Pearson Victorious

By Michael Amakor from Ringside

On the Battle of Virginia Under card, former USBA Super Featherweight Champion Lamont Pearson defeated Shamir Reyes to regain the now vacant title he had lost back in 2001

Both fighters were cautious in the opening minutes of the first round as the  pawed away trying to get a sense of each other. Eventually Reyes became more aggressive and began lunging in with some power shots that connected as a seemingly calm Pearson looked to weave and keep the fight at a distance.

Reyes did not touch gloves for round two and become even more aggressive though not quite effectively leading up to a minor clinch that saw both fighters wrestling themselves down to the canvas, Pearson seemed content to pick his shots and make Reyes miss drawing boos from the now restive crowds in the arena.

By the third round, Pearson seemed to have figured out Reyes southpaw style and began to make Reyes miss with some of his wilder shots as he measured him and began scoring with occasional digging uppercuts that sometimes landed on the rib cage of Reyes.

The fight came to a sudden end in the sixth round when Pearson connected with a left hook that dropped Reyes to the canvas.  He could not beat the count and the referee waved off the fight at the 2.52 mark of the sixth round.

At the post fight interview when I asked Reyes what he would have done differently, he said he wished he had watched some of Pearson's old fights to help him with his preparations, but he acknowledged that Pearson was sharp and had a difficult stance for him to tag him properly. This is Reyes  third attempt at one of the titles having failed in his previous attempts at the WBO Inter-Continental Featherweight and WBA Fedelatin Super Featherweight Title, but at 24 years old he is far from his prime and will hone his skills down the road.

A calm Reyes acknowledged that he was in the best shape of his career and knew he had twelve rounds in which to stop Reyes who he knew little of since he did not get a chance to study any of his previous fights on tape, but he admitted that it was a liver shot that had turned the trick.

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