411Boxing Report: CES "Autumn Classic"
Posted by Joe Roche on 11.21.2009
411's Joe Roche is ringside for a great night of fights as one fighter makes "the leap."
Often you hear people talk about athletes making "the leap" – the mystical moment when everything starts to click and the athlete starts to put together all of their talents into one package. Many will never make "the leap" because only a select few truly have the drive, determination, and skills to become an elite performer. On Friday, November 20, 2009 those in attendance at the Twin River Event Center for CES Boxing's "Autumn Classic" show may have witnessed Danny O'Connor (10-0, 3 KO's) make "the leap." On a night that featured a disappointing main event for one CES fighter, and the triumphant (and impressive) return of a former three time world champion – it was O'Connor, the 2008 U.S. Olympic team alternate that dazzled the crowd and impressed the most.
Looking like a young Paul Spadaforda, O'Connor used lightning fast hand speed, great footwork, and varying angles to keep Hope off balance for the duration of the six round junior welterweight battle. "Everything we've been working on in the gym came out tonight. We've been working on different angles and all around good boxing technique so it was nice to put everything in the ring. The biggest key to the fight was that I stuck to the game plan even when stuff went off pattern" said O'Connor after the bout.
This was my second opportunity to see O'Connor live but I don't remember being this impressed after his fight in Manchester, NH in September. James Hope for his part wasn't a bad fighter; he just seemed to have the wrong technique for this bout as O'Connor's speed kept him off balance and O'Connor's power snuck up on Hope. The Framingham, MA native O'Connor isn't know for his power but he was able to put together a few exchanges, particularly a left hook in the third round, and a left uppercut in the fifth that seemed to do damage. "My jab was in his face all night – and it might not be the hardest jab but if it hits you 100 times it'll leave a mark."
In the main event of the evening "Irish" Joey McCreedy (11-4-1, 6 KO's) took a step up in competition to take on the winner of Oscar de la Hoya's "Next Great Champ" reality show Otis "Triple O.G." Griffin. It was obvious from the opening bell that Griffin, who has fought as high as Cruiserweight, and makes him home generally at Light Heavyweight had a significant size advantage over the EBA & New England super middleweight champion McCreedy, and he used those advantages well. Griffin, who has a victory over Jeff Lacy on his resume, used a punishing jab, and a brutal upper cut to hurt McCreedy and win a unanimous decision 78-75, 77-76, 78-74 in a very good fight. "When we dropped the weight against Brinkley it didn't go too well, I was drawn out and I paid for it. This time we did everything right, I got a new corner – we were eating well in high elevation training at Big Bear. I looked lean and mean, like a top model on the field. 175 is my home, definitely I've been anywhere and if I can make it as easy as I did this time and if the right fight comes along I'll be ready for that."
While McCreedy was beaten, and looked to be in worse shape then Griffin after the fight he had nothing to be ashamed of in this loss. While some on press row had the fight as lopsided as six rounds to two, I actually scored the fight a draw (as did at least one other member of press row) giving McCreedy the first, fifth, seventh and eighth rounds. However, it was clear that McCreedy's straight forward style would not work against Griffin who expertly used his jab to punish McCreedy and then unleashed a vicious uppercut whenever McCreedy would lead with his head.
One thing that impressed me about McCreedy on a night where he couldn't implement his game plan, he did not give up. Like I said I gave McCreedy the seventh and eighth rounds where I thought he was much more active, had a high volume of punches and was able to land some nice overhand rights that stunned Griffin. For McCreedy this loss shouldn't stop his progression because there were things that he can take from this fight and build upon. He considers himself to be the logical evolution of Micky Ward, and he'd be wise to take a lesson from his mentor moving forward – he should take this loss, learn from it, get better from it and not let it hold him back.
Griffin after the fight gave us a hint as to what his plans are for the future saying "we're going to come back to Providence and fight Joe Spina." Throughout the main event Spina could be seen ringside very attentive and it appears that he was scouting for his next fight. A Griffin-Spina fight should be an interesting contest as light heavyweight, with Griffin looking to make a statement and move into title contention, and Spina looking to rebound after a miserable performance against Lou Del Valle on Halloween night.
As great as O'Connor looked and as tough a fight as McCreedy-Griffin was there was another story on this night that trumped them both. After a twenty month hiatus from the ring that included an event that no male fighter ever has to deal with the former four time world champion Jamie "The Hurricane" Clampitt (19-4-1, 7 KO's) returned to the ring with a brilliant dominating unanimous decision over Rachel Clark. Clampitt who gave birth to a baby girl eight months ago used constant pressure, and devastating body blows to wear down a much taller opponent and secure a 60-54 unanimous decision across all three scorecards. "In the first round I had some trouble with her speed. She also had the height, when we were facing off in front of each other in the ring tonight I couldn't believe the reach advantage. In the second round we made a fight adjustment of bending over to my right, stepping in more with my speed and getting close to work the body and it was working for me."
Heading into the fight my biggest question concerned Clampitt's stamina mainly due to the fact that I have no point of reference when it comes to child birth. "It [her stamina] felt great. I was nervous about it going into the fight. I had a perfect training camp which I've never had before. I was nervous – maybe I wasn't training hard enough it was tough to gauge where I was until tonight. I felt great. I just had a lot of fun, felt relaxed and it's different to fight without pressure." After the bout Clampitt was awarded a championship belt from Striking Beauties a boxing gym for women that sponsored the fight but the real story was just how relentless Clampitt was in this fight. I'd never seen Jamie fight before but her body work was non-stop from the first round until the final bell and she really impressed me (and the crowd) with how complete of a fighter she was. If Clampitt decides to make a run at a fifth world championship I think she'll be a very tough person to stop, and one to watch in women's boxing in 2010.
"Autumn Classic" was rounded out by a series of impressive knockouts none of which were more impressive then Joe Smith Junior's (2-0, 2 KO's) amazing knockout of Brandon McGowen at :45 of the 1st round. Smith Jr. who won the KO of the Night award trapped McGowen on the ropes and connected with a vicious punch that resulted in McGowen needing immediate medical attention (which lasted about seven minutes). The night also saw an impressive knockout by Vladine Biosse (5-0, 4 KO's) one of my favorite up and coming super middleweight prospects who broke his hand on the head of his opponent Jeffery Osborne (8-15-2, 3 KO's), no seriously. The official jumped in and stopped the fight at 1:25 of the first round, which seemed like a quick stoppage until you know that Osborne went to the hospital after the fight with a concussion, and Biosse had a cast on later in the evening. Worcester, MA heavyweight Rashard Minor (3-1, 3 KO's) isn't the most svelt heavyweight you'll ever see but he looked like an Adonis next to his opponent Lance Gauch whom he dispatched at 2:47 of the second round, and Maceo Crowder the half brother of 2008 U.S. Olympian Demetrius Andrade made an impressive debut with a third round TKO (1:38) over Duane King in a light heavyweight bout to open the show.
This night was the final CES Boxing card at the Twin River Event Center which is too bad because I always have a great time at Twin River, but at least CES was able to close out their 2009 Twin River season with a great night of fights. Most of these fighters will be back in early 2010 and I'll be there to cover them.
