfoot hoping to get countering opportunities on Mikey, but Garcia kept using the jab and picking his shots effectively completely shutting down Broner's offense and forcing him to spend the majority of the fight in a defensive shell just to survive. The official scores of 117-111 and 116-112 2x were generous to Broner in my view as I personally had the fight a complete shutout with Mikey Garcia winning all 12 rounds on my scorecard. This was supposed to be one of Garcia's most challenging bouts to date, and for him to have dominated as handily as he did really illustrates what a talent he is. Garcia is now a top ranked Boxer at both Jr. Welterweight (140 pounds) and Lightweight (135 pounds), and with this victory he's also TTR's Fighter of the Month. Fight of the Month: Jeff Horn vs Manny Pacquiao This one took us all by surprise. It was expected by MOST in the Boxing community that Pacquiao would have an easy night here. It was expected that he'd possibly get his first knockout win in years against Horn who was perceived to be in way over his head here. Well Jeff Horn turned those perceptions upside down. In the first round Horn came out ready to rumble, and Pacquiao seemed to be trying to feel out Horn. After the 2nd round the reality dawned on Pacquiao that he might be in for a tougher night than he'd bargained for, and from there he really started to buckle down and do his best. Unfortunately for him Jeff Horn didn't go anywhere. He kept on pressing forward giving Pacquiao all he could handle, in a wild battle that saw many close rounds. The official scorecards were read and Jeff Horn was announced the upset winner via Unanimous Decision with scores of 116-112 and 115-113 2x. I personally scored the bout 116-112 for Pacquiao, and there was a fair amount of controversy from within the Boxing community. Nevertheless, controversy or not. With the unexpected excitement, drama, and shocking upset that this fight gave us. Whether you agree with the official outcome or not. There was no more exciting fight in July than this one, and that's why it's TTR's Fight of the Month. Knockout of the Month: Kemahl Russell KO 1 Nigel Edwards This clash of Super Middleweights ended early, but not before leaving us with a spectacular highlight reel KO. After an overhand right whizzed over the head of Edwards, the two fighters go to exchange left hooks simultaneously. Russell's got there first with devastating results. Edwards immediately went limp and fell face first onto the canvas. The fight was immediately halted as there was definitely no need to count after such a devastating KO shot. KO's don't get anymore emphatic than this, and that's why this is our Knockout of the Month.
	Article By: Bobby Davis