| |
|
|
Lanardo Tyner Upsets Antwone
Smith
By Tim Donaldson
There was talk of a possible showdown between Antwone Smith
and Mike Jones, but that was before Friday night at
Boardwalk Hall. Lanardo Tyner had other plans for Smith.
Tyner decided that he was going to be the one to stand in
the way of that fight. When they set the fight, I am sure
that Smith’s management thought he couldn’t lose. Tyner is
eleven years older. Tyner is shorter. Tyner has two more
losses than Smith. That is he did have two more losses than
Smith.
Like life, there are no guarantees in boxing. Smith and his
promoters and his management might have thought that this
would be a guaranteed thing, but Tyner seemed to know
something they did not. Tyner knew that he could win.
Tyner was proving that from the first round. From the very
beginning, he was keeping his jab in Smith’s face. When
Smith would try to respond, Tyner would move out of range.
Smith had brief flashes that first round. The problem for
Smith was that they were too few and too far between. Tyner
had now seen what he needed to see. He saw that he could
win.
Smith started picking up the pace in the second round. He
was working Tyner’s body. Tyner, for his part, had not
changed his strategy. He kept doing what he was in the first
round. Both fighters spent a lot of the round, as well as
most of the fight, leaning on each other. Smith might have
had a slight height advantage, but he gave it up by fighting
inside. Although Smith had picked it up, Tyner was the one
who finished the round strong.
This might have helped with the third round. Tyner was
muscling Smith around the ring. Smith landed a few hard
shots to the head of Tyner, but he was not fully in control
of the fight. The pace was slowing already in the third.
Tyner came out in the fourth and was landing hard shots to
the head of Smith. Smith seemed unaffected, however. And it
was Smith who was getting more out of his punch by this
point in the fight.
Tyner started out the fifth moving forward, but that did not
mean that he was controlling the fight. Smith was punishing
Tyner with combinations, and they ended the round trading
shots in the center of the ring. It looked as though Smith
were wearing Tyner down; however, Tyner was the one looking
energized in round six, actually picking up the pace of the
fight. By round seven, Smith was doing a lot of leaning on
Tyner. You could see the frustration on Tyner’s face as he
was dealing with Smith leaning in low on him.
At the beginning of the eighth, Smith came out swinging. It
was short lived. Tyner quickly turned the tables and was
chasing Smith around the ring. Tyner was able to hurt Smith.
Smith was caught in the corner, but he was able to fight his
way out. And the round ended with a back and forth brawl.
When Smith came out in the ninth, you could not help but
notice the huge swelling around the right eye. Tyner was now
clearly in control. He was working the head and body of
Smith. Tyner threw a right at the body, and Smith went down.
Referee Earl Morton counted him out. The fight was over at
1:15 of the ninth round.
A lot of people seemed surprised that Tyner had won. The one
person that was not surprised was Lanardo Tyner.
|
|
|
