number1contender.net

December 8, 2007

MGM Grand-Las Vegas, Nevada

Edner Cherry challenged Timothy Bradley, Jr. for his title at 140 pounds last Saturday. Here is the recap of a recent Edner Cherry match:

Lightweight (135 pounds) 10-Round Match:

Edner Cherry (22-5-2, 10 KO's, 134 pounds) vs. Wes Ferguson (17-2-1, 5 KO's, 134 pounds)

After turning pro on April 7, 2001, Cherry had very mediocre results. Cherry went 3-2-2 in his first 7 matches, with the 3 wins coming against opponents with a combined 4 victories. However, following a change in trainer and manager Cherry ran off 14 straight wins to earn ESPN's Boxer of the Year for 2006 award. Encouraged by the winning streak Cherry took on higher level opponents, and lost to all of them.

The native of Nassau in the Bahamas' last match was a 10-round unanimous decision win over Ferguson on June 13, 2007 at the A La Carte Event Pavilion in Tampa, Florida.

Cherry is unranked by The Ring magazine at any weight class, but the number 32 ranked boxer at 135 pounds by boxrec.com.

Since his pro debut on November 1, 2003, Ferguson has been in against very soft opposition. Only 1 of his 20 opponents have come in with fewer then 2 losses in their previous 6 matches. The two opponents Ferguson faced before the first match with Cherry were a combined 3-29-2 in their last 35 matches. Ferguson is on this card, because he is a friend of Mayweather's and was placed in a high profile, high paying match on PPV against an opponent he should beat as a favor to the champion.

The resident of Las Vegas' last match was a technical knockout victory 56 seconds into round 2 over Sammy Ventura on September 7, 2007 at Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois.

Ferguson is unranked by The Ring at any weight class, and the number 64 ranked boxer at 135 pounds by boxrec.com.

Ferguson at 22-years-old is 3 years younger, then the 25-year-old Cherry. Cherry has the height advantage at 5' 8" tall, while Ferguson stands 5' 7" tall. Ferguson has the reach advantage measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, as will all reach numbers for this event, at 22.5" long. Cherry has a 22" reach. On the unofficial scales approaching match time, Cherry has the weight advantage, rehydrating to 139 pounds. Ferguson has rehydrated to 138 pounds. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this and all other matches on tonight's card. All of the judges tonight are from Nevada. The referee is Vic Drakulich. Keeping unofficial score for HBO in this match and in all of the other contests tonight will be Harold Lederman.

The bell to start this match sounded at 6:09 PM Las Vegas time, in front of a very sparse crowd. It appears the empty chairs out number the people by better then 10-1.

With 2:13 to go in round 1, Cherry is admonished for throwing a very late, though not very hard left uppercut on the break. Cherry and then Ferguson are warned to keep it clean. The next such infraction may cost Cherry a point because of the flagrant nature of this foul, and the sternness of the warning. The action in round 1 is reminiscent of two boxers who do not belong on PPV, with tons of holding and little clean punching. Maybe Ferguson won an awful round 1, 10-9. Lederman scored round 1 the same. According to CompuBox each boxer landed 10 punches in round 1. Cherry wins round 2, 10-9. Lederman scores round 2 the same. Ferguson and Cherry are lucky there are not enough fans in the crowd to work up a decent "boo" for this match. Ferguson wins the wrestling match that is round 3, 10-9. Lederman score round 3 for Ferguson, 10-9. Ferguson wins round 4, 10-9. After 4 rounds, Ferguson leads on my scorecard, 39-37. Lederman has both the score for round 4 and the overall score for the match the same.

After round 4, shown in the crowd among the prompt attendees is Miguel Cotto (wearing a very nice suit). Cotto is looking to challenge the winner of the main event next. The long trip from his home in Puerto Rico to see a match in Las Vegas, means Cotto has come to the building to make a theatrical challenge and be very noticeable.

Cherry wins round 5, 10-9. This match would make a great demonstration video on how not to box, and how to ignore all instructions from the corner. Both boxers are receiving excellent instructions from their corners, and have not followed a single instruction, yet. Lederman scores round 5 for Ferguson, 10-9. With 2:14 to go in round 6, Ferguson goes down to the mat from losing his balance at the same time he got hit with a Cherry left hand. It is ruled a knockdown, but the punch did not appear to hurt Ferguson. Ferguson successfully answers the referee's count, and the action is resumed with 2:00 to go in the round. Ferguson appears to be in no danger of being stopped this round. With 5 seconds to go in round 6, Cherry counters Ferguson with a left hand, and sends the boxer to the mat for the second time this round. This time Ferguson is really hurt. Ferguson is unable to answer the count, and this match is over. It is unclear if it will be ruled a knockout or if the referee waived off the match when Ferguson tried to sit up, and the boxer only had the ability to half roll over. On replay it appears the punch that caused the first knockdown hurt Ferguson more then it appeared in live action, but this was still largely a 1 punch knockout.

The official result from Lupe Contreras is that at: 2:59 of round 6, the winner by way of knockout, Edner "The Cherry Bomb" Cherry. The win moves Cherry to 23-5-2 with 11 of those victories coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Cherry landing 74 of the 307 total punches he threw, for a rather poor 24% total connect percentage in the abbreviated match. Ferguson landed  57 of the 257 total punches he threw, for a 22% total connect percentage.

Cherry won this match, but looked awful in doing it. This match was not worthy of being part of a 3 match card on ESPN 2. Cherry has a good trainer, and the help necessary to improve. Until he shows that consistently on the smaller scene, he should be kept off television for a while

Larry Merchant, working color commentary for HBO and who has known Ferguson for a while, believes the boxer will not be able to come back to be the caliber of boxer he displayed tonight following this loss. When Ferguson went down, he went down back first, and there are concerns from the double concussive blow of the punch, then his head hitting the mat. The doctors are taking a look at the boxer, and his career my be ended to protect his own safety. Assuming Ferguson comes back healthy, he will need to show marked improvement to earn a spot on an ESPN undercard after his performance in this match.