Written by Tim Starks | 22 May 2009

Friday Night Fights recap, "what I learned"-style:

What I learned about one of two former decorated Cuban amateurs on the card, junior middleweight Erislandry Lara: He was ready for the step up. Well, I guess I should say, I knew he was ready for the step up, but what I learned was that I was right. No great insight there. The kid can fight. He scored a 4th round knockout over a battle-tested veteran. I can't comment much further. I missed the fight after tuning in a little late. Shame on me. Lara's a nice talent, pleasing to the eye, and I'd been wondering how well he'd fare against better competition. From the highlights and the ESPN2 team talk afterward, it certainly appears he was more than ready.

I learned two things about Guillermo Rigondeaux, the even more highly decorated Cuban amateur featherweight, in his pro debut: A., He's definitely been in a few fights, and it showed; it looked like he very much knew what he was doing in there. His connect rates, compared to that of his opponent, were absurd. I think his opponent landed 3 of 45 punches, to more like a 50 percent connect ratio for Rigondeaux. So vast was the gulf that the referee called it off in the 3rd at a moment when Rigondeaux's man not in particular trouble, although he was at times earlier in the fight. The other thing I learned is B., the habits of an amateur background may still be ingrained and he'll need to adjust at the pro level, because when he had his man reeling, he didn't do anything. Several times when he had his opponent hurt, he did anything but pounce. Often, he backed off. One fight in, that is something he can work on. It's just what I learned in one fight, where there's often very little to learn.

I'm not sure what I learned from the main event, where welterweight Antwone Smith upset Ricard Gutierrez to score a unanimous decision. I can tell you what I won't be doing again: underestimating Smith. He just keeps scoring upsets on ESPN2, and this time he beat a fringe contender-type that I expected to beat Smith on experience alone. Instead, I had Smith winning every round but the first two. In those early rounds, Gutierrez just outworked Smith, even if he didn't land much of note. Toward the end of the 2nd, though, Smith was seeing everything Gutierrez was throwing, then landing the cleaner, straighter punches as Gutierrez swung wildly. Smith took total control, using his sharper boxing skills to confuse and dominate Gutierrez. I do have to wonder if, based on his last couple performances, whether Gutierrez suffered the kind of beating from Alfredo Angulo last year that took at little something out of a fighter, but it's also possible Gutierrez did OK against Angulo because you can catch Angulo with wild punches and that's a more difficult proposition than hitting a clever, smart defender like Smith. I don't know how one judge scored it 96-94 for Smith, because the judge who had it 100-88 was far closer [albeit only on the Smith side; as David Schraub pointed out, the 88 meant two 10-8 rounds, and there were no knockdowns]. Still, Smith came away with the deserved win in what ended up being a busy fight but not the competitive one I expected. I'm not saying Smith beats a top 10-leve guy. I'm just saying he's smart enough, and he's bucked the odds enough, that I won't rule it out if it happens. Good work from Smith Friday night.

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