Clottey clobbers Henry!

July 25, 2004

By Christopher Bronte at ringside
Photos: Rick Guzman

In an exciting main event from the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Laughlin Nevada, Ghanain contender Joshua Clottey looked spectacular in dismantling Barbados’ Christopher “ Prince Shaka” Henry. The action was slow to begin with, as both combatants took a cautious approach. But Clottey won the first stanza, scoring with a couple of nice left hook counters. The action in the second round was slower still which drew voracious boos from a packed house, but again Clottey edged the round landing a few flush shots. The crowd continued to boo in the third round but those boos were silenced when towards the end of the round Clottey landed a cracking left hook on top of Henry’s dreadlocked head. Henry went down and was clearly hurt but he comfortably beat Referee Jay Nady’s count.

The fourth round began with Clottey looking to end matters, although he was still being conservative with his output, but what he was throwing was deadly accurate and he could be seen snapping Henry’s head back with jabs and left hooks. Sure enough, midway through the round, Clottey connected again and put Henry on the canvas. Upon rising, Henry received no quarter from his rampant opponent and was promptly put on the canvas again by another barrage of blows. Henry made it out of the round but was visited by a concerned doctor during the break.

As the fifth round began, it was clear the fight would end abruptly as Henry was clearly unable to cope with Clottey’s formidable punch. Sure enough Clottey found his mark again with the left hook and put Henry on the canvas. Henry showed true grit, though in getting up and tried to rally but he was being completely outgunned . During such an exchange he was tagged again and went down for the fifth time. This time he didn’t beat the count although he was on his knees. With this exciting win, Clottey claims the NABC Welterweight title and improves his record to 26-1, 17 KOs while Henry slips to 18-9, 12 KOs.

In another welterweight fight Jaimi Barahona (6-8) stopped Anthony Sanza (5-14) with a wicked body shot at 2:38 of third round.

In middleweight action Las Vegan Farid Shahid and Phoenix’s Hector Hernadez gave the crowd their money's worth in a scintillating slugfest. Hernandez looked on his way to scoring a victory as he outhustled Shahid for the first four rounds. However out of nowhere in the fifth Shahid who was looking a little jaded , landed flush with a corking left hook putting Hernandez down. Hernandez beat the count but was quickly caught again while on the ropes and was in a lot of trouble when referee Tony Weeks stopped the action at 2:54 of the fifth round. Shahid moves to 3-2, 2 ko’s while Hernandez sliups to 5-1, 1 ko.

In ajunior welter fight “ Vicious” Victor Ortiz (2-0, 1 ko) showed some great skills in outhustling Alejandro Nungary (1-2,1 ko). Neither fighter was ever in trouble although it was clear after four rounds of action that Ortiz was the victor. The judges all scored the bout 40-36. The referee was Tony Weeks.

In another welterweight fight California’s Alex Viramontes dropped opponent Juan Montes de Oca three times en route to a second TKO at the two minute mark. After the third knock down Referee Jay Nady had seen enough and waved the action over.

In a ladie’s exhibition bout Elena “ Baby Doll” Reid and Layla Mc Carter entertained the crowd over four rounds of action.

The card was promoted by DiBella Entertainment.

All contents copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 by Freitag Marketing Services.
The information on this site cannot be reused without written permission.