Quarterfinal rounds produce no surprise victories
By BRIAN BURKE
Sports Writer
The quarterfinal round in the 165-pound division held few surprises on Sunday as the favorites advanced with relatively one-sided victories. Both fighters with preliminary round byes, Clay Cosse and Chris Matassa earned unanimous decision wins and controlled their fights throughout. Matassa defeated Justin Myers, while Cosse stopped Mike MacRitchie to move on to the semifinals.
Matassa went into the fight with the strategy of countering Myers and avoiding a brawl. Myers, who advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Wyatt Shiflett, tried to set the pace of the fight by moving in close and working inside on Matassa with jabs and hooks. Matassa, a much more polished fighter, was able to answer any type of combination thrown by Myers and consistently punished him for opening up his guard inside.
"I heard that was his style [to brawl]," Matassa said. "I just tried to sit back, use my jab and make him pay."
Myers was able to land some jabs working inside, but in the second round Matassa took control of the fight, landing five and six clean shots at a time to the Myers' head. The precision punching of Matassa resulted in standing-8 counts for Myers in both rounds two and three.
"My corner told me I was ahead [after the second round], but that I still needed to watch out because he would keep coming after me," Matassa said. "He wore out some towards the end. I think my experience paid off, you know, this is my fourth year."
Cosse did not dominate his fight to quite the extent of Matassa, but nevertheless turned in a solid performance in defeating MacRitchie. Cosse was content to stay low and work the body in the first round, moving in and out and allowing MacRitchie to come at him with left jabs and right hooks. When the two stood toe to toe, they both landed their share, but Cosse won most of the exchanges. In the second round he became more aggressive, standing toe to toe more often with MacRitcie. By the third round, Cosse had broken through, scoring a standing 8 and sealing the decision.
The closest fight in the division was between Mark Yost and Mathew Klobucher. Yost defeated Will Holley in the preliminaries while Klobucher bested David Cannon. Both fighters took a more conservative approach, especially early on, feeling each other out with jabs and crosses. After one close exchange in the first round, the referee issued a standing 8 count on Yost, although it appeared Yost simply slipped while backing away.
In the second round both fighters let down their guards more, taking more chances, but neither took full advantage of the opportunities to score points. In the end Yost landed a few more jabs and hooks to pull out a split decision victory.
The bout between Matt and Nick Nanovic was one of changing momentum. Seidler defeated Michael McDonald to advance to the quarterfinals. Nanovic, who advanced with a win over Patrick Muehr, was the taller and lankier of the two fighters, and took advantage of a longer reach early on.
After struggling in the first round, Seidler turned the tide in the second, getting inside more often, working the body with a good left hook. The third round was more of a brawl with very little defense on the part of either boxer. Seidler, the stronger of the two fighters was able to negate the reach advantage of Nanovic and landed a punishing hook to the head of Nanovic that knocked him to the canvas. As a result the fight was stopped and Seidler won by technical knockout.
170-pounds
The four quarterfinal bouts in the 170-pound bracket were all one-sided contests where it was apparent who the eventual winner would be by the end of the first round. Ryan Hernandez earned a unanimous decision win over Eric Barroso in a sloppy match where technique seldom came into play. Hernandez, who advanced with a win over James Ward, was able to overpower Barroso and back him into the ropes, where he did the most damage. The fight never seemed to stay in one place for very long, with both boxers off balance and punching wildly.
"He was moving around a lot more than I expected," Hernandez said. "I had to try and cut down on the distance between us, since that's more of the type of fighter I am. I love a good brawl."
Barosso did somewhat better in the last two rounds avoiding the charge from Hernandez, but Hernandez was simply more athletic and overwhelmed Barroso when the two stood toe to toe. Barroso had advanced with a win over Patrick McGarry.
Another fighter with more of a brawling style was Domingo Maynes, who came after William Phillip with a strong jab that he worked both to the head and body in the first round. Maynes chased Phillip around for much of the fight, capitalizing on an advantage in strength. Phillip was given standing eight counts in both the second and third rounds, and his lack of offense did little to deter Maynes from backing him into the ropes. Maynes emerged with the win by unanimous decision. Maynes defeated T.J. Strachota Friday in the preliminaries while Phillip won over Geoff Dennie.
In much the same way, Evan Oliver realized early on in his bout with Matt Padilla that working inside was most effective. Oliver defeated Kraigh Kotteman, and Padilla came out on top over Nate Scheid on Friday. Oliver did a good job of moving his head and landing hooks, and Padilla was unable to capitalize anytime Oliver exposed himself to counter punches. Padilla received a standing 8 count in the second round, and while he was never in major trouble, the fight was stopped in the third round because Padilla's corner could not stop him from bleeding. Oliver emerged with the TKO win.
Matt Knust employed a different strategy than his fellow winners in the 170 pound bracket, making Craig Oliver chase after him, and effectively countering with a strong jab to the head.
"Both guys had gotten tired in their last fight [preliminaries]," Knust said. "My corner told me to make sure to move around, throw my punches and get out of there. I knew he was a bigger fighter, I just had to move around, tire him out, and get my shots in."
Oliver often looked as if he were blindly throwing hooks and was especially hurt by Knust's countering style because he put his head down. He often seemed out of control and got spun around on several occasions. Oliver was knocked down and received a standing 8 in the second round, and the fight was eventually stopped in the third, giving Knust the win. Knust defeated Chris Milliron in the preliminaries, while Oliver beat Shaun Iversen.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 25, 2002
